Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It is not easy to believe it at first, which is why Neji is deadpanned when looking at Lee and giving him what is equivalent to a look of incredulity, though it would be hard for anyone to tell what all the usually stoic Hyuuga was thinking from expression alone, “There is no way you are one.” 

Lee frowns, finding it annoying that his own teammate doesn’t believe him, “I am, though! My scent glands are on my neck; I am an omega. See? You can smell it on me!” 

Neji did just that, not expecting anything other than sweat—but what he did find was interesting: a strong scent of evergreen and cotton met him, causing the omega in front of him to grin, “I told you I am an omega, Neji. Just because I am one doesn’t mean I can’t become a ninja too.” 

Somewhere at this moment, Tenten was rushing over through the woods after finding a note from her teammate telling her of his plan to tell Neji the truth today. Needless to say, she knew it was a bad idea for many reasons—telling him something so important before the Chunin exams was essentially career suicide. There’s no way Neji would ever accept his being an omega and even if the alpha did, he’d never accept Lee as an equal after this! 

What the hell was he thinking? 

She has to get over there before things can go from bad to worse—except, she was far too late for that. 

Neji already reacted, but not in a way either of them had seen coming. Rock Lee had thought he would have heard a lecture about how he can’t change his fate of being barefoot and pregnant someday, Tenten had believed he would have pulled some strings to get Lee out of the ninja field, and Guy? Well, he was the one who gave Lee the confidence he needed to tell Neji the truth because ‘keeping secrets from a teammate is the worst thing a person can do in a team’. He had thought Neji would appreciate it if Lee told him about it at their usual training location on a day they were supposed to have off from that. 

Lee did just that, inviting Neji over through a simple “Hey, do you want to meet me here tomorrow at noon? I know we have a day off, but I need to tell you something important alone that you need to hear before the Chunin exams start.” 

Then he had thought things were going to over well when Neji gave him a casual, “I see nothing wrong with that. Whatever it is you need to tell me alone, I am more than willing to learn because for all I know, it could make you a liability during the exams.” 

He didn’t argue with him then, but now that Neji knew the truth of it, he figured he would have heard it from him. 

Instead, what he got was something else entirely: Neji’s byakugan was activated and he quickly hit a point on the back of his hand. 

Lee was left to watch in horror as a lavender mark appeared on the back of his bare hand (he had them unbandaged to show Neji he wasn't looking for a fight or to train), one that bore the Hyuuga name on it in what has to be the most beautiful kanji he’s ever seen and yet, all it did was horrify the omega who tried to hide it with his confusion, “Neji, what is this? Why is my hand marred with the Hyuuga clan’s name on it?”

“It isn’t marred at all—you’re an omega I am going to mate someday, Lee.” 

Now imagine how shocked he was to hear this especially since he had never thought Neji would want him as a mate, let alone a friend, “You want to mate me? Since when!” 

Neji was cool about it all when explaining himself to the omega, “Ever since our first month of training together and I thought it was a shame that someone with as perfect hips and flexibility as you would be a beta with scent glands on your left wrist. I won’t deny that you hid it very well—your scent isn’t the usual omega one, that much I can admit, and it did throw me off for the longest time.” 

He grabbed the hand with his mark on it, giving Lee the hard truth he needed to hear, “Now that I know you are an omega, I intend to make you mine. You’re resilient, flexible, and have the best hip shape for birthing pups. It’s clear that I’d be a fool to not mate you as soon as possible, but I know you’d fight me on it. If not you, then either Tenten or Guy sensei would have my head for trying to court you. Since I cannot follow family tradition with you, I have to use an alternate tradition.”

His thumb runs over the mark, right as Tenten arrives, she too learns at the same time as Lee what the mark means, “This mark is a symbol of the fate you cannot escape—should you ever fight me with your all during the Chunin exams or at any moment in time and lose, your chakra will surrender to mine in this mark and your scent gland will have my mark on it until the day either I or we both pass away together.”

Lee—not being one to give up—was resilient in his optimism, “And if I do beat you then I will be free of this mark, correct?” 

“Yes, you will be, but let’s face it Lee: you will never beat me. Your fate as an omega with that mark on your hand is sealed as such. You will become my omega whether you want to or not. Fate cannot be changed, nor can it ever be escaped.” he does inform him before taking his leave, “That being said, I will not baby you at the Chunin exams, nor will I go easy on you during training. Just because you are meant to be my mate doesn’t mean you will obtain all of the benefits immediately. You are still a ninja for now, but when you lose to me, you will be a Hyuuga omega and things will change from there on out. Until that day, don’t do anything stupid that gets you killed, okay?” 

Tenten felt so devastated and outraged for Lee that she was going to give Neji a piece of her mind on the spot. That is, until Lee stood there strong and resilient as ever, “I’m glad I’m allowed the chance to be your equal for now, Neji. I wouldn’t be able to stand it if you ever tried to baby me or treat me as though I am helpless. Just know that my fate isn’t sealed or inescapable” with all of the strength within himself at that moment, he smiles at everything that just happened to him, “I will beat you and your mark won’t appear on my skin. That much I can promise you.” 

…It was just so Lee to react in such a way that she almost laughed at her own thought of having to comfort a hurt, devastated, crying omega. Of course he wouldn’t take it the worst way possible! It’s Lee, the guy would be the type to use this as a motivation to one day beat Neji in combat!

Neji had to stop himself from laughing at the absurdity of such a claim, but it didn’t stop him from taking Lee’s marked hand into a hold in his own, his eyes full of the same determination and confidence Lee had at the moment, “Very well then, you can live on in your own delusional wonderland, I won’t stop you from it. It doesn’t mean I can’t have a taste of what to expect when I inevitably win.” 

He then did something that had Tenten jumping down from the tree branch in shock and disgust at what he did. 

Neji took Lee’s first kiss without his consent. 

That alone was enough to make her see red, “Neji! I don’t care if you’ve got a weird, creepy crush on Lee or not, it doesn’t excuse you from acting like a jerk to him and stealing his first kiss like that after what you just pulled on him!” 

The alpha didn’t budge when the other alpha held her ground against him, “Lee is going to be my mate someday. I don’t understand the problem you have with that—but what can I expect from someone who probably knew the truth of his condition and kept it a secret from me anyway? Hypocrisy is a bad look on anyone, even you, Tenten.” 

She frowned and with her balled up fist, was ready to punch him, “I didn’t tell you about it because I was afraid you’d try to pull some strings to get him to stop being a ninja because of your dumb sexist takes on things. It was all for the best for Lee and his dreams.” 

“What of mine, though? Didn’t it ever hit you that I stared at his hips and awed in his flexibility and scent because I was attracted to him? Why am I supposed to set my attraction to Lee aside because people who were too incompetent to notice those little things have an issue with it?” 

“How was I supposed to know your creepy comments were anything that remotely suggested you had a crush on him? Honestly Neji, you’re a jerk and I don’t know what you did to Lee, but you better remove that mark from his hand before I break your hand.” 

Neji rolled his eyes and the other alpha was about to strike until he said it: “I cannot remove it. It’s a mark given to an omega a Hyuuga desires to mate without courting. This mark is meant for omegas who either won’t or can’t accept a courting. While the main branch forbade this, my branch didn’t, so I’m in line with what would my clan would accept in this situation. Since I had to use my byakugan and attach it to a specific chakra point on the back of his hand while infusing it with my chakra, there is no way for me to reverse it. The curse seal is already on there and it can only go away after Lee inevitably loses to me in battle after giving it everything he’s got.” 

She was about to hit him and start a war on Lee’s behalf until Lee stopped her, “Tenten, it’s alright. I understand fully what has to happen and sure, he did take my first kiss and used a curse on me to try to make me his, but I don’t care. All that does is give me the motivation I need to work harder so I can give it my all, my very best, when we do fight for real.” 

His smile never fades, his confidence never wavers, as he meet Neji’s gaze, “My fate is not sealed or inescapable. I will fight you at my very and I will win, Neji.”

The alpha has a small laugh at this because he cannot believe he’s being so dense about everything, “Believe whatever you wish, it won’t stop me from being the victor here. I only hope you’re ready for the life of being a Hyuuga omega.” 

Lee doesn’t budge in his optimism, which Tenten finds both admirable and rather stupid. 

Neji is an alpha with a creepy crush on him—he won’t give in that easily and he will do whatever it takes to beat Lee so he can have him for himself. 

(Okay, Tenten thinks the crush is creepy. She didn’t really care for the way she had to remember in a new light all of the times she saw Neji watching Lee demonstrate his flexibility during training, nor did she ever want to think of the way he glared at the shape of his hips when he thought no one was looking. The idea that he did all of the above out of attraction to Lee is enough to send a chill down her spine if she thinks on it too long.)

That aside, Lee is just as confident himself and he’s resilient (she feels dirty even using that word for him now thanks to Neji) to whatever it is life throws at him…so maybe she’s overreacting to this. Maybe she’s reading this all wrong and she has no room to worry.

Lee himself doesn’t appear to be bothered by it at all. If of anything, he’s acting as though this is a normal competition between them which is shocking to her. Any other omega in his position would have been screaming, panicking, fighting him, frowning or crying at the very least and yet…Lee isn’t doing any of the above. All he’s done is stay upbeat, positive, and optimistic. 

Tenten can respect the omega in this moment because he’s shown that he can handle horrible news and a horrible situation without flinching, a sign of a true shinobi with a bright future ahead of him…as long as Neji doesn’t ruin it for him. 

“I’m not ready for that life and I never will be. I will become a ninja and if I have to finally defeat you to do that, then I will.” 

Neji walks away from this in an incredibly casual manner, not caring that Lee is confident or positive or optimistic in the slightest bit. This mark was meant to keep away any and all alphas and betas from Lee. He knows Lee won’t ever beat him in battle; his victory is assured in his eyes. What isn’t secured is the fact that others could be after him without the Hyuuga alpha knowing of it and that is why he had to mark him with the seal that he did.

Tenten will probably tell Guy sensei and he will most likely get a scolding for it, but knowing Lee…he’s too good natured to ever be actually mad at him, let alone annoyed with him over this situation. If of anything, he genuinely will use it as motivation to try to best him in battle no matter how futile his attempts are.

Neji will let him have that. After all, he will be mating him soon and he’d rather start their mating off on a good foot with Lee as opposed to a bad one.

When alone, Tenten couldn’t believe how assured and confident he was on this matter, “Lee, are you sure you don’t want to go to someone in Neji’s clan to get this removed? I’m sure someone would be willing to if you asked—”

“I don’t want that, Tenten.” Lee insisted, his conviction strong, “I am going to beat natural genius with my hard work and one day, Neji will come to regret ever trying to mate me like this.”

She’s not sure what to do here…Lee is so confident that he can win against Neji someday and she’s not positive he can.

Neji is an amazing martial artist. Lee is too, but now that he knows Lee is an omega…who knows what sort of tricks he would use to win in battle? She knows he wants to mate Lee, but she’s not certain how long he has wanted this and whether or not this is an obsession of his that will result in Lee being in a miserable relationship with someone who wants an idealized version of him as opposed to the person he actually is.

She wants to go to Guy sensei and yet, Lee doesn’t seem to think this is necessary going off of what he has to say now, “I know you’re thinking about it, but please don’t tell Guy sensei. I don’t want him to get mad at Neji or at me for not wanting to get this removed. I know it may be a bad thing to keep it, but someday, I am going to defeat Neji in battle giving it my all and this mark is simply a motivator to keep me focused on my goal.”

She really wishes he didn’t view it like this because it makes it sound so positive when she knows it’s anything but, “You shouldn’t keep a secret from Guy sensei like that! Besides, what if you take that bandage off of your arm? Won’t he see it then? Won’t he know what Neji did and be mad at you for lying to him?”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. I don’t want Neji to get in trouble because if he gets in trouble, it will be my fault too because I didn’t react fast enough to stop him from leaving this mark on me. I know it sounds weird, but I don’t want Neji to get in trouble—if he does, then I can’t fight him and beat him and I’ll get in trouble too for not being fast enough to stop him.”

“What? That’s not your fault at all!” she protests, trying to get the omega to see what anyone else could in this situation, “Neji shouldn’t have reacted like that and he had no right to pull the stunt he did! You cannot blame yourself for something he did to you!”

“I can because I’ve been working so hard to beat him that I cannot help but be angry at myself for not being fast enough to stop him!” he’s sad when admitting, “I feel like a complete idiot for not being able to stop him…it is my fault too, Tenten. I should have been able to read his intentions and movements like a true Shinobi, but instead I failed and now I have this mark on me because of that failure.”

She doesn’t see it this way, but she knows it doesn’t matter. If Lee feels this way about it himself, then nothing she says contrary to this will ever be enough to convince him otherwise.

He wraps his hand back up, feeling so stupid for ever falling into Neji’s trap so easily and for being so confident as to show up unbandaged to their training area for once in his lifetime, “Thank you for the support—really, I am grateful for it but this is my mistake to correct and no one else’s.”

Tenten frowns as Lee goes over to his usual spot to train, not letting this get to him at all when anyone else would have been breaking down over it.

Chapter Text

It is hard being a ninja in this world. Try being an omega ninja with an alpha who is far too persistent for her own good on your back and see if you’d be happy to deal with her whenever you're free.

Ino didn’t mind alphas, really. She may have come off as being harsh to them because of the way she consistently stood up to their sexist bullshit throughout her entire life, but that was only because she didn’t want anyone thinking less of her for being an omega. She wanted to be seen as an equal no matter what the cost.

She had been raised all of her life to know that alphas will always think less of her. Her parents never sugarcoated anything to her and she was grateful to them for that because it helped her to have a thick skin whenever she was faced with sexism on any basis in any form.

What she could never get over despite all of the bullshit she had to hear over the years about being an omega kunoichi—‘oh, such a pretty girl like you shouldn’t be a ninja, it’s far too dangerous! Let an alpha do it for you, dear’ all the way to ‘can’t you let the alphas have this one? Omegas are not meant for battle’—is the fact that there is an alpha out there who just won’t get the hint no matter how blunt she is with her.

It was the night before the Chunin exams started that she happened to run into her—no, more like she approached her when all she was doing was getting groceries for her family because her parents were busy, “Ino, do you need any help?”

She knows she cannot react in the way she wants to because she’s being so nice about it and the damned alpha knows that if she keeps playing nice, then everyone around her will side with her if Ino does snap. Hence why in the crowded street, she chooses to go the nice route with her, “No, I’m just fine, it’s only one bag of groceries.”

Her former friend has a look of concern on her face and yet it did nothing to placate her outrage when she heard her say it, “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to leave a beautiful burdened omega alone at night like this in such a vulnerable position.”

Ino can feel her eyebrow at the subtle sexism the alpha masters in, forcing herself to keep her cool even though all she wants is to tell her off, “I’ll be fine. Just because I’m an omega doesn’t mean I am weak.”

“I wasn’t saying that, but it is fact that alphas and betas can take advantage of omegas through our pheromones and tone of voices. If you remember what we had to learn, omegas are extremely vulnerable through no fault of their own—it’s a biology thing. They can’t help it if they need an alpha’s help every once in a while.”

Ino remembers it all too well because she had heard that all of her life growing up every time she told someone she wanted to be a kunoichi.

“Omegas are weaker than alphas—it’s not your fault, but your biology does make you weaker than them.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be a kunoichi…you know there’s a reason why there’s never been an omega kunoichi, right? It’s because it’s too dangerous for omegas to be kunoichis or shinobis in general. I know you don’t wanna hear it, but you’re a pretty omega from a great family—ditch this ninja nonsense and find yourself a good alpha to mate.”

“And you keep on forgetting that I had to stand up to bullies for you back in the day. Alpha bullies, might I add.” Ino points out to Sakura, her stance on this strong, “I don’t need your help with something as simple as going home with groceries.”

Sakura frowns, crossing her arms in front of her chest, “I never forgot that, Ino, and I always thanked you for it. I even looked up to you for a while there, but I don’t need to anymore because I’ve grown as a person now. I don’t know why you’re being so hostile to me when all I’m doing is being nice to you.”

Calm, Ino—keep calm or else you will snap and you will look like the bad guy all over again and the entire village will being going on and on about ‘poor Sakura, that horrible Ino was being mean to her again when all she was doing was being nice to her’ for the next few months.

“I’m not being hostile. All I am saying is I can go home alone with groceries without any help. I am going to be a Chunin soon, Sakura. I’d like to have some respect for that.”

Sakura hums to this, but it doesn’t stop her from walking close to her side, “I know you’re going to try your best at the exam, but you are an omega. You should be open to the idea that you could fail because of an alpha or beta fighting dirty and using your biology against you. I mean, what if an alpha tries to corner you when you’re nearing your heat or uses some sort of pheromone to make you act on your base instincts?”

She grits her teeth, biting back an acidic reply to keep her calm around her former friend, “It’s called heat suppressants and a protection jutsu to prevent the pheromone from having an effect on me. I don’t know why you’re so concerned about me going to the Chunin exams—I did become a Genin, what’s the use of getting so upset over this now? Didn’t you think I’d ever become a Chunin?”

“It has nothing to do with that and it never has. I just think it’s wrong to make omegas do the exams alongside betas and alphas. It gives them an unfair disadvantage all while making them vulnerable to alphas who wouldn’t think twice about hurting them.” Sakura then sighs and grabs her free hand, desperate when making the request she does, “Ino, I don’t want you to go through with these exams without being mated to me. If we’re mated, then other alphas and betas won’t try to hurt you and no one will try to use your biology against you—then you won’t be so weak and vulnerable to their schemes.”

Now it’s taking her everything she’s got within herself to not chew her out right here, right now in public and make a bigger embarrassment of herself than she ever has in the past.

Forgive her for saying this, but Sakura shouldn’t be speaking like this to her for any reason at all. She has worked hard to become a Genin and she did it all without needing to be mated to anyone. She will be fine now in the Chunin exams despite whatever the hell it is she thinks of her.

“I’m not getting mated to you just because you think I am too weak to defend myself!” Ino glares her down while freeing herself of her grip on her free hand, “I can hold my own and I don’t need to be mated to be safe in the exams! I made it this far without an alpha and I will make it farther yet without one.”

Sakura huffs, a frown now on her face as her jade green eyes lock onto the light blue of the omega she’s wanted to mate for years, “You can’t make it farther yet without one. Be realistic with yourself—you need to be mated or else someone else will take advantage of you. You’re an omega, Ino: you don’t have the same muscle mass as an alpha and you’re far more vulnerable to pheromones than alphas and betas are. Whether you want to think it or not, you are weaker than an alpha because of your biology and someday, some alpha will take advantage of that during a mission, on the battlefield, or during these exams. Being mated to me would save you from all of that.”

“I don’t need to hear sexist talking points from you—”

“It’s not a sexist talking point! I’m worried for you!”

Ino pauses to this and lets her speak, wondering where all this is going and if it will end lead her anywhere new, “Look, I am worried for you, okay? I’m afraid of losing you to someone who’s not good enough for you and I’m afraid of you getting hurt. All I want is to keep you safe—I’m becoming a ninja so I can be an alpha who’s good enough for you. I know I’m probably not there yet, but I want to at least do the bare minimum to keep you safe. Won’t you allow me the chance to do this for you at the very least?”

She feels as though this would be more meaningful if she didn’t make sexist comments about omegas before saying this to her face.

Because of this, she discards what she said just now with ease, “Whatever, Sakura. I don’t want a mate and I certainly don’t need one to pass the exams anyway. If you really wanted to keep me safe, you’d have my back in battle instead of trying to shove me behind your back in general.”

“Ino—”

“No, I am not apologizing for what I said, not after all the crap I’ve heard from you just now. Deidara wouldn’t have apologized and neither will I.” she shakes her head, a wistful look in her eyes when she thinks about him for a moment too long, “I cannot believe you’d say that to me after knowing what happened with Deidara…after how badly things ended between us as friends. It’s like you just don’t care about what I have to say, think, or feel because I’m an omega and that’s all you see me as.”

Before leaving Sakura behind, she reminds her: “An alpha stole my brother away and made him into the criminal he’s become. I won’t let that ever happen to me, not when he needs me to bring him home and save him from that bastard’s control.”

Sakura is calling out her name as she moves through the crowd, her mind not really focusing on anything at the moment other than the memories of her big brother making her eyes water and vision blur.

Her big brother who had been nothing but wonderful to her. Her omega big brother who taught her to stand up for herself and never apologize to any alpha or beta for standing up to them or rejecting them. Her omega big brother who was her idol, the one she wanted to be like someday…

The same omega big brother she idolized who left the village on the night of the Uchiha massacre.

At first, they had thought he was kidnapped and killed by Itachi. They had truly thought he had been forcibly marked, raped, tortured, and murdered by the alpha Uchiha. Rumors around the village made their way to Ino’s ear as much as the muffled cries and grim conversations her parents had had with the ANBU investigating Deidara’s disappearance. She didn’t ever want to believe that Deidara—her powerful, inspiring big brother who was going to be the first ever omega from the Yamanaka clan to be a Chunin—was dead and killed by some stupid alpha Uchiha.

Then it came out over time that Deidara was alive, but it wasn’t the joyous news the clan had been expecting.

Deidara became a criminal and over the years, became known as a dangerous S-rank missing nin. There were so many awful things said about him—awful things that could’ve been said about Itachi too given his joining a criminal group around the same time Deidara did that never was. While there were some rumors of Itachi and Deidara being mated, Ino didn’t know if she could believe it or not since Deidara was so against mating in general that him mating Itachi—an alpha she knows he hated before the massacre—didn’t seem right to her. It didn’t seem like something the Deidara she knew would do, despite what others had to say about it.

In fact, she remembers a very specific conversation with Deidara that still to this day stands out so clearly in her mind.

“Hey Ino, you don’t like that Sasuke kid, right?”

The younger omega shook her head from her spot in their family flower shop, “No, why? Should I?”

He growled subtly, his entire aura changing as he went from mild mood to pissed off in a matter of seconds, “No, you shouldn’t, un. Those Uchiha bastards are all the same—arrogant, narcissistic, sexist jerks with the hugest egos around. I swear if you ever come to like someone from that crappy clan, I will hurt you, un.”

Though it was a strange threat to make, Ino took it as her brother looking out for her (since he did have a strange way of looking out for her anyway, so this wasn’t anything too out there by his standards), “Really? Well, if they’re as bad as you say they are, then I believe you! I promise I will never like an Uchiha as long as I live.”

“You mean that?”

She nods and gives him a thumbs up, “I mean it with all of my heart, Deidara.”

He smiled warmly at her, coming over to her side and hugging her tight, “Good, at least that takes a heavy weight off of my shoulders… Do you want to run errands with me, un?”

“Yeah, let’s go!”

Because of this, she has such a hard time believing he ever mated Itachi. She remembers all of his rants about the guy, how much he hated him, and the death glares he used to send his way whenever he was so much as across the street from him. There’s no way in her eyes that he is mated to Itachi, but she can believe that Itachi made Deidara go into the life of crime he is in now because there’s no way her kind brother who always liked to do things with her would ever become the sort of criminal he is rumored to be. No, she knows for fact that Itachi stole her brother from her that night and made him into the criminal he is now.

The thought of this alone is enough to make her blood boil and remind her of the main motivation she has to become a kunoichi in the first place: to kill Itachi Uchiha, bring Deidara home, and clear his name for all of the crimes he is accused of.

She didn’t know she had gotten home until she nearly walked into her own front door, but when she did, she used her free hand to wipe the tears away from her eyes and enter her home without any issue whatsoever.

It wasn’t too dark thankfully, and no one was home…but it didn’t stop her eyes from landing on the photo across the door of her and Deidara together at the shop, a week before he left Konoha with that Uchiha bastard who stole him away from them.

They were smiling, with her doing bunny ears behind his head, and Deidara making a bouquet that would go to their grandma on her birthday. It made her smile at the sight until she remembered what happened a week after the photo was taken.

Setting the groceries down on the table, she approached the photo to get a closer look at it.

She’s seen it so many times, stared at it so often, wondering what could have happened to make Deidara leave them all behind and become what he has…only to remember Itachi and his involvement in all of this. Then her resolve strengthens and she pushes herself to work harder than ever before to make her goal a reality, like Deidara would want her to.

For the longest time, it was hard to not wonder if she did anything wrong, but every time she thought this, she’d always be reminded of all the times Deidara stood up for her whenever the sexist naysayers talked down to her for her dream.

“Shut the hell up! Ino can become a kunoichi if she wants—she’s my sister, not some pushover, un! Just watch, my sister will become the first omega kunoichi and she will be the best one ever!”

“Mating, un? How stupid, my sister is too brilliant to settle for that objectification shit! We’re Yamanaka omegas and we don’t tolerate old, outdated systems like that, un.”

“Dei…” her whisper is to an empty room, to a photo of an older time when he was still around to stick up for her and help her out whenever an alpha was being too much for her to handle, “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened but…”

Her hand against the glass of the frame, her breath held in order for her to speak without any choking or sobbing, she meets his smiling eyes there and is firm when speaking, “I will bring you back. I will kill that Uchiha bastard for taking you away from us and forcing you down a path I know you’d never choose for yourself. After I pass these Chunin exams, I’ll do all that I can to get closer to going on a mission to save you and when I do, I’ll do everything that I can to clear your name so you can finally come back home.”

It will never be the same as speaking to him in person, nor will it ever fill the void he left in her heart after he was taken away by that damned Uchiha, but it’s all she can do to give herself the strength to no longer cry at the memory of him and what he has become—as well as some much needed motivation heading into the Chunin exams coming up tomorrow.

Chapter Text

“Naruto, I did not mean it that way! All I wanted was to have dinner with you.”

“Yeah right, teme! I know better than to trust you!” Naruto snarls, “Anyone who can reject ramen like that is not to be trusted in my book!”

Poor Sasuke; he’s got it bad for Naruto and has ever since he first saw the blonde as a small child before his clan was massacred. He wouldn’t deny that back then he had blushed at the first sight of the lively omega and he may be felt his heart skip a few beats, but he definitely fell hard for him at first sight.

He remembers his brother back then grinning ever so slyly as he forewarned him, “It must be an Uchiha thing to be attracted to loud, blonde, difficult omegas… Be prepared Sasuke, I can tell you from experience this won’t be easy.”

The only difference was Itachi had a crush on Deidara Yamanaka—the omega notoriously known in the village as the ‘worst omega ever’ and ‘unmateable’ for his take no bullshit from alphas behavior and attitude.

In comparison, Sasuke has a crush on Naruto. Naruto doesn’t hate his guts like he remembers Deidara hating Itachi’s, he doesn’t hate all alphas in general like he remembers Deidara doing, he’s not argumentative towards alphas like Deidara was, he’s never bluntly rejected him more than ten times in a row like Deidara did to Itachi, and he doesn’t know he has a crush on him like Deidara did with Itachi.

The sad thing is, Sasuke has been trying to make his feelings for Naruto known in the best ways he knew how. He kept other alphas and betas who showed any interest at all in Naruto away from him through fear, intimidation, and at times physical violence. He did all that he could to get his attention on him even if it meant picking fights with him or being the best in their class so he wouldn’t ever focus on anyone else but himself or besting Sakura at every chance he got during missions and yet Naruto still couldn’t see it!

Even now, the night before the Chunin exams begin, he had tried to get him out on a date with him by asking him out to a barbeque place for dinner…and what did the beautiful dumbass do?

He actually got mad over it right away, “Hey, I thought we were going out to get some ramen!”

“You always have ramen, dobe. It can’t kill you to try something new that could be better.”

“Are you saying ramen’s not as good as barbecue?”

“I’d rather have barbecue right now than another bowl of ramen for a whole month.”

Hence why Naruto is upset with him right now.

He shouldn’t have worded it that way, but ever since he took up buying him lunch as a way to begin the long Uchiha courting process, all he has been buying and eating with him is ramen. Who can blame him for wanting something new, let alone getting sick of ramen after a while?

Oh well…none of it matters now. Naruto is mad and he knows he won’t drop it if he keeps this up. It’s best to walk away for now to give him the time to cool off.

Of course, leave it to a certain someone to make a comment on his situation in all of his arrogant glory, “Looks like your plan to be aloof like Itachi has failed spectacularly.”

Sasuke glares his sensei down, not caring that the older alpha could very damned well kick his ass at any moment here, “I’m not following his plan.”

“Well you could’ve had me fooled… You do remember doing all that he did with Deidara got him nowhere with him, right?”

Sasuke remembers all of the ways he failed to impress Deidara and man, was it many. Itachi quite literally never quit on Deidara even though he made it clear he hated his guts and wanted nothing to do with him. Hell, he went as far as to say, on regular occasion, “If you were to die tomorrow, I wouldn’t cry for you, un!”

In the end when Deidara did go missing after Itachi left the village, he couldn’t deny believing Ino when she said Itachi had to force him to go along through kidnapping, threatening, or manipulation because there was no way he could ever conceive the idea of that omega ever liking his brother enough to leave the village with him.

“I remember that very well…he used to make clay sculpture bombs to try to kill him every single day. What does that have to do with me and Naruto?”

Kakashi is casual when advising him to, “Just tell him that you like him and want to date or court him—whichever you Uchihas do. I’m sure he would be open to it if you were able to properly explain yourself.”

Sasuke furrows his brow at him, giving him a judgmental stare, “How has that worked with Iruka sensei over the years?”

“…It’s better than what you’re doing now.”

In other words, he’s gotten nowhere.

Thought it wouldn’t kill to do that, but…it’s Naruto and Sasuke knows he won’t take it well and he’ll be stuck explaining himself for an hour afterwards if he does confess like Kakashi wants him to.

“Maybe you’re right, but Naruto is not like Iruka sensei. I have to be careful when coming forward to him about this.”

“Just don’t take too long or else someone could come along and sweep him off of his feet.”

Sasuke bites back his laugh to this, not telling Kakashi as he leaves him behind to head home that he would never allow anyone to ever get close enough to Naruto to sweep him off of his feet before he can confess to him.

While this was happening, Naruto was marching back home, annoyed with Sasuke and mad at his insult to ramen. At least Iruka sensei will give him all of the ramen he wants when he gets home!

Unlike Ino who can rant and rave about sexism against omegas from alphas and betas all day long, Naruto cannot say he ever has experienced any of the sexism she talks about. He cannot say any alpha and beta has ever treated him worse than any omega did. If of anything, he has a harder time understanding where Ino is coming from with the sexism talk because to him…it feels like old news, ancient history as opposed to a common problem omegas face every day.

He has befriended alphas, betas, and omegas alike during his missions. He doesn’t believe alphas and betas would ever treat an omega differently or say half of the things Ino told him she’s had said to her. He sometimes wonder if she heard those things because she was rude to the person speaking or something like that. He knows Deidara was never the nicest to alphas and betas—and then wondered why they spoke down to him in return. In Naruto’s eyes, it’s pretty clear that if you treat a person poorly, they will respond in kind.

Of course, he would never say to Ino’s face. She is the only other omega Genin from the academy and she was the one who said it back when they first met in Iruka sensei’s class “The life of a Shinobi is hard for an unmated omega like you and me. We’ve got to stick together if we want to survive this together, Naruto.”

He’d rather stick together in a show of solidarity than be on her bad side. He remembers Deidara’s outbursts against any alpha or beta who’d piss him off and he knows Ino could be just as capable of doing the same thing if pushed too far going off of the way he’s seen her snap at Sakura over the years.

That being said, he is shocked more omegas aren’t becoming ninjas, but then again…the only omega ninja he’s seen so far is Iruka sensei. Other than him, he’s never seen another one before and as such, he’s feeling more motivated to become the first omega hokage ever than what he did when he was younger.

When he does get home, he is greeted with the smell of ramen in the air and Iruka sensei’s warm call of, “Welcome home, Naruto! Dinner’s ready whenever you want to eat.”

“I’ll eat now, sensei!” Naruto called back as he happily made his way in the home of his sensei who took him in shortly after he entered the academy.

He’s forever grateful to Iruka because the man took him in and became the parent he never had growing up. It also helped that he always knew how to cheer him up after a long, tedious or bad day: a big bowl of ramen.

At the dinner table, he begins to eat the ramen, but it’s not without Iruka asking, “I was getting worried about you for a while there…where were you, Naruto? You’re never home this late, especially on a ramen night.”

Naruto sighs after slurping down his noodles, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to come home this late, honest. That stupid teme asked me to have dinner with him after months of him having lunch with me and eating ramen just fine—only for him to complain about ramen and try to take me to barbecue! He knows I like to celebrate special events with special ramen, the damned teme!”

Iruka pauses, pointing out to him before he can get some more noodles, “It sounds like Sasuke was being considerate this entire time and wanted to do something special with you before the Chunin exams started.”

Naruto huffs to this, not seeing what all he could be talking about, “Yeah right…”

“No, Naruto think about it: he didn’t have to eat lunch with you for months when you were in a bitter competition with him to best him in everything he did, he didn’t have to pay for those lunches either, and he certainly did not have to train with you this entire time on his free time either. It sounds like Sasuke wanted to do something special with you—something new that he likes—and you just took it all the wrong way by being incredibly inconsiderate of him.”

Iruka sensei knows enough about Naruto’s rants by now to know that ‘teme’ and anything ‘teme’ related is always a reference to Sasuke. The fact this is true is enough to make Naruto feel a bit dumb at times, but right now, with everything he just said, he feels like a jerk, “…Now you’re making me feel bad for ditching that teme.”

His adopted parent shrugs, “I’m not doing this on purpose. I’m just an outsider giving you an outsider perspective.”

He groans and sets his chopsticks, “Alright, I guess it can’t kill me to eat something other than ramen for once…but it doesn’t mean I will like it.”

“You never know, you could come to like it somewhat if you gave it a try.”

“Maybe.”

Naruto wonders, “Is it worth it to go out and try to find him? I mean, what if he’s home by now? Should I go to his home and apologize so we can eat the barbecue together like he wanted?”

Iruka sensei shoots this down as a possibility because, “No, Naruto. You were already out way past curfew and I don’t want you to be going out again so soon. If you want to apologize to Sasuke, you can do it tomorrow before or after the first part of the Chunin exams are over. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with spending time with me at home before your big day tomorrow.”

The young omega grins; the idea that he will become a Chunin soon has him extremely excited and to know he could become the second ever omega Chunin alongside Ino is something that has him bursting at the seams with positive energy not seen in a while now, “Right, nothing wrong with that at all! So, are you gonna tell me anything about the Chunin exams?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you and you shouldn’t be trying to weasel answers out of me.” Iruka sensei scolds him gently while he eats some more of the takeout ramen from the glass bowl “Are you sure you’re really ready for this? The Chunin exams are no joke, especially for an omega.”

He frowns to this, finding that last part to be a bit strange to say, “Why would it be any harder for an omega? We’re no different from alphas and betas. Why would it be harder for us?”

The older omega sighs, his eyes meeting his own in a bit of hesitation, “Naruto, I know Ino can be brash and difficult at times for alphas and betas to get along with, but…she has a point when she brings up the sexism issues omegas in the ninja world face. As the only omega ninja in the entire village, I’ve been told more than once that I need to step down and focus on getting a mate and pups by many alphas and betas of all ages. It’s something you will definitely hear from these alphas and betas from not only Konoha but also other villages who are far more sexist than we are.”

“Are you sure about that? Because having been to another village in the past, I didn’t encounter anything like that once. I honestly think you’re overblowing this stuff out of proportion—maybe back in the day people were sexist, but they’re not now.”

“Naruto, sexism is a cultural and societal problem that won’t go away overnight. You may have had good luck now, but that doesn’t mean it will last from here on out. You will meet sexist alphas and betas who are of a younger age someday and you will have to deal with them in real life as often as I have done in the past.”

“Uh-huh…I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Iruka says nothing else to this, knowing by now he won’t get anywhere with the stubborn blonde.

Naruto constantly hears this from his sensei and yet he has no reason to believe it. As such, he doesn’t and he won’t until he experiences it for himself someday.

There’s a knock on the door something after they finish eating their meal. Naruto answers it and is not all shocked to find he is seeing his other sensei yet again at his place, “Hello Kakashi sensei. Why are you here? Did your oven really explode again?”

Naruto doesn’t know why Kakashi always visit his home at nights whenever they have a mission in Konoha that doesn’t require them to spend the night elsewhere. He always says it’s because of his oven exploding, his food being expired, his refrigerator dying, or of a self proclaimed ‘nonexistent cooking skills’ he claims to possess (though Naruto knows this is a lie having been on missions with him in the past).

Maybe he really does have bad luck with kitchens and food in general…

“No, my oven did not explode this time around, but I am all out of food and I am rather hungry—is there any chance I could come in and get something to eat?”

“Couldn’t you go to a restaurant for that?”

“I could, but why spend the money?” Kakashi muses before Iruka approaches the door and meets the silver haired alpha’s gaze, “Ah, hello Iruka, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Why are you here?” Iruka asks him bluntly, his face showing his annoyance quite well in Naruto’s eyes, “If your oven really did explode again for the fifth time this month—”

He waves his hand, his excuse rather glib given the situation he was interrupting, “No, not at all. You see, I am all out of food and I am rather hungry—”

“Can’t you go to a restaurant for that?”

“I could but why waste the money?”

“You have more money than me, Kakashi. There’s no need to be that cheap.”

Despite his huff, Kakashi didn’t back off once, “Why do that when all I really want is good company with good food to share with my favorite person in the village?”

Iruka has a comeback for this too, “We both know that’s a lie, so if you please, I am trying to spend time with Naruto before the exams tomorrow—”

“Oh the exams? Why don’t I come in and give Naruto some helpful hints that could protect him from anyone predatory there? Surely that wouldn’t be a bad thing to do, right Iruka?”

Iruka appeared to consider this, but not without coming up with his own rejection, “I would let you in for that, but seeing as how you were the one who pushed for him to enter the Chunin exams when I wasn’t comfortable with it…I don’t believe there’s any reason for me to want you around now. Goodbye, Kakashi. Enjoy your takeout and have a nice evening alone.”

He slams the door shut on him and with a released breath, is able to offer to Naruto, “Do you want to maybe shoot off some fireworks to celebrate your accomplishment? I figure that would be a fun way for us to spend some time together and do something exciting at the same time.”

Naruto does like the idea, in fact, he thinks it’s the most thing ever, “Ah, yeah! Fireworks sound awesome! Let’s go shoot them off, Iruka sensei!”

Before he could go get them, he was stopped by the voice of the ninja he had thought he gotten rid of for the night, “Fireworks? My, how dangerous. Are you sure you wouldn’t want someone else there to celebrate this momentous occasion? Such as…his current sensei?”

Iruka exhales and before he can really chew Kakashi out for breaking into their home, Naruto pleads with him, “Please, Iruka sensei, can’t he come along too? I’d love it if Kakashi were there to celebrate with us.”

Not being able to say ‘no’ to him at times—and Naruto knows which times to pull the puppy dog eyes—he gives in on this one moment to his request, “Alright, Kakashi can come. Only if he agrees to pay for our dango and other treats.”

“Sure, fine by me.” Kakashi agrees without missing a beat, “So, while we’re on the topic of celebration…how about we—”

“Focus on Naruto’s accomplishments as a Genin for tonight? Sure, I think that’d be great.”

Naruto isn’t sure what’s going on between them…but whatever it is…it must be related to ninja work somehow in a way he isn’t seeing just yet.

He doesn’t ask questions about it tonight, though. Not when he is having a fun night of celebration and good food with his two favorite ninjas in the world.

Chapter Text

Tenten had thought Lee would be a wreck on the morning of the Chunin exams. Neji had believed he would show up to put up a front to him, break under the pressure, and challenge him to a fight where he would inevitably win and mark the omega he’s been so enamored with for far too long.

Instead, Lee was his usual, optimistic self, “Good morning Tenten, Neji! I cannot wait to take these exams—then I’ll become a Chunin just like Iruka and hopefully I’ll inspire more omegas to become shinobis.”

Neji held his tongue, yet he did manage to remind him, “You’ll only become a Chunin if you pass the exams, Lee. You’ll only remain one if you get to beat me in battle, remember?”

Tenten seethed at the smug Hyuuga, her hostility towards him hardly hidden in her voice or her stance, “How can you bring that up to him now? Lee needs support here, not you rubbing what you did to him in his face like that.”

Lee spoke up for himself then, reminding her, “Tenten, it’s alright. The mark on my hand is nothing more than a motivator for me to give it my all so when I do battle Neji, I can win.”

She was about to argue with him when Neji beat her to it, “If you want to fight the inevitable so badly, then fine, be my guest and fight it. Just know that I meant it when I said it earlier: I will not baby you, Lee and in case if you couldn’t tell, I won’t go easy on you either.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She will never understand how Lee can be so upbeat about this whole experience he’s had, but she knows questioning him is futile at this point. If he wants to be positive about this, then she will let him be positive about this.

Their walk over to the area the first part of the exams would begin was uneventful (save for the gazes Neji will give Lee’s legs that Tenten is now viewing in a whole new light). It wasn’t until they were inside the building that Lee perked up.

Here he had been so excited to meet the other omega Genin he had heard about—Ino Yamanaka and Naruto Uzumaki—that he almost forgot all about his strategy to battle Neji entirely at the sight of Naruto, “No way, you’re Naruto Uzumaki—the only other omega Genin aside from myself and Ino Yamanaka!”

He can tell he made Naruto feel special with this comment, and it makes him believe that maybe he’s off to a good start with the other omega, “Yep, I’m the one and only Naruto Uzumaki, in the flesh! Who are you anyway, bushy brows?”

“I’m Rock Lee and I’m so excited to meet you! I didn’t think any other omega Genin would be here except for me.” Lee admitted to Naruto, yet behind his smile is a wave of relief crashing upon him.

Neji’s mark…for all of the motivation it gives him…it also scares him at the same time.

He knows Neji always spoke lowly of Iruka for being an omega Chunin as much as he did Deidara, Ino, and Naruto for being omega ninjas. He firmly believes omegas are fated to be barefoot and pregnant. Because of this belief Neji held, he never felt comfortable coming out to him as an omega. Luckily for him, Guy sensei and Tenten seemed to catch onto this without him having to beg them to not tell him. The only reason why he did tell Neji the truth was because he figured he had finally become strong enough to be respected as an omega ninja by him—only to have him do something like that to him instead.

With Naruto being an omega, he feels safer to vent about what’s really on his mind without having to fear about Tenten starting a fight with Neji or Neji doing something that would end up in him being forced to mate him. His clan is nowhere near prestigious or wealthy like the Hyuuga clan is. If Neji really wanted to force him to be his mate using his clan’s wealth and power alone, he could. With this knowledge in mind, Lee has been bottling up quite a bit of stuff going on with him personally that he hopes he can get off of his chest with the other omegas around.

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong!” he was like a ball of sunshine and it made Lee feel safe to be by someone who he would definitely be able to get along with, “I am going to become the first ever omega hokage and I won’t let anything get in my way! Not even that stupid teme no one can stop obsessing over!”

It really did uplift his spirits to have Naruto here, but not enough to make his own goal at the sight of Uchiha alpha go away, “Naruto, I hope you don’t mind, but I want to face Sasuke in a fight before the exams begin.”

“Huh? Why? I thought you were happy to see me.”

“I am, but I just—ah!” he gasps as it feels like his body—no, not his body…his chakra…it feels as though his chakra is burning him from the inside out.

Naruto immediately is by his side as he looks over him in concern, “Whoa, are you okay bushy brow? You don’t look too good right now—is it because Sasuke’s scent is disgusting?”

The alpha Uchiha was about to comment on that when Neji came from behind and took his hand, “No, Lee. You don’t need to fight him.”

“You said you wouldn’t baby me, Neji. Why are you doing this right now?” he grit through his teeth as he fought through the pain, wavering slightly in his stance as he remained standing.

“Because I don’t need you anywhere near some alpha who could beat and mark you right before I get the chance to become a Chunin. Remember what Guy sensei said, if one loses, we all do. I won’t let you be the reason why I lost.”

It may come off as selfish concern, but Neji is actually doing this to better gauge whether or not Sasuke has any interest whatsoever in Lee. He has every intention to best the Uchiha in battle himself at first chance he can get, and if Sasuke does show interest in Lee…things could get ugly for him very quickly if he’s not careful.

It’s a bit of drama Neji would rather avoid if he can so as to not cause Lee or Tenten to speak out about the mark on his hand.

Sasuke, luckily for Lee, scoffed at the very notion Neji was hinting at, “I would never want to mark this omega. I already have another I’d much rather be with than anyone else.”

…How the blonde omega beside him could not get what he was practically admitting to for everyone to see is beyond the Hyuuga alpha, but he doesn’t pry or complain. Knowing his competition is secure for him to defeat, he decides to allow Lee the chance to go up against the alpha, “I see…okay, Lee. You can face him if you want, just don’t get too beat up.”

Lee smiles as the pain vanishes instantly, feeling more like himself in that moment, “Don’t worry Neji, that won’t happen with me!”

Neji has a feeling it will, but it’s Lee. Who is he to stop him from fighting an alpha who’s not interested in him?

While Lee does feel relieved to be able to take on Sasuke, he is a bit concerned about the pain he felt just now and the relation it has to the mark on his hand.

He did fight Sasuke and he almost won…except he got in trouble with Guy sensei for almost using a forbidden jutsu on the alpha. He was glad to hear Naruto pointing out how hard he trained, but he had a feeling the other omega caught onto his hand being marred by the mark Neji left on him before the Chunin exams started.

During the first part of the exams, it wasn’t too bad and it certainly was not anything he couldn’t handle. If of anything, it was pretty easy to catch on what the first part of the exams were about rather quickly for him and his team.

The only off putting part about the first part of the exams was the way the other alpha and beta Genin had reacted to his scent.

Unlike Neji, many of them seemed to have caught onto his omega status right away. As such, many of them kept trying to get too close to him with a few of them trying to scent mark him for themselves. Those few that did wound up leaving the exam due to a sudden bout of illness—which made Lee feel relieved at first, until he wondered if it had anything at all to do with the mark hidden by the bandage on his hand.

He had wanted so desperately to speak to Ino or Naruto after the first part of the exam was over, but he never got that chance. It was starting to get to be a bit difficult to bare since he had never known what all the mark on his hand could do or not outside of making him Neji’s mate should he lose to him in battle. Asking Neji himself didn’t garner him any answers or ease his concerns; no, all it did was make him far more nervous than he had to be given the vague response he received when he asked, “Neji, is there something more to the mark on my hand that you aren’t telling me?”

“If there is, you should be grateful for it. You are an omega worthy enough to be my mate; I’d rather die than face the shame of losing you to someone beneath me.”

“That doesn’t answer anything! All I want is for you to tell me if those people who left the first part of the exams because of some sudden illness became that way because of the mark or not. Omega or not, I am still your teammate and I deserve an honest answer from you.”

All Neji did was shrug off his concerns, speaking to him as though he were overreacting, “It’s nothing for you to worry about, Lee. Whatever happened back there, happened and you need to move on from it.”

When he had grabbed his hand to try to stop him from leaving and get him to answer his question, he was met with Neji shoving him against a wall in a harsh manner and kissing him with too urgency for it to be normal, with the final words he heard on the manner from him being, “Don’t think too much about it. What’s done is done and you need to accept that.”

It’s getting harder and harder to accept things as is.

He doesn’t want people getting sick or worse because of him. Lee wants to win on his own merits, not because of some stupid mark on his hand. To him this feels like cheating, but at the same time, he knows if he tells any adult about it, they will punish Neji and he’ll never get to live his ninja dream, let alone fight the alpha and win. Because of this, he keeps quiet about it all to the adults in the exam as well as to every other alpha and beta Genin at the second half of the exam.

The only people he felt any bit comfortable talking about this to were Naruto and Ino, but he figured they’d only talk to him in a civil conversation when they get to the tower in the Forest of Death. Which meant he would have to keep up his front for now, burying his anxieties and fears around the mark on his hand for the time being.

Before heading off to find someone to fight for their scroll, Tenten did pull him aside right after Neji left, concern bubbling underneath her skin as she looks him over, “Lee, are you okay? Is Neji treating you any differently?”

“Why would you ask me that?” he speaks with a smile that is forced in the hopes she wouldn’t notice it or ask too many questions he doesn’t feel comfortable answering to her, “He hasn’t acted differently at all and I’m just fine with that—I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong here, Tenten.”

He felt horrible for lying to his teammate, but it needed to be done. Knowing her, she would have confronted Neji over what he did and that’s the last thing their team needs if they want to pass these exams.

She appeared hesitant to buy it, with her hands on her hips and a small show of teeth on the bottom lip she was biting at his answer, “Are you positive about that?”

“I am.” Lee does his best to put her concerns at bay, though he knows it won’t do much in the long run, “Listen, we have to do everything we can get to the scroll we need so we can pass this exam and become Chunins. If we’re going to do that, we need to work together, okay?”

With a sharp inhale, she nods and gets ready to leave him behind, “You’re right…just promise you’ll tell me everything after we become Chunins together.”

He was stunned to hear this—that is, until he heard her talk, “I know you’re hiding something from me and I know you don’t feel safe telling me the truth for some reason or another. If you really don’t feel safe telling me because of the exams we’re in now, then I understand. All I want is for you to keep that promise. Can you do that, Lee?”

He agrees, feeling some weight taken off of his shoulders for the time being, “I can! I’m sorry I can’t tell you now Tenten, but I promise I will tell you everything after we’re all Chunins!”

He does intend to tell her everything after they are Chunins, even though he knows she will take it poorly. That being said, the fact he was able to put this off without any complaint from her had him feeling lighter after all of the weirdness that’s gone on ever since that mark came on his hand.

Because of this, he was able to make it through his first day there without letting it get to him too badly. As long as he kept telling himself to focus on passing this part of the exam, he found he could go on for quite a long time without thinking about it and to be fair to him, he did manage to do just that.

He even managed to do it when he found Sakura with a passed out Naruto and Sasuke, about to be attacked by these alpha creeps who he knows probably have it out for Naruto just because he’s an unconscious omega.

When he showed up just in time, he told her with all of the confidence within himself, “Don’t worry Sakura, I’ll keep you and your teammates safe.”

Unfortunately, the alphas from the Sound Village didn’t take this too seriously. In fact, he can safely say they gave him the most sexist reaction he’s ever received from anyone in his time as a Genin.

“You, an omega, protecting this worthless alpha and her worthless teammates? Yeah right! Who are you kidding? You’re an omega—don’t you have some alpha to be fucking right about now?”

“Yeah, I agree with her. An omega like you should be back home, making cookies for your alpha, not playing ninja like you are now.”

Perhaps the worst one yet was the one with the bandages on his face, his visible eye was taking him in, making him feel small and as though he were being viewed as an object as opposed to a person, “Looks like the little omega wants to get mated and fucked, huh? Well fine then; I’ll be sure to give you the marathon a perky young thing like you deserves.”

Lee didn’t let this stop him from trying to fight the alpha. He went all out with using his forbidden jutsu, but in the end, the fall was cushioned by the alpha man with the brown hair, “Nice try, omega. Maybe you should have thought twice before trying to get into an alpha’s line of work.”

The alpha with the bandaged face used his sound jutsu on him, making his ears feel as though they were hit with the worst infection ever and everything around him spin far too fast for him to control.

Before he knew it, he felt himself being pushed on the ground—though the ground looked like a swirling mess of green and brown that no longer resembled grass and dirt—with the alpha coming close to his neck, his body heavy on him and his words making it through the ringing of his ears somehow, “Don’t worry, omega, I’ll make sure you like it.”

He can vaguely hear Sakura screaming—it sounds like “Don’t touch him!” but he’s not too sure with the ringing being as intense as it is—and it’s when he feels the alpha’s hand on the skin of his neck that he hears it loud and clear.

The alpha on top of him lets out a blood curdling shriek as his teammates panic and rush over to pull him off of the omega, only to be shrieking as well for reasons Lee doesn’t quite understand given his position on the forest floor as well as the disorienting effect of the jutsu still going strong.

Soon after hearing these shrieks from all three Sound Village Genins, he feels them getting off of him, which is a great relief. Though he couldn’t figure out what was going on right away—all he could hear was a mixture of shrieks that were dying down and Sakura’s cry of, “Lee, what’s going on? What’s happening to them? Lee? Lee!”

He wishes he could answer, but right as the jutsus effect was wearing off, he felt the touch of Neji on the back of his neck, the alpha’s voice a simple command: “Sleep for now, Lee. There’s no need to worry about it; those alphas are gone for good and will never be around to harm you ever again.”

…He has a bad feeling about this, but what can he do about it?

Whatever it is Neji did with his mark, he will simply have to learn from Sakura when he wakes up. Though he wonders if he truly wants to know or not.

Chapter Text

On the day of the Chunin exams, Ino hadn’t been as excited as Lee and Naruto. If of anything, she went in with a steely resolve to become a Chunin so she could bring Deidara home and clear his name after so many years of hearing nothing but awful things said about him.

It was enough of a change in her demeanor—or at least she thinks it must have been—for Shikamaru to note, “You seem serious today…you’re usually going on about being the first ever omega kunoichi or blaming the Uchiha for your brother’s crimes. What’s gotten you so quiet now and how can we keep it up?”

“I am going to become a Chunin, Shikamaru. I don’t need to distract myself now, not when I need to do all that I can to pass these exams and bring Deidara back.”

Shikamaru feels alone in his own thoughts that Deidara chose to become a criminal of his own free will without any Uchiha trickery. Perhaps he is a horrible person for thinking so, but he doesn’t agree with Ino on this. He’s never vocalized this to her, yet he never once wavered in his own thoughts on it.

Forgive him for thinking that Deidara’s many, many outbursts weren’t due to sexism only…

Of course, he’s not one to discredit the sexism omegas face in the ninja world and society as a whole. He knows there are laws that are sexist against omegas, he knows Iruka sensei received far too much flack for being the only omega Chunin in their village, and he knows there are many omegas who ultimately don’t become ninjas or quit being Genin because the pressure to find an alpha or beta to mate (along with the harsh sexism faced in the field) is enough to burn them out. Unlike Naruto and many others, he knows the sexism is real and he doesn’t partake in it because he sees it as being wrong.

It’s just that in the case of Deidara, he has an incredibly hard time believing that he did everything he did because of sexism alone. He believes Ino tends to look upon her brother with rose tinged glasses of nostalgia so severely to the point where she cannot think back on him with a critical lens. Though he believes she won’t do this because she knows deep down if she did, then she’d have to accept the fact that he was a flawed human being who didn’t need to be manipulated, forced, or coerced into a life of crime by Itachi Uchiha—which, it should go without saying, would ruin her world even though he firmly believes she should before the truth of his nature does devastate her completely.

Oh well, there’s no point in getting upset over or thinking about it. What does matter now is getting this exam done and over with already.

Chouji, on the other hand, is entering this with a certain calm to himself, “Whatever, you can get brother if you want, but after these exams, I’m going out to get myself some barbecue as a Chunin! You wanna check it out with me, Shikamaru?”

The lazy genius accepts the offer as half heartedly as ever, “Fine, but don’t expect me to pay for it.”

“Like I’d ever ask you to do that!”

As they are able to speak about food, all Ino can think about is getting this done so she can become a Chunin to get Deidara back.

She knows they probably think her goal is futile, but she really is committed to it—she’ll kill Itachi for taking her brother away from her and bring Deidara back so he can finally clear his name.

Chouji paused, looking at her oddly, “Um, Ino—your scent is a bit intense right now. Maybe you could try toning it down for those of us who aren’t on your hit list.”

“Oh, sorry, Chouji.”

In all truth, she likes her teammates. Shikamaru fully understands sexism and how hard she’ll have it as the first ever omega kunoichi, which is why he does stand up for her whenever they do deal with sexists during missions or elsewhere. Chouji is a beta and they get the best treatment in Konoha right alongside alphas, so much so to the point where they are at times called ‘honorary alphas’. Despite this, he too is quick to support her whenever someone doubts her ability to be the first ever omega kunoichi and as such, she is grateful for him as well.

Do they drive her up a wall at times? Yes, they do, but she knows she does the same to them since they never really sugarcoat it when she does. It doesn’t mean she hates them or wants to make them uncomfortable with her soured scent at any given moment when she gets angry over thoughts of that stupid Itachi Uchiha stealing her brother away from her.

“It’s no problem, just don’t get too mad today. Some alphas and betas would take that as a challenge against them personally and you’d never know what they would pull in a stressful environment like the one we’re going into today.” He means well, but Ino herself isn’t worried. She’s doing this for Deidara. Her brother never failed her, and she refuses to fail him now.

She thinks back on her brother on the last day she ever saw him and the final words he said to her back then before leaving her because of that damned Uchiha:

“Ino, don’t ever let any alpha steal your dream, your freedom, and your independence from you. Trust me—no alpha bastard is ever worth it, un.”

Whether or not this had anything to do with Itachi that she didn’t know about, she’s not certain. All she knows is she is going to follow her brother’s advice and become a kunoichi he will be proud of when he finally comes home…when she finally brings him back to their home.

The first part of the exams wasn’t too bad—if of anything, she was happy to see Naruto there and she could’ve sworn there was a scent of another omega in the air, but she couldn’t find them when the room was as crowded as it was then.

“Naruto, hi!” she greeted him with a wide smile and a hug, “It’s been too long—how have you been? Has the Uchiha been any good to you or do you need to kill put him on my kill list too?”

Naruto knows by now what all Deidara used to say to her about Uchihas (she never sugarcoated this to him whenever they spoke) and while she knows he doesn’t have the biggest problem with Sasuke that Deidara did with Itachi, she still worries over him being in the same squad as an arrogant Uchiha.

“Don’t worry Ino; he may be a teme, but he’s not worth killing just yet.” Naruto reassures her with a smile as their hug is broken off and Ino can feel the strong death glare of the Uchiha on her back.

She knows Sasuke doesn’t care for her—he has regularly accused her of ‘trying to turn Naruto against me’ back at the academy—but she doesn’t care what he thinks. If he ever does hurt Naruto, she will kill him after killing Itachi.

“Right…so is my nose deceiving me or is there another omega here?”

To this, he immediately lights up, “There is another omega here! He’s a Genin from Konoha just like us! His name is Rock Lee, he’s got these bushy eyebrows, but he’s also really strong and awesome in battle. Your brother would’ve loved watching him kick Sasuke’s butt earlier!”

She grins at the thought of Sasuke—the ever mighty Uchiha alpha—losing to an omega like this Rock Lee person, “You’re right, Deidara would’ve loved that! It would have made him so happy to see an omega beating an Uchiha for once…”

Deidara did try to beat Itachi but lost every time they sparred. It was always a dream of his to see an omega defeating an Uchiha alpha in battle. Which is why it almost brings a tear to her eye as she realizes just how much he’s missed over the years since he’s been gone.

The tears die though when she remembers it was Itachi who took him away in the first place, “Is there anything else to this Rock Lee guy that would help me spot him out? I know we may be in an exam where we’re supposed to compete against each other, but omegas have to stick together or else we could all fail as ninjas.”

“Well, he wears a green jumpsuit and he’s got a bowl cut—don’t worry, you’ll notice him when you meet him. He’s incredibly hard to miss, but don’t be thrown off by his scent. It smells like a beta scent at first. When you get used to it though you can spot out some softer notes to it that any omega would have.”

“Okay, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for that.” she pauses before going to look for him, “Oh, who are his teammates by the way? Are they all betas or alphas or both? I want to be sure I’m not going to be dealing with some weird alpha or beta pulling some sexist crap to prevent him from speaking to me.”

Naruto gives her his most honest, even if it does make his scent sour at the memory of it, “He has this guy named Neji on his team who seems to act like a real jerk to him. I don’t know the name of his other teammate, but I’m positive they’re nowhere near as punchable as that Neji guy.”

Neji…where has she heard of that name before?

Did he come from a clan that Deidara hated?

She’s not too sure, but she does want to meet this Rock Lee and give him her respect for beating Sasuke earlier.

Before she can go to meet him, she is cut off by Sakura calling out to her, “Ino, you’re here? I had no idea—”

“That I could make it? Well guess what, I did.” she was rough in her response to the alpha, but she didn’t care. What she really wanted to do was find this Rock Lee guy and thank him for beating Sasuke in battle.

If Sakura weren’t getting in her way of that, she wouldn’t be as annoyed as she is right now.

Sakura, on the other hand, feels a bit annoyed.

She is shocked Ino made it here because she thought it would’ve been too dangerous for an omega to survive ninja missions. All she really wanted to do was to make sure she’s okay and not hurt by any alpha or beta she could have encountered, what was so wrong with that?

She swears, her brother just poisoned her against all alphas and betas for no reason whatsoever…stupid Deidara! Why did he have to be so influential in her life? Why couldn’t it have been anyone else who held a good view of alphas and betas like Naruto does?

“Listen, all I want is to be sure you’re okay and that you didn’t get hurt by any alpha or beta. I don’t see how that’s wrong or a bad thing.” her inner Sakura was simply raging against Deidara, growling,“Stupid Deidara! When I see that guy again, I’m going to beat him, cha!”

“I am just fine. I am just as capable and powerful as any alpha and beta here, Sakura. I don’t need you to protect me and baby me like I’m some weak flower in your eyes.”

Before Sakura could comment on much else, Shikamaru stepped in before things got really ugly between them. Having sensed (as well made an accurate guess) that Sakura would say something to escalate the situation, he did all that he could to intervene before more attention was drawn to them, “Guys, look there’s some beta offering to give us cards on certain people in the exam.”

By drawing their attention to Kabuto, the crisis is averted for now and Shikamaru can breathe easy for now.

After the first part of the exams was over, she tried to find Lee, only to not succeed in this endeavor which was very disappointing for her. Then when she did get a chance to see him right before they had to enter the Forest of Death, she was stopped in her attempt by Sakura approaching her, “Ino, wait, let me scent mark you! That way no alpha or beta will try to mark you by force!”

“I don’t need your scent mark! I’ll be fine on my own!”

“Nonsense, you’ll need it and you know it. You don’t know what these other alphas and betas are like; how do you know they won’t do something horrible to you to win in these exams?”

She was about to implode on her when Chouji interrupted the conversation with a basic tug on her arm, “Ino, we need you to brainstorm a strategy here! We will lose in these exams if your input isn’t given right away.”

She takes a breath to calm herself and walks away from the irritating alpha, “…Alright, I’ll be there.”

With her head held high, she walks away from Sakura for now and does all that she can to focus on passing this second part of the exams.

The first day wasn’t too bad in the forest. What did catch her off guard was the way she had ran into Neji and dealt with his sexism firsthand as soon as she recognized from the memories of what Deidara and Naruto told her, “Wait—you’re Lee’s teammate? The one Naruto called a jerk?”

Neji’s face is stoic but his eyes show his disdain clear as day, “I am but I am not a jerk, omega. Whatever it is I do to Lee, it’s only done out of what’s best for him. It’d be in your best interest as well as that of the other omegas to stay out of it.”

She was about to argue with him on this, but the fast Hyuuga was gone before she could really chew him out on anything. Shikamaru, in response, took her hand and reminded her, “Forget that guy. We have to get a scroll if we want to become Chunins, remember? Now, let’s focus on doing just that.”

“Right, let’s focus on that.”

Ino really did try her best to do just that, but it was easier said than done when her team wound up being in close vicinity to the area where Sakura was attacked by a gang of three alphas with Naruto—her fellow omega—being knocked out cold.

At the sight of those alphas trying to peek at him, making their crude comments of, “Look, there’s a pretty omega over there, all passed out too. What do you say we forget about Sasuke and take him for ourselves? All we have to do is kill the alphas and then we’ll have our own personal fuck toy.” Ino saw red.

The alpha in the bandages hummed to this, his eyes on the omega on the ground—Lee…that had to be Lee! The poor guy, he was knocked out and about to be taken advantage of by those pricks!

“You two can have the blondie. I’ll take this one right here; he’s got the better body and flexibility for days if he could use a taijutsu like that.”

She stood up from her spot in the bushes, readying herself with a jutsu as she told her friends, “I’m not standing down now, not when Lee and Naruto need me to keep them safe! C’mon Shikamaru, Chouji, we’re joining in on this fight!”

Shikamaru, on the other hand, pulled her back into the bushes, “Ino, you idiot! We can’t join this fight!”

“Why not? You did nothing to stop us from going here in the first place!”

“Only because I thought Naruto’s team would be the easiest one to beat and no, it’s not because he’s an omega, it’s because he’s a class clown with no real ninja skills.”

Before she can do something incredibly stupid, he kept his grip on her strong, “Look, there’s something going on with the chakra coming off of that guy on the ground. Whatever it is, it could get you killed if you dare to possess someone’s body right now.”

Thanks to Shikamaru pointing this out, she is able to see there is a strange chakra coming off of Lee as the alpha on top of him leans close to his ear to say something to him that she couldn’t catch, but it was promptly followed by a terrified Sakura standing up with a kunai in her hand, shouting defiantly, “Don’t touch him!” as he came close to marking the omega right then and there.

Before they all knew it, the man on top of Lee…he was…starting to wither away in rapid procession in front of them. His legs and arms thinned out as did his face. Somewhere in this horrifying display, his teammates tried to save him, only to meet the same fate the moment they touched him and found themselves merged to his body with no way out. Soon after this, the entire team of alphas were mummified alive before withering away further yet into dust flowing on the wind, but not without Sakura crying out what they were all thinking as this horrific display happened before their very eyes, “Lee, what’s going on? What’s happening to them? Lee? Lee!”

At this moment, Neji Hyuuga had approached the omega, leaving his spot on the tree branch where it appeared he had watched everything happen. It was enough to leave Sakura traumatized as she asked, “W-What was that? How did someone as kind as Lee do something like…like this?”

Somehow, Neji made him pass out after doing something to him that Ino couldn’t see from her spot in the bushes. After this, he explained it to the alpha in a manner Ino believes he would never do to her since she is an omega and he appears to have no respect for them in general from what she’s seen so far, “Before the Chunin exams took place, Lee came out as an omega to me after hiding it for as long as he did. I did the right thing by him then—I placed a mark on his hand that will keep him safe from alphas and betas who go anywhere near him with any ill intention that would end up in him being raped or forcibly mated. This mark will wither away those who try to mate Lee by force into being nothing more than dust on the wind, while doing the same to anyone who interferes in the process and for those who intend to rape Lee or otherwise show too much romantic interest in him…it will give them an incurable illness that will make them suffer a long, painful death.”

Shikamaru had a feeling something weird was going on…he didn’t think Lee could use ninjutsu or genjutsu. Also, the omega didn’t seem to be the type to be that cruel if he could defend someone as sexist as Sakura without any complaint on his end.

“So you marked him with that because you love him and you’re worried for his safety?”

Ino wasn’t shocked she’d think that when in her eyes, Neji’s answer wasn’t shocking in the slightest, “No, I marked him with this so his being my mate would be all but guaranteed. You see, this mark will only vanish if he manages to somehow, someway beat me in battle after giving me all he’s got or if he would lose to me in battle after giving it all he’s got and he’s marked as mine.”

Sakura’s eyes widen then, finding it so disgusting that anyone would ever do such a thing to such a kind, brave omega like Lee, “That’s sick—Lee is a person! He deserves to have some say in who he ends up with someday!”

“He’s an omega.” Neji reinstates the obvious while fishing through the pockets of the clothes of those who died from his mark for the scroll, “You know as well as I do that omegas are fated to be barefoot and pregnant. They’re inferior to us in strength, with their weaker musculature and their overtly emotional minds, they could never survive without us if they tried. All I did was protect Lee from sharing that fate with someone truly horrible. As an alpha, you should understand this…when you want something, it’s only logical that you do all that you can to keep it to yourself no matter what.”

Sakura’s hands are shaking in outrage to everything Neji is saying, her voice going up in volume to this, “That’s not true and you know it! Lee fought those guys all by himself and almost won. He gave it his all and did everything he could to succeed, even when he had no other reason to save me other than the fact that he wouldn’t let them forcibly mate and rape Naruto. Lee is just as strong if not stronger than many alphas and betas I know—he beat Sasuke right before the exams started, that should mean something to you!”

“Only because I allowed him to have that chance.” Neji pointed out something to her that hit her in a spot she didn’t expect it to, “With this mark on his hand, I can use the chakra I embedded into it to make him submit to my will by inflaming his chakra points. Then, who are you to act so self righteous, Sakura Haruno? We’ve all heard the way you speak to Ino Yamanaka about omegas in the past, and while you use nicer language than I do, it doesn’t change the fact that you and I hold the same views of omegas. You would do this to Ino too if you could and saying otherwise would be a lie.”

He takes the scroll of the deceased, telling her as he picks up Lee’s limp body and tosses him over his shoulder, “Just because you cloak your views under the guise of care, concern, and love doesn’t mean you are any better than me. If of anything, most would consider me to be the better person because I am honest about myself and my views, unlike you.”

He leaves the scene with Lee and Sakura alone with the conclusion that maybe she wasn’t any better than Neji…maybe…just maybe…she really was just like him no matter what she said to herself to make the harsh truth of what he said any easier on herself.

Chapter Text

When he woke up, it was in a different place all together…he wasn’t in the forest anymore, leaving the jumpsuit clad omega to wonder where he was and why only Neji was by his side right now. 

It would be helpful if he could move more efficiently now, but in the position he’s in, he’s left trapped by the Hyuuga alpha’s side. 

His current position is simple enough: he’s resting on a chair while Neji is holding him close to his body, his arm supporting his waist and his head laying against his chest. It makes Lee wonder how long he’s been like this as well as where Tenten is, and if there are others here as well, “Neji, what’s going on? Why am I here? What happened to Tenten? Is she alright? How about Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke? Are they okay? What happened to the alphas I was fighting? What—“

He was cut off by Neji giving him a short summary of everything that’s happened: “You are here at the tower in the Forest of Death. We passed the exam, Lee. Tenten is talking to Hinata, Kiba, and Shino right now since they too have passed. Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto I believe are fine. Just know that the people from the Sound Village are dealt with and no one is immediate danger any longer.”

“Don’t tell me you fought my battle for me again…you know I want to win on my own merit!” he countered to the alpha, who could only shrug while keeping his hold on him strong, “Lee, that doesn’t matter now. You can win on your own merit in the next part of the exam.” 

“Still, I don’t want to win by dirty tricks or risky measures. I want to win because of my own power and skill.” and it was this sort of blind, naive belief in himself and his own abilities that Neji found to be cute in the same way one would find a small dog cute. 

Though it’s not like he’d ever tell Lee that. The last thing he’d want is for the omega to think he’s can use this to his advantage to get whatever it is he wants. 

“Whatever you say.” Neji keeps it cool, but it doesn’t do anything to stop Lee’s anxiety and fears around his mark from spiking in that moment in response to the alpha’s nonchalance surrounding everything that’s happened, “Neji, why can’t you tell me what that mark you left on my hand does? I know how to get rid of it, but it seems like it’s not just a harmless thing I can put off getting rid of—“ 

Neji silences him once more with a kiss and this time, when it ends, Lee is mad for many reasons, “You cannot keep silencing me with kisses like that! Just answer my question so I can stop feeling so scared over the mark on my hand! Can’t you have at least enough respect for me to tell me the truth?” 

To this, Neji gives him a small glare, his grip on his waist tightening, “You, going off on respect to me…when you couldn’t even respect me enough to tell me the truth about your being an omega? You cannot demand respect me when you never showed me any for the past year we’ve been in the same team together by keeping that lie of yours up.” 

“What?” 

“Hyuuga alphas do not mate betas. We mate omegas to keep our bloodline as strong and pure as possible.” the grip on his waist tightens further yet and makes Lee release a whimper to this because Neji’s scent is slowly becoming more hostile and with the alpha nearing his first rut, he feels incredibly scared to be alone in a room with him right now, “I thought you were a beta…this whole time, I truly believed you were a beta because of your scent alone. You do not know how much this tormented me as I began to want you more and more with every passing second of every single day we were together. Do you not understand what you did to me, how badly you made me want you? Of course you don’t, because you were allowed to live your life in ease while I wasn’t.” 

Lee doesn’t let the pain stop him from giving the alpha the truth he needed to hear, “I didn’t tell you the truth and I’m sorry about that, but it was only because you say horribly sexist things about omegas all the time. I knew if I came out to you as an omega, you’d treat me poorly and not take me seriously during missions or training. I wanted to beat you at your best when I was at my best. I told you before the exams because I finally felt I was strong enough for you to respect me as an equal, only for you to put that mark on me instead.” 

He tries to bargain with the alpha then, hoping he will feel generous to tell him what he wants to know now that he knows the truth of why he didn’t tell him anything, “Now, can you tell me what all it is this mark does?” 

“I will, but only if I get to have my first rut with you.”

Now Lee feels all sorts of stupid because he doesn’t really know much of anything about sex or his own body while his eyes divert away from Neji’s, “Um…what happens during a rut, Neji?”

Neji’s deadpanned reaction didn’t help matters either, but at least his grip on his waist loosened, “…Lee, are you meaning to tell me you do not know what a rut is or what happens during it?”

“N-No, but that’s only because my family doesn’t talk about that stuff. We're a lot more conservative about that sort of thing.”

The byakugan bearer doesn’t say much to him about it other than, “It’s a time where our most base instincts kick in as we have sex with our mate, crush, or lover in order to ease our urges.” thanks to his family being too conservative to ever speak about it to him, he feels as though this is the best, most basic explanation he can give him.

On Lee’s end, this didn’t really help to explain anything, his mind still drawing a blank on the word ‘sex’, “I don’t know what sex is.” 

Neji didn’t feel like explaining it to him (though he is more than annoyed that they weren’t taught such basic things in the academy thanks to people like Lee’s family who were too conservative to properly prepare their children for the real world), but his offer still stood, “I am not having that talk with you. Ask Guy sensei about it, I’m positive he’ll tell you everything you need to know. Either way, if you want to know more about the mark on your hand, you’ll have to share a rut with me.”

The omega frowned and worked his way out of his grasp to tell him, “Nice try, but I am not doing something out of desperation like that. I don’t need to know everything right away; it won’t matter because I will beat you in battle and this mark will be gone from me for good.” 

He doesn’t do anything to stop the omega from getting up and leaving the room because he knows that, no matter what he says or what front he tries to put up, Lee is scared of this mark and he’s getting pretty convinced he cannot beat his own destiny. 

When Lee had left the room to find Tenten, he was off put by the way Neji acted when they spoke. Maybe it’s because he never saw such a look in his eyes before, but whatever it was, it was enough make Lee feel a bit worried when in his presence. 

Being out of the room definitely helped things—he didn’t smell that suffocating scent in the air and he didn’t feel trapped by Neji’s grasp on him anymore. Though when he did try to find Ino or Naruto to talk to, nothing came up. He did need to talk to someone about this situation, but he didn’t feel comfortable speaking about it to an alpha or beta. He’d rather speak to an omega if he can; at least then he’d feel a lot safer speaking about it without having to worry about fear or repercussions from any alpha or beta for speaking about his experiences. 

It’s sad that he once used to feel safe going to someone who is a beta or an alpha for his problems, but after how Neji reacted to the news of his being an omega…he doesn’t feel safe to do so anymore. 

He never actually thought lowly of alphas like Ino or the infamous Deidara, but he also didn’t deny sexism existing in their world like blindly optimistic Naruto does. He actually took a bit more nuanced approach to alphas: you have your nice alphas like Guy sensei and Tenten, who don’t care if a person is an omega or not, they will still treat them like equals and on the other hand there are alphas like Neji who think lowly of omegas and see them as inferior. Lee used to believe that with enough hard work, he could earn the respect of alphas like Neji and help them change their sexist views. Now? He’s left feeling a bit shaken over it because it seems like every time he tries to earn an alpha’s respect, it gets him nowhere which leaves him feeling as though his hard work wasn’t worth it. 

Then he remembers what Guy sensei said about how it’s not all worth it if you don’t believe in yourself…and he usually can pull himself up from that alone. This time, though, it’s so much easier said than done.

He tries to find some sign of Ino or Naruto in the building, only to be disappointed when he doesn’t find them at all. At first, he considers maybe telling Tenten what is going on, just to be reminded of how mad she would be if he did. He then considers maybe seeing if someone else is here to speak to, like a beta or someone else who would be somewhat neutral on this issue. 

He certainly did not expect to hear the deep voice of someone behind him addressing him so openly, “Omegas are allowed to become shinobi here?” 

He paused in his step and without turning around to face the person, was able to say, “I don’t know if you’re from Konoha or not, but I am here because omegas are allowed to be ninjas by law. I know it’s not that way in other villages, but I hope you can be understanding of it.” 

Nothing is said for the longest time, but then he sees some sand flowing past him for a brief moment before it disappears, “I have no problem with omegas competing. If they want to die, then so be it. After all, why would anyone stop them from fulfilling their dreams?”

He was about to argue with this person on that claim when he heard another comment being made: “…You have a soothing scent. It’s like it’s…something…comforting.” 

The sand came to wrap itself around his neck in a thin line, but it was enough for Lee to feel the scratchy yet smooth sensation there. What’s interesting is it did not go over his jugular once, No, it…mainly seemed to focus on his scent gland, which was weird and gave him a bad feeling about their entire conversation no matter how strange it was. 

“Ah, thanks I guess? I’m amazed you knew I’m an omega right away. Most people mistake me for a beta at first, actually—you must be very sharp to spot that out.”

Lee is trying to keep the atmosphere light so he doesn’t go into a darker one so soon after what he just left with Neji. What winds up happening instead is the sand vanishes and he hears the mystery person give him a piece of advice in the dark, sort of dingy hallway, “Get yourself a mate. Anyone with a scent like that shouldn’t be entering their death wish unmated like this.” 

As the other ninja walks away, Lee is left to make a decision: keep going and run into creepy people like this guy or quit now and go back to Neji.

Going back to Neji felt a bit worse to him, so he kept looking for Tenten in the midst of his wait in the hopes he would either find her eventually or find Ino or Naruto by mistake so he can finally get this weight off of his chest. 

Chapter Text

After Neji left, Sakura was alone with her thoughts and what he said. It never once occurred to her that just because she claimed to say and do the things she said and did to Ino out of care, concern, or love didn’t make her any better than Neji.

She also feels incredibly stupid too now that she’s alone after the aftermath where she failed yet again as an alpha to defend not only herself, but her teammates as well. Now this normally wouldn’t have been so humiliating under any other circumstance except her teammates aren’t all alphas or betas or a mixture of the two.

Sasuke is an alpha and Naruto is an omega. Back when they had to face Zabuza and Haku in battle, Sakura was useless while Naruto did all the fighting. In fact, she couldn’t help but to feel inferior and humiliated at times because Naruto is an omega who’s protecting her, an alpha, and keeping her safe, an alpha. As a Haruno alpha, it’s her job to keep the omega in the team safe, not the other way around, and failing to do this with Naruto has left her upset at herself, if not causing to see herself as a failure.

Even now in this exam, Naruto has done so much more than her despite being an omega…it’s enough to make her oddly emasculated as an alpha in a way nothing else has in a long time.

Rock Lee defending her did give her a bit of this same feeling, but not completely. If of anything, having Lee defend her with the strong proclamation of, “Don’t worry Sakura, I’ll keep you and your teammates safe.” actually did make her see that omegas can be just as powerful as alphas.

She couldn’t deny Lee’s strength after having witnessed it twice in a row. At first she wrote off his win against Sasuke as a fluke because there’s no way any omega could be as strong as an alpha given the differences in biology, but seeing him battling three alphas alone with only taijutsu in his arsenal…it not only proved her wrong but it also left her with a deep respect for the brave omega who had no reason to defend her, which is why Neji saying all that he did about him repulsed her so deeply.

When Lee first arrived on the scene, he was so fearless…whereas she had frozen in fear when they first arrived, each one making crude comments the moment they saw Naruto lying beside Sasuke.

“Look, there’s the Uchiha—and wait? Is that an omega I smell?” the man covered in bandages remarked while sniffing the air, Naruto’s scent fully filling the air since it tended to become stronger when he slept.

“…It is…look, behind that alpha girl is an omega! The same one we saw in the first part of the exams!” the man with the brown hair exclaimed while the woman nodded, “Yeah, he’s the loudmouth omega—damn, he smells so good…you think Lord Orochimaru would mind if we took him and killed the Uchiha?”

“Why would we have to tell him of any of this? We all know he’d want the boy as a fuck toy for himself. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him and besides, I believe we’ve earned ourselves the right to a quick fucking of a cherry omega.”

Looking back on it, she was so useless!

All she did was cry out, “Stay back! Don’t come anywhere near him!”

All they did was laugh, with the leader of their group saying something that sticks out to her now, “Like we could ever take an alpha who begs like this seriously—be a real alpha and fight your battle instead of whimpering like a scared omega.”

Sakura knows this is sexist talk from a worthless alpha, but it reminded of some advice Kakashi sensei gave her a while back when it came down to winning over Ino, “Sakura, if you want to have a chance with Ino then you cannot make the same mistakes Sasuke and Itachi did with their loud, blonde, difficult omegas. She is clearly very attuned to the sexism she is facing in our world in her journey to becoming the first ever omega kunoichi and because of that, you need to stop trying to be a stereotypical ‘real’ alpha-provider sort of person.”

“What should I do then? Alphas are supposed to provide for their omegas and keep them safe…I’m only becoming a ninja so I can do all of that for her, what else am I supposed to do?”

“Simple: don’t be a provider, don’t be a caretaker, don’t be a guardian. Be someone she can fight alongside with as equals because that’s what a true alpha would do. Then one day, she will be your mate.”

She is skeptical because, “How that has worked with you and Iruka sensei? Shouldn’t you two be dating by now if you truly followed your own advice?”

She can tell he is frowning as he justifies his failures, “Iruka is a classy omega with high standards. One cannot simply just do what I just advised you to do and expect him to agree to a date right away. Omegas do not owe us dates, praises, or sexual favors for being decent human beings, Sakura. All we can do is respect their decisions no matter which choice they make.”

Needless to say, the green eyed girl couldn’t take him seriously, “Sure…believe whatever you want, but it won’t change the fact you’re a porn reading pervert and that’s why you’ve always failed to get a date from Iruka sensei.”

At the time she wrote off his advice because of his many failures with Iruka sensei, but now…now she sees he was right all along.

If she wants to have a chance with Ino, then she has to shed her old ways of thinking and be the sort of ally she needs in life as opposed to being a stereotypical provider.

‘Neji was right…I really am a sexist jerk just like him.’ she thinks to herself when standing up, making an announcement then, “Ino, I know you’re here. I can sense your chakra and smell your scent from a mile away. I know we’re supposed to be fighting amongst ourselves right now, but I need to tell you something you have to hear. Please come out of the bushes—I need to tell you this right to your face.”

At first, Ino was apprehensive about it since she didn’t figure Sakura would say anything meaningful or of worth to her.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, seemed to disagree, “Ino, you should go face her.”

“What? Why? We all know she’s going to be sexist to me.”

“I don’t think she will this time around. She seems shaken up by everything Neji just did and going off of her scent, she’s not mad…just hurt.”

She frowns to this and Shikamaru turns his sharp stare on her, “You two were friends once at one point in your lives. Why can’t you just listen to her when she’s finally being vulnerable to you?”

Ino does remember their friendship. She remembers meeting her when she was a crying after being bullied, she remembers giving her a ribbon to help keep the hair out of her face, and she remembers standing up for her so many times over the years they were friends. They did have good times together and they did get along great back then…

Then she remembers where things took a sour turn and it made all those good memories have a sour tinge to them.

Ino had been ten when Sakura asked her to meet her at a park at sundown. At first she had thought Sakura was going to tell her about her crush on Naruto or Hinata since many alphas and betas liked them. Though she saw no point in such things since Naruto was already basically taken by Sasuke and Hinata seemed to have a crush on Naruto, so why bother?

Alphas and betas confused her at times, especially when she thought about such things.

What she hadn’t expected was for Sakura to approach her that day and make a confession that could have gone well if the conversation didn’t take a turn for the worst that day, “Ino, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

Her friend was very shy about it, fidgeting in her spot in front of her for a brief moment there before mustering up the courage to tell her with a blush on her face, “I…I like you and I want to be your mate someday.”

Ino didn’t know what to make of such a thing. No alpha or beta had ever had a crush on her before so to hear this was interesting, “You want to be my mate? Are you sure?”

Sakura is confident when nodding, “I am positive I want to be your mate. Someday, I want to become a ninja so I can be the real alpha you deserve in a mate and then, when you become a Chunin, you can be a teacher or a mother to our pups someday.”

Immediately the frown came on her face due to Ino not liking what she heard just now, “Wait, why would I be a teacher or a mother to our pups? I don’t want to do either of those things. I want to become the first ever omega kunoichi so I can kill Itachi and bring Deidara back home.”

At first she thought the phrase had been a mistake and she was willing to let it slide since it was so prevalent in their culture and language. When she heard it again, she knew this wasn’t the case.

“I know that, but Ino, you’re an omega. Omegas aren’t meant to go into battle and get hurt by deadly S-ranked criminals like them. Real alphas are there to fight for omegas and keep them safe so they don’t get hurt by them.”

She knows what the phrase ‘real alpha’ means. Deidara taught her all about it: the phrase literally refers to traditional gender roles an alpha has, such as being a caretaker, provider, and guardian over their omega, who they expect to act like ‘real omegas’ and be barefoot and pregnant homemakers as opposed to doing anything else for themselves.

Knowing Sakura used that phrase for herself twice now has her feeling as though she never knew her friend at all, with the sense of betrayal strong within herself as she speaks, “’Real alpha’? Wait—how long have you thought this way? How long have you thought that all I should do as kunoichi is to be teacher or a mother to our pups?”

“Ever we became friends and I knew I wanted to be a real alpha for you.” Sakura begs her then, not knowing this would be the nail in the coffin for their friendship, “I know you think you can kill Itachi and bring Deidara home, but you can’t. Omegas shouldn’t be taking on S-ranked criminals when there are alphas and betas who can do it instead. Ino, I’m not saying this to be mean to you, but realistically speaking, you can’t do this without getting yourself killed. Please, stop while you’re ahead and become a teacher instead like Iruka sensei did. Leave it all to me so I can take care of you like a real alpha.”

“…And let me guess: you can take on a S-ranked criminal because you’re an alpha and I’m not, right?” Ino’s eyes were becoming teary as the hurt of this betrayal ate away at her, “You think Deidara is dangerous too, don’t you? You actually believe he’s a bad person like so many people do, don’t you?”

Sakura’s silence was all she needed to know, “Unbelievable…even after you met him and got to know him…you actually believe the awful things they say about him.” she got off of the bench, unable to be by her any longer, “I don’t care if you think that all I can do is be a mother or teacher. I don’t care what you or anyone else thinks of Deidara either—I know my brother and I know myself. I know he’s innocent in all of this, I know he’s a good person who wouldn’t leave without being forced by that Uchiha monster…and I know I can bring him back home after killing that man for ruining his life, no matter what any sexist jerk says!”

“I wasn’t being a sexist jerk, Ino. I was being honest with you because I care about you too much to lose you.”

That didn’t make it any better in her eyes, “Well guess what? You already lost me.”

Sakura was stunned when she heard this, “What do you mean? Are you saying we’re not friends anymore?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I don’t need someone who thinks all I am good for is either being barefoot and pregnant or a teacher. I also don’t need someone who thinks my brother is a monster like Itachi.” she walked past her after this was said, not holding back when she told her, “We’re not friends anymore, Sakura. I can’t be friends with a sexist who thinks less of me for being an omega and believes my brother is a criminal.”

That was the day their friendship ended and Sakura kept trying to win her over by giving her courting gifts, offering to walk her home at night, or asking her basic safety questions to ensure she wasn’t hurt.

Many others would have believed she was overreacting, but in her eyes, she wasn’t. Sakura never gave off any indication that she thought less of her for being an omega and then out of nowhere, when confessing to her, she makes it all known. It made Ino feel duped, as though she had been an idiot to stand up for and befriend the alpha who felt so entitled to her to make such claims about their future like that.

Ino wouldn’t have even minded Sakura courting her or asking her out on a date. She wouldn’t have minded giving a relationship with her a chance because she thought she was a good friend and a good alpha who saw her as an ally and equal. Knowing the truth of what she thought of her…it hurt. It really, honestly, truly hurt just as much as losing Deidara did.

Which is why she is hesitant to listen to her now, “The last time I listened to her when she was vulnerable, she let me know that all she saw me as being was nothing more than a mother or teacher in our relationship should we ever be mated. How do I know she won’t do the same thing here?”

“Because she’d be a real dumbass to do that after what Neji just said to her and she’s smart enough to know it.”

Chouji gives her an idea, with a tempting offer on top of it all, “You know, you could hear her out and if she’s going to be a sexist jerk…then Shikamaru and I could team up with you to kick her ass.”

Ino blinks before smiling to this, “Yeah…I guess that could work… Okay, I’ll do it then, but you two better be ready to kick her ass for me the moment she brings up the words ‘real alpha’ or ‘Deidara may not be innocent’.”

“Right.” Chouji while Shikamaru agrees with a hand on his head, “Damn…okay, fine…I’ll do it even if it is such a drag.”

With that encouragement, she gets out of the bushes and faces Sakura, who appears to be humble in appearance and stance, “Alright, what do you want to say to me?”

Sakura’s scent becomes a calming one then—to show her sincerity since this is how alphas use their scent to convey such an emotion—when meeting her gaze, “Ino, I was wrong. I am not a ‘real alpha’ and I can’t ever be after today.”

Ino pauses to the words, finding this to be strange, “What?”

“A ‘real alpha’ would be exactly like Neji Hyuuga by definition and after what Lee did for me, I can never be a ‘real alpha’ for as long as I live. Omegas do have a different biology than alphas, but they are as strong as us all the same. Lee proved that to me today and so has Naruto.” she takes a kunai out next, going on further in her talk, “I no longer want to be a ninja so I can be a ‘real alpha’; ‘real alphas’ are jerks like I was for the longest time, and I never want to be that way again. I want to be a ninja so I can be someone you can fight alongside with as equals someday like the true alpha I am going to become.”

Lifting the kunai up with one hand holding her hair with another, she is confident when announcing, “I am sorry for all of the sexist things I’ve ever said to you and for all of the sexist things I believed about omegas for years. I am sorry for what I said on the day on our friendship ended, and I am sorry for assuming Deidara was guilty without any proof. I know you won’t believe me, but I hope this will help you see I am serious about what I said.”

She cut her hair then, which to Shikamaru and Chouji was nothing of significance.

Ino knew just how significant it was, though: Haruno alpha women are to keep their hair long to show they are both beautiful and strong enough to not only juggle the work of a provider to their omega but also multitask successfully enough to maintain perfect, long hair at all times.

By cutting her hair, she is symbolically cutting off the Haruno alpha tradition for women that goes hand-in-hand with the ‘real alpha’ standard found in society.

“I hope we can one day kill Itachi and bring Deidara back home together. Until then, I’ll work hard enough to become the best kunoichi I can so I can be worthy enough to be your ally in this.”

While Shikamaru and Chouji are confused on the why the whole hair thing is so significant, Ino feels herself wanting to…believe Sakura.

She was being so sincere in her eyes, her voice, and actions that she had a hard time believing this could be all an act. She had a hard time believing the alpha was pulling any tricks on her when she could so bluntly go against Haruno family tradition like this without second guessing her decision—and all because she had a change of heart thanks to what Lee did for her and Neji’s harsh criticism of her.

There’s a part of her that, no matter how much she wants to believe her and her sincerity, doesn’t trust it. She wants to trust her fully, but after what happened in the past…she’s still reluctant to give her the full trust she most likely will want out of her.

“…Trusting you isn’t going to be easy for me. I need to see you actually stick to what you’re saying you’re going to do from here on out before I decide if I want you as a partner for my mission.”

“I understand.”

Ino will throw her a bone for now by showing her some kindness, “But I can fix your hair for you if you want me to.”

Sakura smiles and without making any sexist comments, is able to accept her olive branch, “I actually would. I’ve never been good at styling my hair.”

“No, you never were, but you can learn…at least, I’m confident you can.”

Ino would even out Sakura’s hair for her with her kunai and she would leave after Sakura thanked her for her help without any incident.

Shikamaru, Chouji, and her were able to leave the scene after this without any bad blood between them or angry ranting from Ino in what feels like a major first for them.

Chouji doesn’t know if Ino will ever be able to trust Sakura to keep her word, but Shikamaru thinks she could come around to as long as Sakura followed through on her word in a genuine manner to prove her sincerity wasn't all for show. 

Chapter Text

Naruto did not get Sasuke at all at times.

For example, in the first part of the exams, he acted all weird about other alphas and betas being anywhere near him to the extent where he tried to sit right beside him during the test, only to fail and lose out to Hinata. It didn’t make things better that he got all freaked out about losing to Lee earlier and acted hostile towards a nice beta like Kabuto for no real reason at all.

No, seriously, he’s been acting so weird, and he cannot stomach it!

He’s not weaker than him at all and he thought the dumbass got it, but it looks like he didn’t. Ugh, why does he bother with this guy? All he’s done is baby him ever since they entered this stupid forest when Naruto is the one who tried to save him and their chances to be Chunins during the fight against the grass ninja person!

(Okay, sure, at one point he was tied up and some jerk posed as him in a transformation jutsu. Just because Sasuke saved him once doesn’t mean that he has a right to be so weird about everything!)

When he did wake up, Sasuke was still asleep underneath the tree he had been sleeping in. He got out of the makeshift shelter Sakura had chosen, ready to ask what’s going on and figure out what’s happening here…except he was rather confused, “Oh man, it stinks here! Sakura, did something die or is there some sort of bug making that smell?”

Little did Naruto know that he woke up only a few moments after Ino had left and the scent of the mummified Sound Genin was still strong in the air.

Of course, Sakura didn’t quite know how to explain everything to him without getting him too upset at Neji and doing something stupid to him, but she tries her best anyway, “Naruto…we were almost attacked by these Genin from the Sound Village and they wanted to do awful things to you. Lee came by and he stood up to these alphas all by himself—he gave it his all even when they were sexist and perverted to him. One of them tried to mark Lee when he was knocked out, but it didn’t work.”

Naruto raises a brow to this, curious as all get out over this new information, “Huh, someone tried to mark bushy brows? Why? Is he some sort of alpha catnip or something—ow!” he screams out as Sakura hits him, gritting her teeth the entire time, “Don’t you dare talk about Lee like that! He’s a great guy who deserves a lot better than what he’s stuck with!”

He groans out in pain, but it doesn’t stop him from keeping the conversation going, “What did he even do to deserve your respect that much? I’ve never gotten you to stop lusting over Ino to come onto me; what the hell does this omega got that I don’t?”

Her frown deepens as her scent takes a bitter turn, leaving Naruto knowing that he definitely crossed a line here, “I’m not interested in him, idiot! I’ve told you this how many times now and you still don’t get it! Ino is the only omega I’ll ever go for; I’m not into you or Lee and I never will be.”

“What did he do that was so amazing it caused you to defend him right now?”

Sakura doesn’t know what to actually tell him. She told Ino she was going to be better and she wants to be better than Neji… However, telling Naruto about Lee’s mark didn’t feel right to her. Instead, it felt…wrong. Like she was somehow violating Lee’s privacy by telling him something so personal that the other omega should be the only one to tell him.

Since she didn’t know of Lee’s own ignorance to what the mark on his hand could really do, she was able to tell him, “All three alphas passed away; they were mummified right in front of me before turning into dust. That smell in the air is from them dying.”

Naruto didn’t know he was shaking, he didn’t know how else to react as he saw the clothes of the Genin he recognized from the first part of the exams as well as the moments right before the second started on the ground not too far from them.

He didn’t know he was shaking until he stammered out a, “D-Did…bushy brow…was he actually wanting to do that to them?”

She shook her head, letting him know right away so he wouldn’t think less of Lee, “No, he didn’t. I honestly don’t think he had a clue.”

“How couldn’t he? I mean, people did die because of them—wait, how did all three die? Did they all try to mark him at once?”

“No, they tried to get the main alpha trying to mark him off of him and were stuck to him when they tried. They wound up meeting the same fate as him without Lee ever being awake for it once.”

Before she can say anything else, she tells Naruto, “You need to speak to Lee about it if you want more details on this. I don’t want to disrespect him by telling you every detail of something so deeply personal to him.”

Now the omega finds this weird for a very specific and legitimate reason, “Wait a minute, you never cared about respecting any other omega’s privacy in the past—why are you holding back on the gossip now?”

“Because Lee made me realize that I was wrong about omegas.” her eyes are on the forest floor as she goes on to say, “I’m trying to be a better alpha instead of a ‘real alpha’. I want to be someone Ino can fight alongside with and respect—and hopefully want to mate someday too. I know it probably won’t happen in a few months, or a year, but I need to do my best from here on out if I ever want to be her mate.”

He grins widely as it all hits him, “Lemme guess…Ino was around and you two happened to kiss and makeup, huh? Did she finally admit she was wrong about alphas?”

“No, but she was around and I got to talk to her before she left. I want to think she was going to help me out—but I know I’m lying to myself if I think that. If she was going to fight, it was going to be to keep you and Lee safe long before she’d do that for me.”

Yeah that sounds a lot more like the Ino he knows…

Still, he’s at least glad she made some progress with her. If she can make Ino ease up on the Deidara logic, then maybe he won’t feel awkward being by alphas and Ino at the same time in public settings like a festival or a basic trip to his favorite ramen place.

Before he could try to make her feel a bit better over this, he was being pounced on by a large moth like creature with grey wings and a lavender grey body, “Ah, sick! Get off of me, you overgrown pest!”

“Naruto!” Sakura cried out as she got out a kunai, “Hang on, I’ll get you out of there right away!”

Before she could though, that was when Sasuke woke up.

All over his body work were black marks that came up to face, his sharingan shining brightly while openly seething at the creature, “Sakura…put the kunai down. I can handle this on my own.”

His chakra felt off yet powerful enough for her to back down. She knew better than to mess with an alpha who possessed powerful chakra when the omega they clearly want to mate is in danger.

Sakura has always known Sasuke is attracted to Naruto. He never exactly kept it a secret, after all. He did reject every omega and beta with the reasoning being ‘sorry, but I’m only interested in Naruto’ so much so to the point where no omegas or betas were interested in him anymore. In fact, many in Konoha consider him and Naruto be either an official or unofficial couple.

How the hell Naruto never connected the dots, she’s not even sure. It’s not like Sasuke was ever subtle about his intentions to be with him as a mate—when they first got assigned to Team 7 together, she had to insist to Sasuke that the only omega she wanted was Ino all because he was jealous of Naruto’s short lived crush on her. It’s because of his open hostility to those he considers to be a threat to his chances with Naruto that she chose to stand down and let Sasuke handle this on his own.

She’s not stupid—she’s not going to get herself killed when she just made some progress with Ino.

On Sasuke’s end, as much as he liked the power coursing through his veins, he couldn’t truly enjoy it.

Knowing some alpha creep who couldn’t stop perving on Naruto was the one who gave him this mark was enough to make him despise it as a whole. He remembers the Grass ninja grinning so eerily at first at the sight of Naruto that it had his hair standing on end. Despite Nartuo doing all that he could to ensure their team would be Chunins—he did face this person head on when he himself almost gave up their team’s scroll—he felt like a failure still in comparison to the blonde omega who was willing to throw himself into a fight against an alpha who didn’t say much to him except for the moment when he managed to grab him and leave that mark on his belly that knocked him out.

His blood boils at the memory of the man’s face, his eerie, creepy look in his eyes when he dared to purr at his Naruto, his future mate, “My, you certainly are lovely, Naruto. An omega like you would be an honor to own someday.”

The damn bastard…like he didn’t have enough to worry about with that Kabuto jerk constantly admiring Naruto from afar and giving him one too many glances he had a hard time not threatening him over! No, now he had to worry about some jerk named Orochimaru who apparently made the claim that, “This mark on your neck will make you want the power I can give you…that is, if you can survive it.”

How can he want the power of some alpha man who purred at his Naruto? It was impossible for him to want it even now when it was coursing through his veins and giving the speed as well as the strength needed to tackle the beast that tried to take his omega away.

He wound up killing it after ripping off the wings of the giant moth creature and stabbing it through the head with his shuriken. While it made him feel amazing to save Naruto, the omega was a bit miffed by his efforts.

“You didn’t need to scare away Sakura like that! She had that situation under control and just think, she could’ve used it to help her win over Ino too—”

“Like I care! You know most people would be thanking me for helping them. I don’t get why you can’t do the same right now.”

The stubborn omega huffed, frowning as he snapped at him, “Oh trust me, I would be grateful for it if you weren’t acting so damn weird lately.”

Naruto is quick to speak before Sasuke can beat him to the punch on this one, truly sick and tired of everything he’s pulled on him these last few days, “Here I was about to apologize to you for acting like a brat over ramen and then you go off and act all weird! First, you start acting weird around the alphas and betas in the first part of the exam with your strange ways to keep me away from them. Then you get all upset over losing to Lee, an omega just like me—which is something only those sexist things that Ino talks about would do by the way—and to top it all off, you’re being a complete jerk to me by not allowing me to speak to Kabuto whenever he’s around. Seriously, teme, I am my own person. It can’t kill you to treat me and my wishes with some respect!”

Sasuke was so close to just blurting out his feelings to Naruto, so close to finally telling him the truth on the matter—only for the omega to get done wiping off the blood from the moth with the damp rag Sakura gave him from their makeshift shelter and face him, seeing the marks across his skin for the first time.

The alpha Uchiha froze in his spot as he realized that Naruto would now know about the curse mark on his skin that only Sakura knew of beforehand. His Naruto knew about this and knowing his Naruto, he would be the type to hunt down the alpha who did this to him and get himself forcibly mated, raped, or taken as a hostage by the man who can very easily overpower him.

The idea of Naruto throwing himself into danger over him was enough for him to be horrified.

He’s the alpha here—he should be the one risking his life and limb for Naruto, not the other way around. How can Naruto ever come to want him as a mate if he’s not strong enough to be the sort of alpha who can keep leering alphas away from him?

“Naruto, I get it and I’ll do my best from here on out to not be so weird about things, I promise—”

Naruto approached him, getting close as he asked, “What’s going on? Why are there black marks all over your skin?”

The glare he sent in Sakura’s direction kept the other alpha silent for now, but it didn’t stop him from lying to the omega for the sake of his safety, “It’s…just…a malfunction of my sharingan.”

“Why does your chakra feel different too? Why does your scent smell more…” he takes a whiff of it as he gets closer, making Sasuke fight a blush because he always wanted Naruto to notice his scent—but not like this, “like a rotted snake corpse?”

He…smells…bad…

He didn’t want Naruto thinking this is his natural scent! He works so hard to use traditional Uchiha clan methods to keep his scent enhanced and at its very best at all times so the day Naruto would take notice of his scent, he’d compliment him and he’d make some smooth remark before getting the chance to finally kiss him.

This was never how he wanted things to be and now…now…he’s simply dying inside from the horror of it all.

Uchiha alphas are supposed to have the most alluring scent in the village…it’s supposed to be the sure fire way for him to seduce Naruto…damn this mark for ruining his plan! Damn that alpha for ruining one of his best shots to get Naruto to be his mate!

“Naruto, this is no big deal. It’s just a malfunction of my sharingan, that’s it.” he explained when trying to win over the approval of the only omega he’s ever held any such strong feelings for.

It’s at this moment that for some reason or another, he can practically hear his brother’s voice in his ear as his mind flashes back to the day he gave him some particularly useful advice.

Sasuke had been watching Naruto from a distance again, longing for nothing more than the oblivious omega to finally notice him and his strong feelings for him.

“Watching your omega again?”

He turned around to see his big brother with a barely there yet all knowing grin all the same. He rolled his eyes at the sight of him, his attention now back to the omega he had been watching in peace earlier, “Why would you want to know?”

Itachi was shrugging—he knew he was without looking—and coming over to where he was watching him to get a better look himself, “Because you seem to be not good at taking advantage of what you’ve got.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What I mean is, you are lucky. Naruto doesn’t have the same baggage Deidara does, so that means you can win him over far easier.”

Sasuke looked to his brother with all of the skepticism in his being, “How would I pull that off? I’ve tried to do everything the traditional way we do things in our clan and he thinks all I want is to be friends with him when I don’t.”

His brother’s solution to this was to say: “Simple, just confess to him. I’m sure someone like Naruto would need such a blunt approach as opposed to someone like Deidara.”

Sasuke was a bit too nervous to try such a thing, but Itachi was being honest with him when he said, “Sasuke, you cannot keep being vague with him forever. If you do, he will assume you’re a creepy, control freak weirdo. What you need to do is to be blunt with him—trust me when I say it, with how oblivious he is, Naruto needs a blunt approach from you before he falls for someone else instead.”

As much as he loathed to admit, it was always the fear of losing Naruto to someone else that made him act in the manner he did. Even now, he’s avoiding the truth of the situation because telling him the truth would get him hurt and also because…he’s afraid of Naruto thinking lesser of him as a potential mate.

Fear of being rejected along with his fear of Naruto thinking lesser of him as a potential has always held him back in the past. Now, he’s afraid it may screw him over since there’s no way Naruto could ever buy what he just said—

“So, it’s just a malfunction right? Is there anything I can do to fix it?”

It wasn’t Sasuke who gave him the idea—it was Sakura, who got sick of the situation between them going on as long as it has, “One time when I spent the night at Ino’s place, Deidara told us that the only way to fix an Uchiha’s malfunctioning sharingan is for an omega to hug them.”

“That so?”

“Yeah, Itachi always lied about his sharingan malfunctioning to try to get Deidara to hug him.”

“Really? Well, Deidara wouldn’t be one to lie about that.” Before he does it, he asks Sasuke, “Just to be safe, is it really true? Do I have to hug you to fix this?”

“Yes, but you don’t have to.” Sasuke coolly replies, trying to fight the desire to kiss him as Naruto shrugs, “I guess I’ll do it to get rid of the rotten smell on you.”

When he does this, Sasuke feels as though he’s gone to heaven and back again, relishing in Naruto’s scent as the omega hugged him.

Immediately, whatever little was left of the black marks on his skin (it was difficult for them to say when Naruto was speaking to him) went away and he felt a bit better knowing his secret would be safe for now.

On Naruto’s end, he doesn’t mind doing this for Sasuke. Though, that being said, he wishes the stupid alpha would allow him to end the hug now.

Chapter Text

At the tower, Lee had been feeling rather…isolated, in a sense.

Maybe it’s because when he did find Tenten, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino, he didn't feel any better about his situation with Neji. If of anything, all that visit did was remind him of the pressure on his shoulders to handle the Neji situation by himself so he and his team can pass the Chunin exams. He also has been feeling rather stressed lately as well. Maybe it’s because he is still confused on what the alpha who used the sand was trying to do when they spoke or maybe it’s because he has so much to get off of his chest that he feels as though he’ll implode at any given moment if he doesn’t get to speak to someone soon.

He’d love to tell them all about it too but if he did, then Neji would either get in trouble and he’d never get to defeat him in battle or he would be let off the hook without any consequences for his actions and Lee would still be forced to mate him somehow thanks to his clan having more money, power, and prestige than his does.

He will tell Tenten after everything is over—he’s not one to go back on his word after all—but he can’t tell her now, not when his team needs to be on good terms with each other in order to pass this exam!

He only got lucky when he found her, the one omega he had heard so much about—Ino Yamanaka, the younger sister of the notoriously difficult and unmateable Deidara.

“Ino Yamanaka, it’s so nice to finally meet you!” he almost fanboyed out as he approached her, “I’m Rock Lee and I am so happy to see another omega passed the second part of the exam! I cannot wait for us to pass this exam and become Chunins together, it will surely be the best thing ever!”

Truthfully, he had heard of Deidara—everyone always talks about him as the ‘world’s worst omega’—and he had heard of her as being on her way to being just like him. He didn’t really care about this, though, or the fact his clan thought of the Yamanaka omegas as being too ‘loud and rude’ to alphas. No, all he cared about was finally having another omega to talk to here before he really lost it.

She smiled at him, immediately doing something he didn’t expect her to do, “It’s great to finally meet you too! Congratulations on beating Sasuke, by the way. If one of us can defeat an Uchiha alpha, then that means I have every reason to believe I can one day kill one for myself.”

Lee pauses, not sure what she meant by that, “Kill an Uchiha? Wait, what? Why would you want to do that?”

“Because that stupid Itachi stole my brother from our home and made him into a criminal against his will.” Her aura grows darker around her as she snarls, “I will find that Uchiha bastard and I will kill him for doing that to Deidara.”

He pauses and nods slowly, finding this to be…interesting to say the least. Mainly because while he doesn’t know too much about Deidara’s case, he has a hard time believing Itachi actually forced him into that life or that he stole him from his home.

Deidara was said to be extremely strong willed, minded, and stubborn. There’s no way he would have left just because of an alpha, especially one he openly despised, and there’s no way said alpha could have forced him into anything without killing him.

Of course, he won’t tell that to her. He does want to get this whole Neji situation off of his chest to her before the final people make it to the tower first and foremost before he really does snap under the pressure, stress, and anxiety of it all.

He really hopes Naruto will make it too…he has a feeling that Naruto would be of great help to him right about now with his sunny disposition and the willingness he knows he would possess to help him get answers out of Neji.

“Well, if that’s what you desire, then I say ‘go for it’.” she eyes him up after he said this, asking suddenly, “Are you okay, Lee? You seem tense and your distress pheromones are starting to come out of nowhere. Did something bad happen to you here? Is there an alpha nearby who’s giving you trouble?”

It was a great relief for him to have her bring this up, “Actually, yes, there is. You see, there’s no alpha nearby us know who’s giving me trouble, but there is an alpha on my team by the name of Neji Hyuuga who has been the cause of some grief to me.”

She places a hand on his shoulder, her eyes full of pity when informing him, “I know of the mark on you, Lee, and what all it does. I was behind some bushes when you were defending Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke in the forest. I saw those ninjas getting mummified and I know—”

“Mummified? No, my mark isn’t supposed to do that—it’s supposed to either go away after I defeat Neji in a battle where I give it my all or leave his mark on my scent glands should I lose to Neji in a battle where I give it my all.”

Ino blinks, amazed because she thought he knew, “Wait, you didn’t know your mark could kill people by mummifying them alive and reducing them and anyone who tries save them to dust if they tried to mark you by force? What about the other part, where it will make those who try to rape you or show too much romantic interest in you die from a long, painful death caused by an incurable illness?”

“No, I never knew that! Are you sure got that right? Neji isn’t the easiest one to get along with, but I don’t think he’d go that far over me or anybody, really.” Now Lee is starting to panic because he never knew his mark did that to people!

How many have died because of him?

How many have suffered…all because of him?

It kills him on the inside to even think about it. The idea that people were dying all because of the mark on his hand…it horrifies him deeply to the point of it being nightmare inducing.

“I’m sorry, I really thought you knew!” she insisted, but it wasn’t enough to stop him from panicking further, “He was going to have me spend his first rut with him just to learn that! I never wanted people to die over me—I know I may have to kill people in battle someday in order to survive a mission or for a mission, but I don’t want people to die over something I should have been quick enough to prevent!”

“Lee, please…calm down.” Ino places her other hand on his shoulder, “None of this is your fault. I know you think it is now, but I promise you it isn’t—it’s all Neji’s for ever putting that mark on you to begin with.”

“No, I should have been quick enough, I should—”

“He shouldn’t have ever had that reaction to begin with! If that was his first reaction to do upon learning of you being an omega, then that means he was thinking of doing it to you for a long time, plotting it, planning it out, and obsessing over it…no one does that naturally unless if they’ve fantasized about it over and over in their heads.”

Lee doesn’t fully buy this, but Ino does reassure him, “Lee, none of this truly was your fault. It’s all his for ever thinking about doing that to you in the first place and seeing nothing wrong with it.”

He can tell she is a bit wary on something, so with whatever shred of confidence is left within himself, he decides to ask about it, “Is there anything else Neji said about the mark? I’d like to know everything so I don’t have to share his first rut with him.”

“Well…there is one last thing you don’t know about.” he braces himself for what he is about to hear next and yet he was still caught off guard by this, “Lee, he embedded that mark with his own chakra. He can use it to inflame your chakra points to make you submit to his will whenever he pleases.”

…It’s all so much to take in. He’s having a slightly harder time digesting everything he’s heard about the mark on his hand.

He takes a few moments of silence to collect himself. When he feels able to speak, he is able to meet her eyes with a calm, “Thank you for telling me that. I had no clue the mark came with so many side effects and a way for Neji to control me. I didn’t think he would go that far over me, but…knowing is a great relief because now I know what else the mark does, I can rest easy without any guessing. That’s what I really need right now—I haven’t been able to sleep well for a while now because of this…I should be able to sleep tonight though, at least, I hope I will.”

She takes in her fellow omega at the moment, feeling nothing but concern for him.

Though his distress pheromones have gone down, he appears to be a bit tired despite his smile, and he seems to be rather anxious somehow despite there being no hostile alpha anywhere near them inside the dingy, grey hallway.

She could rant about Neji and how gross he is for trying to get Lee to spend his rut with him in exchange for information about the mark on his hand (which he should have told him the full scope of without making such an offer in the first place). She could confront Neji, but Lee seems to need distraction and someone to keep his mind off of the issues he has to face.

Then Lee speaks and it catches her off guard as she takes her hands off of his shoulders. He’s smiling with his eyes closed and a hand behind his neck, the pure picture of calm in that moment despite what she knows has to be going on inside of him, “I know you probably want to rant about Neji and how everything he did was bad, but there’s no need to. I know how bad it is, I really do, but I want to beat Neji on my own with my taijutsu someday. If he gets in trouble now, I’ll never be able to do that. So I’m sorry for not telling anyone, Ino. I hope you can understand why I didn’t do it.”

Hearing his sincerity, she cannot be mad at him for not telling anyone about this. Then again, she wouldn’t be mad at him in the first place for not telling anyone about this, so she’s able to shrug it all off, “I can, but you didn’t need to tell me why you didn’t tell. I would have figured you had your own reasons anyway.”

There is a Neji related issue he wants to discuss with her that he hopes she will know the answer to, “Ino…is it normal for alphas to kiss omegas as a way to silence them?”

“Does Neji do this to you?”

“He does, a lot more than I’d like, actually.”

She hums, her hands on her hips and surprising Lee with a fun fact he had never known, “Deidara said Hyuuga’s typically do that to omegas to not only shut them up, but to remind them of their fated destiny as being a pup making machine. I always thought he sort overexaggerated the Hyuuga clan’s issues because Hinata was always so nice, but I guess I was wrong to do that one.”

“Oh great, just what I need!” his hand is now in his hair and he’s already starting to vent when he knows he probably shouldn’t be, “It’s already hard enough to pretend to be okay with Neji and not be uncomfortable around him, now I have to deal with knowing what he means whenever he kisses me to shut me up! I already am struggling to keep this a secret from Tenten—I feel so bad about it, but I can’t tell her, not when we’re in the Chunin exams, not when teamwork and not killing your teammates is the most important thing! I keep training to distract myself from it, but it’s too awkward to do it anywhere Neji can see me because I feel too exposed doing it now around him…all I want is for things to go back to normal. That’s all I really want more than anything else.”

With the way his voice got so small at the end, she had to strain her ear pretty hard to hear it. When she did hear it, she felt more than awful for the poor young omega who wanted nothing more than for things to go back to the normal he knew as opposed to dealing with what he is now with his own teammate, the one who is supposed to be his friend or acquaintance, his ally in battle—only for it to all disappear when he came out as an omega.

In that moment, she gives Lee a tight hug, allowing the omega to chance to collapse in her arms and try to keep his breathing even to the best of his ability.

With this one hug, Lee felt able to relax as he felt the burdens bothering him being lifted off of his shoulders after his venting to the other omega. He feels a bit energized, though his tiredness is slowly winning out right now.

“Ah, Ino? Do you mind if I sleep in the room at the end of the hall? It’s the only one Neji never goes to.” he does stiffen as he immediately backtracks on the offer, “No, wait, I can stay up! It’d be wrong of me to leave a potential friend like you all alone here without any other omegas to talk to.”

“No, it’s fine, Lee. Go get your sleep, I won’t stop you. I think you actually need it more than I need to talk to you.”

He glances down the hall at the door, feeling a bit guilty as he nibbled on his bottom lip, “Are you sure? I can stay here and keep you company. It won’t be any problem for me either—I am more than ready to do just that if you need me to.”

She shook her head, her orders simple enough, “You need to go down that hallway, enter that room, and get your sleep. You shouldn’t be going without it at the Chunin exams just for a chat with another omega.”

He would like to since he is pretty tired, but, “I don’t want to ruin my chance to be your friend! Omegas need to stick together more than ever in the ninja world. There’s so few of us in it and so many who don’t want us there, that it would be beneficial to have other omega friends who want to be a shinobi as well.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” the shorter omega made him feel a lot better when she announced, “I’m more than willing to be your friend and ally, Lee. I won’t leave you alone to deal with everything you’ve got going right now. If you ever need to talk about Neji or just vent about anything, don’t be afraid to come to me, okay?”

Lee grinned, “Of course I will! Who else would I go to except Naruto or yourself? You two are the only other omega Genin, you know.”

“Yeah, I know that very well.” Ino managed to get through teeth that were starting to grit together, “Anyway, come find me when you get done with your nap. I’d like to talk to you more if I can.”

“I will do just that!”

Despite the proclamation being in a happy, upbeat tone, Lee is actually deeply relieved. Knowing he has an ally he can go to whenever he feels overburdened by being with Neji for far too long, he can always go to Ino and get it all off of his chest.

As the two parted ways, Ino couldn’t help but to feel something watching them…no, something watching Lee specifically.

The chakra wasn’t Neji’s, but it didn’t feel like any of the others she’d seen who had passed the second half of the exam.

Looking around the hallway, she doesn’t know exactly where this person is, but she is choosing to keep a cautious approach for now and leaving while she still can.

As for Lee, he only felt the strange chakra when he was about to pass out on the bench in the room he has come to rely on as a sort of safe space from Neji. He knew the chakra, though…it felt like the same chakra of the same alpha who had approached him before!

Wherever he is, Lee cannot see him and as tired as he is…he doesn’t really care.

Sure, the alpha who can control sand seems to be a bit scary, but he didn’t actually hurt him. Okay, he did make a comment about how he should be mated, but that’s not too bad considering what he’s faced in the past from other alphas and betas who used to bully him back in the academy. He may have been a bit creepy for him to be by as well…but he didn’t try to trap him in a mating relationship like Neji did with the mark on his hand, so he cannot complain too much about the alpha.

With his eyes sliding shut, he falls asleep in the room…moments later, a red head alpha who can control sand is standing over him, watching the omega sleep out of curiosity to see what all it was that was drawing his demon to this one particular omega.

Chapter Text

Sasuke, even now when entering the tower, is amazed that Sakura ever helped him at all.

Ever since they were assigned to the same team, he can admit he wasn’t exactly the best person ever to her. He has openly and subtly antagonized her just for being the one Naruto had a crush on matter how much she rejects him for Ino. It sounds stupid—it is stupid because he knows she wants to mate Ino and she’s never been subtle about it—but it didn’t stop that Uchiha bitterness from being unleashed on her whenever he saw Naruto staring at her with hearts in his eyes.

In return, she hasn’t done anything to ever help him get with Naruto, so why is she doing it now? Why did she tell him that obvious lie about the hug a few days ago?

Hell, why is she actually choosing to keep his mark a secret in the first place? She has never been one to respect his wishes in the past which is only draws further questions in his mind.

He would have asked her sooner, but Naruto has a habit of intruding in on his conversations with her and he couldn’t leave Naruto alone with that annoying bastard Kabuto hanging around them for as long as he did.

Her motivation to be genuinely civil towards him is really strange to him but seeing as how they won’t have a chance to speak just yet, he will have to wait to ask her about it.

Hell, he couldn’t even focus when Iruka sensei appeared…okay, he could, but only because Naruto was extremely happy to see his adoptive father, “Iruka sensei! See, I made it! Look, I’m gonna become a Chunin and then it’s only one more step towards becoming hokage!”

“I know and I am very proud of you, Naruto.” Iruka smiled at his adopted son, feeling nothing but pride as well as worry. Some of the other Genin that passed are incredibly difficult opponents to take on in the third part of the exam…he wouldn’t want Naruto to get caught up with them.

He knows he shouldn’t be so fearful over Naruto’s safety and yet he knows all too well what alphas and betas have done in the past to those few omegas who tried to become Chunin before he did: they marked them in battle, thus cutting them out of the shinobi life for good.

It’s a horribly sexist law that the Third Hokage is currently trying to change, but there is a law which states that if an omega is to be a shinobi, then they must not be mated to anyone for the fear that should the mate turn out to be a spy or worse yet a traitor to the village, then they will be able to the instinctual bond between mates to manipulate the Konoha omega against their nation.

That being said, there is a twist to this law that does allow mating, but it’s very cruel: in order for an omega to become hokage, then they must be mated to an alpha or beta Jounin from the village or a leader from an allied village.

Iruka has told Naruto of these laws in the past and his son has always stood defiant in his desires nonetheless, “Who cares if I have to be mated to be hokage? I’m not gonna let that stop me! If I have to be mated, then fine, I’ll be mated and I’ll still be a more kickass hokage than the alphas and betas before me!”

He always worries over Naruto being around so many alphas and betas—he only got lucky to escape the attempted mating an alpha tried to do to him when he took the exam. He can only hope Naruto is able to escape such a fate like he was—however, knowing Naruto as well as he does, he has too much trust in alphas and betas seeing him as an equal that he wouldn’t think they’d do such things to him nowadays, which is why he was so against him taking these exams in the first place.

While he explains the riddle and what it meant, he cannot keep his thoughts or gaze away from Naruto for long.

All he wants is for his son to be safe and he’s not sure he will be if he stays here like this…

At the end of his speech, he tells his lively, boisterous son, “Naruto, remember what I told you about my time in the Chunin exams: alphas and betas will try to forcibly mate omegas to take them out of the competition and it’s still seen as a valid way to do so now. Please, don’t be so reckless around them. Keep your guard up for me, okay?”

His son blinks before laughing loudly, “Man, you worry way too much! Don’t worry, sensei, I’ll be just fine! Besides, no alphas or betas have ever liked me like that, so there’s nothing to worry about!”

Sakura is staring in pure amazement at his obliviousness while Sasuke is slowly dying on the inside from the statement that was said, leaving Iruka to pity the poor young man…if he could have Naruto mated to anyone, it would be Sasuke: he’s a good kid and he has kept away so many creeps from Naruto that he feels almost indebted to him—that and he knows he would treat Naruto right in a mating.

“Oh Naruto…” he sighs, knowing better than to bother since he won’t believe him anyway.

In Naruto’s eyes, Iruka sensei is making a big deal out of nothing. He has never had anyone crushing on him before, so why would they do so now? Also, those were old times when Iruka sensei first took the exam—there’s no way things haven’t changed at all ever since his time!

Maybe in the past sexism was a problem, but it’s not anymore. Alphas and betas see omegas as equals now. He really wishes his sensei wouldn’t be so paranoid in the manner he is. It makes him almost sound like Ino at times and no alpha outside of Sakura likes Ino.

As they entered the room where the other Genins were, Naruto had to work hard to contain the excitement that somehow managed to slip out of him anyway, “Ino, Lee! You two both made it! I knew I wasn’t going to be the only omega becoming a Chunin!”

With the Third Hokage’s glare strong on him, Naruto silenced himself and got into a single file line along with everyone else. It didn’t stop him from flashing a thumbs up sign to his fellow omegas, who returned it quickly before turning their attention back to the hokage.

It doesn’t stop Naruto from feeling incredibly giddy the entire time. Knowing he made it this far, knowing his fellow omega Genin did as well—it’s enough to make his heart swell in a pride he didn’t think he could feel until now. It was then that he noticed a scent in the air…like…it was one of subtle distress, but he couldn’t place who was the one giving it off.

Maybe it was one the betas? The scent did make him think of a beta, but he could be wrong about that since bushy brows has a scent typically found in more betas than omegas—

Oh…wait…it could be him.

What if he knows what happened to the guy who tried to mark him by force? What if he feels incredibly guilty about that?

As shinobi, killing an opponent is going to happen whether they want it to or not. The life of a shinobi can be very killed or be killed at times, as harsh as it sounds. Naruto knows this, but he also knows that not everyone is fine with something like that. He can only imagine his fellow omega could be that way.

He smells it a bit more and finds that it smells like…burnt cotton.

Yep, so it’s definitely Lee’s scent (he is the only one he knows of that has a scent with a cotton undertone to it), but what has him upset? Did something else happen Sakura didn’t tell him about? Is he okay? Is there really an alpha or beta out there who would bully and assault him for being an omega in the Chunin exams like Iruka sensei warned him of?

No, that’s not possible! Alphas and betas see each other as equals nowadays. Sexism is a problem of the past and it has nothing to do with the problems omegas face today, he’s sure of it.

Knowing that Kabuto wouldn’t be in this was saddening for him to see, but it was okay. At least it meant that he would be able to watch Sasuke fight while catching up with Ino and Lee.

“Hey, bushy brows, Ino! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” he greets them with an excited wave from their viewing area.

Ino grins at him, giving him a wave right back, “It’s been way too long! You didn’t run into any piggish alphas, right?”

“Nope, not at all.” Naruto admits with ease, his eyes on Lee, who seemed to be not all there at the moment now that he sees him up close like this, “Did you run into alphas or betas bullying you for being an omega or something, Lee? You don’t look like you’re fully present with us.”

“Oh, no! It’s…it’s really not that at all.” Lee informs them before leaning into whisper to them, “I can’t tell you guys with Guy sensei here. Can we speak over there about it?”

Naruto sees the direction he is pointing in is at the opposite end of the viewing area, far away from their teammates as well as anyone who could be listening in.

He doesn’t know what happened. All he knows is it must have been severe for Lee to want to talk it about as far away from his own sensei—who he knows he admires and respects deeply—as possible.

“Okay, we can do that.”

Lee immediately appeared relieved, but it wasn’t long lived. Instantly, he went back to putting up a front as they walked over to the other end of the viewing area. Once there, Lee exhales, speaking in a low voice, he appears to be somehow more distressed than he was earlier: “Naruto, there’s something I need to tell you and all I want is for you to promise me you won’t tell anyone or explode at Neji.”

“Why would I explode at Neji?”

His fellow omega meets his eyes with a tired glaze to them, and with the grim expression on Ino’s face, Naruto knows this won’t be good, “Naruto, before the Chunin exams…Neji, he left this mark on my hand when I came out to him as an omega.”

He unwrapped his hand and showed the mark from Neji, making Naruto feel sick to his stomach as he realizes that this mark is one from the Hyuuga clan, “He has never viewed omegas highly and I thought if I trained hard enough, when I came out to him as an omega, he’d see me as his equal but he left me with this mark instead. This mark will kill anyone who tries to mark me by force or rape me. It will also make those who show any romantic interest in me die from a long, slow painful death caused by an incurable illness.”

“What the—that’s so messed up! Who the hell does that to a person!” Naruto nearly shouted until Ino covered his mouth, “Shh, don’t be so loud about it! Lee doesn’t want anyone to know outside of us!”

Lee looks down, muttering pure defeat as his scent becomes a stronger note of burnt cotton, “Neji, I guess.”

“There has to be a way to get rid of it, right?” Naruto is convinced there has to be a way to do this because there’s no way such a mark wouldn’t have a cure—

“There is, but it’s pretty straightforward: I have to fight Neji with everything I’ve got, when I’m at my very best. If I win, then the mark will go away. If I lose, then the mark will fade, and I’ll be left with a mark from Neji on my neck.”

It’s so sick—just everything about this is sick!

Everything about it, it makes his stomach churn out of pure disgust and horror that this would ever be allowed to happen in today’s world!

Here he had thought the days of any alpha or beta pulling such a stunt was long behind them all. Hearing this, it has him seeing red as he seethes at the idea of that Neji guy ever doing such a thing to someone as nice as Lee.

“Lee, you have to tell somebody about this! You can’t just let him away with pulling this crap!” Naruto fights him on this because he wants nothing more than to see that Neji guy lose everything for what he did to Lee.

“No, I can’t!” Lee insists, his eyes full of fear at the idea of anyone knowing, “Naruto, please, don’t do this. Don’t tell anyone no matter what—if you do, either nothing will happen to him and my clan will force me to mate him or he’ll be kicked out of my team and I’ll never get the chance to defeat him in battle!”

“Why would that matter to you?”

“Because Neji is the most powerful Genin around. If I can beat his natural genius with my hard work and taijutsu alone, then I’ll be succeeding in my ninja way while proving everyone wrong about me.”

Naruto can understand this, but at the same time…it feels so wrong to let Neji get off the hook in the way he is.

Though he does wonder, “What do you mean by your clan would force you to mate him anyway? How do you even know they’d do that?”

Lee is rather quiet when saying this part—in fact, he can say this is the quietest Lee has ever been in general, “My clan is poor and conservative—the only reason why I was allowed to become a shinobi is because they thought it’d be the best way for me to get a good mate. Ever since they found out about Neji being on my team, they have been pressuring me to mate him. If Neji was about to get in trouble for any reason at all, he could go to my parents to ask for their permission to mate me and they’d be okay with him mating me because the Hyuuga clan is very wealthy and prestigious, something my clan desperately wants for themselves.”

All of this is as shocking as it is inhumane.

Iruka sensei would never do such a thing to him—he’d be the type to tell Neji off and make him leave him alone if he did that to him. He wouldn’t be so impressed by wealth and prestige like Lee’s clan are. To be so impressed by this that they would actually sacrifice Lee like that to get some of it is just so revolting and unthinkable for him that he’s having a hard time digesting this all—

“Naruto, you have to calm down.” Ino’s voice cuts in as she releases her calming pheromones in the air, “We don’t want them to suspect there’s anything wrong here or else people will connect the dots on it being possibly tied to Lee.”

Right…right…he cannot be freaking out right now, not when he knows the omega across from him will be needing his support should he have to fight this Neji guy today.

“Right…so, which one is Neji again? I’m sorry, but I kinda forgot what he looked like.”

Lee points to the alpha with the long dark brown hair, pale eyes, and unbelievably smug look on his face, “That’s Neji right there. Ever since I came here, I’ve been wandering the halls of the tower to spend as much time away from him as possible.”

“Did he do something else to you? Do I have to kill him?” Naruto begins with a fist meeting his palm, “Go on and tell me, I’ll get rid of him for you!”

“No, he didn’t do anything that bad lately!” he tries to calm his fellow omega down, “All he’s done is kiss me to shut me up when we speak and he’s tried to get me to share his first rut with him in order to learn about what the mark did, but it’s okay because Ino told me everything anyway and—”

“That pig!” the blonde omega snapped (Iruka sensei did tell him all about ruts, heats, and sex a while back, so he knows what it means when Lee brings up the word 'rut' as well as what Neji was trying to do), heading over to the Hyuuga’s side, “I am gonna punch him so hard for you he’ll regret ever looking at you at all!”

“Wait, Naruto!” Lee rushed over to try to stop him, but Ino was the one who held Lee back, “Ino, let me go! I have to stop him!”

She openly scoffed to this, making Naruto feeling emboldened in his actions, “If you ask me, he needs a punch to the face. He has no right to treat you like this and the fact you are ignoring your own feelings to satisfy a goal in life is awful as is. Let Naruto do this for everyone here who disapproves of what he did to you.”

Naruto marched over to the Hyuuga alpha, his anger hardly hidden, “Take this, bastard!”

He tried to punch him, but the Hyuuga caught his hand without turning around to face him or giving him any of his attention, “Silence omega, an alpha is trying to watch the battle.”

Naruto’s teeth were grinding together, his glare on him strong, “What did you just say to me?”

“You heard me, omega. Show some respect to your superior before interrupting something they are doing.”

Naruto was about to hurt him when he was cut off by Might Guy, “Neji, that’s no way to speak to any omega and you know it!”

The Jounin’s eyes met his own as he attempted to clean up the mess caused by his student, “I’m so sorry about that. Neji comes from a very strict, traditional family and I’m afraid he’s kept some of those old, sexist views from them. Next time, though, if you want to punch him, try to wait for a chance in battle. There he will be forced to at least look in your direction as an equal.”

“…Ah, yeah, sure—sorry sir.” Naruto retracts his fist and is about to head back to where Ino and Lee are at, when Guy asks out of nowhere, “Naruto…if something is bothering Lee, you’d tell me, wouldn’t you?”

Naruto wants to say ‘yes’ but in this moment, he doesn’t feel confident saying it. All he can do is tell him, “I would if he wanted me to.”

“Well, something is bothering Lee and I’d like to know before he has to fight anyone. Having such a weight on his mind could screw him over in a match and cause him to lose if we’re not careful.” he places a hand on Naruto’s shoulder, asking him in a lowered tone void of the energy he usually speaks with, “What is bothering Lee, Naruto? Is there any chance you can tell me?”

Naruto shakes his head, doing his best to keep Lee’s feelings in mind here, “I can’t say. All I can do is try to get him to tell you.”

He knows it’s not a good enough answer, but it’s all he can tell him for now without disrespecting Lee’s wishes.

Chapter Text

Guy took a small inhale to even out his breathing as Naruto walked away, fighting his urge to follow him and listen in on their conversation. As worried as he is for Lee, he won’t go that far to invade his privacy like that. The kid is like a son to him and he’d never want to lose the bond between them by losing his trust in him. Besides, for all he knows, this could be something small and petty the other omegas around him could help him through.

Kakashi approaches him, his low whisper cutting him out of his momentary funk the minute he hears it, “Guy, is there something wrong with your student?”

He knows he doesn’t have to tell him anything, but given the situation with Sasuke and Orochimaru, he cannot afford to keep his fellow Jounin in the dark over this, “Something is bothering Lee, but it has nothing to do with Orochimaru. I know it doesn’t, because if it did, I would be able to smell that awful rotting snake corpse scent on him.”

Kakashi seems to be able to feel relieved after hearing this. Guy himself isn’t, “Kakashi, Lee hasn’t been his usual self. Every smile he gives me, every time he speaks to me in his usual tone…even his interactions with his team…all of it feels very forced now for reasons I do not know. If your student knows anything of this at all and tells you about it, you would tell me, right?”

The silver haired shinobi pauses, in his step, listening as Guy goes on with his gaze on the group of omegas far away from the group, “Lee is a good kid—no, more like a great kid from a family that doesn’t appreciate him enough. He is the type to keep up a strong front for the sake of his team, his goals, his mission, and even myself if he thinks it will help. He’s too willing to sacrifice his own feelings and wellbeing at times for what he thinks to be the greater good—it’s a habit I am trying to break in him, but it’s not been easy. All I want is what’s best for him…as I’m sure you would for your own team. So please, tell me right away if you hear from Naruto about anything being wrong with Lee.”

“I will, Guy.” he responds, but it’s not without having Guy turn around and give him a big smile, “Thanks for that, Kakashi! I knew you would be a stand up guy about this!”

Before Kakashi can leave him alone, he decides to throw Guy a bone for his sake because maybe what is bothering Lee is something as simple as this, “Are you sure he’s not nearing his first heat? He is getting towards that age, Guy, and you know what they say about omegas and their first heats.”

“Nah, I know he isn’t! Iruka already told me all the signs to look out for and Lee has promised me he would tell me right away if he thought he was experiencing the symptoms of a first heat.”

Now to Guy this is an innocent comment. To Kakashi, it is anything but.

While he is not at all caught up in any competition with Guy, he does have an issue with Guy going to Iruka—most likely alone and with who knows what kind of intention he has in mind for their one-sided ‘competition’ he engages in.

“You went to Iruka about this? When?”

“A year ago, when I was trying to decide if my team was ready for the exams or not. I had never worked with an omega before in any field, so I didn’t know what to expect heat-wise. I went to Iruka to ask for help in this field since he’s the only omega Chunin in our village and he was of great help to me on this end. Lee and I know what to look out for should he go into his first heat thanks to him.”

Kakashi has to be sure for his own sanity’s sake because the idea of Iruka and Guy potentially dating sends a chill through his soul, “Okay, sure, I can get that…but there wasn’t any chance you two—”

He huffs to this, rolling his dark eyes as he dropped a bomb on him he was not ever prepared for, “We didn’t have sex, Kakashi. We didn’t even date—there’s no need to think I am a jerk who would use an omega like that.”

That allows him to breathe easy, “You have Naruto on your squad and he’s an omega just like Lee—you should speak to Iruka to figure out what to look for heat-wise or else he could get seriously hurt.”

It’s a wonderful idea he does intend to follow through, “Thanks for the advice, Guy. I’ll be sure to follow through on it when the battles are done today.”

While Kakashi is making a new plan to get on Iruka’s good side just enough to go on a date with the omega, Naruto was back at Lee’s side and growling, “I cannot believe your sensei tried to stop me from clobbering that guy! He is such a jerk, I cannot wait for him to lose against someone here!”

Lee shakes his head, “That won’t likely happen. Neji isn’t one to lose so easily and I do believe that out of everyone in my squad, he is the one most likely to become a Chunin after the exam.”

Naruto cannot believe this—the idea of that jerk making it through the exams well enough to become a Chunin enrages him. If you ask him, this jerk should be kicked out for what he did to Lee! Then he remembers what Lee said about his family and he realizes that wouldn’t be of any help to Lee either.

Stupid, stupid Neji! One of these days, he will get back at that alpha for what he did to Lee!

“Whatever, the stupid jerk! I cannot believe you can look at him without wanting to punch him!”

The omega has his eyes on the battle, his only response to this being one that is spoken in a small voice, “I don’t know…I mean, I can’t be mad at him because I should have been quick enough to stop him from leaving this mark on me, but I never knew what all it did. When I didn’t, I could go about my day without any issue since the mark was a great motivator for me in my training. I really thought it was a harmless mark that would go away after we fought, I never knew it did all of things Ino told me it did—I never knew he’d try to get me to share a rut with him to learn what Ino told me in the first place. I don’t want to hurt him, but I don’t want to be by him either because I don’t feel safe around him anymore…does that make any sense?”

For Naruto, it doesn’t make any sense at all. For Ino, she can have a better understanding of it, “Yeah, I guess I can. I mean, no matter how mad I got at Sakura, I never wanted anything bad to happen her and sure I thought about punching her in the arm when she made me really mad, but I never did it because I never wanted to hurt her no matter what.”

Naruto doesn’t understand this at all because, “Yeah, if Sasuke did that to me, I’d want to punch him no matter what and I wouldn’t be blaming myself for what happened either. If he pulled that crap on me, I would be telling everyone around me and I wouldn’t hold back on getting him in trouble.”

When Lee says nothing to this, Naruto feels the need to change the subject and as such, he turns his attention to Ino, “So, Ino, did you and Sakura kiss and make-up in the forest or something?”

“What the—where did you get that idea from?”

“She said she’s trying to be a better alpha for you and she’s been definitely changed ever since I woke up from underneath that tree. She’s been a lot easier for me to work with, she’s being nice to Sasuke for once, and we survived the forest together without any alpha infighting. I thought it had something to do with you, so did it or did it not?”

Seeing Ino blush to this has Naruto thinking it did—except, Ino’s response is completely different than what he had imagined originally, “She’s…actually…changing? I didn’t think she meant any of it when she told she would change for the better. I thought it was all a lie, no different from whatever it is Itachi told Deidara before he stole him away from us.”

Naruto tilts his head to the side, finding this to be incredibly odd indeed, “Yeah, why wouldn’t she? I know you and her had a falling out, but when Sakura apologizes, she means it. She’s a good alpha, Ino—you’re really lucky to have such an amazing alpha into you. I cannot think of a better alpha to be interested in me than Sakura.”

(Somewhere on the battlefield, Sasuke has just won his fight and he’s dying on the inside to hear Naruto loudly proclaiming such a thing. Knowing his Naruto would ever say such a thing about Sakura as opposed to himself hurts more than words would ever describe. Unfortunately, he has to leave with Kakashi to get this curse mark dealt with now that his match is over. Stupid snake alpha tearing him away from Naruto like this! He will kill with his bare hands if he sees him again!)

(Likewise, Sakura is feeling terrified for her life when she hears this and sees Sasuke’s glare in her direction, mentally cursing Naruto for saying such a thing out loud while also praising him for telling Ino such good things about her.)

She doesn’t say anything to this, looking away to try to hide her blush when muttering, “I mean…there’s worse out there. I could have someone like Anko or Shikamaru into me.”

“Really? I wouldn’t mind those alphas. Anko is a bit loud and intimidating, but she doesn’t seem bad overall. Shikamaru…well, I don’t know enough about him, but he seems nice. I bet he’s a good guy underneath it all and you’re not seeing it.” Lee comments while bringing his gaze back to his omega friends.

Ino rolls her eyes in response, her hands on her hips when she speaks, “Oh please, Shikamaru is a great teammate and an awesome friend, but he’s not mating material! The guy is way too lazy for his own good to ever be proper mating material for anyone, so don’t waste your time on him, Lee. I’d take Anko before Shikamaru as a mate, but even then, she’s too dominative for my liking and I remember what Deidara told me about the super dominative types.”

Naruto inserts his own thought on the matter, allowing everyone (even an already upset Sasuke) to know what he likes in a mate, “You’re being too picky, Ino… Me personally, I want an alpha who will fight by my side, be willing to stay at home and raise the pups at home while I do hokage stuff, and an alpha who can give me all the ramen I want. Now that is the best mate ever!”

Ino would not expect anything less from him. Lee, on the other hand, has his own idea on the topic, “I never actually thought about what I wanted in a mate or not. All I ever wanted was to be the best taijutsu only ninja around. Mating never felt like a real possibility to me ever in my life.”

“Why not?” Naruto hates himself for asking this because Lee’s answer didn’t help matters, “I don’t know, it’s probably because I’m not—you know—I’m not pretty like you and Ino are. Looks wise, I’m nothing amazing compared to you two and I’m fine with that, I was fine with being alone for the rest of my life until everything happened the way it did.”

“…Are you calling yourself ugly, bushy brows?”

Lee’s answer is shockingly blunt given Naruto’s accusation just now, “I am, but I don’t feel bad about it. People used to call me ugly all the time in the academy and I know I am compared to you and Ino. No alpha or beta wants an ugly mate—I had myself mentally prepared to be alone forever because of this fact.”

It’s strange, but Lee sounded less upset and stressed when calling himself ugly than what he did with talking about the situation regarding Neji. Naruto doesn’t get this either—who would actually be calm and almost completely apathetic when calling themselves ugly or bringing up the bullying that led this mindset arising? Shouldn’t that upset him?

Who knows, maybe it’s something he wouldn’t get because he’s not one to blame himself for things like Lee is.

Ino, on the other hand, seems to know how to better handle this sort of thing, “You’re not ugly, Lee. I’m sure you’re super cute to some alphas and betas out there without knowing it.”

Lee laughs and Naruto isn’t sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, he seems to be back to his perkier self with this, “Yeah right! Neji only wants to mate me because I’m flexible, resilient, and have good hips for birthing pups. I know better than to think it’s anything other than that.”

Neji…just bringing him up is enough to make Naruto mad at him all over again.

He feels tempted to punch him one more time, but he’ll hold off on that for now to instead talk to Lee, “How do you know that for fact? The guy put a creepy mark on you—I’m sure there’s more to his attraction than that if he can do something so horrible right after you come out as an omega to him.”

“…I don’t like to think about that. If I do, I will get myself upset all over again and I don’t want to go through it if I don’t have to.”

So it’s a coping mechanism then?

He tells himself certain things so he won’t be burdened by the worst case scenarios or something?

He guesses it makes sense, but it doesn’t stop him from not being able to get Lee on so many of the things he says. Maybe he will one day, but definitely not now.

As the next match is getting set to begin, and Sasuke is announced as making it to the third part of the exam, Naruto wonders when he’ll be next to fight.

While this is happening, Kankuro cannot help but to notice Gaara’s gaze on the omega across the room from them. He knows he shouldn’t bother asking or even consider teasing him about it, and yet he did somewhat anyway, “An omega caught your eye, huh? Is he someone to die for or something?”

Gaara doesn’t say much of anything at first. No, he keeps on staring at the omega with the black hair and the scent that soothes his nerves and the jinchuuriki inside of him for reasons he cannot actually explain away with any logic or reason.

Ever since he first happened upon him in the hall and breathed in the scent…he couldn’t deny finding it enjoyable to take in even though he didn’t see his face. All he could say was the omega had a pleasing voice, his jinchuuriki approved of his body for producing pups (Gaara isn’t sold on the idea, even if procreation is what the beast within him is starting to demand more the older he gets), and he didn’t appear to be displeasing to the eye when he saw him sleep that one time.

He has had to restrain himself quite a bit [had it not been for another alpha’s chakra being present on him, his jinchuuriki probably would have marked him for him] and it wasn’t incredibly annoying to him at all to do so. If of anything, Gaara doesn’t really want to mate or be mated. He’s fine with being alone for the rest of his days and never having a single pup in his life. The only reason why he’s showing any interest in this omega is because his jinchuuriki is demanding him to and he’s trying to understand why it is this particular omega is the one it seems pretty dead set on when there are two others here as well.

When he does respond to Kankuro, maybe two to five minutes have passed and he’s already saying, “It’s none of your concern if I am interested in any person or not.”

…As long as he didn’t kill him, Kankuro figures he is just fine for now. If of anything, he’s gotten off easy when the entire time, he’s been waiting for his younger brother to kill him with his sand coffin for the last few minutes. Hearing this response has him feeling incredibly calm for the moment, though it doesn’t stop him from wondering why he won’t stop watching the omega across from them or how the omega across from them can ignore his intense stare.

If this is Gaara with some sort of weird, unexplainably random crush, then he has nothing but deep pity for the omega right now. He already seems sort of on edge and if it is to do with Gaara, then he can only expect it won’t end well for him should his brother find out and decide to kill him for the perceived insult.

With his eyes on the battlefield, he is now on edge himself. If Gaara marks this omega by force during these exams, then their mission is screwed and they can all but kiss all of their effort into this goodbye.

Chapter Text

Sasuke groaned when being led out of the area and away from Naruto. Immediately, all he could do was try to bargain with his sensei, “Sensei, let me stay. I know this curse mark isn’t something to take lightly, but Naruto…he’s an omega. Iruka sensei got on everyone else about this at the academy, but he could be marked by force if someone isn’t there to protect him. Please, you have to let me stay! I promise I won’t act out of line, I’ll keep Naruto safe and that’s it!”

Kakashi rejects this notion, though he does feel for the young alpha, “I understand you’re worried over Naruto and all you want is to protect him. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you can’t do it without this mark being sealed right away.”

“What if someone tries to mark him by force when we’re gone?”

“Sakura is here; she’ll keep him safe.” When this does nothing to ease Sasuke’s worried mind, he brings up someone else, “There’s also Ino Yamanaka—she won’t ever let any alpha or beta harm Naruto.”

As much as he doesn’t care for Ino…he can admit he feels much better about leaving him alone than he did before. He knows Ino would be one to jump into battle immediately to save any omega from any alpha or beta since she seems to hate them all anyway. When he thinks about it, who else to better guard Naruto than Deidara’s alpha and beta hating little sister?

While he does worry about her poisoning Naruto against him, he knows that when it comes down to it, he’d rather have Ino trying to save Naruto from an alpha or beta than leave Sakura to do it alone.

“Alright…but I want you to come back to Naruto’s side immediately if I can’t.”

“I will, Sasuke.” Kakashi promises him with all of the sincerity he has within himself.

He can understand where Sasuke is coming from with his concerns. He himself has had similar concerns in the past regarding Iruka (mainly with the fear he had of Iruka being called to handle Mizuki and other missions where he was dragged into it) so he can relate to the young alpha here. However, he also believes he needs to calm down for now and have Ino and Sakura keep an eye out for Naruto.

(He would have Lee do the same thing, but he seems too troubled to be properly focused on saving Naruto from an alpha or beta trying to forcibly mate him.)

Meanwhile, Ino herself is feeling a sense of calm about her potential match. She knows she will be going up against an alpha or beta, but she doesn’t really care. All she cares about is getting one step closer to becoming a Chunin for herself—at the same time, she is hoping her fellow omegas pass as well. Naruto to prove everyone wrong about his dream of being hokage and Lee to hopefully escape the situation he’s stuck in with Neji…

Wait…Lee…the mark…

If he fights someone, it could be dangerous. What if his opponent tries to mark him by force or shows too much romantic interest in him? They could end up dying up on the spot and Lee could get in trouble for it since there’s no way an omega could get away with killing an alpha or beta during an exam without there being some sort of uproar about it.

She quickly turned to face him, about to tell him of this thought on her mind, “Lee, you should—”

“Yamanaka, if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak to Lee alone.” she didn’t know when Neji had approached them, but seeing him standing there had her growling at him, “What are you doing here, alpha?”

“I’m here to speak to Lee. Last I checked, you are not his keeper, so I’d much appreciate it if you left us alone.”

She was getting ready to pummel him when Hinata tapped on her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “You don’t want to do that… Neji isn’t above fighting omegas and he’s very strong—he’s said to be the strongest Genin in our clan, so please, back down now.”

The omega was about to hit him as hard as she could despite this warning because the idea that this jerk felt that entitled to Lee to make such demands when he’s already so upset because of everything that’s happened to him because of him…it makes her see almost see red.

“I can’t do that, not when he’s such a jerk to Lee.” she whispered back to Hinata, her attention back on him, “I am not his keeper, but I am his fellow omega and I’m not leaving him alone with you.”

Neji doesn’t outwardly react but he does try to land a hit on her, “Fine, since you won’t leave when I ask—I’ll just have to use force then.”

His attempt failed only because he paused in mid strike when Lee inserted himself in between them, “Stop it, Neji! I’ll talk to you alone, but don’t hit my friend, please.”

“You’re friends with the Yamanaka? You know what kind of person her brother is, right? You know she’s just a difficult as he is and damned in her fate to wind up just like him, don’t you? Why associate with her then? What’s the point in that?”

“She’s a good person, Neji, and while we all have differing opinions about her brother, there’s no evidence she will end up on the same path as him.” Lee goes on to make a claim they hadn’t seen coming, “When I was here, she helped to keep me calm when I was too stressed to sleep or deal with the issues bothering me. I know you may not approve of her, but that doesn’t matter. You can’t say who I can or can’t be friends with.”

Naruto snarls, his scent flaring openly as angered pheromones of his filled the air around them, “Who are you to make those claims anyway! Like you’re so perfect and great—how can you talk about her and her brother like that? We don’t even know why Deidara left the village with Itachi or why he became a criminal. Maybe he really is innocent in all of this, maybe he’s not, we won’t really know until we find him and talk to him about it in a place where he feels safe enough to speak about it. Either way, it doesn’t give you the right to write him and her off like that!”

The Hyuuga alpha gives them all a blank expression with a hand going up to pinch the bridge of his nose in what appears to be irritation, “Looks like you two are going to be painfully difficult…fine, so be it, I’ll handle you both then.”

“There’s no need for that!” he turns to them and practically begs, “Naruto, Ino, please…I don’t want any trouble. I don’t want you two to get punished over something I should be able to handle on my own.”

“But Lee—” Ino begins, only to have him shoot this down with a raising of his hand, “I appreciate the support you two have given me. You guys have made my day a lot easier on me, but Neji is my teammate and whether I want to or not, I will have to speak to him sometime.”

It’s only because of Lee’s insistence that she backs down, but it’s not without throwing a kunai at Neji’s feet, “Speak about my brother again like that and I won’t miss on purpose.”

With that, she left them to speak alone, not sure of what Neji would say to Lee, but feeling positive that he would definitely be the type to get mean to him the moment she and Naruto were gone.

When walking away from him, Hinata—a kind but shy beta Ino has no problem with—was walking alongside them, commenting with a nervous push of her fingers together, “T-That was very brave of you, Ino. Standing up to Neji like that in a way that actually unnerved him—I’m impressed.”

“It’s no big deal, I’m sure you’ve done the same to that jerk.”

“Actually…um…I…never have.”

Now that’s strange for her to hear.

Betas and alphas usually see each other as being pure equals—especially in the Hyuuga clan. She remembers Deidara always telling her to avoid dating, mating, or courting Hyuugas because “they are the most sexist towards omegas of them all and they’d only treat you as a true equal if you’re a beta—I swear Ino, if you ever date or mate a Hyuuga, I will kill them, un”. Given what happened to Lee, it’s safe to say she feels as though her brother was right about the clan in general.

Which is why hearing Hinata say this is so strange for her, “You really never stood up to him before? Why not?”

Hinata is quieter when admitting, “I’ve never really been…you know…strong enough to take him on in the past. He’s just so—so aggressive towards me and it’s hard not to feel intimidated.”

“I’m sure you’ve gotten a lot stronger now, though! Besides, you’re a beta Hyuuga, I’m positive he’s more likely to see you as an equal long before he ever would with me, Naruto, or Lee.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, he—”

She got cut off by Naruto speaking up, “Who cares what he thinks? All he’s done so far is proven that he’s a shameless jerk who sees Lee as being beneath him for being an omega. I just cannot believe anyone in our day and age would actually act like that—doesn’t he know that sort of attitude has no place in today’s age? Really, I cannot believe the guy!”

Ino was about to fill Naruto in on a little thing called sexism when Hinata beat her to it, “Ah, actually Naruto…his attitude towards Lee and other omegas isn’t an old-timey thing. In the Hyuuga clan, omegas are supposed to be submissive, quiet, and homemakers to their alphas and betas no matter what.”

Naruto’s vibrant blue eyes widened out of pure horror then, “What! You’ve gotta be kidding me! There’s no way that’s normal!”

She nods, dealing him with an extra hard dose of reality right after only learning about Lee’s predicament with Neji a mere few minutes earlier, “It is, though. I don’t agree with it, but in my clan, it’s tradition and expectation for omegas to set aside their dreams, desires, wishes, and happiness for the alpha or beta who mates them.”

“That’s so stupid! I wanna be hokage someday and if I have to mate someone, I would never mate a Hyuuga if that’s what they believe! No way, not me!”

Naruto’s outburst clearly upset Hinata, who appeared crestfallen at the news, “Oh…I…see…”

After all she had done to help Naruto in the first part of the exam, after all she had done, cheering him on from a distance…the rejection hurts and it’s so plain across her face yet Naruto—being as oblivious as he is—doesn’t notice it.

Ino steps in and changes the subject for her sake, “Naruto, a lot of clans are like that. Why do you think Iruka sensei’s the only omega Chunin in our village? It’s because omegas in other clans are pressured, coerced, manipulated, and forced into mating so they never get to have a chance to be shinobi even if that’s what they want for themselves. Clan expectations can be the worst for omegas—I’m only lucky I got born into a more liberal clan that allowed me to do as I please and treated me like an equal to the alphas and betas in it.”

“Well then, if they think that way, then I’ll just mate someone who doesn’t!” Naruto pauses before thinking, “Sakura is off of the table because she wants you and I’m sure many of the other ones here are jerks.”

“Hinata isn’t a jerk either. You shouldn’t be so quick to write her off because of her clan.” Ino reminds him on the spot because truthfully, she’d rather have Naruto with the kindly Hyuuga as opposed to the dreadful Uchiha.

To this, Naruto shrugs, “Sure she’s nice, but her clans too messed up for me.”

Ino was about to tear into him for being so mean about it right in front of her when he asked, “How about Shikamaru? He never said anything bad omegas back when we were in the academy.”

She feels so awful for Hinata right now. This propels her to undersell her own teammate because she doesn’t want Naruto to make the same horrible mistake Lee would have, “Shikamaru comes from a very liberal clan. He sees all omegas and betas as being equals to alphas and he will always stand up for omegas when facing sexism. But he’s freakishly lazy, loves to play board games, and wants a bland, effortless existence so he can coast on through life. Are you sure you want that in a mate?”

Naruto rubs a hand underneath his chin, “Hmm…now that you mention it…he sounds perfect!”

“What!” Ino nearly shrieks, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“No, I’m not! Shikamaru is so lazy and his clan wouldn’t demand me to be a homemaker when we do mate, so that means when I become hokage, Shikamaru can stay home with the pups and go on missions with me whenever I please! Also, isn’t he supposed to be pretty smart too? Oh, that means I can go to him for advice when I’m hokage and in a tight bind!”

She wants to punch him in the arm for being so inconsiderate of Hinata and yet at the same time, she wants to save Shikamaru’s life. Hinata could her own against Sasuke if she really tried and she knows she could, but Shikamaru? He’s too lazy. He would probably throw in the towel and get himself killed by Sasuke to spare himself the trouble of having to defend himself from him.

She tries once more to talk him out of it, warning him, “Naruto, if you do go out with Shikamaru, you will be disappointed.”

To this, he shrugs when starting to make his way over to the lazy alpha, “Don’t care! As long as he lets me be hokage and his clan doesn’t hold stupid views about me for being one, then I’m fine with it!”

Ino growls at his stupidity before facing Hinata, “I’m so sorry about that. I didn’t know he would be so mean to you—honestly, if you ask me, you’d be the best mate for Naruto out of anyone else here, but he’s too dumb to see it.”

“No, no it’s fine… I don’t think he’d be happy with me anyway. My clan wouldn’t approve of such a loud, independent omega and I can see Naruto’s being hokage causing tension there.” hearing her talk herself out of liking Naruto was enough for her to hug the beta and reassure her with a bit of calming pheromone thrown in the mix, “Don’t take yourself out of the running for his heart so easily. I know it seems rough now, but trust me, he’ll get sick of Shikamaru after one date and want nothing to do with him ever again. Sasuke? Ha, he has no chance with him! Naruto’s too dense to notice his obvious feelings for him and even if he did, there’s a good chance he’d reject him. Once he opens his eyes, he’ll see how great you are and know you’d be the perfect one for him.”

She ends the hug, with the beta blushing a bit, thinking then that calla lilies have the most pleasant of scents, “Thank you, Ino. You really are nice, just like your brother was.”

She doesn’t say this as an insult. Long before she had a crush on Naruto, she had a crush on Deidara. He may have been fiery, loud, and bitter, but she saw it as more of a defense mechanism from having to deal with alphas and betas around him constantly belittling him for wanting to be something other than a stay at home parent. She loved his artwork, the mouths on his hands, and the way he would make her things at times whenever he caught her spying on him making his sculptures.

They always blew up, but that was okay: it only made the memory last longer, especially the one of his smile as it did so.

However, Itachi had one day caught her watching the blonde from her hiding spot, and the Uchiha had been clear when making the remark he did to her: “You can look, but you can never touch. Deidara’s far too old for you and besides this fact, he’s going to be my mate one day.”

“You are a Hyuuga, after all—he would never be happy in your clan, no independent, loud, vibrant omega would be.”

The idea of it hurt back then as much as it does now that Naruto made it clear Itachi may have had a point about Deidara and Naruto as well—they wouldn’t be happy in her clan.

Ino doesn’t seem quick to judge her on her clan’s beliefs and the fact she doesn’t makes her feel less awful about what Itachi said back then.

Sakura was quick to approach them, a forced smile on her lips as she said, “Ino, we’re up next for battle. You know I won’t hold back on you, right?”

“I know and I don’t intend to hold back on you either.”

As the two girls exit the viewing area, Hinata is ready to silently cheer for Ino in the same way she did for Deidara and Naruto for all of these years, not caring if Sakura sent her a dark glare over her shoulder or tried to walk closer to Ino in a show of jealousy.

She can be jealous all that she pleases. Maybe it’s time for Hinata to stop caring what these alphas think and go for what she wants herself.

Chapter Text

Right before Ino left to fight Sakura, Lee was alone with Neji and he didn’t think it would be too bad. Ino, Hinata, and Naruto weren’t so far away, so maybe it would be safe to talk to him alone without any drama between them.

“You told them, didn’t you?”

Looks like Lee’s wishes are not to be granted then!

“I did…but I felt too suffocated keeping everything to myself. You kept so much from me and I couldn’t stop myself from being stressed over it.” Lee does inform the alpha beside him, “Neji, Ino heard you talking to Sakura…she knows what the mark fully does, she heard you explain it in the forest and she told me everything. I don’t know why you’d leave me with something like this. I don’t even know what on earth would possess you to do something so…cruel. If you could just tell me the reason for all of this, then maybe I could make some sense of it.”

Neji’s answer is one that Lee is so glad Ino cannot hear right now as she heads over to the stairs to get on the battlefield with Sakura, “Simple: I only did what I had to do ensure you would always be mine. That’s the real reason why I left you with the mark I did—even if another alpha or beta came along and tried to steal you away in any manner possible, they wouldn’t be able to.”

“What makes me so special for any of that in the first place? I’m too ugly and loud and I don’t have a pleasant, stereotypical omega scent like Ino and Naruto do. How could you want me when there’s nothing to want outside of whatever hip shape, resilience, or flexibility you find desirable that can be found in others?”

“How could I not want you? You don’t have that irritating, headache inducing scent of a typical omega and I find your naivete to be completely adorable. Also, your big round doll eyes combined with your shiny hair and heart shaped face…you’re like a pretty porcelain doll but cuter somehow.”

Neji’s usually not one to be so blunt, but Lee was starting to annoy him with the questioning and he figured being honest would be enough to both shut him up as well as calm him down before his match.

He doesn’t want Lee to be poisoned by Ino either and he knows the bitter spinster of a Yamanaka would be the type to do just that. So who knows? Maybe being honest with him will help to prevent that from happening.

Lee, meanwhile, was staring at him in shock because he just couldn’t believe it, “What—You—No—there’s…there’s no way you mean any of that! I’m none of the above! There’s a reason why no one ever crushed on me, why everyone called me ugly at the academy and said my scent was gross—why my own family thought being a ninja was the only way I’d ever get a mate… You cannot possibly mean any of what you’re saying! There’s no way that’s what you actually think of me!”

The Hyuuga doesn’t hold in his annoyance as he watches the future kunoichi fight each other on the battlefield, “Believe it or not, I do. I do think this way of you, I always have. The only reason I could never express this is because I thought you were a beta and Hyuuga alphas are taught to not ever pursue any romantic relationship with a beta.”

Now he’s left feeling thrown off guard over this. No one has ever said he was attractive in such a specific, detailed manner—not even his own family. His hyper conservative family who has always made comments on how come he doesn’t make more of an effort to be a beautiful omega as opposed to training so hard to be a ninja or how come he doesn’t do enough to try to tone down the evergreen note in his scent so alphas and betas won’t mistake him for a beta and call his scent gross…

Point being, he’s heard all of his life that he’s unattractive and Lee found peace with this predicament because thanks to it, he was able to convince his parents to allow him to be a shinobi because he was ‘too ugly to get a regular alpha or beta in the traditional way without becoming one’.

(His wording there, not even that of his parents’. But they did use it to justify to their clan as to why they allowed to become a shinobi.)

It makes him unable to know what to say to this. Maybe he should ask Naruto about it, he would know how to respond! Alphas and betas are always talking about how cute he is, surely he’d be able to tell him whether or not Neji is being sincere about what he says or what all he even means by all of this.

Ino would be a good turn to as well, but from the way things are looking in her battle against Sakura…maybe she won’t be as available as he thinks she will be.

Oh well, Naruto it is then!

“Uh…okay?” Lee doesn’t know what else to say to him. Learning what all he did has his mind drawing a blank.

What Lee doesn’t know is Neji is only by his side because he’s been seeing how that redhead across the room has been staring at him this entire time. The ninja from the sand is a mystery indeed—the redhead with the two scents…one of blood and one of lavender. It’s rather contradictory since the lavender doesn’t appear to be strong enough to cancel out the blood and the blood doesn’t overpower the lavender to cancellation either. It’s almost as though they are perfectly combined, more than ready to merge at any given moment.

Lavender is not a typical alpha scent, but he has a feeling the redhead could be an alpha, just like how Lee is an omega with a deceptively beta scent.

It doesn’t matter though if the redhead is an alpha or beta. He won’t ever allow him to be stolen from him by some guy from another village who doesn’t seem to get the hint judging by the way he’s continuing to stare at his Lee.

He places a hand on top of his own and all the redhead does is blink passively. Feeling annoyed by this, Neji takes matters into his own hands by kissing Lee when he begins to speak, “Neji, I have to talk to Naruto about some—mph!”

When the kiss ends, Lee cannot contain his frustration at his continued behavior, “Neji, you cannot tell me you find me attractive and then kiss me right when I’m speaking! It’s like you have no respect for me whatsoever when you pull stunts like that! How many times do I have to tell you I don’t like it when you do that before you finally care enough to stop!”

“Lee, you’re going to lose to me in the fight anyway and you’ll be me mate then. Whether you like it or not, as your future mate, I have a right to do whatever it takes to calm you down, even if it is with kissing.”

The omega couldn’t hold in his outrage at the open disrespect long enough to stop himself from slapping the alpha’s hand away from him and leaving him from where he was once watching the match.

From across the room, Gaara raises a brow, finding this all to be so peculiar. He immediately asks the only omega expert here—his brother, since his sand spirit is the last one he’d ever go to for advice or questions on such matters—about the situation he just witnessed, “Why did that omega slap the alpha’s hand away from him after he kissed him? Do omegas do that sort of thing, Kankuro?”

Kankuro, not liking being the center of Gaara’s attention, answered him while doing his best to keep his nervousness down around him, “No, not usually. It looked like the omega was speaking and the alpha kissed him suddenly. That must’ve made him mad and caused him to slap his hand away from him before walking off to cool down from his likely anger over that.”

“People kiss each other to silence the other person?”

“Only crappy people do. It’s a complete violation of respect and trust to do something like that to another person. I really don’t blame the omega for being angry—he didn’t look like he was comfortable around that guy and he just forced his entire presence onto him, expecting him to take it without complaint.”

“Huh…”

…This is what his jinchuuriki has been demanding? How the hell could it demand such a thing when it has to know Gaara has no interest in procreating or ‘sowing his oats’ or ‘spreading his seed’ or whatever it is it loves to go on and on about at nights!

Omegas are confusing creatures he’s not sure he wants to deal with in any other form than killing them. He knows his first rut is coming up and the spirit loves to let him know it will be unbearable without an omega, but…he’s not sold on the idea.

He’s fine being alone, he’s fine with nobody else being in his life—why does he need a mate? Why does he need to procreate? Isn’t it worse to bring a child into this world, knowing it could possibly face the same cruel existence he has?

There’s no point in arguing anymore. His spirit won’t ever change its mind and it won’t ever allow him to not keep a close eye on the omega across the room from him.

Lee, of course, didn’t notice Gaara’s staring at him nor did he care to notice the way Neji had glared at Gaara after he left him behind. He was simply too distracted by everything to really, truly care about his surroundings right now.

Even as Ino and Sakura’s battle ended on a tie, he couldn’t be bothered to take pause and think on it or watch it. All he could do was focus on finding someone to talk to about Neji’s recent actions—that is, until he was stopped by his sensei.

“Lee, is everything alright? You don’t seem to have your head in the game…is it something—you know, important coming up?”

Giving the emphasis he placed on the word ‘important’, he knows already what he’s talking about, “No, sensei, that’s not happening yet. I haven’t experienced any of the symptoms lately, but I know it might come sometime soon.”

Guy sensei hums and it makes him feel a bit small at the moment given how this is usually an omen for him of something about to be called out, “I saw you slap Neji’s hand away—did he say something to upset you? Did he do anything at all to make you mad?”

He should tell his sensei the truth and it kills him on the inside to lie to him.

The only problem with telling him the truth about this is Lee’s afraid of what would come next if he were to tell him right now, right here in the middle of the Chunin exams as the sudden death rounds are happening.

Would the exams be paused because of him?

Would his clan get involved, would they force him to mate Neji anyway and kill his ninja career before it could ever get started?

Would he lose his chance to become a Chunin if everyone knew the full truth of the mark on his hand?

He wouldn’t be able to handle it if everyone had their futures put on hold because he was too slow to stop Neji from putting that mark on him in the first place. He wouldn’t be able to handle it if this was his final chance at becoming a Chunin and he failed at it. He certainly could not take it if his clan got involved with this issue, that’d be the worst case scenario for himself.

As much as he’d love to tell his sensei, he can’t, “There’s nothing wrong, sensei. I was worried over Ino, that’s all! You know what Iruka sensei said, alphas and betas aren’t above marking omegas during exams or missions when they’re still Genin.”

His smile and pep were so forced it broke Guy’s heart to see it on his student.

He didn’t see what Neji did to make Lee slap his hand away before he stormed off in anger, but he did see enough to know Neji was making the omegas go on edge and become hostile towards him. He doesn’t know the full story just yet. All he knows it has something to do with Neji.

It makes him worry because alpha on omega bullying is so prominent amongst Genin that it makes a lot of them leave the shinobi life after the pressure from society and their clans get to be too much. He doesn’t want that to happen to Lee; the kid is like a son to him—a son who has a horrible clan that would give him away to the richest alpha interested if they could…

“Lee, if you’re being bullied, you can tell your sensei or anyone else here.” Kakashi inserts himself here, finding himself to feel bad for the omega who is clearly struggling with whatever it is that is weighing him down, “Sexist bullying and intimidation is not allowed amongst students anymore, so if someone is bothering you, we can remove them from the exams immediately and disqualify them from ever becoming a ninja.”

That sounds like such a great idea, but Neji is a Hyuuga and if he wanted, he could go to his clan about the mark. He knows they would side with him no matter what and make him mate him so they could get their hands on the Hyuuga’s wealth and prestige.

“No, it’s not that.” it isn’t in his eyes, at least, but he could be wrong…maybe he should ask Ino, she knows all about that stuff, “I’m worried over my fellow omegas, that’s all!”

“You don’t need to lie or cover for anyone. You will still be allowed to be a shinobi no matter who you turn in.” Guy sensei tries, but all it does is remind Lee that in his case, it isn’t so.

If anyone in his clan ever knew about this mark…they’d be making arrangements for him to mate Neji on the spot. His ninja career would be ended and he’d never get his chance to live up to his dreams.

“I know, but sensei…I’m not facing any bullying or intimidation of any sorts. I get along well with my teammates—”

“You slapped Neji’s hand away. Tell me about that, then, if you do get along with them as well as you claim.”

“It was all misunderstanding! He acted disrespectful towards me so I stood up for myself in the wrong way. I promise it won’t happen again, sensei. I’ll try to be better.”

The thing is, Guy cannot even argue against that. Neji does act disrespectful towards Lee and he’s never been one to mince his harsh critical words around him either. While they may be able to get along just fine during a mission or a task where they need to act as a team, there are times where Neji isn’t as kind to Lee as Guy would like him to be.

It’s perfectly reasonable to believe this is another squabble that started when Neji made some sexist comment about omegas not being fit to be ninjas and Lee snapping at him by slapping his hand away, since it has happened so much in the past.

While he wants to believe Lee, he’s not sure he can and that kills him on the inside as much as the idea of his sweetest student being harassed, intimidated, or treated poorly in general by any alpha or beta here for his secondary gender.

“Don’t promise me that…there’s nothing wrong with standing up for yourself to him. You don’t need to set aside your feelings for his sake, Lee. You’re too good of a kid to have to tolerate the sort of disrespect I’ve seen him dish out on you for no reason at times.”

In response to his silence, Guy makes him an offer he believes he won’t refuse, “Why don’t we watch the battles together? I bet there’s something I can teach you from all of this that would greatly benefit your training and your own fight when it comes up!”

“I don’t know sensei, I was going to check on Ino and maybe speak to Naruto—”

“Ino’s out cold and Naruto is too busy cheering on the laziest alpha in his generation to really care. Spending time with your sensei couldn’t kill you.” Kakashi interjects yet again, but not without an appreciative glance thrown in his direction from Guy.

Kakashi knows Lee isn’t his student and it isn’t his place to intervene… That being said, it doesn’t change the fact that Lee’s behavior is worrying to himself since it caused Naruto to try to start a fight with Neji after one conversation and from what Guy has said about the kid, he’s generally the type to not let anything get him down. The fact that something is has him worried that it could be else going on…something worse than everyone here is prepared for that the kid is dealing with on his own, without any real support or anyone to turn to for help other than his fellow omegas who are children themselves—children who wouldn’t be able to properly help him at all.

“Alright, I guess we can for now.” he replies slowly while Naruto shouts, “You go, Shikamaru! Win this for your future mate!”

Shikamaru’s loud groan said it all, “Don’t call me that! It will only make more omegas interested in me and that’d be too much of a pain to deal with!”

Lee isn’t sure what to make of that response, but seeing Chouji and Shikamaru fight could be fun. At least it would get his mind off of his interrogation from Guy sensei.

At the same time, all Guy and Kakashi can do is hope Lee’s match is with Naruto. Because whatever is going on with the kid, it has to be bad and alpha or beta related to make him act like this.

Chapter Text

So far, Gaara isn’t too shocked by what’s going down on the battlefield. 

The two kunoichis are disqualified because they both fainted during the fight, the one guy the Uchiha faced lost so he’s eliminated from being a Chunin as well, the lazy one just beat the giant rolling ball one by trapping him in his jutsu and redirecting him to hit a wall when he was released from it so that’s another one eliminated, and right now, his brother just defeated some beta who could stretch his body as though it were pure rubber.

He heard that there’s a person or two who may pass if their names are never randomly generated. He wonders if this will be the case of himself and the omega he’s been watching from across the room, but he can never too be certain about these things… Life does love to make him miserable for no reason at times, so who knows what would happen next?

He’s not truly invested and he doesn’t really care. There’s too much stuff about omegas that confuses him to really make him care much about the current exam, not when he knows he can easily defeat everyone here anyway. 

“Kankuro, why is that guy glaring at me like that?” he asks his big brother at random when he approaches his side in the viewing area, “Also, why is he constantly trying to get close to the omega when he makes it pretty obvious he doesn’t like it? Is this some sort of alpha-omega thing I’m not catching onto or something?” 

His brother shakes his head, “It’s not really an alpha-omega thing, more of a persistent jerk who can’t ‘no’ for an answer sort of deal. He probably notices you staring at the omega he likes and now he’s gotten all jealous, threatened, and intimidated by you, which is why he is glaring you down while trying to get as close as possible to an omega who doesn’t like him.” 

Gaara hums to this, another thought in his head, “What of the shadow one? Why does he seem to not like the attention the blonde is giving him?” 

“Eh, it seems like he doesn’t want a mate like him. It’s all his loss though—that one is cute! Anyone would be lucky to have him as their mate.” 

…Gaara doesn’t see it. He’s too crazy for that one shadow guy and he could see such attention driving him mad if he had to deal with it for more than five minutes.

Now the loud one Kankuro called ‘cute’ is set to fight against a guy named Kiba. Well, okay, that’s fine. Just another boring match for him to watch while trying to better understand the strange relations between alphas and omegas. 

Lee, on the other hand, was struggling to really resist the urge to speak to Naruto alone during Shikamaru’s match. While it was nice to watch the guy win, he really wishes Naruto were available to speak to him now because there’s so much he has to tell him that keeping to himself only makes it feel heavier in his chest. 

However fun it was hearing his sensei explain the techniques he was seeing, he couldn’t get as into it as he normally would have had thanks to what is going on with Neji and the mark on his hand. 

Now that Naruto is going to fight Kiba, he feels more at loss because the only other omega he can talk to about this is Ino and she seems to be busy warning Shikamaru, “If you don’t do something to end Naruto’s fascination of mating you, Sasuke will kill you with his bare hands.” 

“Don’t you think I know that! I already do, and I don’t want that fate for myself, but damn…I never asked to have Naruto lusting over me. The bad thing is, Sasuke wouldn’t give a damn about that either—this whole situation is such a drag.” 

…It’s a moment like this where Lee realizes Ino may have been onto something when she insisted Shikamaru was not mating material. He’s not really fond of his handling of Naruto’s newfound interest in him and he actually thinks the alpha’s laziness isn’t so much a quirk as it is a downside he doesn’t think he can live with. 

Lee works hard and he doesn’t mind doing so. Sometimes he even enjoys it because it’s enough to distract him from everything else wrong in his life, so to be with someone like Shikamaru who does seem to be on the lazy side of things didn’t sound appealing the more he thought about it. 

He’s also very active and he doubts Shikamaru would like being with someone as active as him. 

…No, Ino was right; Shikamaru wouldn’t be a good fit for him. 

Then again, who would be? 

The only alpha ever to be interested in him is Neji and he highly doubts he has a shot with anyone here. No one wants an ugly omega with a beta scent. It’s what he’s been raised to believe by the world around him and he’s yet to be proven wrong on it. It’s not like any other alpha or beta will ever want him…which is why bothering with the idea of mating is a redundant waste of his time. 

Nonetheless, he cheers on Naruto as sincerely as he can with his heavy mind and heart, “Go, Naruto! You got this!” 

“Naruto, beat this guy and become the next omega Chunin with Lee! C’mon, I know you can do it!” Ino cheers, making Lee smile at her enthusiasm for their friend and fellow omega.

It’s not enough to keep his mind off what Neji told him earlier, but it’s enough to keep him focused on Naruto’s battle.

What Lee doesn’t know is Guy feels relieved to see his student smiling a more genuine smile again. It was so worrisome to see him with a fake smile earlier that seeing him with a real one now brought him nothing but happiness. 

Guy was able to get his attention during the last match, though it was rather fleeting and Lee didn’t seem to be all there like he had hoped he would have been. Seeing him be much more interactive and excited about this entire battle had Guy feeling optimistic that he could probably figure out what’s going on with him before the next match starts…except, he keeps looking at Ino every few moments.

He is half tempted to just let him speak to the other omega. The only reason why he doesn’t is because he wants to lift his spirits and help Lee to feel safe going to him with whatever it is that is bothering him. While he does think it is Neji related—Lee would never slap his hand away like that without good reason—he knows pressuring him won’t make him talk. The last time he tried, he could have sworn the kid was about to cry, and Guy couldn’t live with himself if he made Lee cry.

Maybe at the end of the match, he will allow Lee to have some time with his omega friends to get whatever it is he needs to get off of his chest before the match after this comes up. Yeah, he should do that; it will help the poor kid feel less alone in his situation while allowing him to congratulate Naruto on what appears to be an upcoming victory for him. 

No wait—it’s not an upcoming victory. He did manage to beat Kiba. 

Guy is impressed; who knew the infamous screwup would be the one to pass the sudden death matches? If that’s not impressive then what is? 

Also, seeing Lee light up and cheer, “That was amazing, Naruto! You did great out there!” made it all worthwhile. 

Even Ino’s delightfully loud, “Yeah, way to go Naruto! Way to show those sexist alphas and betas everywhere what an omega can do!” couldn’t really rain on his parade. All that mattered was Lee was smiling and happy again after what felt like a lifetime of hidden doom and gloom.

When Naruto sees his fellow omegas again, he’s grinning brightly, “Looks like there’s gonna be another omega Chunin!”

“I knew you’d make it out of everyone here.” Ino remarks while Guy allows his student to approach his fellow omegas, “Naruto, you were so amazing out there! It’s making me feel excited for the next match!”

“I’m glad you’re getting excited for this. I was worried over you earlier, you know.” Naruto admits, whispering to Lee next, “Can we talk about what Neji said to you when Ino and I left? I want to be sure that creep didn’t try anything else gross on you.”

Lee nods, keeping his upbeat demeanor going so his sensei doesn’t worry so much over him, “Sure thing! Let’s talk about it where we were earlier so we can have some privacy.”

Naruto agrees, with Ino about to follow them when Hinata approached her once more, looking about as nervous as she did when she woke up after her match with Sakura, “I-I thought you did a great job on your match, Ino…faking a breakdown, cutting your hair, trapping her in it. If it weren’t for Naruto cheering her on, I know you would have won.”

“Thanks, Hinata, but it wasn’t really anything special.” Ino is smiling gently at her and she tries to give her a small, black container then, “Here, I think you’d like this.”

“Are you sure? Shouldn’t this go to Naruto? He did just get done fighting Kiba.”

“I know, but…well…um, I think you need it too. You can share with him if you want.”

Ino sees nothing wrong with this, “Alright, I will, but what is it? Is it some sort of medicine?”

She nods, informing her, “It is, but it’s more effective than your usual medicine.”

“Great, I’ll be sure to use it right away on the two of us. Thanks, Hinata! You’re way better than Neji in my eyes.”

She blushes as Ino walks away, feeling better than she did before when Naruto had insulted her clan and effectively shot down any chance she had with him by rejecting the idea of mating any Hyuuga and going for Shikamaru instead.

It isn’t without Sakura walking up to her side and casually mentioning, “So…you’re being very generous to Ino out of nowhere. Mind telling me why you are?”

“Who says I…I can’t be nice to her? Deidara was always nice to me; why wouldn’t I return the favor when she’s been nothing but nice to me as well?”

Sakura clicks her tongue, fighting the inner nastiness wanting to come out, and instead settling for a calm response of, “There’s nothing wrong with being nice to Ino, but it is rude to make a move on an omega someone is trying to win over, don’t you think?”

Hinata’s response had been to be calm, keeping her cool, “It is if they’re courting or dating, but if the omega is single then it’s not so rude. It—It is the omega’s choice in the end that matters, not what any alpha or beta thinks should happen.”

As Hinata walks away from her, Sakura is left to seethe at what was said, with Kakashi in the background silently praising Hinata for keeping her cool during this entire interaction and not caving to the attempted intimidation she was trying to pull. She may not be his student, but he cannot deny that was incredibly impressive.

Ino, in the meantime, had approached the area they were at before Neji had demanded to speak to Lee alone. She handed Naruto the medicine, ordering him on the spot, “Use this medicine right now. Hinata gave it to me to clearly give to you, so be nice to her after all the awful things you said about her clan and use the medicine.”

“Okay, fine, I’ll do it! But it won’t stop me from making Shikamaru my mate—if I can’t have Sakura, I’ll get the next best thing possible in my journey to becoming hokage.” he takes the medicine and uses it on himself with Ino’s help, but it’s not without his attention being brought back to Lee, “Did Neji do anything else to you that was bad when we left? Did he leave another mark on you?”

“No, no he didn’t…he told me about the ways I am attractive to him and then he kissed me when I told him I wanted to you, Naruto.” Lee then remembers suddenly, “Oh and he also knows I told you guys about the mark! He said the real reason why he gave it to me was to ensure I’d always be his, so no alpha or beta could steal me away from him even if they tried.”

Ino blinks to this, giving Lee a warning stare he could tell was a signal of her meaning business when she said it, “If you did not punch him for his assholery, I will glad do it for you, Lee.”

“I’m with her on this one; I swear that guy becomes a bigger jerk with every interaction we or you have with him alone. Trust me when I say it, but I’d hurt him for you.” Naruto immediately follows Ino on this end, leaving Lee to try to calm them down from doing something so reckless.

“I slapped his hand away, so there’s no need to get yourselves in trouble over him! Remember the rules; the only fighting that can happen is in a battle setting, not anywhere else.” Lee tries to remind them, but this is rather unsuccessful when he hears the voice of someone he didn’t expect to chime in on their conversation, “Lee, who are you to talk about the rules to them when you can’t tell Guy sensei what’s going on between you and Neji?”

His blood turns to ice as Tenten speaks, “Listen, I may be up for a match against this Temari girl now, but I’m not leaving without letting you know how upset you’ve made Guy sensei right now with your secrets and strange behavior.”

Tenten isn’t one to hold back in conversations. As such, he isn’t shocked when she unloads on him, “I know you have your reasons for not telling anyone about this, but you’ve got to think about Guy sensei right now! He’s worried sick over you, Lee, and so is Kakashi. I’ve heard them both speaking about you, I’ve seen the worry in his eyes, I’ve watched as Kakashi inserted himself in conversations with you two to get you to try to be your normal self again. You’re worrying sensei to an extreme I’ve never seen before, and I can’t believe you cannot or are not seeing it.”

“Tenten, I never meant—”

“It doesn’t matter what you meant to do or not. What matters is your keeping Neji’s mark a secret from Guy sensei is hurting him right now and it’s hurting me too because I know there’s something else most likely related to that mark you’re not telling me about either, that for some reason or another, you’re telling these omegas you hardly know instead of us! Your team!”

Lee is silent as Tenten warns him, “If you do not tell Guy sensei what’s going on with that mark during my match, I will tell him for you after I win. Guy sensei doesn’t deserve to be worrying himself so severely over this and neither do I.”

“Inaction and actions both have consequences, Lee. Don’t forget that.” Tenten warns him as she heads out onto the battlefield.

…She’s right. He’s being horrible to his sensei, he shouldn’t be lying to him, he should be honest with him—he should be honest with her… He feels nothing but guilt weighing down on him for not being honest with him.

“I don’t know…should I tell Guy sensei everything? I hate making him worry over me more than anything else. I feel like the worst human being ever when I do.” Lee wonders out loud to the other omegas, who are cut off from speaking by another member of Lee’s team, the one they both despise equally for the way he is treating him.

“Speak up and you’ll regret it.” Neji warns him before placing a hand on his shoulder, “Remember—I can inflame your chakra points thanks to the mark on your hand. You don’t want to miss out on your own match should it come up thanks to a burst of pain, right?”

“You bastard!” Naruto was about to punch him, only for Lee to stop the fight before it could begin, “No, I can’t run that risk. Worrying Guy sensei and Tenten more than I already have is unacceptable. If I have to keep quiet just to stay in the exams long enough to tell them the truth, then I will.”

“But Lee, you shouldn’t have to remain quiet!” Ino interjects, her hands balled up into fists at her side as she trembles in pure anger, “You can speak up! You have that right to and if you really cannot without being disqualified because of him, then we’ll speak up for you!”

“Speak up for him and I’ll be sure his clan knows of my intent to mate him. I know they won’t reject my proposal; Lee will be mine then.”

Ino snarls, getting ready to use her jutsu on the guy, “Why do you want Lee to stay silent so badly? Are you afraid of the exams being cancelled and ruining your chance of becoming a Chunin?”

“Not at all.” he answers coolly while ignoring the presence and scents of two angry omegas with perfect ease, “I am a Hyuuga; my clan is wealthy and prestigious enough to where even if the exams were cancelled or put on hold, I would be able to resume them and become a Chunin should I win in my sudden death match. All I want is for Lee to not miss out on whatever fight it is he has to face.”

Her pale eyes follow where Neji is glancing and it’s obvious then that he’s looking at the redhead across the room. She pauses, looking at Neji oddly when she speaks, “You have something against that redhead, don’t you?”

“The redhead is someone I’d like to face myself, but if I can’t then I see nothing wrong with Lee taking him on in battle.”

Given what Ino has seen that mark do and what she heard Neji said it does, she was about to tell Guy himself of this when she was knocked out suddenly by the quick moving alpha. Lee was able to stop him from going for Naruto with a firm stance and a firmer, “Stop it, Neji. I won’t tell anyone, but you have to leave my friends alone.”

“I will leave them alone if I can trust them to not say anything.”

“You can!” Lee’s dark eyes fall on Naruto in a silent plea, “I know Naruto won’t say anything, you can trust him! Look, he’ll even watch the match with us, wouldn’t that be proof enough for you?”

“It will, but only if he watches it with us.”

Lee is able to breathe easy for now, and Naruto complies without a word being said—but only because he doesn’t want to make things any harder on his friend than they already are.

Chapter Text

Normally, he’d find Naruto annoying. Though because Lee is here, he makes it somewhat tolerable to be by the abnormally loud, unnecessarily cocky omega. He may have seen Tenten’s defeat coming, but watching Lee panic as he did over her felt a bit reassuring in an odd way, like Lee hasn’t come to hate omegas like that poisonous Yamanaka does. It also makes him feel that if he were to get hurt in the same way that Lee would come to his defense no matter what.

…He really shouldn’t be attracted to him when he acts like this, but then again, it’s all part of that loyalty to Lee he has found himself liking the longer they are on the same team together. Loyalty is very prized in omegas looking or wanting to mate a Hyuuga, almost as much as fertility and resilience.

What he couldn’t handle was the way the redhead across the room couldn’t remove his eyes from Lee and how oblivious he was being to it. He knows Lee is smarter and more in tuned with his surroundings than this, so why isn’t he doing anything about this person?

He knows it must be bad when Naruto—the densest of them all if he cannot notice Sasuke’s very obvious fondness of him—can remark out loud, “Whoa, that redhead guy sure is glaring at bushy brow! Does he have a thing against him or something? Why won’t he stop staring at him?”

“Who cares if he does or not. It won’t matter in the end. Fate doesn’t change for anyone, even him.”

This did catch Naruto off his guard, but he didn’t care because what he said is true: this guy is going to either die a horrible death or a quick one by Neji’s own hand.

Now, the animalistic side of Neji wants him to confront this guy, but the rational side of himself is calm for good reason: Lee’s mark, the one he gave him before all of this happened, will do away with this guy and soon enough, he may be out of sight, out of mind for good if he messes up once.

With Lee back up here, he sends a knowing smirk to the redhead across the room, not caring if he sees him or not.

He takes the omega’s hand, amused by the way redhead is looking at him with a blank stare for once in the entire exam, finally acknowledging him as Lee’s future mate for the first time since he’s been here.

Which is why when Lee’s name came up on the screen next to the name Gaara, he didn’t think much of it. If of anything, this was the sort of outcome he wanted right when he caught that creep staring at Lee.

This guy is going to be out of his hair now and that’s all that matters to Neji.

The moment Lee’s name is brought up on the screen, Naruto finds it strange that Neji walked away then and went back to where their senseis were. It’s enough to make him take Lee’s hand with a question that’s been burning on his mind ever since Neji last spoke to him, “Lee, are you sure you should be going out there? That redhead guy has been staring at you a lot and well…Iruka sensei did tell me that alphas or betas will be more likely to try to force a marking on an omega Genin in a time of battle or sparring during exams than anywhere else.”

Lee blinks to this and shrugs it off with a laugh, “Naruto, the only one who wanted to mark me was a creepy older guy! There’s no way a good looking young guy like him would ever want someone like me!”

“Yeah, but I bet you didn’t think that way about Neji and look what he did when he learned you were an omega!”

He looks at his fellow omega curiously, finding this sudden worry of alphas and betas to be strange, “I never heard of you being the type to distrust alphas and betas…didn’t you once claim we were all equals now and the sexist mindset is out of date?”

“It is, and I still think it is—at least, I’d like to think it is…” Naruto isn’t sure how to properly word how much he’s forcing himself to set aside to avoid the harsh crash of reality that sexism is still a problem omegas face to this day. He honestly hasn’t begun to process it yet or let it sink in. He’s kept himself in battle mode this entire time and as such, has repressed all emotions relating the eroding of his views in the deepest corners of his mind for now, thinking he can talk about it to Iruka sensei after this is all over to begin to make sense of it.

He does do his best to give Lee a very, very watered down summary of what he has been repressing this entire time, “Look, I don’t know what to think anymore, okay? I didn’t think any young alpha like Neji would hold sexist views of omegas like that or go as far as to mark a person like they’re property and then treat them like it afterwards. I didn’t think sexism was a problem among the current generation of alphas and betas, but maybe I was wrong on that. Maybe Ino was right and it’s still a problem that we have to face. I don’t know anymore. All I know is, I don’t think you should take this match because we don’t know what that guy’s intentions are.”

Lee has a few problems with this, one of them being, “We don’t know if he is an alpha, we don’t know if he would be the type to force a mating on someone or not…and we don’t know for fact if he was staring at me this whole time or not. Just because he might have been staring at me doesn’t mean he’ll automatically do anything bad to me.”

“Dammit, bushy brows! You have to stop letting your bad opinion of yourself cloud your judgment here!” Naruto snapped, “If Neji saw it and I saw it, then I don’t know why you can’t! Also, what about that mark? What will you do then if he tries to mark you by force, just let him die an awful death or something?”

“No, I will forfeit the battle because I refuse to win by Neji’s means.”

Naruto’s outrage and frustration cools down in response to this, “What? Why?”

“Like I told you, I don’t want to win by Neji’s means. I want to win by my own merit and skill, not because of a mark on my hand from Neji. I will do the right thing before the battle and show this mark to my opponent so he understands what he is getting into, so he can avoid a horrible fate. If he’s not going to believe me on it, then I will forfeit the battle all together and try again.”

He’s amazed that Lee came up with this out of seemingly nowhere, especially given how distressed and stressed he has been for so much of the time he’s been here, “Lee, you came up with that? When?”

“When we were watching Tenten fight and I realized that even if I don’t get to tell Guy sensei today of this mark on my hand because of Neji, then I at least want to tell my opponent before battle. I think that’s what has been bothering me most about Neji’s secrecy around this mark. I like to win by my own merit and skills. Knowing three people—if not more—died because I wasn’t able to warn them about this mark and its effects…it feels like I was complicit in them dying from a horrible death no one deserves, even if I didn’t know about it at first. Because of that, I can’t help but feel like I cheated somehow by not knowing or telling them and that bothers me more than you know.”

Lee then gets on the rail and tells him with a smile on his face and a thumbs up sign, “Don’t worry, I’ll be just fine, Naruto! If I’m blunt and honest with him everything will be fine!”

Naruto hopes so but with everything going on, he’s not too sure if it will be or not.

In the meantime, Lee got on the ground and approached Gaara, telling him right to his face the instant he saw him, “Gaara, as your opponent, I feel the need to tell you something you should know before pursuing a battle with me.”

Gaara doesn’t get where this is going, or why the omega is actually prettier awake than asleep, but he doesn’t care. Whatever it is the omega the jinchuuriki wants him to mate wants to tell him, he’s positive it won’t change anything in battle. Like these other Konoha nin, he’s confident in believing he’ll be someone he can easily defeat.

“What is it, then?” he watches as the omega unwraps the bandages on his hands, showing him how bruised, cut up, and damaged the overall skin on his hands were before finding a lavender colored mark on his skin, a clan name that Gaara didn’t recognize off the bat, “You’re showing me how damaged your hand is? Why? What good would that do you?”

“No, it’s this mark on my hand.” Lee explains it to him as calmly as he can without getting the alpha across from him worked up too much over it, “My teammate is Neji Hyuuga and he mistook me for a beta for the longest time because of my scent. I came out as an omega to him right before the Chunin exams because I thought I had done enough to earn his respect and prove his sexist views of omegas wrong, but…well…that didn’t happen. Instead, he left this mark on my hand and—”

“And what? You’re supposed to mate him now or something? What does that have to do with the battle?”

Lee looks to the floor in a brief moment before shaking his head, “No, this mark’s rules are simple: if I win in a battle against Neji where I’ve given it everything I’ve got, then it will go away. If I lose to Neji in a battle where I’ve given it everything I’ve got, then it will leave Neji’s mark on my scent glands, making me his mate. It’s not these rules to getting rid of the mark that matter, it’s what it does to other alphas and betas you should know about.”

Now Gaara’s curious…as well as confused because that alpha has to be incredibly undesirable to resort to such lows to get a mate, “You see, if you try to mark me by force or rape me, you will die a horrible death where you and everyone who tries to save you will be mummified away before withering away into dust. If you show romantic interest in me, you will die a horrible death from an incurable illness.”

Okay, he’s not getting this at all: “Why would you warn me of this? Don’t you want me to die?”

“No, not at all! I don’t want you to die like that, it’d be a horrible way to go and no one deserves it in my eyes!” the omega is nothing but sincere (or so his jinchuuriki whispers in his ear) when he stresses it to him, “I don’t want you to die. I don’t want you to suffer like others have because of my ignorance to what this mark actually does.”

“Why? I’m an enemy in battle; you should be wanting me to mark you or show romantic interest in you so I can die a horrible death.”

“Neji may want that for you, but I don’t! You don’t deserve a fate like that, no one does, and I think it’d be wrong of me to fight you when I know what could happen if you didn’t know what this mark does.” once more, with sincerity in his voice and eyes, he says, “I want to win on my own merit and skills, not by Neji’s hand. I cannot accept a victory from you if I win because of a mark he gave me because then it’s not my own and I won’t accept it.”

Gaara is wide eyed to this, not used to people not wanting to kill him under any and all means necessary. Even now, it’s impossible to believe this omega is actually being this way out of the kindness of his heart and earnestness in his own drive to win by his own merit.

“…No, there’s no way you actually want to protect me from dying an awful death… There’s no way…” he mutters low, with Lee barely being able to capture what he’s saying.

He tried to reach out to the sand ninja, commenting as his blood scented sand comes out to surround him in a small circle on the ground, “Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?”

Gaara shakes his head, the sand moving as he forced out, “How could you want to protect me? Why would you want to prevent me from dying?”

“…You’re the same guy who spoke to me in the hall that one time, right? You’re also the same guy with the strange chakra that was in the room where I went to sleep away from Neji and everything bothering me.” he doesn’t get what this has to do with anything, but then the omega continues talking, “You could have hurt me at any given chance and you didn’t. You could have tried to mark me by force or do who knows what else to me at any given point in time and you didn’t. I was a vulnerable omega at times around you, yet you did nothing to hurt me or take advantage of me. I don’t know you, but you can’t be that bad of a person if you can respect me enough to not use my secondary gender against me.”

This was all it took for Gaara to have a breakdown as far too many memories came flooding back in his mind, seeping into his head, reminding him of his very cruel existence—

On Lee’s end, he had already wrapped up his hand and he was concerned because he didn’t think Gaara would take the news or his reasoning this badly.

“Gaara, are you okay? Is there something you need?” his opponent is panicking so severely, it has him wondering, “Should I forfeit? I don’t want to win by default—”

He didn’t know that his consideration is making things worse for Gaara. He doesn’t know the more considerate he is, the worse it becomes for the alpha who wants nothing more than to make all of this go away.

That being said, it didn’t stop his jinchuuriki from acting out.

In the midst of his breakdown, his jinchuuriki made the first move it couldn’t get Gaara to do: make a move on Lee to counter whatever it is this Neji person has done.

His jinhcuuriki is a jealous creature and the idea of losing such a viable mate with the perfect body for birthing pups didn’t sit well with them—as such, a move was made, one that Gaara probably won’t like but will happen regardless of what he thinks or has to say on the matter.

Before anyone else could react to Gaara’s breakdown, Lee shouted as a beam of sand came over to mark the back of his other hand.

When the sand was gone, the omega fainted from the rush of two conflicting chakras from two conflicting marks fighting for dominance over him.

At that moment, Neji came on the battlefield to collect Lee but it wasn’t without protest, “What’re you doing, Neji!”

He glared at the insolent blonde omega, not budging on his stance as he took Lee out of the battle area, “I’m taking Lee out of here and to a medic. How do I know this alpha here didn’t do anything to him that could get him killed?”

“Yeah right, I know better than to trust you! If you could leave a mark on his hand that kills all competition interested in him, then you are messed up enough to mark him by force in his sleep!”

Guy’s glare is firm on Neji when he gets back up to the viewing area, “Naruto, how did you know of this mark?”

“Bushy brow told Ino and me all about it.” Naruto said but it wasn’t met with pure acceptance, “Why didn’t you tell me about it sooner? Lee is like a son to me, you can’t keep secrets like this from me!”

He feels bad, he really does, but, “He didn’t want anyone to know and I promised him I wouldn’t tell, so I didn’t. I’m sorry I didn’t, but he was so stressed and everything happened so fast—I didn’t know what else to do.”

It’s at this moment where Guy remembers that despite their choice of career, these are still kids. These kids never would have known how to properly handle such a complex situation and from the looks of it, they did the best they could under such stressful circumstances.

He can’t fault them for it, though. They are Genin and they still have a lot to learn about life and the shinobi way.

“No, Naruto, it’s okay. You did what was best for Lee in the moment by respecting his wishes like a good friend would.” his gaze is firm on Neji as he goes on, “I bet it wasn’t any easier with Neji hanging around you three, causing problems—I shouldn’t have been so distracted by the battles. I should have done more to step in and stop the fighting as opposed to thinking it was something small and petty you kids could have sorted out on your own. For that, I am sorry.”

He went over to Neji then, being blunt in his orders, “Unwrap his hands, Neji. I need to see this mark for myself and whatever it is the sand guy did.”

He did just that and one hand was a lavender mark clearly from Neji, while on the other was a blood red mark with Gaara’s name on it.

Kakashi is by Guy’s side suddenly, looking over his shoulder and giving him the grim prognosis no one wants to hear, “Guy…these marks on his hands…this isn’t a good sign. The chakras are clearly fighting a waging war within his body. He needs to see a medic right away to at least ease the inner fighting, but the fact this comes from a foreign village isn’t good. You know what will happen when we learn more about these marks.”

“I know, but if has to be done, then so be it.”

Naruto is asking when overhearing this, “What’s going on? What has to happen?”

“Gaara is from a foreign village, a village that at times has been hostile to our own. Because of the fact he marked an omega from our village, there are diplomacy issues that can arise from this. If not handled carefully, a war could break out.”

Naruto didn’t get what was going on—that is, until Kakashi announced, “With Orochimaru coming here and infiltrating our exams, combined with the marks on Lee’s hands, the Chunin exams may be forced to go on hiatus until we get these issues sorted out. We won’t know until the hokage announces it, but don’t be disappointed if it happens.”

It’s easy to want to be mad or shocked, but at the moment, Naruto is simply tired after everything that’s gone on.

All he wants is for today to be over with already so he can go home and eat some ramen to clear his mind from everything that he’s seen and heard today.

Chapter Text

Naruto was in such a disappointed daze when he got home that it didn’t hit him when Iruka greeted him with the same warm smile he always gives him, “Naruto, how did the exams go today? Did you pass? Are you going to become a Chunin soon?”

He shook his head when he snapped out of it after his sensei snapped his fingers in front of him, “Hey, are you alright? Why didn’t you answer me? You weren’t mated by force, were you?”

“No, I wasn’t! It’s just…a lot happened today and the old man said the exams would be put on hiatus until an issue got resolved.”

Iruka had heard something big happened at the second half of the exams today that did cause it to get put on hiatus, but he hadn’t known what it exactly was until now when Naruto unknowingly answered all of his questions on the subject while entering their home and going to their kitchen, “Lee is an omega like me, but he has a weird scent that could make people think he’s a beta. Well, his stupid teammate thought he was one for the longest time until he found out he wasn’t and he left this mark on his hand that makes it so people die if they try to mate him by force or rape him and if they dare show any romantic interest in him. It’s a bad mark that he can only get rid of if he fights him in a battle too; if he wins, the mark will be gone, but if he loses, he’ll be this bastard’s mate.”

“I know which mark you are talking about. Let me guess, it came from a Hyuuga, didn’t it?”

Naruto pauses, snapping his head over to look at his sensei in shock at the very notion that he knew of this all along, “Wha? Seriously, you know about that!”

Iruka looks at him oddly, finding it almost offensive that he didn’t think he would know of this, “Well…yeah…of course I knew. I already heard of the exams being put on hiatus today from someone at the academy. I didn’t know who it involved, but I heard rumors it had something to Guy’s team. Since there’s a Hyuuga there, it only makes sense that a Hyuuga did it because only a Hyuuga would do such a thing to someone.”

Naruto looks down on the floor, shutting the door of the cupboard where the instant ramen was, “…I see…”

Watching the joy drain from his son has Iruka worrying immediately if anything bad happened to him at all. That is, until Naruto asks in the smallest voice he has ever heard from him, “Iruka sensei, I thought sexist alpha jerks like Neji who treat omegas badly weren’t a thing anymore. After seeing what I did today, I don’t know what to think—I want to think alphas and betas are good, I really do, but what I saw today showed me I could be wrong on this one. Is Ino right? Are they really all bad people and I was too stupid to see it?”

This question has been bothering Naruto the more time that passes after the incident at the exams today. Having the time to process everything has opened his eyes to the idea of Ino being right about alphas and betas all along with himself being too stupid to have seen it in the past.

He doesn’t want to think of someone like Sakura being bad just because they’re an alpha, but with what happened today…he’s not too sure if he can trust them anymore.

Look at Lee; he trusted an alpha who he had thought he had earned the respect of and in the end, all he wound up doing was treating him like crap after finding out about his omega status.

It’s impossible for him to not think he could have wound up like him had he not been as lucky as he has been so far. Sakura told him what happened in the forest with the alphas who died because of Lee’s mark from Neji and knowing what they were saying about doing to him in his sleep has his skin crawling even now. He doesn’t know what to believe on them anymore; he feels so lost and confused on the whole matter…all he wants is his adoptive father to clear some of this for him.

“Naruto, not all alphas and betas are bad. Ino’s point isn’t even about that—all she does is rant about the prevalent sexism in our society and none of what she says is truly a lie. Pointing out sexism doesn’t mean she hates alphas and betas; it means she doesn’t want to put with it anymore.” Iruka clarifies for him before giving him an answer he hopes he will take to heart, “I know you probably won’t want to hear this, but sexism is a problem still not only in our society, but those of other villages as well. Some places still have laws forbidding omegas from becoming shinobi and working any jobs outside of homemaking, being a nanny, maid, or nurse. Whether you want to believe it or not, you are a cute omega. Many alphas and betas would want to mate you with or without your consent, which means you have to be more cautious around alphas and betas from here on out than what you have been.”

Naruto has one tiny thing to point out to him here in case if he dare forgot, “But Lee was careful around Neji and he still treated him like garbage! What can I do about it if an alpha is always going to treat me as badly as Neji does to Lee?”

Iruka’s solution to this is simple: “There will always be alphas and betas who treat omegas poorly. This means they are more likely to treat you poorly as well because of your gender, but all you can do about it is keep your guard up around them and distance yourself from them. If you cannot, then be prepared to defend yourself with the combat skills you have as a Genin.”

He supposes he is right, and he can admit, “I can definitely do that. It’s better than doing nothing like Lee is… I cannot believe he’s not doing more to call Neji out for what he did to him! No matter what I did, he kept defending the guy and it drove me crazy after a while. I don’t get it, why did he do that? Does he like being treated like crap or something?”

His adoptive father is frowning at him for reasons he doesn’t get but then he receives a good scolding for what he said: “Naruto, don’t talk about him like that! Blaming him isn’t the right thing to do in this situation. If of anything, you should try to be far more understanding of him than what you were just now.”

“What situation could there be? I already saw it with my own two eyes today at the exams.”

“Have you ever thought about the situation you didn’t see?” Naruto thinks this over, finding himself thinking the question was meant to stump him as Iruka explained further, “What I mean is, you don’t know how Lee was raised or what his clan was like to him growing up. I don’t know the exact details, but I’ve heard from many that he comes from a very strict, but poor, conservative clan. Strict, conservative clans usually don’t allow omegas to be shinobi—the fact Lee was allowed to do that has me wondering what all he had to say or promise to get the permission to become one. On that end, you can say he got lucky. However, if he defends Neji it’s only because of his upbringing in his clan.”

“How would you know that?”

“Because his clan was one of the many who criticized the Yamanaka clan for their ‘liberal, reckless’ ways of handling omega children after Deidara ran away with Itachi. In fact, his clan is one of the many conservative clans who constantly tell me I am doing you a disservice by being too ‘lenient’ on you and raising you in a ‘broken’ home lacking an alpha parent.”

Now Naruto never knew of this. Hell, he didn’t know Iruka sensei was being criticized so harshly by the conservatives in the village, but knowing they had the nerve to insist he was doing a bad job with him just because he dared to raise him as a single parent had him seeing red.

“They really said that to you? But why? Is it really because you’re a single parent?”

“That does play a small part in it, but that’s not the full story.” Iruka can tell Naruto is having a harder time getting it, so he’ll do his best to put it in a way he can understand, “You see Naruto, conservatives in the village believe omegas should never be anything more than a mate to an alpha or beta and a mother to pups one day. If they cannot give birth for whatever reason, then they should be nannies, maids, or nurses instead in their eyes. In their eyes, tradition should never be challenged or changed; this means omegas should never have basic rights betas and alphas get to possess without second thought.”

Now comes the part he hopes Naruto will understand, “What happens in conservative clans is the alpha and beta pups who are born and raised in such a clan will come out with those same views their clan holds. Only out of sheer spite for the clan or naturally possessing a more open mind can an alpha or beta break free from these views. Unfortunately, many choose not to because they like the power they get from the hierarchy over omegas.”

Naruto seems to be getting this if his response is anything to go off of, “Well, that makes sense…for alphas and betas anyway. How would that explain why Lee hasn’t done more to stop Neji?”

“Naruto, omegas raised in a conservative clan are raised completely different from how I raised you. They aren’t allowed to believe they can be anything more than a mother, maid, nanny, or nurse—if they try, they will be put back in their place by the elders in the clan for trying to stand up to them. They are raised to place all of their sense of self worth and esteem on how they look above all else; if they aren’t deemed particularly ‘beautiful’ they are seen as failures by the clan who could disown them for such ‘disgrace’.”

“I still don’t get it—how does that apply to bushy brows again?”

“It all applies when you consider this fact: as an omega in a conservative clan, Lee was raised to place the feelings, thoughts, and well being of an alpha far above that of his own.”

For Naruto, this really explains so much about what happened today and why his fellow omega handled things in the way he did, “Imagine being raised in a clan that teaches you from the moment you’re old enough to speak that your only worth is in your beauty because that’s the only way you’ll get yourself a mate to give you pups. Imagine being told that, in order to obtain this alpha mate, one has to be ‘proper’ at all times. This means appeasing your alpha mate by keeping your thoughts and opinions to yourself so as to not hurt his feelings, placing their well being so far above your own that you’d sacrifice your freedom, comfort, safety, and future for theirs, and repressing your own feelings whenever they wrong you or you don’t agree with what they’ve said or done because no matter what, their feelings always come first.”

Iruka sensei places a hand on his shoulder as he crouches down on his knees to meet his gaze more directly, “I know it’s easy to think he must like being treated this way, but believe me when I say it, he doesn’t. No one in their right mind would; but Lee was raised in a conservative home and conservative homes with their regressive ideology can damage not only alphas and betas, but omegas as well.”

It does make perfect sense to him the more he thinks on it. He can only imagine being raised that way would have left him thinking he had to protect Neji’s future as opposed to his own—maybe that’s why he didn’t do more to stand up to him? Is he putting Neji’s thoughts, feelings, and well being over his own because of how he was raised?

If this is the case, then it is the saddest thing he’s ever heard.

“…I never knew other omegas were raised in such terrible homes. I thought it was all gone by now.” Naruto stated after taking a moment to process all of this, to which, his sensei shook his head, “No, it was never all gone and it most likely never will be. All you can do is stand up for omegas everywhere and try your very best to make the world a better place for all omegas when you do become hokage.”

Naruto grins, a lighter feeling taking place in his chest upon hearing this, “I will do just that, sensei, just you wait! I’ll make this village the best place around to be an omega!”

Iruka smiles, knowing Naruto will do just that when he does become hokage, “I know you will. So tell me, how were the exams for you before that whole drama with Lee came up?”

He was about to say something along the lines of ‘great, I hope I don’t lose my progress when the hiatus is over’, but then he remembered what Sakura told him concerning the events in the forest and he suddenly doesn’t feel like talking about it anymore.

Talking about it reminds him too much of the harsh reality that changed his views so severely in a single day and he wants to escape from this if he can for just a few more hours.

“Can we talk about it later? I want to hear about you now—have you finally gotten a date or not?”

Iruka blushes to this slightly, not wanting anyone to know since he has a feeling a certain Jounin would try to sabotage it for him, “I can get dates…the issue is most of the alphas and beta who ask me out tend to be a bit creepy or too pervy, so I turn them down.”

Naruto blinks at him, leading the Chunin to sigh as he stood up straight and head out of the kitchen to the hall which led to his room, “I do have a date, Naruto. I managed to get one while you were taking your exams; he will be coming over shortly so please be on your best behavior if you answer the door before me.”

The blonde omega gets a knowing grin on his face as he follows him down the hall, “I will be, but only if you tell me all about him. Is he an alpha or beta? Does he have pups? Will I get siblings if you two mate?”

“No, you won’t Naruto. He’s single without pups and before you ask again, he’s an alpha.” Iruka answers while going into his room, “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to shower before he arrives.”

“Is your date Kakashi sensei? Because if it is, then that’d be so cool! He’s basically here all the time for dinner with us, and if you two become mates then he could train me whenever I want.”

Iruka’s hard pause at the entryway to his room has the omega wondering if he did anything wrong. Then his adoptive father informs him through what has to be gritted teeth going by how tense his voice sounds, “No, it’s not Kakashi. If I had to date a Jounin, I would choose Might Guy over him. My date is Izumo, he’s a Chunin like me, he’s an alpha who’s a little bit older than I am, and I’d like it if you were nice to him.”

Naruto openly pouted to this—which shocked Iruka because Naruto has never pouted around him once—with his bright blue eyes glued onto him, “Alright, I’ll be nice to him…but only if he agrees to train me while the exams are on hiatus! I don’t wanna get soft for the third part after the way I won in the sudden death rounds.”

Iruka turns around from where he’s standing and before Naruto knows it, he’s being hugged tightly by his sensei, “Naruto, this is great news! I’m so proud of you that I almost want to cancel my date to take you out to have ramen instead.”

“…You really should, you know! I worked extra hard to win against Kiba and I don’t deserve to go without ramen after all of that!”

“But I haven’t been on a date in a very long time.”

“So what? You can go without someone for another heat, it won’t kill you.”

“You only say that because you haven’t had your first one just yet.” Iruka reminds him, which makes Naruto all the more relieved he’s not in Lee’s shoes. He’d hate to be taking the Chunin exams while in the age group where an omega is most likely to get their first heat, “Besides, I’m going on twenty-three soon. Just because I’m not ready to be mated doesn’t mean I don’t want to date for fun.”

The blonde omega huffs to this, muttering under his breath, “If you want to date for fun, then do speed dating like a normal person…ow! Hey!”

“Make another snide comment and I’ll hug you tighter yet.” He’s given the warning and it’s enough to make him cave, “Alright, alright, I won’t!”

“Good.” he hears when he’s being released from the too tight hug, “Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to shower and get ready for my date.”

Naruto decided to leave him be for now. He did seem like he wanted to go on this date, so maybe he’ll go out on it, have a good time, become boyfriends with this guy, and then he’ll move in to train him every day while the exams are on hiatus.

At least, this is what Naruto hopes will happen…but he can keep his fingers crossed for now and do all that he can to ensure this date goes well!

Chapter Text

“No, I won’t let that happen!”

The nurse gave him an imploring look, hoping he’d listen if he just listened to her side of things, “His clan needs to be notified of what happened here. He has two different marks on his hands from two different alphas—one who’s from a hostile foreign village on top of all of that! We cannot take this situation too lightly, so please just let me—”

“No, I’m not letting that happen.” Guy stood his ground, refusing to back down in a moment Kakashi found to be perfectly admirable.

If he were in his shoes he would be fighting equally as hard with the medical staff. He wouldn’t be as nice about it though and his angered pheromones would have slipped out past his façade of calm, but nonetheless, he would be fighting for Lee as hard as Guy is at the moment if he were in his position.

“But you should consider—”

“I already told you I won’t and no argument from you is going to change my mind.” Guy doesn’t mince words, his usual upbeat quality to his voice gone when speaking in all seriousness, “Lee comes from a very strict, conservative clan that is poor, combine this with their conservatism and all you have is a recipe for greed. They don’t see Lee as a person solely because he is an omega; they only see him as a failure for not living up to society’s beauty standards—a failure with potential to make them money should he stand a chance of being mated to Neji.”

Kakashi cannot blame him for being shorter than usual, for trying his best to remain calm when he knows all he wants to do is wring both of those alpha boys’ necks for what they did to Lee. He is amazed he is doing so well under the pressure of the situation being thrust upon him, but he has carried himself very well here to the point where Kakashi couldn’t deny his awe at how well he is handling all of this.

“That’s no reason to not tell them.”

“It is a reason to not tell them! Don’t you understand? If you tell his clan about this, they will turn this into a bidding war against Lee’s will and whichever alpha is the richest is the one who will get to mate him. They will go out of their way to invent a dowry on the spot to get as much money as they can out of Lee’s mating and then they’ll expect him to go through with it, even if he doesn’t want to.” he doesn’t waver when meeting the nurse’s gaze, making it clear to her, “Lee is a good kid, but he’s been taught to put himself and his wishes last in all situations. I’ve been trying all that I can to break him free from that mindset of putting an alpha or beta’s feelings, wishes, and well being above his own, but he still has that tendency ingrained into him. If you dare tell his clan about this, I will step in myself and I will do whatever it takes for Lee to have a shot at the dream he has always had.”

She could sense his seriousness—hell, Kakashi could without trying—and as such, acted accordingly in response to the situation at hand. She took a deep breath, allowed herself a moment to process all that she’s heard, and eventually ended up giving him the answer he had been hoping for: “Fine, I won’t inform them, but it will be your duty to tell them before he gets marked by one of those alphas. With the way those chakras are fighting in his body, I don’t think he’ll be waking up anytime soon.”

“I know Lee; he wouldn’t let this take him down that easily—”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” she cuts him off, making Kakashi’s interest pique when her brows furrow and her gaze falls to the clipboard in her hand, “You said he was raised to prioritize alphas above himself, correct? Well, that’s what happening in his body right now. He’s using his chakra not to protect himself but to protect the foreign chakras from attacking each other. Because of this, he’s constantly wearing himself out, meaning he won’t be waking up any time soon, not until we can restrain the foreign chakras within him.”

Guy frowns and Kakashi offers, “Can I use a curse sealing jutsu on him? Would that work in this situation?”

“The problem is, it’s not a curse on his hands. What he has on his hands are basic intention marks. They were given to him with the intention to mate him one day by these alphas. The doctor is doing her best right now to handle this, but we don’t know how long it will be until he wakes up.”

“I see…” Guy whispers in response, his demeanor appearing to be down for a brief moment before he announces out of what feels like nowhere, “No point in getting upset over it now! Lee will need me there when he wakes up and when he does, I will have his favorite things here for him.”

As he heads on out, Kakashi follows him, wondering if he really is okay or not. Appearances can be deceiving, especially with Guy.

“You seem to be handling this very well. If I were you, I’d be wrestling the urge to punch Neji too much to properly handle everything going on with Lee.”

Guy shrugs it off—taking in the fresh air when they were outside—allowing him to know that, “I am wrestling with that urge, but every time I think about it, I remember how I failed Lee…and I lose that urge every single time my own mistakes are played in my mind like a constant reel.”

Kakashi finds this hard to believe for one reason only, “What mistake could you have made there? You couldn’t have known Neji would have done what he did and Tenten should have told you everything going on immediately instead of letting this affect him however he pleases.”

Guy shakes his head, holding his hand up to him, “No, Tenten did what Lee requested her to do. She isn’t in the wrong here; all she did was respect his wishes as a teammate instead of ignoring his request as though he were some helpless omega needing to be saved.”

“That aside, what else could you have done?”

“I was the one who told Lee what to do in the first place. I told him to come out to Neji as an omega because I thought he had done enough to earn his respect—hell, I gave him the confidence to go forward with it! It was the stupidest idea I ever had. I should’ve paid more attention to how Neji treated Lee, I should’ve noticed all of the signs of attraction he had for him…I should have done more to help Lee in his goal of coming out as an omega to Neji. Instead, I failed him, and that’s all on me.”

Kakashi doesn’t know what else to tell him. In his eyes, Guy did nothing wrong. Neji appears to be the type to be subtle about things, so maybe he would be more likely to be able to hide his intentions and affections better than the average Genin, even Chunin.

He was about to point this out to him when he heard someone else speaking up, “Guy? What are you doing here?”

“Oh, Iruka!” Guy flashes him a smile, making Kakashi wonder just when the omega decided to come around here and why, “I’m just about to get some of Lee’s favorite things for him… When he wakes up, he’s going to be in a world of emotional turmoil, and I want to lessen the blow for him.”

“That’s so generous of you.” Iruka smiles so easily around Guy and he doesn’t get why, really. What is there about the green clad man that could be good enough for him to get a smile out of him when he can’t get so much as a laugh is beyond him, “You really are a good man, Guy. I’m amazed you’re still single.”

Guy clicks his tongue, explaining as he heads over to a small store, “When you’re catnip for betas and omegas everywhere, it can make an alpha a bit picky. Weeding out the ones genuinely interested in me for who I am as opposed to my body is the most difficult task of all and all the time it takes is enough for me to remain single as often as I am.”

“That is rather unfortunate… To think, you could have someone interested in you right in front of you and never see it because of your own guard.”

…Guy?

Iruka has a thing for Guy? The Might Guy?

Why him? Why not Kakashi himself? Why would he choose someone like him over Kakashi?

These questions are going to keep him up at nights whether he wants them to or not.

“I suppose that could be a downside, but oh well! Love can take a backseat for the time being. I need to focus on Lee now.”

Iruka follows him, commenting, “I can help if you need me to. I do need to get Naruto more ramen; you’d be amazed at how much ramen we can through in a week because of him.”

Guy grins, doing all that he can to hide the worry for Lee, but then Kakashi has a feeling Iruka must know this as well if he can spot it out from anywhere, “Great! I’m amazed you don’t have any plans yet.”

“Well, I do, but Naruto is out of ramen, and I don’t want to leave him hungry.”

Kakashi isn’t commenting, but he is watching from a safe distance, listening, taking in the scene happening in front of him…

It horrifies him to think Iruka could actually be attracted to the Might Guy of all people on this great green earth.

“You finally have plans for tonight? This is great, Iruka! If you need to hurry, don’t feel burdened to stay with me and hurry home with the ramen.” Guy cheers to Iruka’s dismay, “No, it’s okay! My plans are flexible; I can work something in.”

(Iruka does mean this; his plans are flexible and if Guy would like to go somewhere alone with him, even for one night only, he wouldn’t protest against it.)

“No, I could never take you away from your plans!” the green clad alpha insists to him, which Kakashi is grateful for seeing as how he’s made it pretty clear that he is interested in Iruka and has been for years now.

“No, Guy, it’s alright, I truly do not mind! I’d love to help you with Lee…Naruto told me a brief summary of what happened today and I am so sorry that those alphas had the nerve to do that to him.” Iruka goes on to say, “As the only omega Chunin, I remember what those exams were like for omegas like me. It was horrible and I’d never wish what I saw then on anyone, especially a boy as sweet as Lee.”

He pauses in all movement as he thinks about it more, wiping a small tear from his eye when he spoke, “…He really is a sweet kid, and a good natured one too. He’s far too considerate of the alphas and betas around him, and that’s what is doing him in right now. I need to do more to help break free of that conservative, traditional mindset so he can learn to put himself first for once instead of denying himself everything good in his life.”

“Guy, stop. You’ve already done so much for Lee and I find it to be extremely admirable. I know I would have liked it if I had been as lucky as to have such a considerate, strong, and handsome sensei by my side when I was starting out.”

He. Just. Called. Him. Handsome.

Iruka just called Guy handsome—and he already feels as though his world is falling apart.

He almost intervenes when Guy stops him, “Thank you for the praise, but I didn’t do enough for Lee and now he’s in the mess he is in because of my lack of guidance regarding this issue.”

The omega Chunin is about to argue with him when he hears it from the green man himself, “Oh well, no point in arguing about what’s done! All we can do now is get Lee all of his favorite things to make this somewhat better for him!”

“Tell me what it is you need and I will get it for him.”

“Excellent, now let’s start with the snacks because I know Lee will be hungry when he wakes up!”

Kakashi doesn’t understand. Every fiber of his being cannot allow him to grasp this.

How can Iruka like Guy but not him? He cannot grasp this, he cannot understand…when did this happen? How? Why? It literally makes no sense.

Maybe Naruto will know? Yeah, he would; he lives with Iruka after all. Surely he would know something…wouldn’t he?

He’ll find out when he pays his student a visit later on tonight when Iruka’s gone with whatever plans it is he is going to be attending to.

When Iruka was gone, Naruto had felt free as a bird.

Then he heard a knock on the door right when he had his ramen, which was annoying. At first, he was going to ignore it, but the knocking wouldn’t stop so he felt annoyed enough to answer it in the utmost short, grumpiest way possible, “Alright, quit your racket! What do you want, can’t you see I’m trying to enjoy my ramen here!”

He pauses when he sees who it is standing in front of him, “Oh…wait…what? Kakashi sensei, what are you doing here? Are you here to steal my ramen because something happened to your stove again? Because I’m not giving you my ramen for anything!”

“Hello Naruto, I’ve missed you too.” Kakashi looks around the apartment to be sure Iruka isn’t around when he begins his interrogation of Naruto, “Do you mind if I come in, Naruto?”

“Sure, why not?”

Kakashi uses this to come in right away and make himself at home, “So, tell me, have you ever heard Iruka mentioning anything about Might Guy to you?”

Naruto pauses, humming as he thinks of the answer to give Kakashi regarding the strange question, “He’s never told me much except for that Might Guy is the only Jounin he’d ever date, and that he thinks he’s a great person because he truly cares for his students and he’s been amazing to Lee.”

“Really now? He said that to you?”

“Yeah, he used to tell me that he wished I would end up with a sensei like him because he’d be a great teacher for me to have.”

Well if Kakashi doesn’t feel the least bit slighted about now…

“Okay, I get it. He thinks Guy is…perfect…somehow. Where is he, by the way? I was wanting to talk to him about something important.”

“Oh, he’s out on a date right now with some Chunin named Izumo.”

Now that’s the extra insult to injury that he cannot get over.

Seeing Iruka crushing on Guy was hard enough to swallow, but at least Guy is a respectable Jounin struggling with the situation he’s facing with Lee. Izumo is nothing more than an errand runner for the hokage, not someone struggling with the same situation Guy is in!

(At least this is how Kakashi sees him as being anyway.)

Normally, he would be doing all that he can to track them down and sabotage their date.

However, having seen Iruka fawning all over Guy today has him realizing that if he wants the same fawning from the omega then he needs to do all that he can to do what Guy does best: treat his students as though they are his own children.

“…Naruto, would you mind if I stayed with you while Iruka is gone?”

Naruto blinks to this, not liking where this is going or what his sensei is implying here, “I dunno…I don’t wanna be stuck with some pervert reading his porn all night long, eating the rest of my ramen, and doing nothing with me the entire time.”

Kakashi looks at him with a raised brow, “I don’t intend to do such a thing.”

“Like I can trust that! You’re always late and you’re always reading your smut books, what else can I think? Can’t you do this stuff alone at your place instead of bothering me?”

Naruto is starting to test his patience here, but that’s okay. Kakashi knows of something he can do to obtain the young omega’s favor, “You know, we could be training right about now.”

The moment his student pauses, he feels a sense of pride filling himself at his wide eyed reaction, “You mean it? You’ll actually train me?”

“Of course I will. Why wouldn’t I? Now would be the perfect time, wouldn’t it?”

A wide grin appears on his face as he agrees with the most enthusiasm he’s seen yet in his student, “It would be now that you mention it! Come on Kakashi sensei, let’s go train!”

“Nuh uh, not until you finish your ramen.”

Naruto grumbles and sighs, “Oh, alright, I’ll finish my ramen…but you better train me!”

Kakashi is smiling from behind his mask, commenting, “It’s okay, I will train you, I promise.”

As he heads back to the table where he is eating his ramen, Kakashi is wishing this plan will work and help him get into Iruka’s good graces. Maybe doing something different than what he’s done in the past when he did date other alphas (scare them away in as many different ways possible) will work this time around and he will finally get him to see he’s a decent human being underneath it all.

“Ah, Kakashi sensei? Your porn book is showing from your pocket again.”

Okay, he has work to do on himself, but who doesn’t?

The point is, he’s good enough for Iruka and tonight he will show he can be just as good with kids as Guy is.

Chapter Text

Naruto didn’t mind spending time with his sensei. It was simply annoying to feel to the point of almost knowing that he was holding back somewhat or not all there mentally.

To be fair though, while Naruto did want to train…he was also pretty distracted as well for a few reasons of his own.

“Naruto, is everything alright? You seem to be distracted.”

“Heh, you’re one to talk! I can tell you’re not giving me everything you’ve got!” Naruto pauses then, growing a bit upset when the thought comes in his mind, “Let me guess, it’s because of that stupid teme, isn’t it? You’re too busy thinking about Sasuke to actually focus on me.”

Kakashi sensei walks over to him, an exasperated gleam in his eyes as he said, “I am worried about Sasuke, but that’s because he is going through a lot right now which I will needed to be there for him for. Though something tells me this isn’t all about Sasuke, is it? Is there something else bothering you?”

He sounds stupid when complaining about it, but…

“I had a good talk today with Iruka sensei about what happened with bushy brows, but I don’t know what to make of alphas still…” Naruto is ashamed when confessing this thought to his sensei, mainly because it’s one he himself abhorred for so much of his life, “I used to think all alphas and betas were safe and trustworthy. I used to think Ino was crazy for being so anti alpha, but after what I saw today, after what Sakura told me what really went down in the forest when I was passed out…I feel uncomfortable around alphas and betas now. I can’t help but to think they are all like Neji underneath it all and maybe I shouldn’t hate the guy for being honest about his beliefs like that.”

Despite what Naruto thinks, Kakashi does know about what happened in the forest. Sakura told him everything that happened with the mark when they were getting Lee to the hospital because it was crucial information that they needed to know in order to properly assist him. With Ino being passed out, Neji not talking, and Naruto being too shaken to speak on it, it was up to her to tell them all about it as well as how she discovered what all the mark on his hand can do.

This also meant that Kakashi did learn what those Sound Genins had to say about Naruto and while it disgusted him, he can say he isn’t too shocked by it since many alphas and betas use the Chunin exams to force an omega into mating them.

He understands he is still shaken by this—he figures he would just as shaken as well if he were an omega with views on alphas and betas like Naruto used to have. He knows how terrifying it had to be to have everything he believed in disproven so thoroughly in one day, which is why he can cut the young blonde some slack here, “As an alpha, I can only give you advice based on my experience being around other alphas and betas all of my life who had held omegas in high regard and treated them with respect as well as alphas who were just like Neji in their views of omegas. Do you want to hear this or not, Naruto?”

Naruto doesn’t hesitate, which Kakashi did see coming, “You’re an alpha giving me advice on alphas and how to handle them—of course I want to hear it! I need to at this point because if I don’t know how to handle them, I could wind up like bushy brows.”

“Are you sure you really want to? You know it will only further destroy whatever views you once had of alphas and betas into tiny smithereens, to never be reformed again, don’t you?”

“I know, but I can’t risk caring anymore. I have to change my views on everything or else…I…I could end up in that same situation someday as Lee is in but worse.” he doesn’t mean to sound so scared or to tremble slightly, but what happened today with Lee is disturbing him the longer he really takes this all in and processes it.

He knows it sounds dumb and he knows he shouldn’t be thinking about it too hard, but he never ever met an alpha like Neji who was so open about being horrible to someone just because they’re an omega. He’s never seen or experienced such blatant discrimination in front of his eyes like he has today. He truly thought such things were in the past, but now…with everything he’s learned from Ino, Sakura, and Iruka sensei, he can’t help but to feel sick to his stomach.

Neji had to have known what Lee’s clan was like and he still did that to him. He still used everything he could against him, knowing he wouldn’t say a word against him, knowing he would keep silent because of how he was raised.

It scares him because what if someone tries to take advantage of his positive views of alphas and betas to do something just as bad to him?

There’s so much about this whole mess that the longer he thinks on it, the more time he has to calm down and process it all properly, there’s only more layers of fear and uncertainty building up as he realizes what he believed all of this time was wrong all along.

“Naruto…this really does have you shaken up, doesn’t it?”

He feels a quick hug from his sensei that’s gone as soon as it came, with Kakashi releasing some calming pheromones in the air to better to ease his nerves, “I don’t know if you’re ready to hear it or not, but I suppose you need to learn it if you are going to become hokage someday.”

Kakashi knows sugar coating this won’t get them anywhere, so he does all that he can to explain this to the best of his ability, “In my time as a ninja, I have met alphas and betas who respect omegas and truly do see them as equals, but they are very few and far between. Sexism against omegas is a rampant problem in the ninja world regardless of which village a person comes from. One could come from a village with very liberal views on omega rights and still believe omegas have no place in becoming a shinobi, let alone a hokage or any other kage. That being said, one could come from a very regressive village with the most conservative views around and still believe omegas belong in the ninja world. Ultimately, it all depends on the person more than where they come from.”

Naruto takes this all in as his sensei continues his explanation to him, “Sexism is a problem you will always face as an omega ninja. Those we serve to protect and those we fight alongside with won’t ever be able to look at you and not see your status. This is no fault of your own, but rather a product of a society and clans who enforce the idea that omegas are fragile beings who can be nothing more than homemakers. Because of the way society has functioned for years, with the alphas and betas in power cramming down sexist ideology into schools, clans, and media, you will always have to work hard to be taken seriously as an omega ninja. Because of this, you will also find many more alpha and beta ninjas who won’t take you seriously and will hold views similar to Neji. Sometimes they’re blunt about it, other times they are not in order to closer to you and trap you in a miserable mating with them. Then you have those who are shameless enough to try to take advantage of omegas in vulnerable positions like the ones in the forest tried to do to you.”

“I have to believe they’re all bad then except for the ones I know not to be bad? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“No, what I’m trying to tell you is simple enough: the sexist ones outweigh those who are not in the ninja world. However, you can change it by being the best omega ninja you can be.” Kakashi would tell him then, “The longer you are an omega ninja, the longer you have to change and impact the ninja world for the better. It won’t happen overnight or even after a year, but when you do become hokage, I can say with utmost certainty that by then, you will have done enough to have changed things for the better.”

While this is good and all to hear, Naruto still feels as though he hasn’t gotten his answers concerning a very important topic, “Okay, I can get that, but what can I do now to not end up like Lee? How can I spot out the good alphas and betas from the bad ones? Do I really have to be like Ino and assume they’re all bad until proven otherwise?”

“You don’t have to be that way if you don’t want to. Though it would be for the best if you tried to find that balance between Ino and Lee.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

Kakashi decides to put this down in a simple summary he hopes he will be able to keep up with, “What I mean is, don’t be openly hostile like Ino can be at times. It will make alphas and betas not want to work with you on missions when they need to. It will also cause them to believe they have a reason to be antagonistic towards you and this will only lead to a deepening of a sexist culture that will do more harm to you than good. However, you shouldn’t be as accommodating to them as Lee had been to Neji because that will only make them believe you are not capable of leading or giving valuable input when in a teamwork setting.”

Naruto draws a blank on this, wondering, “What can I do then? Lee did everything right with Neji; he did enough to prove himself to him before he came out as an omega to him, he earned his trust and respect, but he still put that mark on his hand despite all of his hard work.”

“You can be civil with alphas and betas, but don’t let your guard down. Be kind like Lee was while keeping up your guard like Ino does. Don’t be too trusting of them; try to weed out the good from the bad by listening to how they speak about omegas when they think there is none around. Those who are sexist will out themselves quickly when they think they are safe to be, but sometimes they will work in sexist comments or actions that are subtle which you should be on the lookout for at all times if you want to find an alpha or beta you can trust enough to let your guard down around.”

Naruto is really drawing a blank here, “Kakashi sensei, I can get what you’re getting at, but I don’t think you or Iruka sensei or anyone else is really getting why I am so freaked out by what happened today.”

Kakashi raises a brow, wondering what all Naruto could be getting at, “Tell me then why it is you are so freaked out by what happened today.”

Putting it out there is hard because it means admitting so much that he never wanted to before, “I’ve already said it like a million times already! Lee did everything right with Neji and look where he is now! He trained with him, he went on missions with him, and they fought side by side on the same team and the moment he found out he was an omega, he left the mark on his hand. It’s like he only respected him when he thought he was a beta…like no amount of work he did to earn his status as an equal in his eyes was good enough to overcome his own views of him. How do I know I won’t run into that same situation someday with an alpha or beta who won’t ever respect me no matter how much I do to prove myself?”

Kakashi is about to respond to this when he goes on, “I mean…Sasuke, he could do the same thing to me someday, couldn’t he? Look at what his brother did to Deidara—how do I know he won’t pull a Neji when he hits the age of his first rut?”

The copy nin shouldn’t be so enraged at the question being asked. He shouldn’t even be so bothered by the implications behind it because he’s not Sasuke’s father and he certainly doesn’t care about Itachi enough to ever defend him in anything.

No, he has no right to be so enraged by the accusation being lodged at him about Sasuke, but he cannot help but to be.

“Naruto, you actually think so lowly of Sasuke that you’d accuse him of wanting to someday do to you what Neji did to Lee?”

Naruto didn’t get the chance to say otherwise because Kakashi wasn’t going to let him backtrack on what he said, “There will always be alphas and betas out there whose views you cannot change. There will always be alphas and betas out there whose sexism will never go away no matter how hard you work, but that gives you no right to ever accuse Sasuke of being a thing like them. Sasuke is your teammate, he’s never once said or did anything to you to suggest he ever thought less of you because of your gender and he’s always been nothing but supportive of you in his own indirect way. Yes, Lee did everything right with Neji. Yes, it backfired on him immensely. That doesn’t mean it will backfire with every single alpha and beta alive. It also doesn’t mean Sasuke will ever become a thing like Neji out of nowhere when he’s in the age for his first rut to hit him.”

“I don’t know…I mean, Itachi—”

“Sasuke is not his brother. Besides that, we don’t know what happened between Itachi and Deidara. We don’t know if he was kidnapped or not, we don’t know if he truly did force, coerce, or manipulate him to leave with him or not. For all we know, Deidara could have left with him of his own free will and choosing. Whatever the reasons he left with Itachi that night, it doesn’t change the fact that just because Sasuke and Itachi are related, doesn’t mean Sasuke is going to ever be a thing like Itachi.”

He gives him a firm command after this is said, “Don’t ever hold his brother’s actions against him. Don’t ever assume he’s going to be like Neji for no reason other than your worldview of alphas, betas, and sexism were all proven wrong in one day. Sasuke is a good kid who deserves better from his own teammate than that. If you wouldn’t ever make such an accusation about Sakura, then why make it about him?”

Naruto takes this all in, feeling so incredibly awful after what all he has heard from Kakashi sensei. He knows he shouldn’t be lumping in Sasuke with Itachi like that—especially since no one does know for fact what happened between him and Deidara the night they left—but after what happened with Neji and Lee…he’s scared he could wind up in the same situation as them.

He knows he has no reason to be, but it doesn’t stop him from worrying.

“I’m sorry…I shouldn’t be thinking that way and I know I have no reason to since Sasuke and Sakura would never do that to me…but this whole thing, it just…it has me scared, Kakashi sensei. I’m still trying my best to make sense of it all and it’s so hard to.”

He guesses he went too hard on the poor kid there…then he remembers what he was trying to accuse Sasuke of and it almost upsets him all over him. Before he can think too long on it, he instead focuses on Naruto and trying to calm him down from everything he’s learned today, “I know it is and it can be hard to have your views challenged in such a thorough way, but you need to learn how to handle such things with grace if you wish to proceed in life as a shinobi and as hokage.”

“You really believe I can do it? You really think I can become hokage someday?”

Naruto’s bright blue eyes are so full of joy and life, he cannot stop himself from wanting to keep that glaze in them while he can, “I do believe you can if you really do train as hard as you can and do everything you can to get strong and smart enough to become a valuable leader everyone can respect.”

“But you need to train more first, okay? How about we get back to that?”

“Sure thing, sensei!” Naruto cheers, seeming to be more upbeat and focused as Kakashi trains with him in the wooded area they are at, hoping they won’t be arriving back to his place far later than Iruka.

Iruka did arrive back home from his date in a bit of disappointment.

Not only was the date itself bland (he took him on a long, laborious hike with a view he had seen far too many times in the past) but his date and him didn’t have any chemistry between them. It felt more like he was hanging out with an acquaintance from work as opposed to being on a date with someone fun.

It really makes him wish he had managed to get Guy to agree to go on a date with him instead. He can only imagine how fun and charming he would have been…

Imagine his surprise when he came home and found Naruto and Kakashi together, with the alpha teaching him about the subtle and covert sexism he will be facing in his career as an omega ninja.

“Kakashi, what are you doing here? I trust Naruto enough to leave him alone whenever I go out…did you come here to try to sabotage another one of my dates?”

(Kakashi has done this in the past. Iruka knows better than to trust him whenever he makes it known that he has plans for the night.)

“Oh, no, I came here to train Naruto and keep an eye on him for you while you were gone. I have been teaching him about the sexism he will face as a ninja and what he can learn from the situation with Lee and Neji.” Kakashi is so smooth in his response that it leaves Iruka wondering if there is a catch to this, but then Naruto pipes up, “It’s true! He taught me a lot that I can use from here on out to further my ninja career and keep myself safe on the battlefield from all those gross alphas and betas. He’s really helped me out so much, I cannot thank him enough for being nice enough to train me tonight.”

…He cannot be blamed for his severe shock at what all he has heard, “Wait, so you never had any intention of ever sabotaging my date? You really did come here for Naruto only?”

“I won’t deny thinking about it and wanting to do it, but then I saw how you were with Guy earlier today. I noticed that you seem to be attracted to alphas who care about children, and I figured that instead of going my usual route of sabotaging, that I would try to impress you by training my student like I should.”

Now Iruka can appreciate this. Sure, he knows he did it to impress him, but he can tell that somewhere along the line it became a genuine training for Naruto which can only better serve him in the future (Kakashi never would go this far if he were only trying to impress him). Because of this, he can admit Kakashi is a good guy with a good heart…

“So, would you mind if I stayed the night?”

…for his students.

“No, we’re just fine, Kakashi. You can leave now.” Iruka gives him a warning growl that the alpha takes heed of, but once he is out of the apartment, he is able to tell him, “Thank you for training with Naruto tonight and being so good to him. I can’t believe I’m saying this…but I wouldn’t want anyone else to work with him.”

Kakashi is smiling underneath that mask, he can sense it, “You’re welcome, Iruka. All I want is the best for my students…but I do believe a goodnight kiss could be negotiated—”

“Leave while I still have a positive image of you in my head.”

“…Very well then.”

The moment he shuts the door on him, Kakashi is able to go home feeling as though he’s made some progress with Iruka that he wouldn’t have been able to had he decided to sabotage the date like he has in the past.

On Iruka’s end, as he listens to Naruto recall his night with Kakashi, he feels oddly grateful for the copy nin. He can admit that he might have been wrong about Kakashi all along—he was able to give Naruto excellent advice while teaching him about the varying forms of sexism he will face as an omega ninja—though that doesn’t mean he’s exactly ready to give into his attempts just yet.

Kakashi has a way to go before he can ever take his longing for Guy away from him.

Chapter Text

When Lee did wake up, it was to an empty hospital room. Last he remembered, he was in the Chunin exams, the sudden death matches, and he was about to face this alpha from the sand named Gaara…

“You’re finally awake.” he would hear from his side and there, on his right side, stood Gaara. 

The alpha’s scent was indeed confusing—not many would believe lavender to be a traditionally alpha scent—but everything else about him just screamed alpha to Lee. The way he carried himself with authority and had constant yet steady pheromone fluctuations were all telltale signs of an alpha. 

“I am—wait, the exams! What’s going on with the exams!” Lee instantly wondered in a bit of fear that he had messed things up for his teammates, for Naruto, for Shikamaru, for Gaara himself even—

“They were put on hiatus.” Hearing this did nothing to ease his mind. If of anything, all it did was upset him further when he realized this was all his fault and no one else’s, “Oh… I am so sorry, Gaara. I didn’t mean to mess up the exams for you and everyone else. Now everything is ruined and it’s all my fault.” 

Gaara cannot help but to think of this omega as being very strange.

First, he tries to prevent him from dying a horrible death. Then he apologizes to him for the exams getting put on hiatus…what next will come out of this omega? What else could, really? 

Maybe he shouldn’t think too much on that. For all he knows this one could be hell bent on surprising him at every single twist and turn. 

“Why are you apologizing?” 

Lee gave him a quick side glance before looking back at the ceiling, “I messed up the exams, didn’t I? If I had told Guy sensei earlier about the mark on my hand, then none of this would have happened…if I had been quick like I’m supposed to be, then Neji wouldn’t have ever had the chance to leave it on me in the first place.”

He doesn’t really move, which doesn’t really do anything to effect Gaara either way, but it does make him wonder what all Konoha omegas are raised to believe to be as blind as this guy is, “It was all my fault. I should’ve told you and everyone else before the battle between us ever had the chance to begin. I deprived you, Neji, Shikamaru, and—” 

“I don’t get you.” 

Being cut off by Gaara was something Lee didn’t see coming. He had been so stoic the entire time throughout the exams, so to hear him speaking up like this now was surprising to say the least. 

He blinked as his head snapped over to his direction, “What do you mean?” 

The way Gaara says it with such ease catches Lee completely off guard, “You’re telling me how you ruined the exams for all of these alphas who you have no reason to care about, and yet you never bring up yourself once in all of this. Aren’t you upset that the exams were ruined for you too? Why even bother caring about it being ruined for someone like me or any other alpha in the exams? Don’t you see how redundant it all is?” 

“I mean…I guess…” Lee cannot help but to believe he’s letting Guy sensei down every time he does stuff like this, no matter how much it really can’t be helped, “not all the alphas there were bad people. There was a lot of good people there too who deserved their fair chance at proceeding to the third round and I ruined that for them.” 

“You’re not upset at all by missing out on your chance to proceed in these exams?” 

“I guess I am, but it’s hard to care about what I think or feel at times.” 

Now Gaara is getting annoyed because none of this is making the least bit of sense to him, “There’s no way you mean that.”

He is quick to defend himself on this end, “I do mean it. I feel awful about being able to mean it, though…I always know I am letting my sensei down whenever I place an alpha’s well being and feelings above my own. I’m trying to not do it, but I still do all the time without meaning to.” 

“Why do it then? Why not try to stop?” 

“Because I was raised in my clan to be a good, proper omega and do all that I can to make the alphas in my life happy no matter what.” Gaara finds this concept to be outlandish, but he’s willing to listen, “I want to stop doing it, I want to be able to think of myself first, but I can’t no matter how hard I try. All I hear is the voice of my father berating me for being self centered and the scolding from my mother for being a bad, improper omega whenever I try to do it.”

Maybe it’s because he wasn’t raised the same way his siblings were, but Gaara cannot envision such madness no matter how hard he tries. He is really trying for that matter because it is so outlandish—he’s positive no such way of raising omegas even exists in Suna. Of course, he could be wrong on that end, but he’s pretty positive it doesn’t. 

“Is that why you tried to save me from dying a horrible death? Because of your clan raising you to be a doormat to alphas and betas?” Gaara ponders out loud, not wanting to believe Shukaku for one moment that this omega would be perfect to mate and could make him happy someday.

Lee immediately denies this because this simply isn’t true at all on his end, “No, that’s not it at all! Gaara, I did it because I didn’t want you to die such a horrible death and I wanted to win on my skills and merit, not Neji’s mark. I know you may not believe it, but in my eyes, no deserves to die the way the mark kills them. I didn’t want you to die that horrible death; that’s the main reason why I warned you in the first place.”

Now this is such a strange experience for Gaara to be having.

He’s not used to people genuinely caring about his safety and not wanting him to die. He’s not used to people being nice to him, let alone being so considerate of him. He’s not used to being treated like a normal human being—but Lee…he’s treating him as such, and he doesn’t know what to fully make of it. 

Does he want to kill him in secret? 

Is he trying to kill him with the mark somehow in any way he can? 

What is his game here? What is he trying to pull? 

All of these questions have been bothering him deeply ever since the damned jinchuuriki within him left that mark on the omega’s unmarred hand. Now that he finally has the chance to speak to him, to try to figure him out, all he’s finding so far is a genuine omega who may have really done it for the reasons he said. 

“Are you trying to kill me with the mark by trying to get me to fall for you then or do you want to kill me using your own jutsu instead?” 

Now Lee is giving him an incredulous look and an answer full of sincerity he had never received from anyone in his life, “No, I don’t want to kill you! I don’t ever want to, the only way I would is if you were trying to kill others—like Guy sensei, Tenten, Neji, Naruto, Ino, my clan, the hokage, the people in the village, or myself.” 

…It just hit Gaara that he really does put himself last in all things. Why this bothers him so he doesn’t know, but he’s willing to try to push it out of his mind for now.

Maybe it’s because he lives for and loves only himself. Maybe that’s why this doll like omega and his selflessness bothers him so. 

He didn’t get to comment much on it in the bland, rather depressing looking hospital thanks to Lee’s own resignment on the matter at hand, “I highly doubt either of the above could ever happen at any point in my life now. Once my clan finds out about this, they will make me mate Neji and it will all be over—I won’t ever be allowed to become a shinobi and all I will ever get to be is a homemaker for Neji. I should enjoy my freedom while I still have it…I know Guy sensei is working hard to give me this freedom, so I better not waste it in order to show my gratitude to him one last time.”

Gaara isn’t sold on the idea of having a mate.

His jinchuuriki is demanding he have one to one day have pups of his own. Gaara isn’t too invested in doing much other than living for himself and proving his existence, so the idea of mating and pups is purely contradictory to his own motto of living life.

With this in mind, he knows it’s purely irrational to be upset at the very notion that this Neji person was always going to be the one to be his mate no matter what. It feels as though he is being underestimated in an unusual form—a newer form, he should say, than what he has been in the past.

In other words, Gaara isn’t used to being written off in this manner. He’s used to having people see him as the automatic victor in whichever task it is he takes on. To not be seen as the automatic victor in a different sort of battle (one that the damned jinchuuriki started without his consent, mind you) is a new sensation he hasn’t ever experienced before.

Hell, there’s a lot he’s experiencing with this omega: genuine care and concern for his safety, life, and wellbeing for one, as well as a genuine lack of ill intention for him…it’s all so bizarre that he can feel himself about to break apart from it all mentally if he thinks on it for too long. He might now if he thinks about how genuine the omega has been to him this entire time.

No, he won’t think about it now. He can’t afford to breakdown again—this time, they might think he is here to kill the omega when that was never his intention and hasn’t been ever since the exams got put on hiatus.

“Why do you believe this Neji person will be your mate?”

Lee doesn’t mean to come across as being dismissive of Gaara—if of anything, he doesn’t mind the alpha at all—but he knows his clan far too well. He knows them well enough to know they won’t change their minds or their ways, which is why he can be confident in his assumption, “Because Neji is wealthy and he’s a Hyuuga. My clan is conservative, but poor… I was already a failure for not being as ‘beautiful’ as the Yamanaka omegas and I couldn’t ever hold a candle to the others in the village anyway, but that’s how I was able to become a Genin without having to fight them over it. Had I been pretty or beautiful, you wouldn’t have ever met me because I wouldn’t have been allowed to become a Genin in the first place; my clan would have had me mated by now and I’d be expected to have a pup within in a year or two.”

Oh…so he’s not the only one being pressured into having pups immediately…interesting.

“Ever since I joined Guy sensei’s team, I have been getting pressured by my clan to do all that I can to get Neji to want to mate me. He comes from a wealthy clan with a lot of prestige in the village—that’s all a person really needs to have to impress my clan. As long as a potential mate of mine is wealthy and from a prestigious clan, nothing else matters to them. Knowing them, they’ll make up a dowry price on the spot to get as much money out of the Hyuuga clan as they possibly can when they do learn of the mark he left on me.”

He gives a sad smile to the ceiling above, “It’s okay, Gaara. Nothing bad will happen to you. I will be mated to Neji by my clan’s orders, and we won’t ever see each other again. The exams won’t be put on hiatus anymore and you’ll get to become a Chunin right alongside Neji. I’d rather be mated to Neji than have anyone else die by the mark he left on me…I mean, it can’t be that bad, can it? The Hyuuga clan is strict, but maybe Neji would be capable of changing for the sake of his homelife—”

A shot of sand hits the glass of water by his bedside, making Lee jump a bit out of shock as he realizes all too quickly that Gaara did this for some reason or another…possibly as a reaction to what he had just said, which is confusing because there’s no way someone like him from a different land with better looking omegas would ever actually be bothered by the idea of him being mated to Neji.

“Um, Gaara? Did I do something to upset you?”

Gaara had come here because he wanted to figure out if the omega was being sincere with his intentions or not when he stopped him from dying a horrible death back at the exams. All he could tell from these interactions was the omega is very sincere even now in his intent to protect him from the mark on his hand. His sincerity on the matter is so extreme to the point where he is willing to accept the fate of never becoming a ninja and instead being some miserable alpha’s mate if it means no one else gets hurt by the mark on his hand.

He doesn’t understand the sincerity, he doesn’t understand the sacrifice he’s making—he knows the why, but he simply cannot fathom throwing his life away for anyone like that.

“I don’t get it—what’s the point in giving up everything for anyone? What’s the point in actually believing you’re doing something good by denying yourself of your freedom and right to exist as you please?”

Lee doesn’t know how to answer him because it seems no matter how hard he tries, Gaara might not get it. However, he can at least try to understand, “Why not? I’m a failed omega…if of anything, I’d be succeeding at something, wouldn’t I? Besides, as long as those I care about most make it in this world, then I can be happy no matter what happens to me.”

“You can be happy…because people you care about are going to make it in the world?”

“Well, yeah. I care about them, that’s why I want to see them succeed and why I’d be happy for them no matter what, even when I’m stuck with Neji as a Hyuuga omega.”

Unbeknownst to Lee, this was starting to make Gaara near the edge of another mental breakdown with the weight of his sincerity, his genuine intentions, and pure selflessness all bearing such heavy burdens on his mind.

Had he not left the room in the silence he did in that moment, his jinchuuriki would have marked the omega in his stead.

Temari and Kankuro were outside of Lee’s door, keeping an eye on their brother in case if he decided to do something else that went completely against their mission.

This means they overheard the entire conversation between the two. It also meant they had their own opinions on the matter, “I really hope he didn’t mate him…our mission is already in shambles because of his decision to leave a mark on that omega’s free hand! Now it could go out the window altogether if he actually makes him his mate.”

“We don’t know that just yet. Remember when the exams were put on hiatus?” Kankuro had to bring up that recent memory in her mind, making Temari sigh as she realizes he could be right, but she’s not too certain on it given the odd way Gaara has been acting ever since then.

The Chunin exams were not put on hiatus immediately after Lee was marked on his hand by Gaara. The reason for this was simple: they had to focus on restraining Gaara first when he was in the middle of a breakdown before the hokage could formally announce the exams would be put on hiatus.

This of course took a few hours in order to properly restrain and calm Gaara down enough for the announcement to happen. When it was announced, the old man had all of the remaining Genin present in the building gathered up into rows of three arranged by teams on the battle area, his eyes full of grief as he announced, “As it stands, we have no choice but to put the Chunin exams on an undetermined hiatus.”

Naruto had immediately spoken out against it, his frown deep as a growl escaped him, “What? Does that mean all of our work—all of Lee’s sacrifice for the better of his team—was for nothing? Why is it being put on hiatus? If you ask me, Neji should be kicked outta here for getting us in this mess in the first place! If he hadn’t marked bushy brows on his hand, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now!”

Temari and Kankuro didn’t know much of this situation, but they were hoping for the sake of their mission that the old man would take Naruto’s points in consideration before going through with anything too serious.

“I’m sorry but as it stands, the exams will be put on hiatus. While I agree with you that Neji is the only one truly at fault here, it cannot be denied that this will stand to have disastrous consequences for our village if we do not handle this situation immediately before proceeding with anything related to the exams.”

His gaze then fell onto the siblings from Suna, making Kankuro and Temari both dread whatever it is he has to command of them. “You three…Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari…you’re all siblings, correct?”

“We are, sir.” Kankuro answers for Temari and Gaara before things can get tense between them.

“Then you three will have to come with me immediately.”

Kiba didn’t take that lying down either but for his own reason, “Hey, they did nothing wrong here! Naruto is right—only Neji should be punished today, not them. What’s going on? Why are they being treated like they’re the ones in the wrong instead of Neji?”

Kankuro and Temari could see his answer coming from a mile away, long before he ever said it: “Because they are the children of the kazekage of Suna. If we do not amend things now, then there could be a war breaking out between our nations.”

All went silent to this as he ordered the siblings, “Come with me immediately. We need to talk.”

They did just that…which meant they wound up going back to his office where the alpha man would ask Gaara with a sharp, critical eye on his person the entire time, “Tell me…why did you choose to leave a mark on the omega’s hand?”

“I didn’t choose to do it…it was the sand’s will, not my own.”

He had to have known Gaara wasn’t in the best state of mind to hold a conversation so serious as he had been wanted to. Temari thought he did anyway due to the way he shifted the topic so soon, “Listen, war is not something either one of our villages needs at the moment. What we need is to come to a peaceful conclusion before war can tear us apart. Tell me, is the Suna alpha willing to mate the omega in question?”

Temari and Kankuro were both on edge, hoping to the highest of heavens that Gaara would not be interested in mating the omega, thus running the chance of ruining their mission when they needed his strength most, “I’m not interested in mating anyone. I won’t mate the omega in question.”

“I see…but young alphas and betas can change their minds on such issues without any problem in the blink of an eye.” the elder siblings stilled in their place as he sighed deeply, “I am giving you two weeks to decide if you truly do want to mate Rock Lee or not. If you choose not to, then for his safety as well as for the sake of keeping the exams fair, I will have to have Neji Hyuuga mate him. If you choose to do so, then you may have to fight Neji for the right to be his mate. Are you fine with these conditions, Gaara?”

“I am, but only because I am positive I won’t change my mind.”

“Fine then; you three are dismissed though I will want to speak to the kazekage about this before moving forward.”

“We understand, sir.” Temari speaks up this time, allowing Kankuro to be the one to lead Gaara out of them room with her following behind him, wishing he wouldn’t change his mind. If their mission gets any further delays, then they may have to call it off entirely.

Now with the conversation that they just overheard, Temari and Kankuro are both terrified that the mission may have to be called off entirely. If Gaara truly is going rogue, then there’s nothing they can do to stop him. All they can do is let him do as he pleases in the hopes they won’t be a casualty in the same vein that Neji Hyuuga guy will be if he doesn’t back off soon.

Chapter Text

He thought leaving the omega’s hospital room would only solidify his own personal idea to not mate him. All it did was leave him on the verge of another breakdown as he had to learn how to deal with everything he’s heard from the omega as well as his own memories from childhood coming through. He knows it’s dumb, but…thanks to this visit, he can say he doesn’t like the idea of the Konoha omega being mated to the Konoha alpha.

He’s not too sure why, but he thinks that may have to do with how selfless and self sacrificial he is being about this whole ordeal. Something about that behavior is off putting to him enough to bother him in a way that leaves him wanting to grab him by the shoulders and shake the nonsense out of him.

Oddly enough, what was good enough to snap him out of his thoughts of the omega’s sincerity the entire time they spoke was the voice of the Konoha alpha he recognizes as the Jounin that he called ‘Guy sensei’ speaking to the Konoha alpha—this Neji he spoke far too much on—with a frown on his face, his arms crossed and his glare sharp on him, “Neji, I told you—Lee just woke up. He doesn’t need to see you right now.”

“But you can see him to bring him his favorite things when he was too far gone to wake up?”

“That was different! We all thought he’d be awake three days ago and some greedy worker here took all of the snacks I brought to him before he could get up.” yes…this must be his sensei. He remembers seeing him speaking to him at the exams and at one point, watching the matches with him, “Nonetheless, it doesn’t mean you can see him after all of the stress and turmoil you put him through with that mark. He needs time to clear his head, not to see you so soon after everything you did.”

“You speak of it as though it were a bad thing. The mark I left on Lee saved him from being raped by those Sound Genin and it saved Naruto from the same fate as well by killing them in the manner it did. If of anything, he should be thanking me for the mark on his hand because if it weren’t me, he’d be forcibly mated to some alpha by now.” the Konoha alpha—Neji, his name is Neji, Gaara needs to do more to remember that—is so smug, so certain of himself when he speaks that it makes Gaara wonder if such an attitude is why the omega is so convinced he will be the one to mate him regardless of who the competition could be.

Maybe he’s wrong for thinking what he is at the moment, but it seems the green clad alpha is thinking the same way he is, so he’s not completely wrong for having that thought, “It’s interesting to me that you know as much as you do, given that you weren’t around when Sakura had to recall what she saw in the forest with the other Jounin and medical personnel here. Tell me, did you see it happen for yourself? Did you do nothing to help Lee when he was in that vulnerable position?”

His silence is all Guy—Gaara as well for that matter—needs to know, “You did…and you did nothing to help him.”

“I had to follow him after a while because he’s an omega. I cannot trust him alone on the battlefield no matter how much you tell me to; as an omega, it’s only in his fate to end up with someone awful should I not have been considerate enough to mark him in the manner I did.” Neji is fairly nonchalant when addressing the other issue both are thinking about at the moment, “I didn’t have to step in, but I had to be there to be certain those ninja were killed by the mark. If they hadn’t been, then I would have had to kill them, simple as that. Lee was never in any real danger, sensei. He was always safe thanks to the mark I left on him.”

Guy doesn’t say much of anything at first. Gaara finds this to be curious since he had seemed so angry earlier…then he hears the growl from the Jounin and realizes that he may have written this off too early, “No, that’s no excuse to watch him about to get harmed in a battle. Leave now before I really get angry at you, Neji.”

“Why? You’re not his father, you’re not even a member of his clan. If I want to see my future mate, then I will. That is, unless if you want me to get my clan involved in this.” then a pale finger is pointed in his direction, putting Gaara in a spot he never asked to be in, “What of him? Why can the alpha who caused this mess in the first place be allowed to come here in the same hospital as Lee without any problem whereas I can’t?”

Is it strange to feel gratitude in this moment?

Because all Gaara can feel is a heavy weight being lifted off of his shoulders as Neji’s cold reaction towards him proved enough to prevent another breakdown from happening. He almost wants to thank the alpha for this, yet he doesn’t because he has a feeling it would either feed his ego or make him madder at him yet.

Then again, Gaara is used to dealing far worse reactions to his very presence so this is all extremely mild for him.

Which is why he doesn’t have any qualms about clearing his name in this moment, “I did arrive to visit the omega…Lee, that’s his name right?”

Temari nodded, to which he felt a bit better about going forward with this, “Yes, I did see him, but only to figure out why he would want to stop me from dying a horrible death. I have no interest in mating, raping, or anything to do with omegas, really. I had to satisfy my curiosity and get some answers, that’s all. I’m not stopping you from seeing him, alpha, though it would be in your best interest to not get me entwined with your pathetic games that I have no intent in partaking.”

Before Neji can protest, Gaara does have a comment to make about this whole situation, “If you ask me, none of this is my fault. The beast within me wouldn’t have ever marked Lee without my consent had he not shown genuine care and concern for my safety and well being by telling me about what you mark could do to me if I so much as did one thing wrong. So really…it’s all your fault, Konoha alpha, not mine.”

Neji’s glare is sharpened on him and Temari feels the need to step in right now before anything else can be said, “Gaara, let’s get going. We should be more focused on our training than petty arguing.”

“Yeah, we really should get going now, don’t you think?” Kankuro joins in on her attempt to get Gaara out of here before another tense moment can break out between the two.

(To be fair, Kankuro can understand where Neji’s hostility and exaggerated territorial nature are coming from—he’s at the age of his first rut and he has some creepy sexual attraction to his teammate that cannot be healthy for him to leave a mark on his hand in the manner he did. Does this mean he wants to deal with it? Absolutely not! Having alpha friends, he knows how horrible this time is for a young alpha and it seems that instead of being controlled by his instincts, Neji himself is simply using this time to strengthen those desires he’s always had. It’s something he had been afraid of Gaara doing when he hit the same age, but damn, he doesn’t want to deal with a hormonal alpha teen if he doesn’t have to.)

“Fine by me. I’d rather not have to deal with someone as needlessly smug as him.”

The siblings were able to breathe out a sigh of relief as Neji immediately turned his accusatory gaze on his sensei, “Aren’t you going to say anything at all to defend me from him?”

Guy scoffs, one hand on his hip and the other pointing a finger at him now, “Why should I? If you ask me, Gaara isn’t wrong on this end. You’ve been nothing but needlessly smug this whole time. Hasn’t it ever hit you that Lee might reject you, that he might choose that kid over you to mate?”

Neji blinks at him, his answer somehow bothering Gaara as much—if not more—than anything Lee has said to him today, “Lee’s desires don’t matter here. He’s an omega; he cannot escape his fate of being mated someday to a proper omega. All he can do is be grateful I laid claim to him before anyone else, that I ever had any interest in him at all, really.”

Before Guy can protest, he goes on to say something that has him fighting the urge to go back to Lee’s room to ask him about this, “In case if you are forgetting, it’s not Lee’s choice on who he mates. It’s all the choice of his clan if we mate or not. If both clans agree to the mating, I will mate Lee. If his clan doesn’t agree to it then they will try to make him mate that redhead, but rest assured, I will fight for Lee to be sure he doesn’t end up with him.”

…That’s why he was so convinced about this Neji person becoming his mate no matter what. It’s not his choice; his conservative clan won’t allow him to choose—they’ll make him mate that alpha no matter what. If he says anything against it, he can only imagine he’d be punished somehow.

“Yeah, I know that…I’ve always known that ever since I took the kid on as a student of mine. His clan will never allow him to choose a mate for himself because proper omegas are given away to potential suitors of the clan’s choosing, even in this circumstance. If you really wanted to, you could contact them right now and make your interest in mating him clear. They’d give him to you without second thought, breaking Lee’s heart in the process without any consideration for him whatsoever. You haven’t yet and I know why you haven’t. It’s because you’re smart enough to know that if you do tell them about this, I will be sure to punish you severely, Neji. So keep that in mind moving forward.”

This is interesting…Konoha alphas and omegas and their customs are all so strange, so backward compared to what he’s used to back in Suna. Learning all that he has so far has him wondering if destroying the village would actually benefit Lee somehow in all of this.

No, he’s not doing this for anyone’s benefit! He’s doing it as part of an important mission from the kazekage! There’s no reason for him to care about the omega…who has shown far too much care and concern for him so far…

Damn, he’s got a lot to think about when he gets back to his room.

“Lee isn’t my kid and he’s not a part of my clan, I know that better than anyone else…but dammit, that kid is like a son to me and I won’t let anyone—even you—steal his happiness from him! I care far too much about him to ever let that happen!”

Immediately, Gaara is about to break down again at his words, but his siblings are quick enough to get him out of there before he snaps.

Three days after the exams were put on hiatus, Ino hadn’t had anything really special happen to her since then. All she’s been doing is working at the family flower shop, hanging out with Shikamaru, Chouji, Naruto, and going to check on Lee with him in the hospital. She’s heard a rumor that he is awake now, but it doesn’t stop her from being cautious about seeing now that Neji is said to be around there more.

She doesn’t know what’s going on between him and the redhead, but whatever it is, she doesn’t want to get caught in it.

She glances at a blue dahlia, the color of it reminding her of Deidara’s eyes whenever he was happy. It makes her think of what he would be doing if he were here to know of Lee’s predicament…to be honest, she couldn’t think of anyone better to be his advocate in all of this. Deidara always was so outspoken against everything wrong in Konoha, especially the conservative clans and their treating their omega members like chattel. Who else better to defend Lee now than him?

She is willing to do much of the same but learning from Naruto Neji had knocked her out at the exams has her a bit spooked by him simply because she wasn’t quick enough to stop him when it did happen. Looking back on it, it makes sense her to that Lee wouldn’t have seen the mark coming either despite training with the guy for as long as he did on the same team. Given how quickly he can move when he chooses to it’s safe to say that Lee couldn’t have seen it coming.

She’s going to be more cautious around him, try to avoid him if she can, while at the hospital to see her fellow omega.

With a white lily in her hand, she prepares herself to see Lee on the day after his waking, calling out to her mom as she leaves the shop, “I’m going to check on Lee, mom! I’ll be right back!”

“Don’t be too long! We don’t know what alphas and betas are going to do at nights now that the exams are on hiatus.”

Her lips crease into a thin line as her anger simmers underneath her skin. Ever since the exams were put on hiatus, rumors have been spread around the village about Lee’s marks from the alphas as well as the rumors of the poor omega having to be marked by one of the alphas in order to ease the fighting chakras in his body. Ever since then, attacks against omegas walking alone have increased, with many feeling emboldened to do so and who can blame them? Neji could mark Lee like that without consequence, so could Gaara, who’s to say they can’t do the same?

Her own parents now want her to not be out too late because of her omega status and the increased brazenness of the alphas and some betas in the village. Now she has to be far more wary when out in public thanks to this whole mess and the hokage’s unwillingness to even so much as discipline those alphas for what they did to Lee!

Lee’s being expected to put up with all of this with a smile and a nod while also being blamed by other Genin who didn’t take the exams this time around for the exams being put on hiatus. It’s moment like these she wants to point out to people like Naruto who try to deny the existence of sexism within their village.

What could be more sexist than an omega being automatically blamed for something the alphas did to him while the alphas get away with it? She cannot think of any other recent example of pervasive sexism than this and poor Lee, to be in the center of it all with a conservative clan who will blame him far worse than anyone else in society could… It makes her feel protective over her newfound friend even if he probably won’t want her to be.

“Ino, hi…um, where are you going?”

She turns to her side and finds Hinata standing beside her. Normally Naruto would have called her creepy, but she doesn’t see the other girl being that way.

“Oh hey, Hinata. I’m going to go see Lee at the hospital. I heard he woke up just yesterday and I wanted to check on him to see how he’s handling everything as well as to get a good idea of what’s going on with him outside of the rumors.” Ino then offers her something the beta takes up immediately, “Do you want to come with me to see him?”

“I-I would love that.” Hinata pauses suddenly, asking her as they walk, “Ino, did Deidara ever fall in love while he was in the village?”

Ino laughed at the very notion of it because it was so ridiculous, “Are you kidding me? Deidara was surrounded by sexist alphas and betas when he was our age. He could never fall in love with anyone here, especially not that stupid Uchiha demon who stole him from us.”

Well, this feels a bit awkward for her, “Oh, I see… Ah, what about you? Do you think you could ever fall in love with anyone here?”

Ino thinks about it seriously seeing as how Hinata had seemed intent on having a deeper conversation than what they normally would have had they ran into each other on the street.

She’s not in the same exact situation as Deidara was; there are good alphas and betas in her age group far more than there were when Deidara was in her age group. With Sakura proclaiming she’d do her best to be an alpha worthy of her, she doesn’t know yet if she will ever fall in love with anyone from here or not.

…Why would Sakura come up in this?

She’d rather not think about the complicated reasoning behind that. What she can do is tell Hinata as honestly as she can, “I think I could. I mean, I’m not in the same situation as Deidara was with the numbers of awful alphas and betas being far too great. Also, I have a feeling that there will be someone for me somewhere in here. I won’t know it now or maybe at the end of the year, but I will know it someday. If someone like Sakura can make a promise to change, then I have hope that the good alphas and betas will one day outnumber the bad by a far higher number than they do now.”

While Hinata is left feeling optimistic, there is a voice of concern ringing in her head, warning that Sakura was brought up for a reason and she might not like where that reason leads.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Hinata, do you need some help winning Naruto over? Because I can totally get him to see you’d be better for him than Sasuke ever could be.”

She shakes her head, the unneeded recent memories flashing back in her head at the very mention of it, “No, I don’t need any help there…I don’t really like him anymore, not after what he said about not wanting to mate anyone from my clan.”

Ino glances over to her for a brief moment as they make their way through the village to see Lee in the hospital, “Naruto is capable of change, though. He visited me yesterday to tell me he was sorry for thinking I was overreacting, exaggerating, or trying to make problems whenever I called out alphas and betas for being sexist. He has a better understanding now of sexism in our society and culture, which is great… I’m not sure if he can learn that people are not their clans as quickly, but he is capable of learning it so there’s no need to quit on him now.”

Hinata almost wants to scream out of pure frustration to her response.

It doesn’t matter if Naruto changes his ways, it doesn’t change the fact that he spoke to her in a way that was no different from Itachi when he wrote all Hyuugas off as being sexists because of Neji’s actions.

Having had time to take this all in and speak to her sensei about it, she’s come to realize a few things about herself that she has decided to no longer deny as much as she used to.

“Ah, actually Ino…after what happened at the exams, I spoke to my sensei at length about this stuff, you know, since she’s a fellow beta and I figured she’d be the best person for me to go to.” with all of the courage inside of her, she lets the omega in on her recent revelations, “My sensei and I spoke about what Naruto said, as well as my feelings on him before and after that. She said…um…please don’t be angry with me when I say this, but she said I was using Naruto as a sort of replacement for Deidara.”

This was not a lie. Naruto wasn’t the only one learning things when the exams were over. Hinata had a lot to deal with as well afterwards.

Unlike Naruto, she was able to process things quicker and as such, came to a conclusion that she needed to speak to her sensei for help with this instead of Naruto who mainly ranted to Iruka. Also unlike Naruto, she knew she couldn’t turn to her clan for help with this issue since it would be explained through a tainted lens of conservatism that she didn’t believe in herself, and as such she knew she had to go to Kurenai for any decent guidance.

“Sensei, I’m so sorry for bothering you but…I…I need to talk to you about something.” Hinata had said to her, making the young woman glance her way in worry as they exited the forest area after the exams were officially announced to be on hiatus.

“What is it, Hinata? Is there something you need to tell me about Neji?”

Hinata couldn’t blame her for thinking that, but, “No, it has nothing to do with Neji…it’s to do with Naruto.”

Kurenai gave her a look that let her know she could continue on now while they were alone, “Um…ah…I have a crush on Naruto—at least, I did, but I don’t know…he said some awful things about not wanting to mate anyone from my clan because of our views on omegas and it hurt a lot more than I thought it would.”

Her sensei was nothing but kind and comforting to her as she went to stand beside her, “I’m sorry, Hinata. Rejection like that hurt, especially from someone you’ve crushed on for so long. Don’t worry, over time, you will get over him and find someone better for you.”

“That’s the thing—I lost all interest in him when he said that.” Kurenai’s interest piques as she continues on, “It sounds wrong to say because I’m sure Naruto could grow and change from that mindset, but it hurt too much when he said it. I cannot ever be with anyone willing to say such things without getting to know me first. Here I thought he’d be like Deidara; kind, gentle, accepting, and nonjudgmental, but in the end, he was another Itachi, telling me no one like Deidara would want to mate someone like me.”

“Tell me Hinata, if Deidara had never left the village, would you have ever crushed on Naruto?”

Her head snaps over to her sensei’s side, the red eyed woman reminding her, “I was a young beta too once, I know how this goes. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but did you ever have a crush on Deidara? If you did, why? I remember that kid being nothing but hostile and bitter. What good was there in him, really…”

“Don’t say that about him, sensei! He was amazing to me and the only one who could break my heart by not being here anymore!”

Kurenai had never heard Hinata snap like this before. Usually she’s so reserved, shy, and quiet about everything to do with herself. As such, she does all that she can to listen to her, “I never would have crushed on Naruto if Deidara hadn’t left the village. He was so amazing, sensei—he was so much more than his beauty. I know you remember him as being nothing but hostile and bitter—but that’s the worst take to have on him. He was a misunderstood omega who received nothing but hate and backlash for standing up for himself and others whenever they faced discrimination. He may have become bitter and hostile towards the end, but that wasn’t his fault…it was the fault of the village and the society here that made him have to be so defensive and jaded all the time.”

She smiles, tears nearly lining her eyes, “He was nice to me, he didn’t care that I was a Hyuuga, he always accepted me as is. He didn’t mind making me things with his jutsu and he never hid his truest smile from me whenever he did. His ability to never give in despite the world around him telling to, his willingness to work so hard to be taken seriously as a human being in a society that didn’t see him as such…it was inspiring to me. I only work as hard as I do and do all that I can to better myself as a ninja so I can one day make him proud of me when Ino brings him back.”

Kurenai gets it then, connecting the dots on her own out loud, “Naruto has some similar qualities there as well…an omega treated poorly by those around him, who worked hard to better himself to be the sort of person he is today. His hair and eye color are rather similar to Deidara’s, but everything about Naruto is far brighter than Deidara color wise…personality wise as well, I can say.”

Hinata looked to the ground as she said, “Hinata, I think the real reason you lost your feelings for Naruto so quickly and easily was because you were using him to replace Deidara all along in your heart. When he said what he did today, you must have subconsciously realized then that Naruto would never be Deidara because he was too much of an Itachi for you to ever look past. You built up an image of him in your head that was supposed to be Deidara 2.0 but in the end, he could never live up to that image because Naruto isn’t Deidara and he never will be.”

“I hope you learn from this, Hinata. It’s better to give yourself time and space to heal from Deidara’s disappearance. Instead of forcing yourself to replace him to deal with the hurt inside, try to allow yourself time to grieve his absence and move on from it in a healthy way. Only then will you ever be able to find happiness with someone else.”

Ino almost tripped on her own feet when she heard this. Immediately, she was in front of Hinata, her eyes wide as she spoke with a certain bewilderment she had never seen from the omega before, “Deidara? As in my brother Deidara? Why would you need to replace him?”

“Because, as strange as it sounds…I actually had a crush on him for the longest time, long before I ever did for Naruto. I only forced myself to move on to Naruto to better ignore my hurt over losing someone as beautiful and wonderful as your brother. My sensei helped me see that and I’m glad she did because now, I feel no anger or hurt anymore after what Naruto said to me at the exams. All I feel is a certain peace I haven’t had in years.”

This was revolutionary for her to hear. She never knew of anyone else but Itachi having a crush on her brother. Everyone else always called him so many awful names for standing up for himself that she always assumed no one else had any interest in him. To learn Hinata has for what sounds like years now is mind blowing.

“I…I didn’t know anyone else outside of Itachi did.” is all Ino can say at first, but then Hinata chuckles, catching her further off guard, “What’s funny? Is Shikamaru trying to sneak out of his training again?”

Hinata shakes her head, a hand over her mouth as she speaks through strained breaths, “No, it’s not that! It’s just…the look you’re giving me right now, it’s reminding me of this time when Deidara received a compliment from me, and he couldn’t take it well since he had never been complimented on anything except for his looks. It’s not a bad thing—I don’t mind remembering the good times of him. It makes me happy now, instead of sad.”

Hinata does walk around her as they approach the hospital, leaving Ino to once again almost trip over her own feet in shock to what was said—wait, not only said, but expressed by the normally reserved Hyuuga girl.

On her end, Hinata is smiling as she feels a certain pride in being more open and honest with anyone, especially Deidara’s sister.

It makes her think back to what Kurenai had said to her when she asked her yesterday, “What should I do to make my feelings better known when I do find someone who I will like  more than Deidara?”

“Simple: don’t deny your feelings or hide them. You have to be assertive without being forceful like Neji was to Lee. If you make more obvious overtures that aren’t creepy, then you will be find out if they are interested in you or not. If you want to be really bold, then ask them out on a date yourself and see where it leads. I know it can be scary to do, but you have to at least try if you want to get anywhere with any person in the future.”

Immediately upon entering the hospital, the girls are met with the sight of Hiashi Hyuuga, the alpha man frowning until he saw the two girls together, “Hinata, what are you doing here? There’s no one from our clan that’s injured and needing medical service here.”

“No, father, I’m here to see Rock Lee.” Hinata knows what her father thinks of the Yamanaka clan—he never did hide his disdain for Deidara well back when he did live in the village—and she knows he might say something incredibly rude when he finds out she’s here with Ino to see Lee.

“Odd…you two are not friends. If you were, I would have known by now since you do tend to talk about those you spend time with.”

Oh great…quick, she needs to come up with something before he says something horrible to Ino and a bad fight breaks out in public!

Then he approaches them closer, his byakugan almost activating as he spoke more slowly than before, “I was told by Lee’s sensei that no Hyuuga is allowed to see him today. Mind telling me how you can see him when I’ve been told I cannot?”

It is not the best lie she could come up with, but it works for what it’s worth, “Ino is his friend and I’m here with her before we go out on our date.”

Hiashi deadpans to her in response to the shockingly random news, “…You are going on a date with the Yamanaka omega? The one who wasn’t ruined enough by their liberalism to run away with some murderous alpha?”

She gulps down her fear, not missing a beat in her reply, “Yes, I am. I…ah, please, don’t be too shocked when I say this father, but I do like her, and she did accept the offer to a date with me later on today. She wanted to see Lee first though and since it’s g-gotten so dangerous lately for omegas to go out alone, I figured I’d come with her to see him.”

Ino knows a few things about the Hyuuga clan from what Deidara had told her: old fashioned, sexist, conservative, wealthy, and prestigious. Hiashi is the head of the main branch of the…he also had been the one who was most convinced of Deidara’s guilt in everything he was accused of ever since he left the village.

She may not know too much about the clan or how all it works, but she does know Hinata would not lie without good reason. She’s never been the type to do that, so she will do whatever she can to help her with this when she’s being grilled by the suspicious alpha, “I will have you know my family’s ‘liberalism’ as you call it is what allowed me to have the strength to make it as far as I did in the Chunin exams before they were put on hiatus. Also, I am going out with Hinata later on today. She’s a kind, gentle beta who’s far better of a person than Neji will ever be.”

Hiashi’s gaze never wavered from Hinata and he speaks to her as though Ino isn’t there, “Dating someone from the most reckless clan around…Hinata, do you truly not know any better?”

“I…father, that doesn’t r-really matter. What matters is I am finally not running away from my feelings any longer. Can’t you be proud of me for that?”

The head of the main branch gazes into his daughter’s eyes and though he does despise the omega she’s going on a date with…he knows it’d be worse to stop her now.

By traditional standards, Hinata should be dating by now and plan out a mating before she hits her first beta rut. If she doesn’t, then by clan standards, she will be seen as far more inferior than she was in the past in comparison to Neji, who is already being applauded by both branches for his assertiveness in marking Lee on the hand before anyone else could forcibly mark him on his scent gland.

His daughter has never shown interest in anyone either to top it all off. Neji never hid his attraction to Lee; anyone in the clan could tell right away he had strong feelings for the omega. Hinata though…her crush on Naruto felt more forced somehow in a way Hiashi could never pin down. Knowing she moved on from it so quickly after the exams were put on hiatus only served to prove him right on how forced it was.

If Hinata ever wants to be taken seriously as the next head of the clan, then she needs to start doing the proper thing for betas and alphas her age in the clan: showing interest in dating and mating omegas. This will prove she is assertive and capable of accomplishing whatever it is she sets her mind to in the eyes of the clan.

As much as he loathes Ino Yamanaka and her entire clan…he cannot see this going anywhere, realistically speaking.

She’s her brother’s sister; there’s no way Hinata would actually want to mate someone as miserable as that! Even if she did, he wouldn’t let her without an actual fight between them over the issue, something she should know by now given how many times he’s told her this.

With all of this in mind, he backs off for now, allowing his daughter to make the first mistake in her life that he hopes she will learn from in a way that isn’t too hard, “I see you two are being sincere about this and while I do not approve of you dating someone from that clan, I will allow it for now since you do need to date if you ever want the clan to take you as seriously as they do Neji.”

“I understand, father.” she pauses, throwing out the formality in her goodbye to ask, “Why are you here anyway? Neji isn’t a member of the main branch.”

“I am here to see the mark he left on Lee. If it is the mark I have been told it is, then I won’t be able to remove it from him like the hokage wants me to. If it is that mark…I will have no other choice but to inform his clan and work out a deal regarding his mating with Neji.”

Hinata isn’t the least bit shocked by this, though she does want to see Lee’s mark for herself now to see if it is the one he can remove or not. If not, then…well…all she can say is, ‘poor Lee, his mating life won’t be easy’.

Ino, on the other hand, is biting back her outrage at what she’s heard. The only reason she can right now is because Hinata is a Hyuuga and she would be the one to know if Hiashi can remove it or not. As much as she wants to chew out Hiashi, she won’t. She can’t really if she wants to help make a plan with Guy sensei to keep the head of the main branch away from Lee for as long as they possibly can until they find some way to remove both marks from his hands. If they can do that, then surely Lee will be spared from having to mate anyone. Then the exams can resume and he can keep his freedom to be a great ninja by using taijutsu only.

“It’s nothing to worry yourself with too much, Hinata. If Neji does mate this omega, then all it means is he was simply more assertive and driven in his goals to find himself a mate like a proper Hyuuga would.” Ino was about to comment something about that when he decided to walk away from them, “Have fun with your date, but remember—an omega from a clan like that is meant to date, never to mate.”

She was about to really rip into him, but Hinata stopped her by grabbing her hand and leading her further into the hospital to see Lee, “I’ll see you at home, father. I’ll be sure to treat Ino well, like a proper Hyuuga would.”

She knows Ino wants to say something to her father, but that’s not what is best for her or Lee. She needs to calm down or else whatever it is she wants to do to help Lee won’t work.

Chapter Text

When they got near Lee’s room, Hinata and Ino were met with the sight of a distraught, sleep deprived Guy who seemed to be on edge. 

“Ah, hello young ladies, what are you two doing here?” he asked with his trademark smile, but it was so forced to them that it made them feel sad for the man in front of them. 

Hinata has a feeling that he possibly feels uncomfortable with her being here…being a Hyuuga who’s seeing Lee today would appear suspicious to anyone. 

“I was going to see Lee at the hospital when Hinata agreed to come with me.” Ino could see a slight twitch in his smile when she spoke and it made her a tad bit upset with him, “You’re writing her off right now because she’s a Hyuuga, aren’t you?” 

Might Guy sighs deeply and shakes his head, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t do that, but she is still a Hyuuga. She could leak out the truth of Lee’s mark to everyone in her clan then Lee’s clan will get involved and he’ll lose everything because of their greed. I haven’t been able to sleep, to eat, or do much of anything except focus on keeping him safe from the world that wants what’s worst for him.” 

Hinata can’t blame him for this, either. She knows how persistent her clan has been over these last few days and she can only imagine how hard it must for Guy to deal with all of this on his own. Any human being would crack under such pressure, but by sheer will power, he’s still standing, still fighting for Lee no matter what, “It’s okay, I understand his concern and I don’t blame him for it.”

She moves in front of Ino to ask him, “Can I see Lee, please? I know it sounds unbelievable, but I don’t approve of what Neji did. If I can see the mark, I can tell you if it can be reversed or not. I won’t be able to do that if I can’t see him.” 

Guy looks at the young girl, with each of them believing he won’t agree to it, until he opens the door to Lee’s room, “If you can tell me what is going on with that mark, then I will you owe nothing but everything in the world, Hinata. I know you are a Hyuuga…that doesn’t mean you are your clan. I’m sorry for judging you harshly in my moment of weakness.” 

“It’s okay, I can understand why you did it.” Hinata’s gaze turns sad as she thinks on it more, “Everything is so tense now…all I want is to fix this for everyone so we can get back to normal as soon as possible.”

With that being said, she entered the room where Lee was staying with Ino by her side. Immediately, the Yamanaka omega was by his side in concern, “Lee, are you alright? You seem so flushed and your scent is out of control.” 

This is not a lie. Lee’s cheeks are tinting a light pink slowly, his scent is stronger than before, and he seems rather weak when grabbing his medicine, “N-No, I’m fine, Ino…I’ll be fine, I promise.” 

Ino doesn’t really buy it, but then Hinata steps in with a calm, comforting, “Hi…can I…um, see the mark Neji left on your hand?” 

“Sure thing!” Lee speaks, only to drop his medicine on the floor, “Oh no…I-I’m so sorry. I just…haven’t been feeling well today. I feel so weak and lightheaded—the room spins if I get out of bed the wrong way too. I am trying to get better so the exams can resume, but I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” 

“Are you getting your first heat?” 

Hinata shakes her head, “It’s nothing to do with that. His body is straining to fight off the dueling chakras within himself.”

Ino’s breath gets caught in her throat as Hinata explains to them both while holding Lee’s hand that had been marked by Neji, “This mark is irreversible…he embedded it with his chakra to ensure it wouldn’t budge. The only way to get rid of it is to defeat or lose to Neji in battle.”

Hinata walks over to the other side of the bed to look at his other hand, using her byakugan to better try to see if there was chakra embedded into this mark as well as well as to find any similarities with Neji’s marking. Her conclusion was grim: “Lee, Ino…this mark from the redhead alpha, that Gaara…this is embedded with chakra as well, but one of a darker spirit. I…I don’t know if there is any way to reverse this at all. Even if he was marked by Neji, I don’t know if this mark would go away or not.” 

The color drains from the faces of the omegas as Might Guy enters the room, clearly having listened to them this entire time, “How do you this is irreversible? Isn’t that jumping the gun, Hinata?” 

“It’s got a similar amount of chakra embedded into as Neji’s does, but it’s feels so strong, so dark, so menacing that I don’t feel safe leaving Lee to be mated by anyone.” Hinata frowns as she looks away, “This is why we’re not taught to use marks like this so freely. In cases like this, death can happen to the omega if one of the marks isn’t removed or they both aren’t contained. Mating him now could kill him too because it could make the other chakra in his body attack the remaining pieces of the other alpha’s chakra in his body.”

Might Guy is desperate when trying to bargain with her, “Your father, surely he can do something to contain Neji’s mark! Why not try getting him back in here?” 

“We could, but I don’t know of the mark by the other alpha. Both marks need to be contained at the same time or else one of the foreigns could kill Lee unintentionally by trying to seek out the restrained other foreign chakra in his body.” 

This doesn’t stop him. Instead of lying still, wallowing in pity and despair from where he stood, Guy ran out of the room to get to Hiashi Hyuuga before he was too far away from the hospital. 

The very moment he was gone, Lee started to sniffle, his eyes downcast to the floor, “You knew all of that…f-from one look, huh?” 

She nods, letting him in on something she doesn’t believe Neji told him, “I was raised knowing all of the different marks our clans has in our arsenal. I was raised how to spot out the reversible from the irreversible as well as what to do when a foreign mark shows up. It was incredibly easy for me to spot out.” 

“If you knew…then Neji would have known as well…” Lee’s eyes are watery when the very idea hits him, “He never respected me. I-I never earned his respect, h-he never saw me as an equal—all of my hard work…it was for nothing with him.” 

Hinata doesn’t say anything in response, whereas Ino hugs her friend in an attempt to soothe him as he expands upon this thought in pure despair, “If Hinata knew how severe using marks on my hand would be…then he definitely would have known a-and he didn’t care! He didn’t care if it blew up in his face and got me killed. I…I cannot believe I mattered so little to him after all of this time.” 

Hinata and Ino both don’t deny this because it’s true. Neji definitely would have known all of the risks and precautions to be taken, but he didn’t take any of them when marking Lee’s hand in the manner he did. He didn’t bother to care enough about the possibilities of it backfiring because Lee was just an omega to him—someone fated to be someone’s mate, someone meant to be a bird in a cage. 

Ino doesn’t say anything in response to his rant, knowing nothing she would or could say would ever improve this situation. All she could do was be his literal shoulder to cry on in a rare moment of vulnerability from the young omega. 

It doesn’t stop her from vowing to take Neji’s head should she see him again. Neji is as good as dead in her eyes and she won’t stop until he pays for what he did to Lee. 

That redhead alpha—this Gaara person? He’s just as guilty in her eyes. Both of them had no right to mark Lee’s hands like this. Now Lee is being blamed by the public for something that was never his fault and he stands a risk of dying should he be mated by either one of them thanks to their selfishness and objectification of him. 

Nothing could really make her angrier in that moment until Lee let out a weak exhale and let him collapse against the bed, “I’m sorry, Ino, H-Hinata…I never wanted to make you two so upset. How are you guys doing? How has everything been ever since the exams ended?” 

“I’ve been fine…how can you not be more upset at them right now? Both of those alphas are the absolute worst for what they did to you! How can you not want to pummel them into the ground?” Ino is harsh with her wording but it’s what is on her mind after hearing him speak so casually out of nowhere. 

Lee blinks, wiping away a stray tear as he spoke in a wavering voice. “I don’t hate them, Ino. I shouldn’t have ever allowed Neji to mark my hand by being too slow to dodge his movements. That was all my fault…you shouldn’t be so quick to judge Gaara as severely as you do Neji. Gaara isn’t t-too bad. He’s a harsher person than I can be a-at times, but he’s a good guy I think underneath it all.”

She looks at him as though he grew a third head, her arms in the air as she ranted, “No don’t defend him! He marked you on your hand without your consent despite knowing what Neji did to you! Sakura told me how it all happened too so don’t think I don’t know anything about it!”

He shrugs this all so casually that it makes Ino wonder what all this redhead alpha did to make Lee go so easy on him, “I know it’s easy to judge him and maybe I should be as hurt by what he did as I am with Neji…but I don’t feel hurt over what Gaara did to me. We were strangers and he was having a breakdown then. I should’ve gotten help right away for him instead of trying to help him myself. That’s all my fault, not his. He’s also an interesting person to talk to, so there’s that he’s got going for him.”

Ino’s arms fall to her side, her jaw slack as it hits her then, “…You…have some weird sort of crush on him, don’t you?” 

Lee looks away from them, confessing something incredibly embarrassing out loud to them both, “I…um…never had one before on anyone, so I don’t know what’s it like to have one. I just think that between the two, Gaara would be easier for me to live with.” 

Now this is something both girls can accept. 

Hinata herself isn’t above agreeing with him, “He may be foreign and we don’t know what his customs for his clan are, but he would easier for you to live with than Neji. He abides by the strict conservative rules and tradition around omegas, mating, and relationships. He probably put that mark on you because he was wanting to live up to the Hyuuga tradition of mating young as a way to show their assertiveness, confidence, and maturity as an alpha or beta in the clan.” 

Maybe that was why he did it, but Ino doesn’t care about his reasoning, not when it left Lee in this state. Why should she care about his or that Gaara guy’s reasoning anyway? They both left marks on Lee against his will without any respect for him as a person; how is that not a show of alphas seeing him as property just because he’s an omega?

She bets they don’t even know or care about what condition he’s in now…okay, maybe that Gaara guy could. Neji…she’s convinced he couldn’t care less if he tried if he couldn’t bother to visit Lee once.

On Hinata’s end, she’s not too shocked by what Lee is saying because in some weird way or another she can relate to him on the issue with Gaara.

Deidara was so nice to her when he was here in the village. He was never making snide comments about her being lesser than Neji like those in her own clan would do when they thought she couldn’t hear them or calling her a ‘peculiar/improper’ beta for not acting like a stereotypical ‘proper’ alpha. Unlike Ino, they both come from conservative clans and those who don’t fit their roles perfectly are under constant criticism from everyone around them, leaving them to feel inadequate in everything. She can understand why he’d be more open to having this Gaara as a mate than Neji despite doing the same exact thing he did to him. In his situation as an omega, she can only imagine that he’d be desperate to mate with a nice alpha instead of one who will trap him in the same conservative setting he must want to escape.

(At least, she wants to escape hers. She’s not sure about Lee; for all she knows he could be happy in his conservative homelife.)

“Both of them were wrong no matter what. I wouldn’t want a thing to do with either of them if I were you, but if you do like Gaara, then there’s nothing I can do to stop you from liking him. Even though he is no better in my eyes than Neji, but you already know that by now.”

Lee gives a weak smile before letting out a loud cry with his distressed pheromones filling the air to the point where they almost choked on it, leaving Hinata to stay with him as Ino went to get a nurse right away.

Their visit with Lee didn’t go further than that, which disappointed Ino. She had been wanting to talk to him more about what Gaara and him spoke on, but she realizes this will have to wait until a later day.

Walking around the village with Hinata by her side hasn’t been bad—if of anything, that’s the main saving grace for her day. Hearing her stories of Deidara has been relieving for her as much as it was interesting.

Though before she was about to go home, Hinata did clear her throat and with all of the confidence within herself, asked, “Ino, I was thinking we could go on a date for real today…if you want, that is! I would never force you or any omega into anything!”

Had it been before the exams, she would have asked her if she was doing this to make Naruto jealous or not. She might have accepted if she gave her answer of ‘no’ for whatever reason or if she had said ‘yes’. Now that the exams are over and Sakura is trying to improve herself as a person to her, it doesn’t feel as right to agree to it.

(Why does Sakura keep coming up! It has nothing to do with her, yet she keeps on coming up in her head!)

There is also another reason why she is more hesitant on this offer, “Hinata, you never showed any interest in me at all before this. I thought you brought up the date to get your dad off of our backs.”

“I mean, I don’t know…it’s just, after the exams I can’t get you out of my head and you’re nice to me just Deidara was—”

“You’re comparing me to Deidara?”

Hinata wonders if she did something wrong here, but then Ino stops in her step completely before moving to walk in front of her to look at her in the eyes, “I think you’re a good person, Hinata, and you are the type I would want to mate someday because of how hard you work to separate yourself from your clan’s sexist views on omegas. I think my problem is you already admitted to crushing on Naruto to try to move on from Deidara and I don’t want you to date me for the same reason. Can you think of anything that attracts you to me without bringing up Deidara at all?”

Hinata tries and subsequently fails, which leads to Ino speaking to her in a softer tone, “If you love Deidara still, then I have no problem with it. I will do whatever I can to bring Deidara back, but I wouldn’t mind having you help me do it. When I do bring him back, he will need to see someone else by my side to show he’s loved by more than just me in the village…who better to do that than you?”

This rejection doesn’t hurt. All it does is leave her with a feeling of closure.

She had been made to believe there was no point in crushing on or loving Deidara at all ever since he left the village. She’s tried so hard to force herself to move on, to find herself another omega just like him, only to fail each and every time because ultimately, there’s only one Deidara.

She has always been afraid of something very particular if Ino ever found out about her crush on him, “It doesn’t bother you that I cannot get rid of my feelings for him no matter how hard I try? It doesn’t bother you that I want to one day be his mate when you do bring him back?”

“Not at all! I’ll take you being his mate any day over that stupid Uchiha who stole him in the first place!” Ino smiles brightly in a way that she is able to see is completely her own with no trace of Deidara there, and Hinata is left with a chest full of hope, as though she can at long last stop her grieving over the aftermath of Deidara’s disappearance.

“Thank you, Ino. It was nice spending time with you today…can we do it again sometime? Not as a date or anything, just as friends.”

“Why not? Come on over to the flower shop whenever you please and I’ll do my best to get off work for you.”

She most likely won’t ever move on from Deidara, but at least she has Ino’s blessing in her feelings for him.

She walks Ino home and they part ways without any unnecessary drama between them. It’s uneventful and she’s able to tell her father they were better off as friends as opposed to girlfriends without any issue.

It doesn’t stop her from noticing how tense he appears when he hears the news of the arrival of some important guests he needs to tend to immediately.

Whatever is going on, she’s glad she’s not at the center of it.

Chapter Text

Hiashi never once thought he’d be seeing the day where he would be met with the children of the kazekage and the hokage all at once, in front of his door. It left him rather dumbfounded due to the fact he never thought he’d actually meet these kids in person…at least…not until now. 

“Lord hokage, may I ask why these Genin are here?” 

The hokage gives a firm response when glancing at the sand Genin, “They are here with me to discuss something of utmost importance with yourself and Neji. If you wish to learn more, get Neji and meet us outside.” 

“As you wish.” Hiashi is smooth when shutting the door and telling a maid, “Go get Neji right away. We are needed for a conversation with the hokage immediately.” 

“Yes, sir.” she is skittish yet quick when rushing off to fulfill her duty. 

Hiashi believes he knows what this is about though he won’t know for certain until he is facing the hokage again. For now, he will at least allow himself some time to relax his nerves as he thinks about the main issue bothering him enough to bring those foreign Genin by his home—the Chunin exams and the marks on the omega’s hands…marks he wasn’t allowed to see thanks to Might Guy stopping him every step of the way in every attempt he made. 

Perhaps he is here to strike a deal regarding the omega in the center of this mess. If he is, then he’s out of luck; Neji won’t ever be the type to share and this foreign alpha…okay, he knows nothing about him. He’s still an alpha though, which means he would be open on whatever opinion he has on the situation. 

“The hokage is here to speak to us, correct? What is it for?” 

Huh, looks as though the maid got him here sooner than he thought she would… No matter, it all works in his favor, “He’s outside, we can ask him more about it there.” 

Neji doesn’t say much, though he has a feeling as to why that is. The young alpha may be a prodigy, but his disdain for the main branch is far too powerful for him to properly hide it at times. He has a good idea as to what is causing it, though that is another issue for another time. 

All he can do is focus on the current problem now the moment they are outside. 

Upon the sight of the sand Genin, Neji tenses and gives them a haughty, “Mind telling me why you foreigners are here? I would like to know so I can know what to do with you for coming here at night and taking me away from my leisure time.” 

(Neji won’t ever say that he is preparing for his first rut during this leisure time of his. He is expecting it sometime next month, but he hopes to be mated to Lee before then so he can share it with him.) 

Temari and Kankuro are already on edge, not wanting him to do anything to make Gaara snap any further than he has (he has killed two Genin who were on the same team as the one who quit before the sudden death matches could begin, and their father was already deeply upset over that). What they don’t know is Gaara isn’t particularly bothered or annoyed by Neji. He doesn’t trigger him in any way either. 

No, to him, Neji is someone to inspect and keep a close eye on. He is confused as to what it is that makes him so special that Lee would be so convinced he’s going to end up mated to him without ever considering that he could be a contender as well. He can tell the alpha’s hostility is taken out through snide remarks and covert—at times overt—inflammatory statements. To him, this is nothing special…so what is it that has Lee not considering him as being a potential mate in any way he does with this guy? Surely it cannot be all about the money and prestige alone…he has both in spades, far more than he does. There has to be something else, something genuinely special about this alpha that has driven him to the point of curiosity and wanting to find out what it he has that he lacks. 

Of course, he’s not doing this because he wants to mate the omega. He’s doing it to understand why he wasn’t seen as the automatic victor at something for the first time in his life. 

“We’re here to speak about the omega you both left marks on in the hospital. We need you to do something that can get the Chunin exams back on track if you’re willing to help, that is.” Temari answers for them while Gaara keeps a close eye on Neji’s reactions, which only puts the Hyuuga on the defensive in return. 

“Listen now, we need to get to the hospital as quickly as we can. There’s no need to worry about Might Guy stopping us from seeing him—he has agreed to take a step back long enough to allow us to look at the marks on his hands so we can start the process of removing the chakra them.” the hokage addresses them before the tension can boil over into a fight.

Neji—the boy with far too much of a strong will in this case, even if Hiashi can sympathize with him in this situation—scoffed, his eyes narrowed on their village’s leader as his hands ball up into fists on his side, his nails biting into the flesh of his palms, “Remove the chakra from them? If I do that, then all of the benefits from the mark will be removed and this foreign alpha could try to make him his mate.”

Kankuro objects to this with a firmly spoken, “What would be so bad if he did? Gaara may have his issues, but he didn’t leave the mark he did on him on purpose like you did with yours. Going off of what we’ve learned about it, it’s a pretty fucked up thing you’ve done to the poor guy for no other reason than you couldn’t win him over in any other way.”

The siblings have learned of the mark and what all it does from Gaara, who had told them what Lee told him at the exams. They may not know what caused Shukaku to mark Lee’s other hand, but they know what Neji did was worse. Gaara didn’t order Shukaku to act; he acted of his own volition while he was in a breakdown state. Neji himself, on the other hand, did it for…okay they don’t know the reason why he did it. They could only speculate he did it because he was so undesirable that he had to resort to such a desperate, pathetic measure.

“Watch what you’re saying.” Neji is calm yet his temper is rising internally as he readies himself to use his byakugan on them, “I did what was best for him and our future together. None of this had anything to do with desperation or being pathetic. I could have won over Lee without trying, but I chose a route more proper and in line with my clan’s tradition.”

“The tradition of treating your own teammate like property because he’s an omega? No matter which way you put it, that’s all it sounds like to us. You can have a problem with our village all you please, but at least we don’t treat our omegas like that back where we’re from.” Temari speaks up, making Gaara incredibly confused by his sibling’s actions.

He’s amazed they’re standing up for him. He never thought they would ever say without any fear in their eyes that he’d be a better choice for someone to be with than a more normal person. Yet here he is, hearing them defend him despite their fear of him and his power.

The hokage steps in before further insults can be hurled, snarling at them as he does so, “Stop it, all of you! This is not the time to make this about yourselves! That poor omega is in the hospital right now in intense pain as his body tries to stop two chakras within him from clashing and killing him! Set aside your pettiness and come together to do the right thing not only for him, but for the others who have had their attempts to become Chunin derailed because of this pettiness!”

Gaara—in order to get this done and over with so the exams can commence and they can move forward with their mission—agrees to this, “I will remove the chakra from my mark. Doing so will remove the mark in general, so the whiny one over there can stop the complaining now.”

Neji was about to say something snide to him when Hiashi cut him off, “Why does Neji’s chakra need to be removed from his mark on the omega’s hand? Shouldn’t the foreign alpha’s mark removal be good enough?”

“It would be under any other circumstance. However, far too many Genin died from a mysterious, uncurable illness after the first half of the exams were completed. What’s interesting is they all died of the same symptoms and according to their teammates, they all had one thing in common: an interest in either courting, dating, or having sex with Rock Lee.” he doesn’t drop his stance once when meeting the eyes of the Hyuugas, “Sakura told us how the mark works. We know what it does and the body count is too high, too severe for you to keep it on him.”

“The mark has kept him safe from what Neji told me about the exams. It sounds to me like you want this omega to be marked and raped by violent alphas if you are so willing to remove the one thing that keeps him safe from such a fate.”

“I am generally not against keeping it on him for that reason. I have only a problem with how Neji did it.” the hokage confesses something to them then, “I was okay with Gaara being the only one to remove his mark, but Lee had begged me to get Neji to do the same. He said he didn’t feel right continuing in the exams if he had the mark still because to him, it wouldn’t have been his victory but Neji’s. For his sake, Neji, can’t you remove the chakra from the mark for him?”

“I won’t do that.” Neji said with crossed arms and a glare in the hokage’s direction, “Lee is an omega from a poor clan. He has no room to be making demands of me like this. If he wants the mark gone, then he’ll have to fight me to get it removed.”

Temari was the one being cut off now by hokage, who struck a deal with the Hyuuga he hoped he would receive well, “Fine you can have it your way. You can fight Lee over the mark tomorrow afternoon, with Hinata’s match with Shino following afterwards. Gaara will advance automatically to the next round due to his not having an opponent to fight anymore now that you’ve decided to mess up the order of the exam.”

Something about this didn’t sit right with Gaara. Maybe it’s because passing onto the next round automatically feels cheap, but there’s also something else bothering him…something else that he doesn’t care for yet cannot pinpoint.

No matter, there’s no point in arguing now. If the alpha wants to fight the omega over the mark on his hand, then that’s fine with him. There’s no reason to care about if the omega gets mated to this guy or not. At least, there is none for him anyway.

It doesn’t stop the jinchuuriki within him from having issues with this arrangement. He knows there’s a risk in all of this that it may act out again, but he doesn’t need to worry about it now.

All he needs to do is keep under control so the mission can move forward as planned.

At the hospital, in his room, Hiashi cannot deny being impressed by the skill it took for Neji to accurately place this mark on Lee’s hand without so much as a single flaw. For someone so young to pull off such a feat, it truly is remarkable, especially since no Hyuuga in the past has used this mark at his age.

Because of this, he can tell the omega in all seriousness, “I cannot remove Neji’s chakra from this mark, neither can Neji himself. He embedded it to your chakra points; removing it by force would kill you if we were to try.”

The news does nothing to help Lee feel better. Knowing Gaara’s mark can be easily removed, isn’t as comforting as he thought it would be at first. He knows it’s a good thing that he can go back to living with this one because it is better for his health. He should be happy—he knows he has no reason not to be but he isn’t. He honestly wishes his mark could have had Neji’s chakra removed so he could face Gaara and give him the fair fight he deserves.

However, if he can’t do that, then he may as well take the alternative route he can. Even if it means he runs the risk of losing his future as a ninja, then he’s fine with it because at least he can get a chance to fight his battle on his own terms and win in the way he finds to be honorable.

On his end, hearing the news doesn’t stop Gaara from removing the mark he had placed on the omega’s hand…it didn’t mean he succeeded.

His jinchuuriki was being difficult, fighting him on his decision, the only option being made known in his mind the moment Lee offered, “When…When Gaara’s mark is gone…I want to fight Neji with everything I’ve got. I know it’s so h-hard to believe that I can defeat him, but it wouldn’t feel right to cheat Gaara or anyone else out of a fair fight.”

“You won’t need to do such a thing. I can still face you in a battle without my mark on your hand.” Gaara can’t say it’s because Shukaku will throw a fit if he so much as allows the alpha to have a chance at becoming his mate—apparently, the jinchuuriki is firm in his belief that the whiny alpha would defeat the omega if they were to fight—but he can at least say, “I have no romantic interest in you, nor do I desire to become mated to anyone. The mark won’t give you an advantage with me. If of anything, it’d be useless in a battle between us.”

“How can we be so sure of that?” Neji presses, wanting to know why the alpha is being so blunt about this, “You did leave your own mark on his hand.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose. The sand acted against my will and as such, I will remove the mark, but only if I get my fair fight first.”

Neji finds this offer to be too strange, too perfectly timed… It didn’t stop Lee from interjecting when he shouldn’t have, “G-Gaara, are you sure? I will have to wait a day before being fully healed to fight you after your mark is gone…are you sure you won’t get hurt by the mark?”

“I know I won’t.” Gaara is able to tell him without any trace of a lie, but it’s not what they actually think is going on, “I’ve waited long enough to have my fight at the Chunin exams. All I want is to have my fight and win so I can advance to the next round.”

“If that is what you wish, then we will do things as such, Gaara.” the hokage said as the redhead alpha removed the mark from Lee’s hand successfully, knowing all too well what the demon inside him is planning to do for this battle, “The matches will proceed on as normal then: Gaara, you will face Rock Lee in battle. Neji, you will face Hinata after this. Shino will advance to the next round on default due to there being no one else to challenge him in battle.”

The idea of facing Hinata—someone from the main branch—in battle and winning was too much for Neji to walk away from, hence why he didn’t have a problem with the hokage’s proposal, “I’m fine with that as long as my future mate is.”

“I am fine with it, but I’m not your future mate, Neji. I will defeat in you battle with everything I’ve got and then this mark will be gone from me for good.”

“It will also be gone from you for good when you lose in battle to me and become my mate, so there’s no need to worry about it being permanent.”

The hokage nods and announces to all in the room, “It is settled then: when Lee is fully recovered enough to fight, the Chunin exams will commence and the first battle will be Gaara versus Rock Lee, with Neji versus Hinata immediately afterwards. I’ll be sure to get the news out to everyone as soon as possible.”

Kankuro couldn’t stop himself leaning closer to Temari to whisper, “Am I the only one who wouldn’t care if Gaara killed Neji?”

“No, you’re not.” Temari confesses to him something that has been on her mind ever since this whole mess started, “He’s so arrogant and sexist, like so many of the Konoha alphas and betas are—but he’s pretty extreme even by their standards. I cannot believe I’m saying this…Gaara would make a better mate than that guy.”

“I think so too.” he admits in a smaller whisper yet, watching as his brother reacted to the news with such apathy that it disturbs him.

The last time he was that apathetic, something really bad happened. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but he can hope he won’t do something reckless again that will ruin their entire mission beyond repair.

Chapter Text

The day before the exams were set to finish the sudden matches, Naruto was in a bit of a conundrum that he felt compelled to go to Iruka for.

“You’ve been on dates, right Iruka sensei?” he asks his adoptive father who nods in response from his spot at the table as he goes over their finances, “Yeah, I have. I may be an omega Chunin but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a love life, Naruto.”

“Well, it’s just, I’ve never really seen you go on dates much in the past.”

There is a reason for this: that menace, Kakashi Hatake.

Ever since he made Chunin, he managed to capture the eye of the copy nin. Though this came at a steep price he simply was not prepared to pay.

“Hello, you must be Umino Iruka, the only omega to ever make Chunin in the history of our village.”

Iruka was getting ready to go on a mission as a Chunin—his third one ever, in fact—at the time. He had been assigned to work with someone of higher rank, but he had been told he was going to be working with a fellow Chunin, not someone from the ANBU black ops. Which is why this made no sense to him whatsoever.

“I am.”

The strange, silver haired man circled him once before facing him again, his mask hiding the smirk and approving glow in his eyes Iruka knows is there the moment he says it: “You have a nice ass. Mind if we go out sometime, Iruka?”

The backhanding had been so severe he caused a crack to appear in the mask, his growl harsh on the man, “I may not know who you are—”

“Kakashi Hatake. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Or why you showed up four hours late to our meet up spot I was supposed to have with a fellow Chunin, but no in hell am I tolerating your deviant behavior around me! Keep it in your pants alpha or else I’ll make you keep it there.”

“You know, I wouldn’t mind that, actually…” the damned pervert had then gotten closer to him, with his hand placed on his left hip, “What do you say I get this Chunin removed from your mission and come with you instead? We could have all the fun in the world with you keeping it in my pants for me.”

This led into Iruka punching him so hard in the stomach it actually left him gasping for air. The omega Chunin was stern in his stance, his hostile pheromones filling the air when releasing his fist from the alpha’s stomach, “Do that to me again and I will kill you, alpha. Now if you don’t mind, I have a mission to be going on with a fellow Chunin—”

“Actually...I took his spot because I wanted to see what you were like. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to be good on this mission—”

He kicks him in the groin for good measure, warning him, “You better be on your best behavior, alpha. I don’t give a damn about what you like or not. I want to get this done without any drama, got it?”

He nods, gasping out a choked, “Yes.”

“Good, now let’s go. The less time I spend with you the better.”

The mission with him did go by smoothly, but the alpha wouldn’t stop talking and talking which led into Iruka deciding from there on out to keep doing all that he could to become a teacher at the academy. At least there he wouldn’t have to deal with Kakashi Hatake.

When he did become a teacher, he was beyond happy for it. He was free from Kakashi and he never had to do a mission with him again. It didn’t stop him from sending him letters when he was on a mission or from visiting him when he was on lunch break from to time. Though on those times he was coming around in smaller doses and was somehow more tolerable in those smaller doses.

Hell, he even apologized for the way he acted when they first met, admitting, “I’m sorry for what I did when we first met. I shouldn’t have said what I did and I never should have touched you in that inappropriate manner. I know it sounds strange, but I only did it because I was hoping you were open to having sex with me again after the one night stand we had a while back—”

“Wait, we what?”

Iruka had a hard time believing he ever met this jerk, let alone slept with him in a one night stand.

“Don’t you remember? We were both pretty wasted, sitting at the same bar in some cheap ramen shop, ranting about our bad day, then one thing led to another and we were making out before heading to a hotel to share a night of hot passion together.”

The sad thing is, Iruka didn’t remember it until Kakashi had taken off his ANBU mask around him for the first time ever. When he did see his face, he immediately remembered everything.

Kakashi’s pheromones had always smelled familiar, but he couldn’t pinpoint down where they came from. When he did, he was more than shocked to learn the alpha he had the best sex ever with was…this guy.

Iruka isn’t some virgin wallflower. He is experienced sexually as he is romantically. He knows what he likes, what he doesn’t like, and what he absolutely will never do in the bedroom or a relationship. Sexual compatibility is a big issue for him since so many of the people he dated in the past were nice enough, but in the bedroom they would become insecure jerks he wanted nothing to do with afterwards.

He’s not disgusted with the idea that he had sex with a random alpha at a bar—he had thought Kakashi to be funny, charming, and a great listener back then. He would have dated him if he didn’t run out so early the next morning, leaving Iruka with a note stating he was needed on a mission as opposed to him explaining that to him to his face.

(He’s not opposed to one night stands either—in his eyes, omegas should be as free to have as much sex as they please when they’re not mated if the alphas and betas can have the same exact freedom without any slut shaming.)

“…You didn’t remember me? I thought my voice would have been enough.” Kakashi sounds disappointed by this as he keeps his mask off while staring at him in the eyes, but it did nothing to ease Iruka’s outrage.

Iruka isn’t mad that they had sex. No, he’s mad about something else entirely, “You really couldn’t approach me and talk to me like a normal human being when we saw each other again? Do you view me so lowly that you wouldn’t even leave your name on the note you left me or tried to contact me after that night? I have been dating so many alpha men trying to find you when all of this time, you could have done the bare minimum and gotten in contact with me using the resources you’ve got!”

“I mean…I know I should have, but my work got in the way of my personal life. Look, I can make it up to you. Let’s have a proper date between us and go from there—”

“Like I ever will allow that to happen!” Iruka is getting so frustrated with him because he doesn’t seem to get it, “You had your chance to have a date with me—you said you would take me out on one the morning after we had sex, remember? Or did you forget like you conveniently forgot to tell me who you were when we met again after being separated for so long?”

“I know I did things the wrong way, but I figured if I was forward with you like I was when we first met at the bar then you would remember me like I remembered you when I first smelt your scent in the air and saw your face when it made news you became a Chunin.”

Okay, so neither one had asked the other their name after that one night, and Iruka can tell Kakashi is clearly kicking himself as much as he is kicking himself for not doing the same thing. While it is nice that he remembered his scent, he did have to ask, “Why couldn’t you have taken off your mask when we saw each other again? We may not have known each other’s names then, but you didn’t have to circle me, grab my hip, or speak to me in the way you did. All you really had to do was show me your face without saying or doing any of what you did and I would’ve remembered you.”

“To be fair, the whole circling you thing was to take your scent in and as an emergency form of jogging my memory of you if I could remember you by body or face if I couldn’t by scent. As for the mask, I was still in the ANBU black ops and I was on the job, so I couldn’t take it off around you out of nowhere without better reason than trying to jog your memory of our one hot together. Though I was wrong in what I said and I shouldn’t have disrupted your mission with the Chunin alpha to satisfy my own need for a chance to spend time with you again. Can’t we start over and try to date now while we can?”

Despite Kakashi’s explanation, Iruka couldn’t bring himself to do it. The revelation Kakashi had given him opened fresh wounds that had never healed…in the end, despite his explanations, he couldn’t get over it like he could if he ever did meet the mystery stranger from the bar in person, “I’m afraid I can’t, Kakashi. You see, I have a date tonight anyway and I’m not going to blow them off for someone who couldn’t leave their name on the note they left me with after promising me a date in the first place.”

“You have a date tonight? With who?”

“None of your business. You had your chance and you blew it. Now, if you excuse me, I should get back to my class.”

Telling Kakashi he had a date that one time was the worst mistake he had ever made. Underneath mask of calm, there was a storm brewing inside of the alpha that eventually ended with him stalking Iruka on his date, paying the beta off to end the date and ghosting him when he was using the restroom. This later led into Kakashi ruining his other dates in other ways: whether it be third wheeling it so badly to the point where the alpha or beta would never dream of going on a second date with him, interrogating them to the point of mental exhaustion behind Iruka’s back, or simply scaring them off from dating him before the date even got to happen…he did a lot over the years to sabotage Iruka’s dates.

Iruka only learned how he did it by Might Guy telling him the truth one time when he was ranting about his lacking love life ever since Kakashi barged into his life and tried to be on friendly terms with him, “That’s the mistake you’re making right there: Kakashi is a jealous type despite his cool attitude. By telling him you’re going on a date whenever he asks if you have plans or if you want to go on a date with him, you’re setting yourself up for failure. He will only keep sabotaging your dates if you keep telling him you have one.”

“Wait…he’s been sabotaging all of my dates ever since we got on better speaking terms? Even when I rejected him the first time and my date wound up ditching me and ignoring me completely afterwards?”

Might Guy nods, leaving Iruka angered at Kakashi’s behavior.

Here he had thought they could at least be acquaintances or some sort of friend…looks like that won’t ever happen.

“Sitting here at the ramen shop being angry at Kakashi won’t do you any good. You wanna go train with me instead? I bet I can show you some things you could use at the academy.” the alpha in green offers and it makes him smile at the man; at first, when he took a seat beside him in the ramen shop at random, he had thought he was going to be a creep. Instead, Might Guy is a kind hearted person who gave him honest advice on how to handle Kakashi despite telling him they are rivals and friends earlier in the conversation.

“Okay, I wouldn’t mind seeing your moves.” Iruka said to him before heading out of there, committing himself to making his love life as Kakashi proof as possible from there on out.

No way is he letting that man in his heart or life so easily ever again! Not after the way he blew it the first time around and not when he has someone like Might Guy around to get to know better!

“I may not have, but that’s another story for another day.” he switches the subject because he finds this interesting, “You never said anything about wanting to date anyone before. Mind telling me why you want to know about dating now when you never asked me about it in the past?”

Naruto sits in the chair across the table from him, answering him with another question, “I want to know because I’ll have to when I become hokage and there is an alpha I’m interested in, but I don’t know how to get them to like me. How does someone do that anyway? Do you know how to get an alpha to like you?”

Iruka grins, thinking it is Sasuke Naruto is talking about, though he doesn’t say this out loud, wanting to learn more about this alpha before hearing it’s Sasuke from him, “Naruto, you cannot make a person like you. All you can do is be yourself; if they accept you for who you are, then they are worth your time. If not, then it’s time to move on to someone who is.”

“No, I don’t mean forcing them to like me! I mean, like, you know, seduction or something, not anything like that! I’m not trying to be Neji here!”

Iruka gives him a glance above the paper he is writing on, “Seduction? Aren’t you a bit young for that?”

Naruto shoots him a glance back, “Aren’t you supposed to be helping me here? All I want is to get a date with this guy and you’re not helping me at all.”

“I cannot help you if I do not know who this person is.”

“Oh, fine! I’ll tell you.” Naruto clears his throat, his whole demeanor very serious for the very out of nowhere answer Iruka didn’t see coming, “I want to date Shikamaru, but I don’t know how to get that lazy bastard to agree to go on a date with me.”

Shikamaru…he wants to…date Shikamaru and not Sasuke?

What is going on here? Has he lost all taste in one night? Why would he want to date Shikamaru?

He knows he’s not a bad kid and he comes from a great clan who are very progressive on omega rights…but still! He really thought Naruto would have gone for Sasuke instead—the poor alpha has been so obvious in his feelings to him for years, why would he choose to break his heart now with this attempt at getting a date with Shikamaru?

His jaw must be slacken because Naruto is already huffing, “It’s not a bad thing, Iruka sensei. He’d be perfect for me to mate someday when I’m hokage—he’ll be a lazy, spineless doormat who will worship the ground I walk upon. What else could I want in a mate than that? Oh and his clan has excellent views on omegas too, so that’s another plus for me!”

Oh Naruto…Sasuke would have been that very same doormat if you asked him to be…

His adopted son gives him sad puppy dog eyes then, pleading with his hands folded in front of him, “Please, please sensei, teach me how to seduce this lazy dream alpha of mine. It will come in handy when I become hokage someday, don’t you think?”

The thing is, Iruka cannot figure out where this sudden interest in Shikamaru is coming from. Naruto has openly crushed on alphas and betas in the past: Sakura was one of the first crushes he had, though he also had one on an older beta boy who was a bit too creepy towards him in a way that made Iruka intervene before it went any further. Every time he had a crush, he would always tell him all about it with wide eyes full of joy and a smile large enough to fill the sky.

So it’s incredibly surprising for him to discover this out of nowhere interest in Shikamaru, “He could, but since when did you start liking Shikamaru?”

“Ever since Ino told me all about how his clan takes omega rights seriously and treats them well.”

“When has that ever mattered to you? I’ve been telling you need to look at how a person’s clan treats and views omega’s rights seriously before considering dating them. You always said I was being too picky…what changed?”

Naruto looks down at the table, his confession spoken in a soft voice with his once folded hands covering his face, “I guess what changed was seeing how Neji treated Lee at the exams and learning that his clan thought it was okay to treat omegas like he treated him. It really scared me, Iruka sensei. I mean, there are people who are raised to think that way about omegas and even after meeting omegas, being on the same teams as them…they still choose to hold onto those beliefs no matter what. It scared me a lot, but then Ino told me about what Shikamaru and his clan are like towards omegas…then I thought ‘why not try to date and mate him someday when I’m hokage’. I know it sounds dumb of me to care now, but I have to if I want a good mate instead of Neji one.”

…Looks like Lee’s situation really shook Naruto to his core on so many things. It clearly bothered him far more than he would say, and while it’s tragic to see his adoptive son being so bothered, he knows that in the end, this was all for the best.

Naruto is starting to take sexism seriously, he’s learning how to protect himself against sexist alphas and betas as well as predatory ones from Kakashi and himself, he’s also learning to look for more than just looks when choosing a potential mate for himself. He’s really starting to grow more as a person despite being witness to something so horrible.

He’s proud of him for leaving his old naïve views behind, but he really doesn’t think this is a good idea…how Sasuke will take it has yet to be seen…though if history is right, he will take it as poorly as he did with Naruto openly crushing on Sakura.

It’s why all he can do is give him the best advice he can: “You want to date Shikamaru, right? Well, you can’t do that if he doesn’t like you and Naruto, you cannot force a person to like you no matter how hard you try. All I can tell is that seduction doesn’t work in real life; what you have to do is tell Shikamaru you like him and ask him if he wants to go out with you sometime. If he says ‘no’ then you have to accept it and move on. All I can tell is to be brave, honest, and open when doing this. Don’t be too flashy, loud, or extreme; someone like Shikamaru wouldn’t care for that.”

Naruto sighs and gets out of the chair before heading over to the door, “Alright sensei, I see your point…I’ll be back. I have to do something important today and when I get back, I’ll be sure to tell you all about it.”

He’s not going to press him for more answers. He knows Naruto must have a lot on his mind; he’s tried asking Sakura out several times only to be rejected repeatedly and the older beta boy almost did date him until he intervened…so he can only imagine what’s on his mind as he makes a real effort to actually ask out someone after what all he saw happen to Lee at the exams.

Here’s to hoping he succeeds, but if he fails…Iruka will be there with an offer to go to Ichiraku Ramen to get some comfort food. Knowing Shikamaru, Naruto will be needing it…

Chapter Text

When Sakura came to see Sasuke five days after the exams were put on hiatus, it was more of a detour than anything else.

She had originally come there to see Lee with Ino, but Ino had already arrived to see Lee with Hinata. While this development was concerning, it felt like too much of a waste of a day to not at least see him herself to better explain to him what she saw in the forest. She did try to see Lee without Ino for this reason alone, but Might Guy wasn’t letting anyone else in, his reasoning being, “Sorry Sakura, normally I would let you see him, but Lee is going through a lot right now and I don’t think allowing any more alphas to see him will really help him right now.”

She heard his loud groaning from his door, telling her all she needed to know about his condition. Whatever he was going through it was the result of the actions of two alphas who couldn’t bother to be considerate of him. Naturally, he wouldn’t want to be by alphas and she can respect that. As such, she accepted the rejection with ease, “I know…I’m sorry Guy sensei. I really hope Lee gets better soon.”

“All I am hoping for now is for the poor boy to have a chance to live his dream. It’s all I can do because I’m not sure if he’ll be able to have it or not.”

It was depressing to think, but then she had decided to see Sasuke since well…why not? He is her teammate and whether she wants to or not, she has to try to get along better with him.

Seeing him in his room, she was shocked to find him sitting up, awake and ready to leave the hospital, “Sakura, what are you doing here? Where’s Naruto?”

“I came here to check on Lee originally, but it sounds like he’s still in recovery or something. They wouldn’t let me see him because of everything that happened to him, so I decided to see you.” Sasuke looked at her as though she had grown a third head, leading her to groan, “Come on, Sasuke, I’m trying to make an effort here! Don’t make this harder than it has to be!”

“Forgive me for being shocked. You and I have never gotten along, so why would you blame me for being suspicious of you?”

“I get that, but…look, I went through something in the forest that took place when you and Naruto were passed out. It involved Lee, the Sound Genin who passed away because of the mark left on him by Neji, and Neji calling me out for the not being any better than him.”

Sasuke is staring at her as though she’s making this all up, which leads into her smacking a hand against her forehead, “Alright, I’ll tell you everything right from the beginning!”

Which leads into a fifteen minute explanation of what happened when he and Naruto were passed out in the forest, the severity of Lee’s mark from Neji and what all it does, as well as what happened to Lee when he had to face Gaara in the exams.

When she was done explaining herself, Sasuke was calm but not without one major thing driving him: “Naruto…I want to see him.”

She’s a bit annoyed that’s all he could say after everything she told him. She had thought that maybe she would’ve gotten a thank you for all of the information she shared with him, but no. She got this instead, “Naruto? That’s all you’re thinking of? I know you like Naruto a lot and everything, but I just explained to you a major situation that could have gotten our village in trouble with the others here and that’s all you can think about? Really, Sasuke?”

“I’m thinking about him because Naruto always thought highly of alphas and betas. Now that he witnessed Neji acting like a jerk, he’s probably going to not trust me or like being by me. I need to see him to clear things up with him before he decides he wants to become like Ino or Deidara and never mate me because I’m an Uchiha.”

Sakura does feel bad for him on this end. She can see the distress in his eyes, the tension in his posture, and the way his knuckles are slowly going white from how tightly he is gripping the edge of the bed he is sitting on. She knows he is very distressed right now, which is why she does something she wouldn’t have done before the Chunin exams: “If you want to find Naruto, go find Ino. She’s been spending time with him after the exams were put on hiatus, I’m sure she’d know where he is now.”

His sharp dark eyes are on her instantly, the question on his mind getting past him, “Why are you helping me with him? You’re normally snide and passive aggressive towards me whenever I go near Naruto, almost like you enjoy watching me make a complete idiot of myself in front of him. What changed?”

“I told you, didn’t I? Neji called me out for being a sugar coated version of himself. Seeing how he treated Lee disgusted me and I don’t ever want to be a thing like that guy. I am trying to be better so I can be good enough for Ino, but Ino won’t believe I’m changing unless if I start showing it with actions.”

“So it’s all to win over Ino? Nothing else? Don’t use me as a pawn, Sakura, I’m better than that.”

She shakes her head, “It’s not just that! Neji is horrible to Lee not only as an alpha to an omega, but as a teammate as well. I saw how he acted towards him in the sudden death matches. I didn’t hear what was being said, but I could tell he was making him upset. If Naruto and Ino weren’t there, I would have had to step in to help him.”

He snorts, finding this to be a bit ridiculous, “I don’t get why you didn’t in the first place if you thought it was that bad.”

“I didn’t because I didn’t want Ino to think I was patronizing her or trying to be a proper alpha. I was trying to prove that I have confidence in her abilities to handle things without me getting involved.” Sakura does everything she can to contain her annoyance with the other alpha, ranting a bit when asking, “Why can’t you just be happy I’m trying to be a better person and teammate? Why can’t you accept what I’m trying to do for you, Naruto, Ino, Lee, and others?”

He would have said ‘because everything is too motivated on winning over Ino’ only to stop himself before he said it. If he had said it, he’d be the biggest hypocrite around.

He had to change and grow as a person ever since getting lucky enough to be in the same team as Naruto. He can’t deny his main motivation was because he wanted to win over Naruto so he could become his mate someday. It’s one of the main things in life keeping him going, almost as much as his desire to avenge his clan and kill Itachi.

If winning over Ino is helping Sakura become a better person towards everyone including himself, who is he to be mad about it? At least he’ll finally be able to have as a somewhat confidante now instead of frenemy hell bent on getting back at him for his threatening and humiliating her at any chance he could get when he found out about Naruto having a crush on her.

…Okay, he wasn’t the best either. In fact, looking back on it, his behavior did cause all of those problems between them. He couldn’t expect her to take that and not retaliate.

He may as well take the olive branch while he can and stop being so stubborn for once, “…I’m sorry, I let our past hostilities get in the way of my seeing an improvement in you. I shouldn’t be so stubborn on my thoughts like that.”

He was lucky he didn’t need to ask because Sakura already knew what he was thinking, “Apology accepted… Sasuke, I haven’t heard from Naruto at all these last few days. I don’t know what he’s doing or what’s going on with him. All I can do is tell you I think you can find him if you find Ino.”

“Thanks, Sakura. I’ll be sure to do just that.”

Sasuke gets off of the bed and rushes out of the door after she moves aside for him to do so.

She knows he has a lot on his mind and stopping him from seeing Naruto now would be cruel. She’s trying to be better, and that extends to Sasuke as well.

As for Sasuke, he’s hoping he can find Naruto so he can explain himself to him before it’s too late.

Naruto is by Ino at the moment, begging her from her spot in the flower shop, “Please, you have to help me out here! If I can get that lazy alpha to want to be my mate someday, my future as hokage is guaranteed and I’ll become the first ever omega hokage! Is there something he likes or someone he finds sexy? Because I can be sexy if I try!”

Normally, she wouldn’t be willing to hear him out on this. This time it’s different.

Hinata doesn’t like Naruto anymore and still has feelings for Deidara. Naruto’s best option is currently gone, which leaves her wondering if Shikamaru would really be that bad for him. It’s either him or Sasuke and Naruto can do so much better than that guy in her eyes.

Which is why she is entertaining this at all, “Don’t try to be sexy. Shikamaru finds those types to be too high maintenance. If you want to get him to like you, then you have to show interest in things he likes. Try playing shogi or go with him. Go out cloud watching with him and Chouji or try showing you’re an intellectual by offering to go somewhere he can go to learn about something new like a library or something.”

He nods taking notes down on a pad and a pen he has, smiling as he whistled, “Wow, thank you Ino! I really needed this—Iruka sensei was no help at all today but you’re giving me really great advice and tips.”

“Oh and try to not be too loud and hyper. Shikamaru prefers quieter, calmer company so do your best to not be over the top on that stuff.”

“Got it!” he cheers when finishing writing down this part, asking her, “So…where is he?”

Ino doesn’t hesitate in telling him, “He’s at the barbecue shop with Chouji. Oh, by the way, Chouji his best friend. Don’t insult him or else he will want nothing to do with you at all.”

“Thank you so much, Ino!” Naruto cheers as he hugs her, “I have to get going now. I’ll see you when I get my date with that lazy alpha!”

She has a feeling it won’t work, but it’s Naruto. If there’s anyone who can make the impossible, possible, it’s him.

Sasuke didn’t have to find Ino to find Naruto. He found Naruto when he was approaching a barbecue spot. At first, he had been relieved to find Naruto so easily…that is until he saw he was speaking to Shikamaru and Chouji. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but the way Naruto was speaking and acting was concerning for him.

“Hi! Oh, sorry, I mean…hi, Shikamaru. What’s up?” watching his Naruto go from bright, loud, and sunny to a calm and demure was something Sasuke had never thought was possible. Then he heard the lazy alpha’s response, which did not bode well for him, “Hey, nothing much. I’m about to go cloud watching with Chouji and then I’m going to go play shogi with Asuma. Why would you want to know? You’ve never shown any interest in anything I do before.”

“I know, but I want to get to know you better and I think it’d be fun to play with shogi with you.”

“Do you even know how to play?”

He shakes his head, but his smile is as bright as ever, “No, but I’m willing to learn!”

Shikamaru deadpans then, his glare hard on the omega in front of him, “Yeah, I’m in no mood to teach you how to play. It’d be too hard and I don’t want to put in the work on my day off. Tell me why you’re showing interest in what I do now when you never did in the past. Is this some form of asking me out on a date?”

“What would be so bad about that? I’m gonna need a mate someday when I become hokage and who better than you? You at least come from a clan that doesn’t hate omegas like the Hyuuga’s do.”

Sasuke was about to strike at Shikamaru for trying to seduce Naruto behind his back when he heard him groan, “Hell no…don’t get me dragged into this! I don’t want to be killed by Sasuke! Can’t you find someone else to die for you?”

Naruto’s back to being loud at that point, “What do you mean you’d be killed by Sasuke? Sasuke wouldn’t do that to you!”

Oh poor, poor Naruto…he would. He totally would if this damned alpha tried to steal him away from him.

“He would because he likes you and Uchihas by nature are territorial alphas and betas who cannot tolerate competition.” Shikamaru answers for him in pure exasperation, leaving Sasuke to want to attack him for exposing his desire to mate Naruto like that, “You really could not tell? Sasuke only antagonizes you when you’re giving attention to someone else because he cannot stand it. He bought you ramen for the longest time when he’s not that much into it himself and he was horrible to Sakura because you had a crush on her. In fact, hasn’t it ever hit you that every time you had a crush on someone they would never speak to you again whenever Sasuke found out about it? If it hasn’t, then you’re a lot dumber than I thought you were.”

“W-What?”

“Sasuke. Likes. You. Because he does, I won’t ever date you no matter how hard you beg me to because I don’t have a death wish. Those Uchihas can get real nasty about that sort of thing, and I’d rather not get caught up in it.”

Naruto is quiet, with Sasuke watching from the corner of the building to gauge his reaction to the news. While he is neutral at first, his light blush fades upon the realization when he suddenly asks Shikamaru, “H-He does, huh? I never really knew that…I guess I really am dumber than you thought.”

“Sasuke…I don’t know much of anything about his clan…and I wouldn’t mind dating him, but I…I don’t know.” Naruto meets Shikamaru’s eyes in pure desperation, his stance somewhat shaken, “Look, it’s easy for you to not be scared after what happened to bushy brows because you’re an alpha and you’ll never have to fear someone treating you that bad because of it. I can’t afford to not be scared—I’m an omega and if I’m not careful, I could wind up in his situation if I trust the wrong person like he did. Kakashi sensei has told me this is wrong, but I cannot get it out of my head no matter how hard I try! I don’t want to think bad of Sasuke—he’s my friend and teammate, but I bet Neji was that way with Lee too and look what he did to him! How do I know Sasuke won’t ever do the same to me because of clan tradition like Neji did to Lee?”

Sasuke knew this would come up after hearing what Sakura told him. He was so afraid Naruto would be thinking ill of him after the exams were put on hiatus and it turns out his fears had been realized. Naruto is afraid of him acting like Neji and treating him like he treated Lee.

Sasuke cannot blame him for thinking this way. Naruto had always been naïve in his thoughts concerning alpha and omega relations, so it made sense he would’ve been deeply shaken by what Neji did to Lee so openly in front of him.

…Stupid Hyuuga, ruining his chance at getting with Naruto! He should have told him how he felt about him before the exams started; then Naruto wouldn’t be so scared of him like he is now.

Shikamaru does speak up on this end, shocking Sasuke with what all he has to say, “I wouldn’t worry about that. Uchiha’s aren’t a clan that goes the route of leaving curse marks or other marks outside of mating marks on people. Besides, compared to the Hyuugas, they are fairly progressive so logically speaking, you have no reason to worry about Sasuke doing that to you.”

“You think I don’t have to worry about that?”

“No, not at all. Leaving curse marks or other marks that aren’t mating marks is a skill that not many clans in this village have—in fact, my dad told me only the Hyuuga clan has the skill to do such a thing and I can believe him on it because if the Uchiha could do it, Itachi would have done it to Deidara a long time ago.”

He’s amazed his fellow alpha is defending him…though what he said is correct.

The Uchihas don’t believe in leavings marks outside of mating marks on people. There has never been a history of leaving curse or other marks that aren’t mating marks on people in the clan. If such marks were used, like Shikamaru said, Itachi would have been the first one using such a thing on Deidara.

He knows his clan has some conservative views on omegas and their rights, but it’s nowhere near as severe as those of the more regressive clans such as the Hyuugas.

He doesn’t know how Shikamaru would know of this. He didn’t think he was close to Ino and Deidara when he was in the village, unless if he’s wrong about that one.

“How would you know that for fact?” Naruto has his hands in his pockets, appearing to be calmer than he was before which is a good sign in Sasuke’s eyes.

“My dad has a record all of the clans in the village and their traditions, as well as their views on omega’s rights. They had been thinking I was going to be born an omega, so they compiled it all together to make sure I dated someone from a clan with progressive views on omegas and their rights.” he offers then to all of them present, “I have the book at my place if you want to read it. It’s a pretty interesting compilation if you want to see who to date and mate as well as who to avoid.”

Naruto smile reappears, though it appears to be less certain than before, not as bright as before either which is concerning for Sasuke, “That’d be great! That way I can see if Sasuke and I could work out or not.”

The alpha amongst them shakes his head, “There’s more to it than clan beliefs. Just because someone comes from a conservative clan doesn’t mean they hold those beliefs to be true and just because someone comes from a progressive clan doesn’t mean they are progressive at all. You have to keep it all in perspective, Naruto: compatibility is more than just clan stuff, it’s about what the person you’re dating actually believes for themselves, not what their family thinks. All my dad’s book will do is show what he was raised to believe, not what he actually believes. It’s up to you to ask him that for yourself when you’re done reading it.”

Sasuke doesn’t know why Shikamaru is being reasonable right now, but he’s not going to complain.

If he can get Naruto to consider him as a potential mate, then he’s not going to stop him.

Chapter Text

When inside the Nara home, he is led over to Shikamaru’s room after he obtains the book from his dad’s study. There, Naruto reads about the Uchiha clan’s traditions, keeping a close eye out for the section talking about their views on omegas and their rights.

“Whoa, they believed in arranged mating? How is that possible for Sasuke…his clan isn’t around anymore to arrange him with anyone who fits the requirements.”

The Uchihas do believe in arranged mating. The clan has run for years successfully on arranged matings, with the alpha or beta chosen for the Uchiha omega by the one person in the clan they are closest to and the same being said for the Uchiha alpha or beta obtaining a beta or omega mate. They believe omegas and alphas are to be equals in the mating relationship, but that omegas are to let alphas take the lead on certain issues, such as when the home is under attack, when one of their pups is missing, or when they lose a loved one. It is the alpha’s duty to take care of and protect their mate no matter what; failing to do so makes one a lesser alpha not fit of their gender. Betas are not held to such strict standards if they are mated to an alpha, but if they mate an omega then they are held up to the same standards.

The requirements for an omega to be arranged to a Uchiha alpha or beta are as follows: to be beautiful in the eye of the interested Uchiha alpha or beta, to have caught their eye more than once in the past, and to be one who never leaves their mind.

The requirements for an alpha or beta to be mated to an Uchiha omega are as follows: to be one who never leaves the mind of the interested Uchiha omega, to be a good provider, to be strong enough to take care of them and the family they will have one day, and to have caught their eye more than once in the past.

There’s simply no way any of this actually applies to him. Sasuke wouldn’t ever…there’s no way…no, none of this can be right! He never thought of him like that, did he?

“The Uchihas were known to keep that sort of thing documented. Deidara always whined about it back when he was here, but it is helpful enough for you because you can look it up for yourself to see if any arrangements were made between you and Sasuke. There is no age limit on arrangement since they believed the proper mating ages were anywhere between sixteen and up. All the arrangement would have done is given the Uchiha and the person they were arranged to a mating date if they didn’t fit the minimum age requirement.”

Chouji glances over to Shikamaru, grinning widely as he placed a hand on his shoulder, “You really know a lot about this stuff Shikamaru! It’s super impressive!”

He shrugs, taking his hand off of his shoulder in the process, “Not really. I only know so much because of Deidara and what all he ranted about the clan. This book really did help to clear up the truth from the Deidara ranting growing up.”

His eyes turn onto Naruto, his question to him rather pointed in that moment, “Did this help you or not? Can you believe me when I tell you Sasuke likes you?”

Naruto bites his lower lip, not being fully convinced despite what Shikamaru had said, “I-I don’t know…Sasuke could like me as a friend and…and…maybe you’re reading him all wrong.”

“We can go to a shrine his clan owned and find the arranged mating records there if you want the proof. I wouldn’t doubt if Sasuke somehow managed to pull that off before everything went down the way it did.”

Shikamaru’s offer is tempting, but Naruto isn’t sure if he wants to go or not.

For one, he’s afraid of Shikamaru being right. What if Sasuke does like him as more than a friend? What is he supposed to do with that information, how is he supposed to face Sasuke with this on his mind? He’s also afraid of Shikamaru being wrong because the idea of Sasuke really not liking him like that is enough to make his chest twist and hurt and to make it worse, he doesn’t know why.

“I…have to…I need time to think, this is all a lot to take in and—I’ve never been so confused before in my entire lifetime.” Naruto confesses to them, with Chouji digging his hand in the potato chip bag and offering one to Naruto, “Take all the time you need and a potato chip. I can tell you’re gonna need it after hearing all of this.”

Shikamaru says much of the same, but with less care than Chouji did, “It’s a lot to take in, but I know you’ll be the one to do it in a day or less. You’re resilient like that, Naruto, and I can find that respectable. If you need any more help, I can make time out of day to help you so you’re not always on Ino’s back.”

Naruto hugs him tightly, thanking him as he rubbed his cheek against his chest, “Thank you so much, Shikamaru! You really are a great guy!”

This was met with a kunai breaking through his window and almost hitting him right in the face. Shikamaru immediately pried Naruto off of him and glared at the Uchiha who had thrown the kunai from his on the tree branch right across from his bedroom window.

“Dammit…” he seethes as the other alphas enters his room with speed he hadn’t seen in him before, his sharingan out as he snarled at the Nara alpha, “What were you doing with my Naruto?”

“Nothing! All I did was show him the book that told him about your clan’s views and traditions surrounding omegas and mating!” he groans loudly, irritation slipping through as he crosses his arm across his chest, “I’m not fighting you, Sasuke. I have no interest in dating or mating anyone. All he did was hug me after I told him I respected his resilience, nothing to get all mad about.”

“Stop it, Sasuke! Just tell me…is Shikamaru right? Do you like me?” Naruto intervenes, his hand pointing in Shikamaru’s direction as he asks with pleading eyes to the Uchiha alpha in front of him, “If you do, are we arranged mates by your clan standards? Did I even have any of those qualifications listed in the book? If I do, did I always, do I still have it now?”

Sasuke lowers his guard, with Shikamaru signaling to Chouji with his eyes to leave the room to allow them time to speak alone. Chouji agrees and makes his way over to the door, Shikamaru following suite in silence the entire time as the two boys began their trek out of the home and away from Sasuke.

Despite this happening, Sasuke didn’t care, nor did he notice. All he could do was give the omega across from him a blunt truth he had been hiding for years, “I do like you, Naruto. I always have even when we were young and in the academy together. I know you won’t want to believe it, but we are arranged by my clan’s standards. I begged my father, mother, and Itachi to allow it to happen because you were the only one who ever fit all of the requirements for me. If you don’t believe me, I can take you to the shrine and show you the records myself right now if you want.”

Naruto is stunned into silence, his hands falling to his side as he stared at Sasuke to see if there was any deceit in his eyes…only to find none.

Knowing Sasuke meant all of what he said was…something else to say the least. He never envisioned this happening and now he has no idea what to do other than to ask, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“Because I didn’t know how to in a way that didn’t make me out to be a lovesick fool.”

Now he’s left with only one conclusion to see if this is really all as Shikamaru said or not, “Take me to see the records. I need to know this is all real and some misunderstanding on my end because the idea that you could like me so much that I fit all of the requirements to be your arranged mate…it…I don’t know, makes me feel…light and fluttery all over. Not in a bad way, but in a good way, really! I just never felt this way before about anyone, so it’s new and kinda scary, you know?”

It’s not a rejection and Sasuke can live with that, “I know how you feel right now. I didn’t know how to accept my feelings for you until my mom showed me how. I know you may have Iruka sensei for that, but I’m here too, so don’t forget it, okay?”

“I won’t.” Naruto responds with the same bright smile he’s used to seeing, which led into the omega asking, “So, should we head out to see these records or…”

“Yeah, sure. Get on my back, I’ll take you there myself.”

The blonde is hesitant for good reason, “Are you sure? I don’t want to injure you—you did just get out of the hospital and all.”

Sasuke’s not budging on this issue though, “I’m fine, now get on my back and let me show you the records I have documenting our arrangement.”

“If you say so…but shouldn’t we get out of the room first?”

“Fine, we can do that first.”

Naruto had thought he meant it, but then Sasuke caught him off guard by snatching him up princess style and carrying him through the threshold of Shikamaru’s bedroom door, “Hey, I never agreed to this!”

He sighs and rolls his dark eyes, “Whatever Naruto, just let me do this for you. It’s all for the sake of the tradition my clan has around this sort of situation.”

Naruto didn’t bother to argue because he knows Sasuke’s clan is gone now and he figures it would be rude to after everything that happened here.

They were able to exit the home without any fuss after this was done and when outside, Naruto rode on his back to the family, allowing Sasuke to feel a strong rush of success for a moment.

Itachi never got to do the traditional signing off on the arrangement document. Now he will be the one to do it for him and that will be something he can say he surpassed him in with ease.

When they did arrive at the shrine, Naruto was stunned by the silence on the Uchiha clan’s compound. He couldn’t believe how still and silent it all was, but it wasn’t a peaceful silence. It was a deeply sorrowful one which left him feeling as though he could hear the cries of the dead in the air as they made their way to the shrine.

Upon their arrival, Sasuke set Naruto down on the ground before carrying him princess style through the threshold of the entryway and the building where the records lay hidden underneath a tatami mat.

Naruto didn’t feel right speaking inside the building—it felt wrong to even so much as laugh or smile in here, like he would be disrespecting Sasuke’s entire clan if he dared to show too much emotion.

He must have been lost in thought for too long as he glanced around the building because before he knew it, he was met with the last page of the arrangement records, “Right here, on the bottom line, is my name and your name is supposed to go on the column right across from mine, with your parent or guardian’s name right beside it to make it a legitimate arrangement. I was going to ask you about it years ago and bring you here to celebrate the way we do in my clan when such a thing happens…I would take you on my back all the way here to the sounds and sights of my clan celebrating the arrangement. Then I would carry you through the thresholds leading into the shrine both inside and out, afterwards you would sign this record making our arrangement official.”

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, amazed by all that he’s heard. It sounds like it would have been an amazing time in his eyes full of good food, new people to meet, and a family he could have been a part of.

It’s moments like this where he can understand why Sasuke wants to kill Itachi. After everything he did, he can believe he has it coming, yet it does nothing to help him know what to say in this moment outside of a small, “You wanted to be arranged to mate me this entire time and you never lost those feelings for me once over the years?”

“I never did. I couldn’t even if I tried.” Sasuke takes his hand into his own and meets his eyes, not missing a chance to let his sincerity show, “You mean a lot to me…you always have. I obviously didn’t show it to you in the right way if you could think I’d ever be a thing like Neji was to Lee and I’m sorry I didn’t. You don’t have to sign the record; we can date and take things slow if you want to see if you would be open to it.”

Naruto doesn’t say anything at first. It’s the longest thirty seconds of silence in his life until he hears his longtime crush ask, “I’m only open to this if you can answer me this right now: are you fine with holding off on our mating until I have to mate you in order to be made hokage? Are you fine with me being hokage and going on missions? Are you fine with me being loud, independent, and myself or do I have to change everything about me for you?”

Sasuke is quick to reject this notion, letting him know, “I’m fine with all of the above. I am willing to wait until the day you get the chance to become hokage to be your mate officially. I am fine with you going on missions and being hokage someday, I am fine with you being yourself and I wouldn’t change a thing about you if I had the chance to.”

He was taken aback by the blonde omega signing his name on the column right across from his name so suddenly with a casual, “That’s great, Sasuke! At least I know we stand a chance at working out now as a couple… How about this? I figure you’ll need Iruka sensei’s name to make this thing official, so why not set something up now: I’ll write down my name and we can date to see if I want to be arranged to you or not. If I do, then I’ll get Iruka sensei here to sign it right away to make things official between us.”

Naruto isn’t wrong on this end. Without Iruka sensei’s signature, the arrangement won’t be official. This leads Sasuke to come to a different conclusion which could be wrong on his end, “Are you saying this is some sort of trial to see if you want to mate me someday or not?”

“It is, and I know it will sound weird, but now that I know you like me for real and this isn’t some misunderstanding, I feel better about going out on a date with you.” Naruto also lets a fun little fact slip past him as he sets down the pen he wrote his name down with, “I also figure that if I met those requirements then I’d be stupid to not give you a fair chance. I don’t know my feelings for you yet, but I’m willing to date you to figure them out. You deserve as much of a fair shot with me as anyone else and I’m going to give it to you.”

Sasuke would argue that nobody deserves a fair shot with Naruto outside of himself, but that’s for another discussion for another time.

What matters most right now is Naruto is willing to give him a chance to date him and win him over. What could honestly be better than that?

He clears his throat of the nervous lump building up in there to do the one thing he’s been wanting to do for years: “Naruto, we can go out on a date after this if you want…you know, to give you a good idea of what to expect from me.”

“Sounds great, I was preparing to go on a date today with Shikamaru, but this will be a lot better because I know I can be myself with you.”

This makes Sasuke’s cheeks lightly flush and his heart rate speed up as the look of happiness on Naruto’s face makes him feel whole and warm in a way he hasn’t in a very long time now, “Let’s get going then.”

Naruto was about to agree…that is until another omega’s face popped up in his head at random, “Oh, is Deidara’s name in there?”

Sasuke looks through the records and finds the one he knows will have the answer to his question, showing it to Naruto without a word being spoken between them.

What Naruto sees are the names of Sasuke’s parents with Itachi’s name following theirs…and a blank column where Deidara and his parents’ names should be.

It wouldn’t have been as bad if there weren’t others who had the names of their arranged mates and their parents throughout this page of the record, making Itachi’s obviously blank one a real eyesore for anyone looking upon it at first sight.

“My brother could never get Deidara or his parents to sign their names on the record. Doing so would have meant a legal obligation to become mates with Itachi someday and Deidara absolutely refused to do it. Itachi was seen as the perfect prodigy of the clan…for him to not be able to win over Deidara was seen as a great dishonor against himself, making others believe there was something wrong with him if he couldn’t win him over.”

Naruto pauses as he hears Sasuke reveal some details about his family life he had never heard before, “I was never held in high regards in the clan or my own family like Itachi was. Everyone always favored him over me because he was so amazing and I wasn’t. To finally succeed at something he couldn’t is as amazing as finally getting you to agree to the idea of being mated to me someday.”

This was not a fun fact to learn though it did inspire Naruto to hug Sasuke and let him know, “I think you’re great…and besides, your brother’s an overrated jerk anyway. Someday you’ll better than him at everything, I just know it.”

Sasuke is finally on cloud nine for the second time in his life—his first time being when he and Naruto kissed each other—and he can say it feels better than the last somehow.

It’s probably because Naruto sees him as being better than Itachi when no one else in his clan did.

Oh well, no time to obsess on it now! They need to get heading out soon if Sasuke wants to get started on their first date together.

Before they leave, Sasuke puts away the arrangement records, feeling a certain sense of accomplishment as he sees the permanently blank line where Deidara’s name should be.

Shikamaru had decided to ditch all of his plans in general today to spend time with Chouji, watching the clouds from his favorite spot.

There, Chouji lazily points out something that catches him off guard, “That one cloud looks like the sort of flower Deidara used to make with his hand mouths and clay, doesn’t it?”

“Oh yeah…it does.” Shikamaru is a bit taken aback by this for a very obvious reason, “I don’t remember you ever spending time with Deidara or really being by him much. How did you know he made sculptures like that? Did you have a secret crush on him or something?”

His best friend doesn’t deny it, yet the answer isn’t one he’s expecting, “Oh come on, Shikamaru! Every alpha and beta had a crush on Deidara at one point in our lives. He was the most beautiful omega to have ever existed in our village—he was named the most beautiful omega of Konoha ever since he was four all the way up to the day he left with Itachi. I only knew of the sculptures because he made me one once and it made me really happy to know someone so beautiful had made me something so nice. He was very kind about it too: he didn’t insult me for my weight and he said I’d grow up to be more handsome than the kids who picked on me someday. He was so kind, sweet, and beautiful…I can’t believe he’d go with Itachi willingly. He was way too good for that guy.”

Yep, Shikamaru’s about to feel alone in this once more, “Maybe it’s because I knew the guy a bit better, but I don’t really have such a positive view of him.”

“Only ‘cause you’re an alpha.”

“Nothing to do with that at all, actually. It’s more to do with other issues of his that I couldn’t overlook, but I doubt you’d want to hear that.”

Chouji stops in his eating to say, “No, I’d actually want to hear about it. I always knowing him would’ve been fun…but you don’t seem to act like it was.”

He doesn’t say much to this other than, “He was human, Chouji. We all have our flaws and faults…Deidara’s were a bit more severe in my eyes, that’s all.”

He sits back as he listens to Shikamaru regale a tale he would never tell Ino for as long as he lived: his own memories of Deidara and how they led him to believe he left with Itachi willingly.

Chapter Text

The Deidara I remember isn’t the same as Ino or Chouji’s take on him. Maybe it’s because I spent too much time with him, but he wasn’t always this perfect angel of sorts that everyone makes him out to be. He was human with flaws and contradictions just like anyone else out there.

I met him when I was old enough to meet Ino for the first time. My dad was friends with Inoichi and I figured they wanted us to be friends so they could hang out more. Ino and I didn’t really get along too well back then—she was too loud, too bossy, and she constantly talked about wanting to go play with the other kids when all I wanted to do was watch the clouds. We didn’t hate or dislike each other, we were too different to really click, that’s all.

If I had to describe the differences between Ino and Deidara, it’d be easiest to do with comparisons to flowers.

Ino’s hair is a cream colored rose, her eyes a pale blue hydrangea, whereas Deidara’s hair was the color of a sunflower, his eyes the color of a vivid blue dahlia. The only thing I can say they had in common looks wise was their straight hair, side bangs, and skin tone. Take away all of the above and they were pretty different.

When I first met him, Deidara’s hair was down to his shoulders and he was dressed in a pair of black silk pants and a silver embroidered lavender tank top. He looked as elegant as the sculpture he had made with the clay from the hands on his palms—his first words to me were, “You’re Shikamaru, right?”

I had nodded like a dumbass because he was the most beautiful omega I had ever seen in my life and I was awestruck by his overall presence. He smiled, put some clay into the mouths on his palms, “I’m Deidara…I hope you like this, un.”

Out came a stunning rose sculpture from his palm. I would’ve kept it but only moments later, it detonated, leaving me to wonder, “Was it supposed to do that?”

He smiled before standing back up to full length, “Bet you won’t forget that.”

He wasn’t wrong, I never did forget it. Even now, it’s my primary memory of Deidara, the one that comes to my head whenever I hear his name or see a photo of his face.

It wasn’t because of his smile or his beauty or even the beautiful sculpture. It was the way he made my skin crawl about it all. I could be reading too much into it, but it never made sense to me. Why would he give someone his little sister’s age something that will explode on them and could hurt them?

Not saying I got hurt by it or anything, but I could have if he didn’t make it right.

I wanted to avoid him the rest of the day, but Ino was pretty bent on spending time with him because in her words, “Don’t be so scared, Shikamaru! Deidara would never hurt you—he’s the bestest person ever and someday, he’s going to be the greatest artist of all time!”

To be fair, I saw why she thought so highly of him. When she did knock on his door, he was calm instead of annoyed, his overall demeanor from behind his door not that of normal older siblings I’ve seen before, “Who’s there? Ino, is it you, un?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Can I watch you make your sculptures, Dei? I promise I’ll be really good and get you more clay if you run out of it!”

“Sure thing, come on in! …Wait, I’ll need more clay first, I just ran out of it, un. Can you get me some?”

“Okay, I’ll be right back!” she called back to him before heading downstairs and to their basement…which was full of clay. She had told me, “We keep lots of clay for Deidara to use so he can make his sculptures. He’s really great at his art; each sculpture gets better than the last. His room is really cool too, it’s an art studio where he makes perfects his craft. He’s so devoted to it that he sleeps outside in a tent with his clothes in a bag, which is really cool if you ask me.” As she was going through the clay, she commented with a smile on her face, “Someday when we make enough money, we’re going to get Deidara his own art studio outside so he can make all the art he wants and have his room inside the house again. It will be so amazing to have him back in here; I can’t wait for that day to come!”

I didn’t think much of it until we got to enter his room to give him the clay.

His entire bedroom…no, it wasn’t that. It was an actual art studio.

Everywhere there were pieces of sculptures that had been detonated, splatters of dried clay on the walls, ceiling, and floor. Everything in his room was dedicated to his art whether it be the sculptures on the shelves that did not detonate, or the empty bag of clay strung about with reckless abandon.

“Deidara, we got you more clay.” Ino grinned when giving the bag to him, “If you need more I can always grab more for you.”

“Nah, this is good, un.” he took the clay from the bag and fed it into mouths on the palms of his hands, “I’ll be able to make what I want with this one.”

I didn’t get it until I saw it for myself.

Deidara made a sculpture of a beautiful eagle that would wind up detonating only moments after creation. This explosion was larger and I’m amazed looking back on it that no one got hurt. Ino was smiling, clapping, and cheering after it happened, “That was so cool, Dei! It was a lot bigger than last time, too! You are going to be the greatest artist ever someday, I just know it!”

I didn’t get why he wanted it to explode and I had asked him as much, “Why do you want it to explode?”

“Life is short and fleeting, Shikamaru, un. What matters most in life is leaving behind an existence so lively that it leaves everyone around you with never ending memories. That way you never truly stop existing; you keep on living in the minds of others long after you are gone, un. My art is the same way: it’s fleeting, but it will last forever in their memories.”

He had said it so kindly with such a bright grin it was hard to want to debate with him. I didn’t end up debating with him because I was young and honestly quite scared of him when I was younger. Anyone who thought like that would be someone who wouldn’t be above striking me with such an attack if I so much as made him mad, so I kept my distance from Deidara and tried to have as little do with him as possible.

I honestly did try my best to have as little to do with him as possible, but my dad thought I was being crazy about it. He said, “Son, you’d have to be the dumbest person alive to reject Deidara. He’s the most beautiful omega in our village and if you’re lucky enough, someday, you’ll get to mate him when you’re older.”

The idea grossed me out as much as the idea of mating Ino did. Then again, Ino was never brought up as a potential mate for me. Probably because she was hanging out with Sakura so much everyone thought they’d be mated someday when they were older. I honestly thank Sakura every day for worming her way into Ino’s life. If it were not for her, I’d have to deal with Deidara more than I wanted to and thanks to her, I got reprieve from seeing the bomb loving omega.

My dad really wanted me to mate him someday, though. He was always pushing the idea so he and Inoichi could be in-laws and have validated reasons for hanging out as often as they pleased. He says this wasn’t the reason whenever I bring it up, but I know better than to believe him, “Oh come on, Shikamaru! Deidara is going to be as amazing of artist as you will be as amazing of a shinobi when you’re both grown! Don’t be so quick to write him off—he’s beautiful, talented, and intelligent. You’d be insane to not want to mate him someday.”

Call me insane then because I wasn’t interested then as much as I am now. Mating Deidara never appealed to me, but it did to many others. I will never understand it…though I guess if we’re going off of looks alone, then I could begin to because Deidara is someone who got more beautiful with age.

It was his personality that was off putting enough to make me not see him as appealing as everyone else did.

Deidara was kind, sure. He stood up for omegas and those being bullied or discriminated against, I can applaud him on this end.

What I couldn’t get past was the acidic way he dealt with those he accused of sexism.

Now I have seen alphas and betas being sexist towards him. Whether it be trying to grope him, telling him to dress modestly to not tempt the alphas and betas around him, or making covertly sexist statements towards him, I have seen it happen a few times in the past and I have agreed with Deidara’s blowing up on them.

I have always believed that sexist alphas and betas deserve to be told off by someone like Deidara—someone fiery when angered, yet collected enough to make intelligent arguments to cut through their flawed reasoning. It was moments like those where I respected him deeply.

There were the moments where I had been around for the entire interaction and hadn’t seen nor heard any instance of sexism against him, only for him to snap and attack the innocent person. When asked why he did it, he’d make up some lie about the person being a sexist or doing something sexist towards him. It was enough to make me think there could be a mean streak hiding underneath Deidara’s nice façade.

Then my dad wondered why I did all that I could to not hang out with him after the first time I met him at Ino’s place. No matter what he did, he could never get me to be alone with Deidara.

That is, until the day of this one festival where he finally managed to trick me into spending time with the explosive omega.

The festival had a gaming section, and he managed to get me suckered into a tent that had shogi matches going on. I had beaten many others before then until Deidara took a seat across from me, glowing under the light of the paper lanterns strung about and the glint of a need to dominate in his eyes, “Whoa, who knew you were so smart? You mind taking me on in a shogi match, un?”

I knew my dad would be pissed if I said ‘no way in hell, I don’t wanna be blown up’ and I had a feeling Deidara wasn’t going to let me go this time, so I did what I could in the moment, “Alright, we can play but don’t expect me to go easy on you.”

It was a pretty tough game, that's for sure! Deidara put up a surprisingly good match, far better than I thought he would, and when I won, I was relieved because it meant I was freed from spending time with him.

Now, I’m not sure how true this is or not, but some people say this was when Itachi first noticed Deidara. Apparently he had been in the crowd when this was going on and according to the rumor, he had kept his eye on Deidara the entire time. I’m not sure how true this is, since Deidara was pretty well known in the village before this and he was called the most beautiful omega in all of Konoha by more than one person, by both locals and foreigners.

Anyway, after Deidara lost to me, his first response was a frustrated sigh and a challenge in his eyes, “One more time, un! I swear I can beat you, just one more time, that’s all I’m asking!”

“Fine, but you aren’t going to win.” I warned him and just as I predicted, he didn’t win.

His anger and frustration could cloud his judgment at times, and this was never more apparent than when we faced off in shogi. He lost to me a total of ten times before I had heard his voice for the first time ever, the prodigy kid himself, Itachi Uchiha, “Mind if I take over from here? Surely something so entertaining to watch must be as fun to play, correct?”

“Sorry, but I’m still playing. I can and will win on my own, thank you very much, un.” Deidara announced with much pride though I think he knew he couldn’t win. It was all his own ego and stubbornness preventing him from stepping down.

“Oh, I was thinking if you could win, you would’ve by now.” I still don’t know what the hell Itachi was thinking when he said that. All it did was make Deidara mad at him in an instant, “What did you say?”

“If you could win, you would’ve by now. You are determined and passionate enough to do so…if you cannot, I can understand. This child is exceptionally intelligent; anyone would have a hard time beating him. If you want, I could step in and win in your stead.”

Deidara grit his teeth and despite wearing a rather thin yet intricately embroidered kimono, he was more than ready to throw a punch at him, “What kind of omega do you take me for? Do you think I’m some damsel in distress who is too weak to win his own battles, un? Because I sure as hell am not weak or stupid like you’re making me out to be!”

“There’s nothing wrong with needing help from time to time. Here, allow me to take over. I will dedicate this victory to you when I do win.” Itachi had fully come out of the crowd by now, his eyes were glued on Deidara, and I knew then he wasn’t going to leave him alone no matter what he did.

“Screw you, un!” Deidara snapped, getting ready to attack him…well, he would’ve if I hadn’t been lucky enough to have my dad teaching me how to use my shadow possession jutsu then. I had gotten pretty good at it—or so I had been told at that time. They must’ve been right because it was enough to prevent him from attempting to murder Itachi while allowing me a moment of peace.

“Deidara, we should get going. I’m getting hungry and you told my dad you’d watch me. Let’s forget this guy, go get a bite to eat, then if you want, we can play again.”

Okay, he didn't actually tell my dad that, but I had to make up some excuse for him to leave before he tried to murder Itachi in front of everyone. His angered pheromones were all over the place, letting me think he was getting serious about trying to kill this guy…except, out of nowhere, he calmed down enough to tell me with a huff, “Fine…we’ll get something to eat, but then we’re coming back right here for me to beat you, un!”

I felt a certain tension leaving my chest the moment I got him to agree, “We can do that if you want. I’m up for another game if you are, but I want to eat first.”

I released him from my jutsu, and he turned away from Itachi to come up to me so we could leave.

Itachi’s eyes were glued onto me with a look I know far too well being an alpha myself. You know, the look of jealousy and bloodlust that comes out whenever an alpha is enraged at another alpha for trying to steal someone they are interested in.

In this case, I think he was more enraged I managed to steal Deidara’s attention away from him. Maybe he felt a bit threatened by it or something…I wouldn’t know. Uchihas are strange by nature.

“Deidara, how about we play a round of shogi together? If I win, I get to take you out sometime and if you win, I’ll leave you alone forever.”

Deidara could never turn down a challenge from an alpha and as such, he was dumb enough to buy into Itachi’s obvious goading, “Be prepared to leave me alone forever then.”

He did his best, I’ll give him that much, but he was no match for Itachi. He lost to him in fifteen minutes, with the smug Uchiha shrugging, “Oh well, looks like we will get to go out sometime.”

“No way in hell, un! Rematch!” Deidara seethed and I couldn’t stop myself from noticing the slight smirk on Itachi’s face as he had agreed without any effort on his end, “If you say so…”

“Then you’re next, un!” he growled with a finger pointing in my direction, making me want to vanish into thin air right then and there.

Itachi’s smirk was gone but he managed a way to get me out of being in his line of vision to focus on Deidara instead, “How can you beat a child as good at shogi as him if you can’t beat a novice like myself? Surely it’d make more sense to surpass me first before trying to take on someone as skilled and versed in the game as him. It should be easier for you to do such a thing than taking on someone like him.”

“You’re saying I suck at this so bad, I can’t even beat you? What kind of alpha bullshit is that Uchiha, un! You want me to beat you so bad? I will then, un!”

“Do your best, Deidara. That’s all I could ever ask of you.”

If he wanted Deidara’s attention on him for a night, he succeeded. All he had to do was say something to get him mad and Deidara would snap at him before going another round with him again. He wound up spending the entire festival with Itachi in the shogi tent.

My dad walked me home, but I couldn’t help but to think Itachi felt accomplished in that moment. He certainly didn’t seem fazed by any of Deidara’s angry threats and ranting at him. If of anything, he seemed to take perverse joy in it.

Uchihas are strange creatures by nature. Convince me otherwise.

I didn’t see Deidara much after the festival, but it was some time after this that his snapping at alphas and betas worsened. I don’t know what fully caused it, all I can tell you is I don’t believe every single alpha and beta alive who came into contact with him was being a pervert or sexist. I don’t fully believe they all had it coming like Ino tries to say they did. All I can say is, I don’t think it’s right that so many people suffered at the hands of his anger when they didn’t have it coming.

When I did see him, it was usually whenever I was watching clouds and he would watch them with me without saying a word or when I was playing shogi with someone from the academy and he offered to take their place for them. He was civil during those times, yet all I wanted was to keep my distance from him in case if he dared to strike me out of anger next.

He told me one of the last times we were watched clouds together, “Naras don’t do arranged mating, do they?”

“No, we don’t do that. Why do you ask?”

“Itachi wants me to be arranged to him, un. Like I’d ever let that stupid bastard try to force me into something as backwards as that! Stupid Uchiha, un.”

I didn’t say anything in case if he ever tried to spin this as me being sexist against him. I only spoke up when he commented off handedly, “Too bad you aren’t older…I wouldn’t mind dating you.”

“Yeah, I’m not dating or mating until I’m like, twenty-five or thirty. It’d be better to find someone else to date or mate.”

“Ha, good idea, un!” Deidara didn’t say anything after that. It did nothing to stop me from noticing there was a strong twinge of concern in his eyes, as though he had a lot more on his mind than he was letting on.

He left a lot later than he usually did. I didn’t mind it, though I could have gone without Itachi standing in front of me when he was gone, “Hello Shikamaru…it seems Deidara was here. Am I wrong in assuming that?”

“No, you aren’t. He left a while ago, but I don’t know where he went. You’re better off trying to find him by scent or something.”

Itachi didn’t move from his spot, he narrowed his eyes slightly at me, his voice low, “I will try… I want you to know before you leave that if you ever try to steal Deidara’s heart from me when you are older, I’ll ensure you suffer for it.”

I have never spoken to Itachi before that moment. All I can tell you about the guy is he’s a complete legend in the village for being a complete prodigy child that surpassed all the others in our village’s history. He’s also said to be the most desirable alpha in the entire village; so many were trying to win over his attention that when it became public knowledge he was trying to win over Deidara, everyone began to gush over how beautiful their children would be.

I thought my dad would drop the idea of me ever mating the time bomb but all he did was insist, “Don’t worry Shikamaru, you still have a shot with him! Itachi may have the looks, skills, and charm…but you’ve got the advantage of coming from one of the most progressive clans around. That alone will ensure your getting to mate him.”

I never wanted the explosive omega to begin with. I was fine with letting Itachi have him, I told him that too, “I don’t want him. You can have him if you want, I won’t stop you. I’m not dating or mating until I’m twenty-five or thirty, so Deidara will have no interest in me by then anyway. There’s no need to get all angry about something that will never happen.”

Itachi didn’t say anything to me…it didn’t stop him from throwing a kunai in my direction that narrowly missed me.

He left me after this, and I never saw or spoke to him again. I don’t know what happened between him and Deidara before they left the village. All I know is, whatever did happen, there’s a chance Deidara did choose to leave with Itachi of his own free will. I’m not fully convinced he was completely innocent here, yet I can’t say he wasn’t either.

All I can say is Deidara’s leaving with Itachi caused a lot of pain for his family and I can’t help to be a bit mad at him for leaving over whatever stupid reason it is he most likely left over.

Chapter Text

After his recollection to Chouji, the young beta was left speechless for a brief moment…his main reaction being, “Wow Shikamaru, Deidara actually said he’d date you? Now that’s amazing! You should be really proud of yourself for that accomplishment.”

He shook his head, a hand coming up to his forehead when muttering in disbelief to what he’s hearing, “He only meant it if I were older and even then, I still wouldn’t date that ticking time bomb if you paid me. I’d be too afraid of him snapping at me to ever be happy with him. Being with him would be hell on me more than anything else.”

“Whatever, you’re totally crazy for not going for Deidara. If Ino ever does bring him back, at least you know you’ll have the most beautiful omega around wanting to be yours.”

He shivers at the idea of having to date Deidara should she ever actually succeed in bringing him back, shaking his head after it passes through him, “Even if she did, I still wouldn’t date him. I’d rather be alone than date that guy.”

Chouji scoffed, eating a few more chips all the while, “I think you’re turning down a really good offer there. An omega like Deidara comes once in a lifetime and I don’t think you’ll find anyone as beautiful as that wanting to date you for a long time.”

Shikamaru will let him think what he wants. It won’t ever change the fact that should Ino ever pull off the miraculous event of actually getting Deidara back and proving his innocence, he would refuse to date him if he ever asked.

The following day, the exams were allowed to resume.

Lee was finally recovered enough to fight and Gaara had a feeling Shukaku was going to plot something new this time around. He didn’t know what it was, but he had a feeling it would be something interesting.

He didn’t get to speak to Lee before this match either. He’s not been able to speak to him ever since he removed his mark from his hand mainly because of the kazekage’s insistence that he stay away from him for now.

His father has been more upset and on edge lately for reasons he doesn’t grasp, but he figures it will be all fine when he finally gets to the third round. Then they can commence their mission and his father will finally stop being so stressed and anxious.

It doesn’t stop him from noticing Lee’s current behavior…he doesn’t seem as stressed as he was the last time, yet it does nothing to stop the Hyuuga alpha from glaring a hole into his very being.

Gaara doesn’t care. In his eyes, this is nothing more than the other alpha being petty for no reason. With that being noted, he turned his eyes back to the omega who was chatting with his fellow omegas, wondering what all they could be talking about.

“No way, you actually went on a date with Sasuke?” Lee gasped dramatically, finding it so hard to believe Naruto would want to date him, “I thought you wanted to date Shikamaru!”

“I did, but Shikamaru told me Sasuke liked me and he confirmed it, so we went out on a date.”

Ino is burning on the inside over this because, “Naruto, you can do so much better than him…he’s an Uchiha! The one from the same clan as the monster who stole my brother from me! How can you feel the least bit safe dating him when you have Shikamaru as an option? How about Kiba, did you even bother to consider Kiba or did Sasuke use some sort Uchiha seduction pheromone on you?”

Naruto frowned, growling slightly as he defended his decision, “No, I would have to change myself so much to make something work with Shikamaru and Kiba? I’m not attracted to him! Besides, I told Sasuke I’d give him a fair shot and I am. I’ll have you know it’s going great so far—he took me out to get some ramen and then afterwards, he promised me that when we’re mated I’ll get all the ramen I want when I’m hokage. What can be better than that?”

Lee had to pause to take this all in, wondering something different from Ino’s question of, “He’s okay with you being hokage? Are you sure he’s not saying this to spend a heat with you?”

“If he wanted to do that, all he would have to do is promise me the best homemade ramen ever and a good time.” Naruto states point blank and it’s met with Ino hissing, “Have higher standards for yourself! You’re a beautiful omega with everything going for you, don’t sell yourself short like that over ramen!”

“Ramen is my life and you know it!”

“You can do better than what you’re settling for!”

“Not when the promise of endless ramen is involved!”

The banter is a bit strange, but it’s enough to take his mind off of the situation that could unwind after the fight today if he’s not lucky, “Wait, Naruto, did you spend your entire first date in a ramen shop?”

The blondes quit fighting for a moment for Naruto to answer: “So what if we did? We had the best conversations there and I was freakishly hungry. Being in a nice environment like that with the best food on the planet made it a lot easier for me to feel comfortable enough on something that could’ve been pretty scary in any other setting. He did take me back to my place and we got to talk with Iruka sensei before he left. It was great, I really had a fun time.”

Ino looks at Lee, giving him some valuable information about Naruto he should know, “Naruto loves ramen more than life itself. Do not insult ramen ever if you want to live to see another day.”

He makes sure to remember this fact, yet it does nothing to stop Naruto from looking at him in concern as all joy leaves his face and demeanor, “Is everything okay with Neji? Has he been acting weird to you lately?”

“No, he hasn’t! He’s been avoiding me ever since Gaara removed his mark from my hand.” Lee doesn’t want to burden them and yet he knows if he does nothing to get this off of his chest now it will be a distraction in battle, “I have a lot on my mind now. None of it is Neji related, but it’s more to do with my clan.”

Both omegas freeze to this, with their friend explaining, “Guy sensei did all that he could to keep them in the dark about what Neji did to my hand, but Hiashi Hyuuga contacted them behind his back about it. Now they know about the mark on my hand from Neji and they sent me a letter today, letting me know they are going to be speaking to me about it when I am done with my battle at the exams.”

They take a moment of silence to take the news in before Ino hugs Lee, “Oh Lee, I am so sorry.”

Naruto hugs him next, holding him a bit tighter than Ino is now, “They’re not gonna make you mate that guy, right?”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t put it past them to try to make me mate Neji…all I can do is promise I will stand firm in my decision to remain single around them when they try to pressure me into it.”

As they hold him, Neji and Sasuke were close enough to them to overhear what they were saying. Sasuke glances over at Neji, finding it off putting by how unbothered he is by Lee’s melancholy. If Naruto had been acting like Lee is right now, Sasuke would be doing everything to make things better.

Why is Neji being so cold to Lee’s distraught?

“You like Rock Lee, don’t you? Why aren’t you doing more to comfort him?”

Neji’s answer left a bad taste in his mouth, leaving him to begin to understand why Naruto was left deeply disturbed by his actions enough to where he was afraid he’d act like him, “Lee’s an omega; an omega’s fate is to be mated to a strong alpha. Fate doesn’t change for anyone, not even Lee. All I did was make my move to ensure he’d be mated to me someday and it’s all coming to fruition. He’s resilient, he will get over it when the mating happens.”

He didn’t think talk like this was around much anymore…

As an alpha, he has heard his fair share of sexist rantings, but they were always countered by other alphas calling out the sexism. Then again, the sexist rantings he had heard in the past were all mild in comparison to this…he didn’t know it was possible for one person to be so indifferent to the omega they wish to mate until now, “Doesn’t he want to be a ninja? Wouldn’t it upset him to give up everything to be your mate?”

“Why would that matter? As an omega, he had no reason to ever become a ninja in the first place. The risks for omegas on the battlefield are too great and I’d rather not have my future mate endanger his life to chase some pipedream that may not ever come true.”

Sasuke could not believe he was serious about this. The look on his face and the apathy in his eyes led him to realize he was being completely serious about everything he said.

He may have made comments doubting Naruto’s dream in the past, but he did all of that to get his attention back onto him. He never meant a word of what he said, but Neji not only means what he says, he’s confident in it…which makes it all so much worse.

He promised Naruto he’d either keep Neji away from them or keep him in check this time around so things won’t get so tense. He didn’t think it’d be needed at first, believing Naruto to be exaggerating this a little bit—until he heard him talk about Lee in the way he did.

Maybe it’s because he was raised differently from Neji on how to view omegas, but this is a lot for him to take in.

“I’m amazed you’re fine with the omega you’re interested in proceeding onto the final rounds of the exam. Aren’t you Uchihas the territorial type? Wouldn’t him being in the final rounds of the exam be something to keep you up at night with worry? Do you not care about his safety or are you laissez faire about that as well?”

“I do care about his safety, but I also have confidence in his ability to protect himself. Naruto is strong. If there’s anyone here who deserves to proceed to the next round, it’s him.”

Sasuke said something then he shouldn’t have yet couldn’t stop himself from vocalizing to the Hyuuga alpha, “I know it sounds strange to you, but I’m trying to be a good alpha, not a bad alpha like you are to Lee.”

Neji’s attention was fully on him now, his side glare sharp and his words painfully acidic in response to the accusation, “Funny thing for someone from a devastated clan to say. If it weren’t for how liberal your clan’s ways towards omegas were, their numbers wouldn’t have been low before the massacre and they wouldn’t have failed so miserably at mating fertile, flexible omegas. My clan mates young, has pups young, and we mate only the best omegas around to keep our bloodline strong. If following my clan’s superior traditions makes me a ‘bad alpha’ then so be it. I’d rather be a bad alpha than be the result of a failure like the good one you are.”

Sasuke was about to strike and Neji already had the perfect retaliation in place when Might Guy got between them the moment a battle was about to break out.

“Stop it!” the alpha in green growled at them with bared teeth, “You two know the rules—no fighting here, only those scheduled to fight are allowed to fight and they can only fight on the battlefield when it’s their turn to.”

Neji stands down with a small huff and Sasuke is left looking foolishly aggressive because of it, leading him to not care for the alpha one bit.

“Neji, I don’t know what nearing your first rut is making you think but being so reckless as to say those awful things, knowing it will end in a fight between you two is something you should know better than to do.” the dark haired man doesn’t hold back when criticizing him either, “I don’t know if you told Hiashi to inform Lee’s clan about the mark or not, but just know if you did, I will make you regret it. No one takes that boy’s future away from him, not even you. Try to remember that one better moving forward.”

He looks over his shoulder to face Sasuke, a smile making its way to his lips when he goes a different route with him, “Sasuke, keep doin’ a great job! You stood up so beautifully for your omega, I can see why Iruka was always okay with you dating Naruto. You are a fine young alpha—a good alpha too on top of that—and I know you will have a bright future ahead of you where Naruto is your mate.”

At first, he found Might Guy to be strange. Now that he has a glimpse of what sort of person he actually is he can say he has some respect for him.

“Now, come on, alphas! Let’s watch this match together, shall we?” Guy announces suddenly when grabbing both of their wrists and leading them away from the omegas, “Being by omegas when you two have been fighting will only make them feel uncomfortable. Your strong, youthful pheromones will get to them eventually and we do want this to be a better time for everyone watching this battle, don’t we?”

Neji doesn’t comment and neither does Sasuke as they’re led away from the omegas to watch this match with Guy and Kakashi on the far end of the stands.

Neither alpha cares for the other, making this incredibly tense for the adult alphas, but it’s better to have an awkward atmosphere than Neji and Sasuke trying to kill each other.

As this was happening, Lee was released from his hug by his friends and he grinned brightly as he got on the railing, “Thanks you guys…don’t worry, I’ll win this, and this year will be the year two omegas become Chunin!”

“You better make it, Lee. We’re all cheering for you.” Ino smiles though it is a bit shaky after learning what all she did.

Naruto manages to give him a thumbs up sign with his stronger smile, “You’ll win this, bushy brow! I know you will; if you can beat Sasuke in your first match against him then you can do this too! I’ll see you in the next round. I can’t wait to be the other omega by your side in it.”

“I can’t wait for that either, Naruto. I’ll see you there when I do make it!” Lee jumps off of the rail after this is said, more than ready to fight Gaara in the fight he feels he deprived them both of by not handling things properly with him.

When he sees Gaara again, he doesn’t feel scared or threatened by him. He doesn’t know why, but he is excited to see him again after so long of not seeing him, “Hi, Gaara. Do you remember the rules of the mark Neji left on me?”

“I do, why do you care if I do or not? Is it because you truly don’t want me to die the way others have from this mark?”

“That is the reason why! I don’t want you to die like that—no one deserves to die that way, not even the worst criminal.”

The redhead alpha cannot stop himself from being caught so off guard by the omega every time he hears this from him. He knows Lee means it, he knows he’s sincere, but he doesn’t get why it makes his jinchuuriki want to mate him in his stead.

There’s something about this omega that gets underneath his skin and he doesn’t know if he should read this as a good thing or not. All he can do is admit that he’s not repulsed or annoyed by his presence. Other than this, he’s not sure what to make of his feelings concerning the omega in front of him.

“I see…you’re as wonderfully naïve as ever. Telling me of the advantage you have—it’s rather unbecoming of shinobi, don’t you think?”

“It may be, but I’d rather win by my own merit than Neji’s doing.”

Right, the Hyuuga alpha, the one who cannot stop glaring at him even now.

He doesn’t care about what he thinks or does. All he cares about is figuring this omega out since he never had anyone try to save his life from a horrible death before. He’s had people trying to kill him, but never has he had anyone trying to save him. While he doesn’t know what it is about this omega that gets underneath his skin, he is ready to sort it out in battle before he gets any more flack from his father for not doing enough to advance their mission to the next step.

He deadpans in his response, not budging from his spot as sand flows freely from his gourd, “You’re a strange one, I’ll give you that. I can appreciate what you did by telling me about this mark—you’ve saved my life and I cannot ever forget that. Just to let you know, I’m not going to complain no matter how little sense this makes to me.”

Lee grins enthusiastically, “Great! I cannot wait to give you the fair fight you deserve, Gaara.”

“…Whatever.”

It’s all Gaara could think to say. The omega is a strange one he needs to win against quickly if he doesn’t want to jeopardize the mission all over again.

Chapter Text

Fighting with Lee is interesting, that’s for certain.

Speed, agility, the force of his kicks and punches…it’d be a shame for this village to not have him in their arsenal. He can easily understand why Might Guy fought so hard to keep his clan in the dark—he must be a hard working student to be as excellent at this as he is.

It’s too bad it won’t matter much in the battle against him. Shukaku can be impressed all he pleases; he doesn’t want to mate him despite the rather impressive beatdown he is receiving from him.

Now, he doesn’t understand the big deal about an omega’s flexibility and resilience or why so many Konoha alphas and betas desire this in an omega. To him it’s strange because in Suna culture such a thing isn’t really a desirable trait for an omega mate. In Suna culture, they care more about an omega having the proper hip shape to birth as many pups as possible.

To him this is incredibly creepy…though he can admit he’s far from normal by alpha, beta, or societal standards. Due to his own admitted abnormal nature, he knows he won’t ever understand how or why others can so freely obsess over, fetishize, and sexualize omegas and their bodies without feeling creepy. It’s something that will forever escape him no matter how desperate his jinchuuriki is getting to make this omega his mate.

All of this being said, Lee is easily the most flexible omega he’s ever seen in his lifetime and his resilience is something to be reckoned with. Ever since he ditched those weights on his legs at his sensei’s orders, he’s gotten far faster than before too.

At that point it felt as though he could stand to put some more effort into it than he so far, yet what really caught him off guard about the entire fight was the way Lee didn’t act scared of him or his sand. He kept going without holding back, cowering, or making any defensive decisions. It was strange, just like everything else about him, and he couldn’t get it out of his head—more like, he couldn’t get him out of his head.

He used some lotus whatever technique and managed to increase his chakra by quite a lot, which was as impressive as the fact he managed to deal a rather powerful blow to him.

Though out of nowhere, he noticed the omega struggling to keep standing after using this technique. He noticed he was twitching, tense, and acting as though he were fighting a war within his own body.

After a minute or so of this, he fell to the ground unconscious, stunning Gaara and everyone in the room.

The referee checked Lee and ultimately came back with a declaration of, “Rock Lee is unable to continue on with the fight, the winner of the battle is Gaara!”

He doesn’t feel as though he actually won. No, he feels as though he got cheated out of a proper victory more than anything else.

His seafoam eyes capture the sight of a smug Hyuuga alpha in the stands and with a quick glance to Lee’s marked hand, he can see some traces of a lavender glow there that disappeared as quickly as he saw it. Suddenly he understands what happens…

He didn’t defeat Lee.

He lost to Neji.

Immediately when Lee was using the dangerous technique he did, Kakashi was about to criticize Guy’s decision in this since in his eyes anyone that young shouldn’t be learning such things. He was going to until Neji beat him to the punch with his own very sexist critique, “Guy sensei, why would you teach such a thing to an omega who hasn’t finished puberty yet? Don’t you know what damage it will do to his body when he’s of the age of his first heat and his body becomes weaker in preparation for it?”

Wow, he really worked in the sexist biology take there! Kakashi is amazed at how skilled in his sexism this young alpha is.

Guy doesn’t move his eyes from the battle, letting him know then and there, “Omegas are not inferior to alphas and betas in any way, shape, or form. You know I believe very strongly in this, Neji, which is why I taught Lee how to open his chakra gates. His body isn’t getting any weaker than yours or any betas will during the age of the first rut. If any alpha or beta his age could handle learning this, then so can he.”

Neji was about to argue when Kakashi cut him off, “I admire your egalitarian take on this, Guy. What I don't agree with is teaching this to someone so young who could use it recklessly in battle.”

Guy was about to argue back when Lee suddenly struggled to stand and not long after that…passed out.

Gaara was declared the winner, but not without an accusation being made by an angry Naruto who could not stay away, “You bastard!”

Neji rolls his eyes and Sasuke almost wants to hit him for doing that to Naruto when he spoke to him, “What is it now, omega?”

“You made Lee lose, I know you did! He was fighting so hard, working so damn hard, and you took it all away from him!” Naruto shouted with a finger pointed at Neji and his eyes intense with rage, “How dare you steal this away from him, he could’ve won for all we know but now he’ll never get the chance to because of you!”

“Lee was being reckless and he paid the price for it. You have no proof I used the mark to make him pass out—he’s an omega, much like yourself. You should know that biologically speaking, omegas are the weakest sex, particularly when they are of Lee’s age and starting to mature more into their fated role in life. Don’t blame this on me without evidence; blame it on Lee for not knowing when to quit.”

Naruto seethed and shouted for the referee to hear, “There’s no way this is right! That alpha didn’t win and I won’t ever accept him as the winner! I demand a rematch when Lee wakes up!”

“He already lost, there won’t be any rematch.” The referee loudly yet coolly announces, to which the blonde omega growls and directs his anger to the redhead alpha, “I hope you’re happy with yourself, because you just had a victory handed to you, alpha!”

Despite his calm façade, Gaara is as equally stunned as everyone else here. He does know the Hyuuga alpha handed him his win. He doesn’t know why he handed it to him, but nothing feels more humiliating than knowing that his very skills are being doubted all because of him.

An alpha who needs another to hand him his win isn’t a real alpha, as his father used to say.

He used to believe that to be pure stupidity, only to discover how true this all is in the moment. Having another alpha hand him his victory is the most emasculating thing to have ever happened to him in his lifetime. He could’ve tolerated losing to an omega or beta without any issue. Losing to Lee wouldn’t have bothered him one bit.

Having his victory handed to him by another alpha though? That’s what is troubling him the more he hears the omegas in the stands rant about how he didn’t deserve his spot in the Chunin exams…no, it’s not just the omegas saying this. It’s the alphas and betas as well.

Usually such things wouldn’t bother him. A victory is a victory regardless of how it's achieved, yet there’s something distinctly degrading about having an alpha like Neji Hyuuga hand him a victory he could have gotten on his own.

He’s not positive as to why it feels far more degrading and emasculating to have had his victory handed to him like this. All he can say is there's something about this whole situation leaving a sour taste in his mouth as the alpha in the stands seems to reap the rewards of his actions, much to Gaara's own growing irritation the longer he observes him from afar.

He doesn’t strike at him because he cannot afford to get kicked out of the exams in general, but it doesn’t stop him from wanting to with every fiber of his being.

In the stands, Ino is as fuming as everyone else is. She wants nothing more than to hit Neji for doing whatever it is he did to Lee. However, Sakura takes her wrist before she can do so in an effort to prevent her from making any rash decision, “No, don’t do it. I know you want to punch him out, but it won’t get you anymore and it won’t help Lee.”

“Then what do you want me to do? Nothing?”

“Not at all. What we can do is keep an eye him while he rests in the stands and keep the other alphas and betas away from him. I’m sure he’d want that right now more than anything else.”

Since Lee wasn’t injured, he was brought up to the stands to rest until he woke up by the referee, with the young man asking, “Who’s going to be watching over him?”

“We will.” Ino replied, taking Lee’s upper body into her arms with Sakura taking his legs as they moved him over to the wall to rest for now. Sakura took his right side while she took his left. She was about to talk to Ino some more when Neji’s fight with Hinata was announced and the beta girl had to walk past them to get to arena where she’d be fighting.

She smiled at Ino as she walked past them, with an oddly positive, “I-I’m going to win for Lee, Ino. Wish me luck out there.”

“I will, Hinata! I know if anyone can take that jerk down, it’s you!” she was very positive in this and it led Sakura to pry a bit out of her own insecurity when she was gone, “You and Hinata seem a bit closer now than before…when did that happen?”

“Ever since we saw Lee at the hospital together and spent time together after that. She’s madly in love with Deidara and I know if I have her with me, I can bring him back to her someday.”

Sakura was a bit pleasantly surprised, having expected Ino to have actually started some sort of relationship with Hinata, “Wait, she’s what? I thought she liked Naruto!”

Ino shook her head, meeting the alpha’s girl gaze with her knees pulled up to her chest, “She was using him to replace the hole Deidara left in her heart…she tried to do that to me as well, but I stopped her from doing that right away. She’s realized it’s not bad to love him even though he’s gone for now and we won’t know why until we get him home. It was a big thing for her to do; I’m proud of her for it.”

Now she feels a bit stupid over feeling threatened by Hinata in the first place. Oh well, she’s not going to complain about it one bit. As long as she still has her chance to prove herself to Ino, that’s all that matters to her.

“I am too…it would be hard to deal with a loss like that. I bet she really suffered for the longest time when he’s been gone.” Sakura looks ahead, her motivation clear enough, “We will make it better one day when we bring him home.”

“Right.” Ino is confident in this, which Sakura is fine with because she knows her well enough to know that when she sets her mind to something, she will pull through on it.

It doesn’t stop her from trying to do what Sasuke was able to do with Naruto, “Ino…I know I have a ways to go with you…but…can we possibly go out on a date sometime? Just something simple, nothing big or fancy.”

The idea of dating Sakura didn’t make her feel awkward like the idea of dating Hinata did. However, she is a bit torn on the issue because while she can acknowledge Sakura has changed for the better so far, she’s not sure if she’s ready for dating or not like Naruto apparently is.

She was about to tell her this only to be broken out of her thoughts by Gaara standing in front of them.

She didn’t know what the alpha was here for, but she figured it couldn’t be for anything good. Maybe he’s mad at Lee for fainting like he did, maybe he’s going to try to mark him again like he did the last time—

“Why are you two by him?”

Ino answered without any fear or wavering in her voice, “We’re going to stay with him until he wakes up to keep the alphas and betas away from him.”

He takes in the sight of them sitting by his sides, coming up with a plan of his own on the spot, “I can do that for you two.”

“Why would you want to?” comes the question asked in a defensive tone by Ino, “How can we trust you to not place another mark on his hand? How can we trust you to not hurt him in his sleep?”

“If I wanted to do such a thing, I could have during our battle…I could have done it before then when I saw him alone in the hospital. I’ve had many chances where I could have hurt him and didn’t. Why would now be any different, especially since hurting him would end in my expulsion from the exams.”

Sakura doesn’t take this too well, finding it a bit annoying he couldn’t answer Ino’s other questions, “You’re not addressing her concerns fully. Why do you want to watch over him? How do we know you won’t leave another mark on him in his sleep?”

“I won’t because I have no interest to. I wanted to ask him about whether or not the mark from the Hyuuga played a role in my victory today. I can’t do that right away unless if I’m by his side when he wakes up.” he hadn’t expected the girls to agree, wondering for a brief moment if he needs to use force to achieve this goal or not.

Of course, leave it to a certain someone to get in the way of his plans.

“Ladies, it’s alright. You two can go watch the battle; I’ll watch over Lee.”

Ino doesn’t hesitate to leave him with Guy, knowing full well he will keep him safe no matter what, “Okay Guy sensei.”

Her light eyes fall on Sakura as she stands up and offers her a hand, “I may not be ready for dating like Naruto is, but I would like to watch this battle with you.”

Sakura is almost speechless in her moment of joy meets bewilderment, “You mean that?”

“I do. You kept me calm when I was watching Lee’s fight with Naruto and I am really grateful for that.”

With this out in the open, Sakura takes her hand and they go over to the railing to watch the fight between Neji and Hinata.

Sakura cannot escape the feeling of accomplishment, even if she didn’t think she accomplished anything. As long as she is getting anywhere with Ino, that’s all that matters to her.

Of course, Gaara didn’t quite get the interaction himself. To him, it was a strange conversation to have, but he didn’t stress himself out over it. All he did was take a seat—

“No way, alpha!” Might Guy stopped him before he could, “Not around my kid. I’ve already made the mistake of letting one alpha get too close to him and I won’t let it happen again!”

This is pretty annoying, and yet Gaara’s desire for answers leaves him willing to tolerate whatever it is this man is trying to pull, “I only want to ask him about my victory and whether or not the other alpha played a role in it.”

Might Guy takes the young alpha in—leaving him to believe the man is the strangest alpha in existence with how intense he was getting—and within what feels like a second in time gives him his final answer, “Fine, you may sit next to him until he wakes up.”

With this permission granted, Gaara does just that.

He will admit he wasn’t expecting Guy to sit by his side, “What are you doing?”

“Sitting by your side to be positive you won’t do anything to Lee again.” His smile fades then and his face takes on a serious expression, a small snarl escaping the usually energetic man, “I saw what you did the last time you two fought and I’m not going to stand for you marking him like that ever again. Lee already has enough on his plate with his clan wanting to see him and Neji’s mark on him. He doesn’t need you to do something stupid that will make things worse for him. Try anything on him and I’ll make you regret ever being born.”

…He says that as though Gaara hasn’t felt such a thing for a good majority of his life.

Oh well, he’ll indulge the mother hen if it means he won’t interfere in his plans, “Understood.”

That is all he is willing to say to him for the time being. He doesn’t own him a conversation or forced pleasantries. He only wants to speak to Lee when he wakes up and that’s it.

It doesn’t mean he’s not curious about the situation surrounding his clan. He wouldn’t doubt if Neji made the move he did today because of whatever is going on with the omega’s personal life…he won’t know for fact until Lee wakes up, of course. It doesn’t stop him from thinking this could be part of the reason why he humiliated him so thoroughly.

Then there’s Shukaku, reminding him that the Hyuuga alpha doesn’t like him because he sees him as competition for the omega. He finds this be to be inaccurate no matter what the jinchuuriki says to the contrary. There’s no way an intelligent alpha like that would see him as competition, not when he’s made his disinterest as clear as he has so far.

Or so he thinks this is how it should go. One thing he’s learning about these Konoha Genin is to always expect the unexpected with them for they are always full of surprises at every twist and turn.

Chapter Text

Waking up against a wall at the place where Neji’s battle is commencing isn’t something Lee thought would happen to him in the exams. Waking up next to Gaara isn’t as strange as this in his eyes at least, having already done it in the hospital after the first time the exams were put on hiatus, “Gaara? What are you doing here? Is our battle put on hold?” 

“No, our battle wasn’t put on hold. You passed out after your last attack and I was declared the winner.” 

Lee is disappointed, just not for the reasons anyone would think he is, “Oh, I guess I should’ve seen that coming.”

The alpha beside him isn’t usually so tuned in to the emotions of others, yet in Lee’s case, he is, “You’re disappointed as well, aren’t you?” 

“You’re disappointed with the outcome?” 

“I am, but only because I have a feeling that other alpha—Neji—handed me my victory over you when I wanted nothing of the sort.” 

“That really bothers you, doesn’t it? If it were someone from Konoha I’d been fighting, I highly doubt they would have cared about such things because a victory is a victory no matter what.” 

Gaara shoots a glance at him then due to his own disbelief at what he heard, “They actually would?”

Lee doesn’t sugar coat it for him either, “Yeah, I’ve had plenty instances of that happening back when I was in the academy and on missions. Why does it bother you? It really shouldn’t.” 

He’s right when he says this. It really shouldn’t bother him at all and yet here he is, being bothered by it. Gaara tries to explain it to Lee in a way he thinks is easy to understand, and if the omega doesn’t get it, then he’s leaving it to Temari or Kankuro to summarize it better than he can with far greater patience than he possesses, “You’re right, it shouldn’t bother me at all. A victory is a victory, but I was raised to believe that if an alpha needs another alpha to hand them a victory, then they aren’t a real alpha. I never believed it because I thought it was nonsense from my father…then I had a victory handed to me by the smug looking alpha and I’ve never been more humiliated in my lifetime.” 

The omega beside him rejects this thought, “I would think losing to an omega or having to fight one as an alpha would be far worse. At least, that’s what my family tells me whenever we speak and they learn of how I defeat alphas and betas in battles. Those conversations are never pleasant because they’re only mad at me for winning against an alpha or beta and good, proper omegas don’t do that.” 

Gaara gives him the most apathetic response possible to this tidbit of information, “You’re strange, but your clan is backward. To me, fighting an omega is no different from fighting an alpha or beta. If I were to ever lose to anyone, their gender wouldn’t make it more or less humiliating.”

He’s not lying when he says this. Man, woman, child, alpha, beta, omega…if he has to kill them, then he has no qualms against it. No one ever protected him in the past, so why should he care? Similarly, if he were to ever lose to any of the above, gender, age, or occupation wouldn’t make it more or less humiliating. The only humiliation for him would be found in how he lost as opposed to who his opponent is. 

To him, hearing how Lee’s clan gets angry with him over defeating alphas and betas in battle because it ‘humiliates’ them to lose to an omega is incredibly strange. It leaves him wondering just how backward these Konoha clans are to be so stuck on gender to the point where they cannot think of anything else in a situation. 

“That’s actually good to hear. I didn’t think there were any alphas or betas out there who think like you on this issue. I’ve encountered so many alphas and betas who act all offended or get madder when they learn when they’ve lost to an omega in battle. After a while, it gets depressing to see many people thinking like my clan does, but knowing you’re different makes me happy somehow.” 

It’s a messed up thing to be happy about. Gaara won’t comment on it any further than this because if he does, then he won’t ever get his question answered, “Do you believe the Hyuuga alpha caused you to lose the battle against me?” 

Lee looks at his hand—the one with Neji’s mark on it—sighing as he gives Gaara an answer he didn’t want to give him, “Please don’t be mad at Neji. All of it was my fault…I shouldn’t have delayed our match for as long as I did and now you’re paying the price for it. I’m sorry, I never intended for that to happen at all—“ 

“Quit apologizing for him and answer my question.” Lee is stopped by Gaara’s harsh growl, “I don’t know why you always apologize to me, I don’t know why you defend that alpha after all he’s done to you, but I want to at least know if he did something to steal my victory from me.” 

It was a harsh thing to say to the omega and yet Gaara felt as though he needed to hear it at least once in his lifetime.

On Lee’s end, it felt like a harsh slap to the face. A sort of reality check he needed to hear so he could finally give Gaara the answer to his question, “All I remember is after I opened my first chakra gate, I felt this sort of tensing of my muscles all over that I tried to fight and the more I fought it, the worse it got until I was too worn out to stand or stay awake any longer. I do think Neji played a role in it because the mark on my hand started to hurt really bad and I know I wasn’t feeling tired or worn out during our battle before then.”

Gaara cannot stop himself from seething in the slightest bit to the news he’s hearing from the omega, “I see…so he did hand me my victory. Can you think of any reason why he would do such a thing?”

He truly is the strangest omega alive because he already is answering this with a rather personal answer, “It’s probably because my clan wants to speak to me after this is over. Hiashi contacted them about my condition after Guy sensei did all that he could to keep them in the dark about it.”

“They know about the mark then and what all happened to make the exams go on hiatus for the time it did.”

“Yes, they do.”

If he sounds resigned, it’s only because he is. He knows his clan well enough to know they will make him fight Neji right away so he can become his mate. Being mated to Neji was what they wanted for him ever since he made Genin and wound up in a team with him. Now they know he has a shot at being his mate, they’re going to do everything in their power to make him it.

He can already hear the scoldings, the insults to his person, and the pressure now. They already sounded angry in the letter he received from them. He can only imagine how much worse it will be in real life when he has to actually be by them again for the first time in a long time.

Oh well. He should’ve done more to deal with this in the first place instead of trying to deal with everything on his own for the sake of the alpha in his team. In the end, this is all on him, “It’s alright though, I think they may be happy in the end when they see the mark for themselves…I don’t know if they’ll allow me to put off the fight with Neji any longer, but I know I’ll be fine if Neji passes to the next round of the exams. That way I won’t have to worry about losing everything so soon.”

Gaara himself has nothing to add to this. He’s not particularly interested in the omega’s personal life, but his stupid jinchuuriki is already making a move for him that he doesn’t want to happen.

Much like the previous mark he left on Lee, his jinchuuriki acted of its own volition and struck the hand where Neji’s mark was. Lee only felt it as a mild burning sensation that led him to unwrap the bandages to check on it.

Upon the sight of the mark on his hand, he’s stuck wondering what happened to make it so…grey now, “The mark on my hand changed color! It used to be a pure lavender now it’s a greyed down lavender.”

Yep, Shukaku acted of its own free will again and once more, Gaara is stuck paying the price for it!

Neither one of them got a chance to comment on it any further. The battle between Neji and Hinata ended horribly, with far too many adults having to stop Neji from killing Hinata, and Sasuke having to stop Naruto from trying to attack Neji over it.

Lee didn’t know what happened, but he felt a bit relieved after hearing about Neji’s being declared the winner of the battle. At least this way, he will have some time to delay his fight with Neji that could end in him being mated to him.

After the battles are announced and they are told to train for a month, those who passed the exam are more than ready to head on out to start on this training.

It doesn’t stop Gaara from approaching that infuriating Hyuuga to demand some answers out of him, “You handed me a victory against the omega.”

Neji’s back had been to him due to the fact he was heading over to the door to the exit the building with his team. It didn’t stop him from being rather inconsiderate in his reply, “So what if I did? A victory is a victory, is it not?”

“It’s not when you emasculate me like that. Are you insinuating I am too weak to win on my own?”

“No, not at all. All I did was ensure Lee stayed away from you.”

Gaara really hopes this isn’t going where he thinks it is…

“I don’t want you anywhere near him for as long as I live.” Neji then looks over his shoulder, his byakugan heavy on him, “I handed you your victory, be grateful for it. I didn’t do it out of concern for you; I did it to prevent you from trying to leave another mark on him again. Despite what you claim, your actions show some interest in Lee and as a Hyuuga, I refuse to allow you to ever have him without a fight that ends in your demise.”

Gaara doesn’t bother talking to him about this any further. No matter what he says, Neji will keep wanting to hear what he wants to hear from him. All he can logically do is let him have this, “I couldn’t care less about any of this mating nonsense or whatever. All I care about is knowing if that is the only reason why you gave me the victory you did.”

He doesn’t bother to give Gaara any other answer outside of, “I did it for the reasons stated. I don’t want you near my future mate ever again and I couldn’t trust you to not mark him again, so I did what I had to do to preserve our future mating. Don’t act as though you would’ve been any different from me if you were in my position.”

“Why would you need to fear me getting close to him now? If you were so afraid of that, you would’ve done more to keep him away from me when he was at the hospital.”

Neji ceases his walking for a brief moment to better explain, “I see you aren’t getting it yet…I guess I shouldn’t be shocked, but I suppose this is what I get for dealing with an alpha from another village.”

Gaara was stunned when he heard it from Neji himself, “Hiashi Hyuuga is the head of the main branch of my clan. He is the one who took it upon himself to better handle my situation with Lee. As such, in order to get Guy sensei out of this matter, he contacted Lee’s clan in a letter telling them of the mark I left on his hand and the one you left on him when describing why he was in the hospital as well as why the exams were put on hiatus. They weren’t happy in the slightest to see Lee keeping such big secrets from them, so they wrote him a letter that he just received early this morning telling him to meet with them, Hiashi, and myself today after the matches were done to speak about his future as my mate.”

Gaara is not bothered by this in the slightest bit.

“Before this month ends, Lee and I will be mated. Then he can end this ridiculous notion of being not only an omega shinobi, but one who makes it solely on taijutsu alone. He can start his life anew as my mate, living in luxury as he should’ve been this entire time, and being taken by someone such as myself so he won’t ever make the mistake of mating someone like you.”

Nope, not bothered.

Neji faces forward and keeps walking, allowing himself time to rue in his victory, “Not only did I humiliate you in front of everyone, I emasculated you in front of Lee all while showing him who he will one day belong to. Don’t be mistaken: you didn’t win, I did.”

As he walks further away after this is said, Kankuro had to hiss underneath his breath when approaching him, “That was harsh…you okay, Gaara?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Kankuro eyes him up and down, pointing slightly to his sand, “You seem a bit pissed off, that’s all. Look at what the sand is doing.”

The sand is creeping towards Neji as his angered pheromones begin to slowly fill the air, the scent of blood intensifying as it does so, “I’m not going to kill him now and jeopardize our mission any further. He got on my nerves a bit, that is all.”

Kankuro firmly believes ‘a bit’ is the understatement of the year. He won’t argue Gaara on it despite his own thoughts on the matter. He doesn’t want to be on his bad side, after all.

Though it doesn’t stop him from trying to make this tense situation lighter than it actually is, “I get it—you have a thing for the omega he was talking about, don’t you? You wanna be his mate someday and he’s standing in your way! Well don’t worry, I’ll teach you all I know about how to seduce a person and—”

“It’s nothing to do with that.” Gaara interrupts his brother, “I’m more mad that he emasculated me over something so petty than anything else. Besides, he can ramble on and on about mating the omega, it won’t happen at this rate.”

Kankuro is a bit suspicious of his confidence on the matter, “What has you saying that? You didn’t leave another mark on him, did you?”

He shrugged, admitting to his brother, “I didn’t leave another mark on him, but Shukaku did something to the mark left on him by the Hyuuga. I don’t know what all he did, but whatever it was, it had to be something pretty severe to alter the color of the mark to a grey tone.”

Kankuro doesn’t know what is going on here, but he knows if Gaara doesn’t know what fully happened there either, then it must mean something bad for the Hyuuga alpha.

Not that he would ever tell him this anyway. The guy’s a pompous ass and he deserves to lose all chances he has at mating the nice omega. After what he did to Gaara today, he’s pissed at him with a firm desire to do nothing more than to put him in place.

Lee gave a desperate gaze to his sensei, wanting nothing more than for this to not happen, "Do I really have to see them again? Can't you get me out this, Guy sensei?"

It killed Guy on the inside to tell him otherwise to the point where he felt like crying over the kid, "I'm afraid not, Lee." 

He didn't mind leaving him alone with Gaara at the battle today. From the way Ino and Sakura were acting, he knew Neji was going too far during his fight with Hinata. He knew he'd be needed eventually to keep him in line, yet Gaara didn't do a thing to Lee the entire time he was unconscious. All he did was sit beside him, patiently waiting for him to wake up. It was commendable in his eyes since any other alpha would have taken advantage of Lee in the vulnerable state he was in. It really spoke highly of the character of the young man who he left to sit beside Lee while keeping a strong eye on him from over his shoulder. 

In comparison, he does mind leaving Lee alone with his clan. He knows all too well what they are like...he knows what awaits his student when he's alone with them again. 

His clan is strict, conservative, and verbally abusive towards the omegas in it, treating them as nothing more than second class citizens. While Lee never gave any indication of being physically abused, it always stunned him how he could make comments when on missions and people reacted negatively to Tenten's methods of waking him up with a happy go lucky, "It's okay, I can take a punch!" as though it were nothing serious. He's tried asking Lee about it only to be stone walled by the omega who never wished to speak much on his clan. Whatever details he has of them from Lee, they're few and far between. He knows of their views, he knows of their politics, and he knows they treat all omegas there harshly. Omegas are expected to live up to incredibly unrealistic standards of beauty, be quiet, compliant servants to alphas and betas in the clan, and most of all do all that they can to put the alphas and betas first in their lives. Lee has said numerous times in the past how lucky he was to have never met his clan's standard of beauty for if he had, he wouldn't have ever been allowed to join the academy. No, he would have mated off very young instead to someone far older than him. 

The very idea of Lee, sweet innocent Lee, being mated young to someone far older than him was enough to make him ill. Thinking of him with his wide doe eyes full of life and joy being stripped bare of all of that by someone far older than him physically, verbally, and sexually abusing him made him nauseous. The fact such a thought never obtained such a reaction from his own parents has him wondering if they see Lee only as a ticket out of poverty and nothing else to be so flippant about who they would've mated him off to. 

(Lee has always said the only requirements to mate him by his family's standard are wealth and prestige; as long as one comes from a wealthy, high class clan then they can mate him. This has always left Guy particularly convinced they don't love or care about him and never have to be as superficial as they are about the requirements. When asked if one needed to at least be kind in order to mate him, Lee stared at him blankly, giving him a slowly spoken response of, "...No. Does that matter in a mating relationship? Because no alpha or beta treats any omega kindly in my clan." This only left Guy deeper in his belief of Lee's clan.) 

He wants nothing more than to protect him from his home, but Guy isn't his father and Lee isn't up for adoption. As such, there's nothing he can do to stop this, leaving him in a position of powerlessness he has never felt in his life. 

"I wish you were my dad like how Iruka sensei is Naruto's. Then I wouldn't have to think about class or money or mating Neji even though I'm not ready to be mated..." Lee stares blankly ahead of him at the building where his family wants to have the meeting at, "Are you sure you can't come with me?" 

"I'm sure I can't. This is something you'll have to face on your own, kid." he said to his student, his hands on his shoulders as he pulled him into a hug, "Don't worry, you'll do just fine in there! You're a strong young omega and you're only going to get stronger the harder you work. Don't let them get to you too much in there, okay?" 

"I won't, sensei." 

Sensing the tension in his body, Guy comes up with something to hopefully cheer him up, "Don't worry, after you come out of this, I'll be right here waiting for you. We can go get something to eat if you want or go anywhere you please! That will be fun, won't it?" 

Lee gives a forced grin that leaves him wanting to take the omega far away from these awful people for all of eternity, "I know it will be. I won't let you down: I will go in there and come out of this without so much a scratch on me!" 

As he enters the Hyuuga home, he swallows down his anxiety to face his family with a brave front. Meanwhile, Guy sticks true to his word: he's waiting for Lee the entire time until he comes out of there without so much a scratch on him. 

Chapter Text

It’s so weird to see his family for the first time ever since he made Genin. Their disapproval is already heavy on their faces, with his mother’s first words to him in over a year being, “Your hair is short. Mind telling me why that is?”

He has to fight the urge to be proper in front of his beta mother. Proper meaning no eye contact unless if ordered to and holding himself in a bow until ordered to kneel, “I cut it because I figured long hair wouldn’t make me beautiful anyway and I didn’t like it on me.”

He stood tall, no bowing, with his eyes meeting hers and it was the hardest thing he’s ever had to do in his life.

Her tone is dismissive yet her eyes are full of wrathful judgement for the very way he is speaking to her, “Oh, how interesting. Mind telling me why you are wearing that jumpsuit?”

“Because Guy sensei gave it to me. He said it would help with my training and it has. It doesn’t get in the way like my old outfit did and I can move with much greater ease than before.”

The snort he hears is as dismissive as her last reply had been. The only difference is this time, it’s met with a rebuking of him for wearing what he wants, “Wearing something that tight and revealing is a sure way to make yourself a target of rapists, don’t you think? Ever thought of showing some modesty? How are alphas and betas supposed to control their primal urges around you when you’re out there tempting them like this?”

His father isn’t saying anything. Then again, his father wasn’t ever the one who had equal say in the relationship. All he could do was nod and hold his tongue because his mother had come from a family with slightly better social standing and more wealth than his (though her family was on the lower middle class end, which was not much better than his but still better enough to mate her). If they wanted her family to keep supporting them, he’d have to be submissive and let her take the reigns on all things.

This is not to say his father is any better than his mother. On the contrary, his mother is vocal and extreme whereas his father is a silent enabler of everything she says and does. When alone with him, he hears much of the same, “Your mother may have gotten a bit too intense, but she was right…” before hearing how his mother is simply following her and his father’s clans’ traditions, how he should be happy and grateful to have such a ‘good mother who loves him very much’.

Sometimes Lee thinks if his mother were to ever die or find some way to leave him, his father would become just like her towards him but maybe a bit softer spoken with less harsh wording to make it appear as though he’s better when he’s not.

“Mother, I am not attractive enough for any alpha or beta to want me. They don’t even know I am an omega most of the time—most people mistake me for a beta because of my scent and most people don’t find me attractive.” Lee would defend himself a bit here for the first time ever in front of his mother, “Besides, this suit isn’t revealing. Most people don’t look at me and think of me in a sexual light in this. All they see is a student of Guy sensei, nothing more. Plenty of alphas and betas have controlled themselves around me in this in the past, I don’t see why they can’t now.”

“You can say this even though some foreign alpha left a mark on your hand after being exposed to you in such revealing attire? Have you no respect for yourself or your future mate?”

“That was a mistake on Gaara’s end! If he wanted to mate me, he would have. He’s very blunt like that, which you would know if you got to know him like I have.” he does his best to not tremble in front of her, to not grovel for her forgiveness by kneeling down and begging for it, “I do have respect for myself. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be standing up for myself now and I wouldn’t be telling you all of this and I certainly would not be telling you I am not ready to be mated to anyone.”

Her eyes narrow and Lee is left to feel as though he’s incurred her wrath, which is the last thing he ever wanted to do in this visit.

She stood up from her position and walked up to him, immediately backhanding him when she got close enough. She turned around after this to smile at Hiashi and bow, “I am so sorry, Lord Hiashi. It seems my son is speaking out of turn again—omegas are not to challenge alphas and betas of authority in our clan. It seems being away from home made him a tad bit too rebellious and whorish for it to ever be acceptable. If it would please you, he could live with us for a while before Neji mates him. You know, to relearn how to be proper to his mate.”

Hiashi wasn’t the one who spoke in this instance. Instead, it is Neji who rejects this, “That won’t be necessary. After Lee and I are mates, he will have to learn how to be proper by Hyuuga standards, not yours. I’d rather he not be anywhere away from myself or my clan for the time being.”

“Of course, who am I to stop you from being together as one?” she laughs whereas Lee can tell she is bubbling on the inside with enough rage to tear down a whole village.

“Right. Now, Lee, take off the bandage on the hand where Neji left his mark on you.” Hiashi ordered him and the omega did as he was told, seeing no point in starting conflict with this man when his family was already enraged with him.

The reaction was not what he had been expecting.

Neji immediately stood up from his spot, his anger barely contained as he gave a momentary glare to the mark on his hand followed by a harsh question to Lee, “What happened? The mark was never this grayish color in the past. Did that other alpha do something with his sand when I wasn’t looking?”

Lee didn’t want Gaara to get in trouble with him yet all the same, lying would only make it worse because then Neji would believe Gaara is forcing him to lie for him and he doesn’t need that, “He did, but I don’t think he meant to. I think he can’t control his sand at times and that’s why things happen when he doesn’t want them to.”

Neji seethed, not buying it for one moment, “Lee, that is the most ridiculous excuse I’ve ever heard from anyone, let alone you. Stop defending him and tell me this now—does he or does he not have any intention to mate you?”

“He has none! He would’ve told me if he did! Gaara’s not exactly subtle like you are, Neji.”

“An alpha is an alpha! This is the second time he’s interfered with our mating process; he clearly wants to mate you if he can do all that he can to keep me from being with you.”

He was about to challenge this when Hiashi spoke up, his eyes showing he had been using his byakugan to take a closer look at his hand, “Neji, calm down. The mark is not gone, but it is neutralized by the presence of another chakra that managed to weave itself into it.”

“What?”

“Whoever neutralized the mark is very skilled and powerful. While it’s not gone, certain things have changed. For example, the chakra point on the hand that connects to the major one on his scent glands no longer has your chakra weaving between them to enable you to make him your mate should he lose to you in battle. The other chakra point you weaved your chakra in that connected to other major points in his body has been severed as well, which means you can no longer make him bend to your will.”

Hiashi’s explanation is delivered with a certain nonchalance which only serves to make Neji angrier about the whole issue somehow, “Is there any benefit to my mark left?”

“The only benefit this mark has to you is one which benefits Lee as well; otherwise, all other benefits that only benefitted you are all gone.” Lee would learn what this is and be fine with it after hearing him tell them what it is, “There is only one thread of your chakra left on his chakra points. This one connects from his hand to the second major point on his scent glands. This chakra thread protects Lee from being raped, forcibly mated, or mated against his truest will.”

He stands up after this is said and announces to all in the room, “It appears Neji is not his future mate. Since no clan here in the room practices arrangement by tradition, Neji will have to win over Lee with his own charm and skill without the aid of a mark to keep all competition away.”

His mother wasn’t ever going to have it. Lee knew she’d be fighting this announcement with the default offer forever stuck on the tip of her tongue, “He can still be his future mate as long as you’re willing to pay a dowry price for him. I can give you the amount needed right now if you wish to proceed.”

Hiashi gave what had to be the coldest of stares Lee had ever seen in his lifetime when rejecting this offer, “Nonsense. We are Hyuugas; buying a mate is beneath us and to insinuate otherwise is to insult our prestige and wealth. Leave before you insult me any further and incur my wrath on you and your greedy, wretched, bottom feeder clan.”

Lee’s mother and father bit their tongues, refusing to get him madder at them than he already is. They leave without another word being said to him, yet his mother had one final thing to say to him in a whisper, “Don’t you dare come home without the Hyuuga boy as your mate. If you do, I will sell you off on auction and you won’t ever see Konoha again. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, mother, I understand.” he’s never heard his mother saying this to him before, but he has heard of people in his clan resorting to selling their omegas on illegal auctions to wealthy alphas and betas who cannot get mates for themselves in order to make as much money as possible. Typically these auctions attract foreign alphas and betas who take his omega relatives away only for him to never see or hear from them again.

“No, I don’t think you do.” she hisses when giving him her final threat, “Maybe I should make myself clearer… Mate that boy after the Chunin exams are over and I won’t sell you off on auction.”

With this final threat being made, his mother left him behind as her and his father left. Then he heard Neji asking Hiashi, “Can I not restore those broken threads?”

“You could, but it would kill him with systemic shock seeing as how those threads were entwined with his heart and nervous system chakra points.” the head of the main branch would give him the only advice he could in this situation, “You’re an attractive, intelligent prodigy, Neji. You should be able to win him over quite easily without the need of any money being spent or a mark to keep away the competition. You’re a Hyuuga. Hyuugas always win in pursuits of the heart.”

Neji doesn’t say much of anything to this, but he does approach Lee to make a vow of his own, “I know most of my mark’s effects are gone but it doesn’t matter. I will become your mate no matter what, Lee, even if it means I have to take the redhead alpha down from his pedestal.”

While this does make Lee feel as though there is bile rising up in his throat due to the threat his mother made only moments earlier, he shakes it off to be confident enough to reply, “I know you’ll do your best Neji, but I am not ready to be mated yet. All I ask is for you to leave Gaara out of this: he’s an innocent bystander in all of this whose sand is too much for him to control. Starting fights with him would be pathetic and beneath you, don’t you think?”

“I can’t make any promises on that, but I’ll do my best to respect your wishes.” he relaxes suddenly, taking his hand as he asks, “Do you want to go somewhere with me? I know today has been intense, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go somewhere relaxing.”

“I don’t think I can right now. Guy sensei is waiting for me, and I don’t want to make him worry.”

“Another time then? I’m sure you and I can do something together on another day.”

He remembers what his mother said about being sold off and he’s already tensing up. He doesn’t want to date Neji, but he feels he has no other choice in the matter.

The idea of being auctioned off and never seeing Tenten, Ino, Naruto, or Guy sensei again is too true of a reality for him. Before his clan had deemed him too ugly to get a mate on his own, let alone get one interested enough to buy him at auction, but now they know Neji’s interested in him he can’t hide behind his less than impressive looks to prevent such a thing from happening. Being auctioned off is a very real risk now and it’s something that scares him more than facing his mother did just now.

He doesn’t want to lose anything he has here in Konoha, which is why he is able to swallow down his apprehension to agree, “Yeah, another time would work better for me. I’ll see you later, Neji. I really shouldn’t keep Guy sensei waiting.”

“I’ll see you later, Lee.” Neji would walk him out of the home leading him to where Guy sensei stood.

He left him to be alone with their teacher, figuring he’d be able to spend time with him later. He needs to blow off a lot of steam from everything the devious alpha did to nullify his assured guarantee at mating Lee.

Guy hadn’t been too happy when he saw Lee’s parents again. To be fair, they weren’t the most excited to see him either, with his mother already taking the first shot, “You’re ruining our son!”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me, whoremonger! You with your loud, flashy, immodest dress are ruining my son! He’s so rebellious now, challenging me, not speaking in a bow with no eye contact, wearing that whore suit, and daring to talk back to me in such a disrespectful manner! If I didn’t know any better, I’d assume you were making a criminal prostitute out of him like the Yamanaka boy!”

He took an exhale to calm himself to stop himself from getting really mean to her, “Okay lady, you and I have never gotten along. I’ve never cared for the way you treated Lee, I never cared for how you raised him, and I certainly never liked how awful you made him feel about himself for daring to go against your expectations of him. I can say what I despise most about you now is the fact you care so little about the poor boy you’d actually complain about him standing up for himself and being brave when he’s terrified on the inside. If I could take him from you, I would in a heartbeat because it’s obvious you’re not grateful in the slightest bit to have a kid as good as him in your life.”

He swore he saw money signs appearing in her eyes as something clicked in her head, “You know…if you want to mate him, all you have to pay is a healthy dowry fee and he can be yours.”

It took everything within Guy to not strike at her, “I would never want to mate Lee! He’s still a kid, a person, not property! You cannot sell him off like that!”

“I can as long as it’s clan tradition. You know Konoha law; clan tradition must be respected at all costs.”

Sad thing is, she’s not even wrong about it.

Omega rights activists have tried to get the laws changed. However, conservatives like those found in Lee’s clan have fought this, claiming that the need to respect the ‘freedom’ of the clan to exercise their traditions would be limited by allowing laws aimed at protecting omegas and giving them their rights to be passed. The fight was won by the conservatives at the cost of the safety and wellbeing of the omegas. Because of this, Lee’s clan can get away with selling him so openly as long as they claim it’s all a part of their tradition. It’s also how they get away with abusing and discriminating against omegas as well.

“You’re right it does say that, but know now if you try to sell Lee off so openly like this again, I may have to strike you myself.” Guy warned her, which led into the beta woman scoffing, “Like you would. Consider my offer and let me know if you’re interested in three days. Any day after that and all consideration will be null and void.”

He struck her hard enough across the face to send her flying across from him into some bushes nearby, his growl barely concealed, “You better not offer him to anyone so openly ever again. If I ever find out about it, I will do far worse to you and your entire clan for trying to hurt him. Now, leave, and don’t upset him more than I know you already have.”

His father scrambled to get her out of the bushes and with a whisper, was able to get her to leave without another word being exchanged to him.

Guy is only lucky their clan is poor and widely hated by Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans. They have enough pull to stop them from trying to get him in trouble, though Guy wouldn’t care if he did get in trouble over what he did just now.

He did it to protect Lee and there’s nothing to be ashamed about that in his eyes.

After waiting a little bit longer, he saw Lee exiting the home with Neji by his side. Luckily for him, Neji did leave after getting him outside.

Lee practically ran over to Guy’s side, his eyes bright despite the bruise forming on his face, “Guy sensei, I did it! It was really hard and very terrifying, but I did it, I finally stood up for myself to my parents like you’ve been telling me to! Now I’m not going to be arranged to Neji and thanks to what Gaara did to his mark, if he does beat me in battle, I won’t be his mate automatically. I feel really good about everything, sensei, like I finally conquered something I didn’t know needed to be done till now.”

He’s not lying when he says this. Standing up to his mother did feel good despite the bruise forming on his face, but it couldn’t ever be enough to mask the growing fear forming in him at the idea of being auctioned off to some alpha or beta from another nation.

Guy, in the meantime, cannot stop himself from smiling despite the fact he cannot look away from the bruise he knows the omega had to have gotten from his mother, “That’s great, Lee! Let’s go out to celebrate, my treat!”

“I’d love that, Guy sensei!”

He needs to speak to someone about getting the poor boy away from his clan. He has a bad feeling they will only get worse if they are allowed to continue on undeterred for any day longer than they should.

Chapter Text

The following morning, Iruka had seen Naruto leave the apartment early for his month long training and he couldn’t be prouder of his son for making the final round of the exams. He always knew he could do it, but he didn’t think he’d leave so quickly without so much a goodbye. Oh well, it must be jitters because he’s going to be facing Neji Hyuuga. Even Iruka himself wouldn’t want to face him without being very well trained if he were in Naruto’s shoes; going off of everything he’s learned about the boy not only from him but Sasuke as well (Sasuke had walked Naruto home after the second part of the exams were over, which honestly warmed his heart since he’d been cheering for them to get together for so long now) he believes the boy is far more ruthless than he appears to do what he did to poor Lee.

He remembers Naruto’s distraught yet frustrated growl of, “It’s unfair, Iruka sensei! I cannot believe he’s allowed to cheat like that and get with it! How can everyone go so easy on him?”

“The rules don’t ban an alpha or beta from leaving a mark on an omega before the Chunin exams, no matter which kind it is. It also doesn’t forbid them from using it out of the omega’s best interests either. Going off of what you told me, it sounds as though Lee’s situation was subtle enough to where the referee couldn’t say for fact it had been used and even if he could, there’s nothing he could do about it rules wise since Neji could claim he was doing it to protect Lee.”

Sasuke seemed particularly bitter last night. He’s not sure what happened there—Naruto didn’t know and Sasuke didn’t talk about it—though he did also point out something to Naruto he was about to bring up himself, “He’s also a Hyuuga and that clan is treated like royalty in this village by the elders and hokage. No matter what he does to Lee, it won’t matter how against or in line with the rules it was; he can always hide behind either clan tradition or his clan’s name alone. They won’t touch him because of it and he knows it, that’s why he can afford to be so bold.”

Naruto wasn’t any happier over it, still seething despite hearing these very logical explanations, “That’s so dumb! I cannot believe this, when I become hokage, I’ll fix these sexist rules so no one ever goes through what Lee did!”

Iruka knows Naruto will fix things when he does become hokage, but it doesn’t change the fact that his friend is clearly suffering from the negative aspects of being born into a sexist society that likely won’t change until new leadership takes over.

He had been cut out of his thoughts—as well as his morning coffee—by a loud, frantic knocking on the door.

Thinking it was Kakashi, he was going to ignore it. Until he heard the voice of the sweet man he has grown fond of, “Iruka, are you there? Please, please be there, I need your help! It’s urgent!”

He was by the door before Guy could finish speaking. When he did answer the door, he was met with the man looking like such a teary wreck that he wanted to hug him at first sight, “Guy, is everything alright?”

“No, not one bit.” the man who is usually over the top in his optimism is stuck sighing deeply, his hands over his face as he tried to keep his composure, “Can I come in?”

“Sure.” Iruka moved aside for Guy to enter his home. The moment the door was shut, the poor man was nearing tears, “Last night, Lee had to see his clan after he lost at the exams to Gaara. Of course, it was all thanks to that cruel Hiashi for daring to tell them about the mark Neji left on Lee before the exams and why he was in the hospital for a while there, which is why they had it at the Hyuuga home. Well, I don’t know what was said or done there, but his mother offered to sell him to me as a mate when they left the home.”

Iruka had to pause for a moment to let the shock subside before gagging, “No…they wouldn’t. Lee is so young, sweet, and innocent—there’s no way any parent—” then he remembers what kind of clan he comes from and stops himself there.

Lee’s mother has always been cold, cruel, and dismissive of him with his father being a silent enabler who never once did anything to protect his own son as she verbally abused him in front of him. It only makes sense that they would be the type to be okay with selling Lee off to anyone who showed interest in him if it could benefit them financially.

At the pause Guy sighs, “You know they would. They’re too greedy to deny any chance at making money off of the poor boy.”

The alpha man in green sits down on his couch with a dramatic flop, begging him the moment his hands are off of his face and clasped together in front of him, “Iruka, seeing Lee leaving Neji’s place with a bruise on his face that I know he got from them was the most heartbreaking thing in my life yet he was so happy, so…proud because he finally got to stand up for himself like I’ve always told him to. I didn’t know it was possible to feel pride and heartbreak at the same time, yet here he was, making me feel both at the sight of him last night! He tried so hard to be happy when we out to eat, but I knew it was all an act to keep me happy. That boy is too considerate for his own good… I’m afraid it will do him in someday with his own family.”

He gets off of the couch and onto his knees, pleading, “I’m not one to ask for anything from you, but I need your help… Please, is there any way you can help me adopt Lee from his awful family?”

Iruka wants nothing more than to help Guy do just that. However, the laws are not in his favor as are the village elders who he knows will side with Lee’s clan due to them being as openly conservative as they wish to be.

“Guy…” he kneels down to his level and takes his hands into his own, being nothing but sincere as he met his gaze, “I’m so sorry. I cannot help you adopt Lee. By Konoha law, unless if a pup is abandoned by their family or loses both parents, one cannot adopt a pup.”

“But Lee’s family tried to openly sell him to me! Surely there has to be something to be done about pups in abusive homes like his!”

“I’m afraid not. The law of the village values clan rights and traditions over the safety of the pup. Because of this, it will be okay for them to keep Lee no matter how they treat him or how openly they try to sell him off to anyone as long they claim tradition and don’t abandon him.”

Guy looks so heartbroken and lost then that it deeply bothers Iruka to see him in such a way. He hugs the man tightly, holding onto him as he crooned, “I’m so sorry, Guy. I want nothing more than to help you, but I can’t. With the laws the way they are now, he’s going to be stuck with his parents no matter how poorly they treat him.”

Guy exhales and shakes his head, “I should’ve known better…you were lucky to adopt Naruto. Usually single parents aren’t allowed to adopt, especially single omegas, but Naruto was so unwanted so severely by the entire village that you were able to take him in no questions asked. I wish there were a way for me to save Lee from his fate, I really do, but I don’t know if I can.”

Iruka wants nothing more than to help Guy save Lee from his fate with his family. Thanks to the laws in place, he can’t. Abused pups are never saved from their homes because respecting clan tradition always comes first and foremost no matter what. There’s no system in place to save an omega like Lee in existence in the village—even if it was legal to, there’d be nothing in place to help him get out of there legally and safely without having to deal with his clan trying to get him back or endanger him in the process.

Though there is another issue here in trying to save Lee: the adoption laws.

Iruka was only able to adopt Naruto as a single omega because Naruto is widely hated in the village by those who are old enough to remember the attack from the Nine Tailed Fox. Had he tried to adopt any other pup, he wouldn’t have been allowed to because it’s illegal for single people to adopt pups in the village.

Though Guy is an alpha, he wouldn’t be able to adopt Lee because he is single. Even if a new law came into place to allow Lee to be taken away from his clan, there’s no guarantee he wouldn’t be put into another one worse than the one he is in now.

“You may not be able to save him from his fate now, but you can be there for him when no one else is.” Iruka cuts him out of his depressing thoughts, “Lee is basically alone in the world with the way his homelife is. Doesn’t he currently live alone somewhere in the village?”

Guy fills in a few blanks on something that has been on Iruka’s mind ever since Lee made Genin, “He does. Lee’s clan was afraid of his becoming a Genin though they allowed it. When he did it despite their doubts, they immediately concocted a whole bunch of rules in order to keep the younger omegas amongst them away from him and his ‘negative, poisonous’ influence: he was to live alone, far away from the clan, never see or have contact with them unless if they initiated it first, and the only way he’d ever be allowed in their home was if he were to come back mated and disavowing the shinobi life.”

“Can’t he live with you?”

“He told me he couldn’t. His family was very clear on this end; virginity is the only thing they saw then as being of value in him. In order to preserve it, they refused to allow him to live with any alpha or beta, claiming that they’d turn the alpha or beta in on whatever trumped charge of kidnapped, hiding a runaway, or attempted forced mating they could use to ruin that person’s life.” Guy seethed as Iruka released his hands, “They never said it, but it was always aimed at me on a personal level. It’s part of the reason why when she offered to sell me to him so flippantly, I snapped and struck her with a lot more force than needed.”

Iruka cannot blame him for this. He’s wanted to do the same to Lee’s mother and father more than once in his lifetime back when he was in the academy. He can only imagine how much worse she had to be for Guy—sweet, lovable Guy with his heart of gold—to strike her with the amount of force he says he did.

“You know what’s the worst part of this? Knowing that a kid I love like my own son is stuck in a horrible home with people who treat him like an object to sell off and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

His heart breaks for the man in front of him, feeling so distraught for the man yet also incredibly attracted to him at the same time.

Guy is so sweet, so loving towards Lee…though he may not be his father, he treats him far more like father would their son than Lee’s biological father does. With his enthusiasm for life and general positive outlook on things, he cannot deny it when he says Guy is the sort of mate he’d want to have in his life.

This is not just for his sake, but for Naruto’s as well.

Fact of the matter is, if anyone wants to mate Iruka or date him, they have to accept Naruto as his son and they have to accept the fact he’s dating to get a mating with someone who will be the sort of alpha or beta parent Naruto could need in life.

Now he’s not only looking for a parent to Naruto: he’s also looking for someone who’s positive, patient, understanding, and loving who happens to have an amazing sexual chemistry with him. He wants someone to grow old with, but ever since getting Naruto in his life, he knows has to find someone not only to grow old with but someone who wants to be a parent to Naruto.

Anyone who isn’t willing to accept his son as their future son isn’t ever going to be someone he considers for a mating. Naruto has to like his future mate or else a mating won’t happen, simple as that.

Which is why Guy makes so much sense to him. While he cannot speak on the sexual chemistry issue—which is a big deal for Iruka since he is a sexual person who’s had issues with past lovers who were nice enough people that turned into complete jerks in the bedroom—he can say Guy would be as wonderful to Naruto as he is to Lee. He can believe the man would be as willing to accept Naruto as his son as he is to Lee and if he ever wanted to adopt Lee (or got the chance to), Iruka wouldn’t stop him. If of anything, he could see Naruto being happy with having a sibling as well as someone to train him whenever Kakashi isn’t around.

Of course, he would talk to Naruto about this beforehand. He wouldn’t make any decision without his son’s say on the matter.

It still doesn’t stop him from believing Guy would be the best alpha to mate with, “I’m sorry, Guy. In my eyes, you are that boy’s father and no lack of legal forms will convince me otherwise. You’re the best thing to ever happen to that kid and I know he’s eternally grateful to have you in his life.”

Guy smiled, taking a deep breath in to calm himself down while getting out of the hug, he was able to speak in a lighter tone and mood, “Thank you Iruka; if it weren’t for your help and support, I wouldn’t know what to do with Lee. Whether it be preparing for the first heat he could be dealing with this year, how to give an omega student like him with the safest environment to learn to the best of his ability without being triggered into acting the way his parents want him to, or now with the issue on adoption…you’ve always given me the best advice. I owe you a lot. Is there anything I can do to show you how grateful I am for you?”

Now’s the chance, he can finally get himself a date with Guy, “There’s nothing you need to do for me. I’m more than happy to assist you with Lee.”

“No, I really owe you for everything you’ve done for me when you didn’t need to.” he asks him then with the shiniest smile he’s ever given to him, “What do you say we go out to dinner sometime? I know a good place where we can go to get some great food and drinks after a hard day of work.”

Here he had been expecting to ask Guy out on a date himself. This works great, but he has to be positive this is what he thinks it is.

With a smile of his own and a suggestive tone, he remarks, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d assume this is you asking me out on a date.”

Guy chuckles and it leaves him wondering what could be so humorous about this, “Iruka, I cannot take you out on a date! Kakashi may be my rival, but I’d never try to steal you away from him!”

Kakashi…leave it to him to ruin his chance with the one alpha he’s been wanting a shot with for so long…

He bites back his snarl to scoff, “Kakashi isn’t my keeper. I can date you if I want to.”

“Still, he’s my friend as much as he is my rival.” the alpha is firm on this, “I wouldn’t want to upset him and ruin that friendship between us. I’m sorry, but I cannot date you.”

“Guy, I know it sounds hard to believe, but I’ve wanted to date you for so long.” the green clad alpha is awestruck then as he continues, “It’s near impossible for me to find a date with anyone who’s interested in a serious relationship that ends in mating and being a good parent to Naruto. I’ve seen how you are with Lee, I know you’d be an excellent parent to him and Naruto if you ever got the chance, and I know Naruto would love to have you as a parent as much as I know he would be happy to have Lee as a sibling. You’re a great man with a wonderful heart who I’d love to be with…it also helps that you’re incredibly handsome as well.”

Guy clicks his tongue, coming to his own conclusion on the issue, “I see…you want some of this?” he gestures to his own with a flick of his wrist, “Well, sorry to tell you but as much as I am catnip to the betas and omegas, I am asexual and possess no interest or desire to ever have sex.”

Now Iruka’s heard it all, “What?”

“Yep, I only want a mate for the companionship, emotional bond sort of deal. I don’t want to have sex with anyone and honestly, I’ve never had the desire to, not even in my ruts.”

“What do you do during your ruts then?”

“I get this burst of energy that makes my attacks much stronger and increases my chakra enough to hold my own against Kakashi in battle.” he glances at Iruka with a raised brow, “You do realize I do all of my most dangerous missions when I’m in a rut, right? If I’m not on a mission, I’m training during it.”

…Now that he mentions it, he always did find it strange how Guy would be gone out of the village for a week on a mission and then come back smelling as though he got out of a rut. He didn’t think he was in a rut during those times, but it certainly would make sense.

Or how Guy’s scent would become one of a rut whenever he was doing intense training…oh.

Well, looks like things between Guy and himself won’t be working out then. Iruka cannot be happy in a sexless mating and he knows it’d be cruel to Guy, Lee, and Naruto to trap the wonderful alpha man in a mating relationship he wouldn’t ever be happy in.

“Ah…I see…” Iruka looks away from him then, feeling all sorts of stupid, “Sorry about that. We can still go to dinner as friends.”

“I’d want nothing else than that.” Guy heads over to the door, pausing to look over his shoulder, “Iruka, I know Kakashi didn’t handle things right the first time around or the others when you went out on dates with other alphas and betas, but he is a good man who would love to be with you. He just doesn’t know how to get it properly across at times. He’s rather…omega dumb, you know? Give him a chance and he’ll prove you wrong on everything you ever thought about him.”

Iruka has only one thing to say to this: “I’ll give him a chance when he can prove he is as good of a human being as you. If he can’t, then it’s never happening and he needs to move on.”

Guy figured as much. Kakashi really did mess things up with Iruka and he knows it will take a long time for him to ever get a chance to date him, “That’s fine, do whatever you like. I should get going, I have to train Neji soon for the final part of the exams. I’ll pick you up later at five, okay?”

“Sounds great, I’ll see you then.”

“See ya!” he waves the omega off before exiting his home.

The moment he is out of the apartment and Iruka is given a chance to relax, he hears a knock on his door.

He doesn’t want to deal with Kakashi right now, so he’ll leave him be. He needs time to take in everything he’s heard so far this morning.

Chapter Text

Sakura sighed as she realized Iruka sensei wasn’t going to answer his door. Naturally she had assumed he’d be available to talk to today since she had heard today was supposed to be his day off, but she supposes she got unlucky on this end.

In pure defeat, she decides to head outside in the hopes of seeing Guy sensei for some much needed advice. She didn’t really want to go to him—she had wanted to speak to an omega about this as opposed to an alpha or beta—but she figured she had no other choice.

She got lucky to go out when she did, too. He was almost a block away from the apartment by the time she was outside, leaving her to do a jog to catch up to the man who is quick even when walking, “Guy, wait! Guy sensei!”

He paused in his step to turn around and see her for himself, not being the least bothered or annoyed by her presence despite his potential tardiness for Neji’s training, “Sakura? What’s going on, did something happen to your sensei? Is Naruto okay or is he in trouble?”

“No, not at all. I actually…I…” she takes a second to catch her breath, her eyes hardly meeting his when she finally gets it out, “I need some advice. I was going to ask Iruka sensei, but he wasn’t answering the door. I saw you when I was coming up the stairs to his apartment, but I didn’t think to ask at first.”

“What is it you need to ask?” he is curious because he’s never had the young alpha come to him for anything before and he’s hardly ever interacted with her.

“It’s a question about omegas…mainly, how to tell if they’re ready to date or not.”

Now he’s pretty stuck on one issue ringing through his mind, “Why wouldn’t you ask your family about this? The Haruno clan isn’t as backwards on omega rights as Lee’s clan is. I’m sure they would be able to give you suitable advice for your problem.”

She huffs while crossing her arms across her chest, glaring to the side in pure bitterness, “My parents’ advice was to keep finding new opportunities to ask the omega out until they say ‘yes’. I can’t do that with Ino, she’ll think I only talk to her for dating and mating purposes only! Then she won’t ever want to date me when she says she is ready.”

He is amazed at how bad that advice is, yet he’s not too shocked given how her clan is, “You’re right there—that advice won’t work on a Yamanaka omega. They’re the types to jump to the conclusions you’ve voiced concerns about. Ino does hold Deidara in high esteem and he was the type to try to blow a person’s arm off if he thought they were trying to use him, so I can imagine her being similar enough to him on that issue with a difference in how she handles it.”

Sadly enough, Sakura knows what he said is true. Deidara was the type to use his jutsu to attack those who he thought were trying to use him for heat sex or take advantage of him. Ino always defended him on his extreme reactions and while she does know she wouldn’t ever go as far as Deidara, she knows if she keeps asking her out whenever it feels right she will come to the conclusion she’s only speaking to her to get a date or heat sex out of her. She won’t react violently, but she will be chewed out and any and all progress she’s made will have been for nothing.

“So what can I do? How can I tell if she’ll be ready to date me or not?”

Guy does have a solution to this: “Simple, ask one of her omega friends if she’s showed any interest in dating or not. If she has, then make your move. If she hasn’t, then wait a while longer. If she never tells any of her friends if she’s interested in dating or not, then wait for her to ask you out. She’s a Yamanaka omega, they’re raised to buck the societal norms and be more assertive in getting dates with the people they like.”

His advice does make a lot of sense…Naruto can’t keep his mouth shut so naturally he’d be more willing to spill if she asked him if he heard Ino say anything about being ready to date or not while she can’t see Lee doing the same. He also does bring up another great point: Ino comes from a clan where the omegas are not devalued or mocked if they ask an alpha or beta out on a date. If of anything, her parents always taught her and Deidara to do whatever it took to achieve their dreams—whether that meant being an artist, becoming the first ever omega kunoichi, or getting themselves a date with someone they like. On that end, waiting for her to ask her out makes a lot of sense if she doesn’t want to come off as being nice to her only for selfish purposes.

“That makes a lot of sense…thank you so much, Guy sensei! You really are the best!” she cheers with a polite bow and her arms at her sides.

Guy gives her a thumbs up with his shiny smile, “Don’t mention it, kid. I love giving advice to those looking for it, but you could’ve gone to Kakashi about this as well, you know.”

She is taken aback by this sudden admission, finding it to be random to the point of it being off topic, “You can’t be serious…Kakashi sensei? I would never go to him for relationship advice! All he does is read smut. What good would going to him do for me?”

“You’re right that he’s a bit of a pervert…and shameless about it.” he can own up this about his friend, but it doesn’t stop him from defending him nonetheless as he points a finger at Sakura, “Despite this, he’s not a completely lost cause. He is a good man, but he’s terrible at expressing it which is why I can correct you on this. Young alpha, you are wrong about your sensei! Believe it or not, he’s dated and bedded more omegas than anyone I’ve ever known! In fact, he was quite the player for the longest time with a successful love and dating life whenever he felt the need to get serious about someone.”

Now Sakura’s positive he’s lying to her about this, “Uh huh…sure…like anyone would date that guy, let alone have him touch them during their heats and ruts.”

“That’s where you’re wrong! When he was in the ANBU black ops, Kakashi was the most desired alpha of them all alongside yours truly. Of course, he was a bit colder back then so he tended to stick to one night stands most of the time. He had relationships in the past, but they never went anywhere because he wasn’t as invested as he should’ve been in the other person. He is, as I call it, omega dumb.”

This is a term she had never heard of before in her entire life so far.

“Omega dumb? What’s that?”

“You know how there’s book smarts and streets smarts? Well, I call Kakashi omega dumb because while he’s very intelligent and skilled in many different areas, he is dumb when it comes down to omegas.”

She’s willing to hear him out on this end because maybe hearing her sensei’s faults in the past could benefit her in the end. She could learn what not to do with Ino moving forward from Guy’s cautionary tales of her sensei’s failed love life.

(Yes, she’s confident in calling it failed because if he can’t get a date with Iruka sensei, then he’s obviously not as good with omegas as he sees himself as being.)

He takes a breath to explain something to her he thinks she will need to know, “Kakashi is a guy who, when he did date omegas instead of having one night stands with them, would give them amazing heat sex while giving them nothing in the romance, affection, or emotional connection departments. Obviously, none of his relationships last beyond three or four months because of this. He used to always tell me great sex could fix everything, but I never bought it since my past relationships were far more meaningful than his because I focused more on romance, affection, and building an emotional connection with them.”

Sakura could connect the dots then, coming to her own takeaway of this cautionary tale, “I get it…Kakashi sensei wasn’t the most considerate person towards the people he dated. He thought all he had to do was the bare minimum and nothing else. He didn’t think about them or what they really wanted, while you did and that’s why you were more successful. I guess he learned nothing from his experiences if he can still mess up with Iruka sensei as badly as he does.”

“His inconsiderate nature wasn’t a choice. He comes from a liberal clan who taught him the wrong way to approach omegas: they literally had him believing that all he had to do was pleasure an omega and nothing else, leaving the omega in complete charge of all other aspects of the relationship without any interference from himself. Naturally, he took this to mean that showing respect for an omega meant giving them the best love making, but then leaving them to their own devices in all other areas of the relationship. To be fair, no one outside of myself really corrected him back then—there were a lot more openly sexist alphas and betas at the time so he thought he was being progressive and doing the right thing when he wasn’t.”

This is interesting to Sakura for a different reason than it would’ve been before.

She comes from a fairly conservative clan and has always wondered for years if Ino would have been more receptive to her affections if she had come from a clan as progressive as hers or the Naras. Even after what happened in the Forest of Death, she always thought that when it came down to getting any omega to date, the only ones who stood a chance of this were those from the progressive or liberal clans. It was easy for her to hold them to a standard of perfection for so long that to hear of such a flaw now has her a bit more optimistic about her prospects with Ino.

“Is that why he sucks at getting Iruka sensei to date him? Has he really not changed?”

He shot this down right away, “Kakashi is still omega dumb…nowhere near as bad as he was a few years ago, though. He knows what he did wrong back then and he’s trying to not make the same mistakes again. Sure, his flirting is cheesy, over the top, and unsettling at times, but that’s him trying to be romantic without falling back into his old habits.”

She mentally gags at the idea of Kakashi being seductive since all she can see when the image comes in her head is one of him acting like a drunken sleazy pervert looking for anyone to have sex with.

Nevertheless, what he said next did catch her off guard, “I know you cannot see it for yourself since you’re so young and haven’t known him for long, but Kakashi has grown a lot. He just doesn’t know when to quit when it comes to Iruka.”

She knows he doesn’t know when to quit with Iruka. He has never shown any signs of stopping his attempts to flirt with him in the hopes he will show some interest. Though this doesn’t stop her from realizing that Guy is right: she hasn’t known Kakashi long enough to know if he’s changed or not and maybe there is something she isn’t seeing that she will someday when she’s older and more experienced.

On that end, she can admit this conversation did her good. Guy did give her a fascinating insight into her sensei she didn’t receive once from him all while being patient enough to take time out of his day to properly explain it. Overall, she can see why Lee and his teammates think highly of him.

“Now, if you excuse me, I have to meet with Neji for his month long training before the final part of the exams begins. I’m already going to be late as is and I can’t afford to be more than thirty minutes late or else he’ll think I’m losing it.” he tells her when his back is turned to her, “I know he’s a bit eccentric at times, but you can go to Kakashi for advice, Sakura. He may not be the most romantic, true, and yet he’s learned a lot more over the years than you give him credit for.”

She has nothing else to say to him as he leaves in a rush to meet up with Neji. Though she can say she is now more curious about her sensei and what he’s like as a person when he’s not being their sensei.

Ino has today off from working at the flower shop, so she thought she would bring something nice to Hinata while she recovers in the hospital. She had chosen some white roses and calla lilies to give to her friend, hoping she’d be awake to see them.

She tries not to think of Neji because if she does, she’ll only be filled with the urge to hurt him for what he did to her at the exams yesterday as well as what she thinks he did to Lee to make him lose so quickly and easily when it’s not like him at all to do so.

No, today is not a day to be angry! She needs to be calm when seeing Hinata. The poor girl has already gone through enough, she doesn’t need to deal with her being mad when she sees her.

She had barely gotten down the street when she happened upon her omega friend out on a run, “Lee, you’re here? I’ve never seen you around this area before. Are you going to see Hinata too?”

“Oh, I was going to get some groceries. I would like to check on Hinata though, just to make sure she’s okay.” he glances to the ground then, his next words catching her off guard, “I can’t help but to feel guilty for how Neji acted. I should’ve done more to keep an eye on him during the battle—”

“What could you have done to stop him? Neji wouldn’t listen to you anyway. He clearly has no respect for you to treat you the way he does and he doesn’t bother to try to make things right with you either. If you ask me, I think there’s no need for you to feel guilty over something an alpha you know does. It was his decision to act that way towards Hinata and nothing you could have said or done could have stopped him.”

She didn’t notice it at first—Lee’s bright smile is enough to hide a lot on him—but when she did see it, her immediate reaction was to lean in closer as she asked, “Did that alpha jerk hit you, Lee? Why do you have that bruise on your face?”

He instantly covered it with his hand, shaking his head when insisting, “No, Neji didn’t give this to me, no alpha did!”

“Then who gave you this bruise? How did you get it?”

He appeared to be somewhat shaken by this, shaken enough to where he could mutter, “I don’t really want to talk about it, Ino. Not in public anyway…can we go see Hinata now? I don’t want to anyone to focus on this for too long.”

Knowing that it must have been pretty traumatic for him to not want to talk about it—Lee is an open book like Naruto is—she complies to his wishes, not wanting him to feel more uncomfortable than he must be, “Alright, we can do that. I still want to know what happened. If any alpha or beta hurt you, my clan can help. You can always come to me for help, never forget that, okay?”

“I promise I won’t.” he’s smiling yet his hand is still covering the bruise on his face. It’s only when they are a block away from where they first spoke that he takes his hand off of his face, “Have you seen Gaara around here?”

“No, why would you want to know that?”

“Because I feel the need to thank him for what he did to Neji’s mark yesterday.”

She’s curious as to what that is considering how much pride Neji seemed to take in it, “What did he do to Neji’s mark?”

He seems so happy when regaling it to her that she cannot help but to feel optimistic herself as he speaks with a pep in his step, “I don’t believe he can control his sand that well at times, but it worked out for the best. I found out that his sand changed the mark Neji left on me by making it so he cannot bend me to his will any longer using the threads of chakra he made that were connected to different chakra points in my body and it worked the same way on my scent glands as well, so even if I lose to Neji in battle, I won’t become his mate automatically!”

“Whoa, really? His sand did all of that? Now that’s impressive! I want to thank the guy myself now for ruining that jerk’s hold over you.” she beams at him as they continue their walk down the street.

“You should, he deserves to know how wonderful of an impact he’s had on me.” he gazes up to the sky for a moment, peaceful in the moment as he says, “I know Neji doesn’t like Gaara, but I don’t think he’s a bad person at all. I know I don’t know him all that well…but I think if I had been able to keep the mark from him to be his mate, I wouldn’t have minded as much.”

Ino doesn’t say much to this since in her eyes, anyone is an improvement from Neji, who quite frankly, doesn’t deserve him.

Chapter Text

They had tried to see Hinata, only to find the girl was still in critical condition and being monitored by the medical staff very closely. It disappointed the omegas, yet it did nothing to stop them from vowing to see her the moment she’s awake. 

It was when they were a ways away from the hospital that Ino noticed it—it looked like one of those Sand Genin…the guy one, not Gaara, but the other one. She doesn’t know his name, but she knows enough to know he’s connected to Gaara as a teammate. 

She nudges Lee slightly, whispering to him, “Isn’t that guy on Gaara’s team?”

“He is…” he paused and before she knew it, he had already rushed over to where he was standing (more like walking), “Hey, wait! You’re on the same team as Gaara, right?” 

He paused at the voice, grinning for a moment there as he thought about how hard Gaara insisted (well, hard in his own way, at least) that it was all Shukaku’s doing regarding the omega. He doesn’t fully believe it, knowing damn well he’s nearing the age of his first rut and him being himself, he won’t handle it like other people do. 

Gaara is a young alpha; they had all hoped he’d be asexual for the sake of everyone else’s safety—since they could not envision Gaara being attracted to someone in a healthy manner—but it seems he must like this omega to be acting as kindly (his standards) to him. 

As such, Kankuro can face Lee without any hint of frustration at being possibly late for his training. He can go so far as to give him a smile even, which he hasn’t really done here in the village so far, “I’m his big brother, of course we’re on the same team! You’re the omega he’s been talking to lately…Lee’s your name if I remember it right.” 

His energy is so off the charts that he’s amazed he managed to catch Gaara’s eye somehow. When he stops in front of him, it’s harsh and he’s smiling so brightly it almost blinds him as much as his high energy going into this relatively casual conversation amazes him, “You’ve remembered it rightly! I’ve been wanting to talk to him—you see, his sand attacked the mark Neji left on me and it altered it in a way I hadn’t seen coming.” 

He has a feeling this could be bad, but going off of the smile on the face of the blonde omega behind him catching her breath after her sprint to catch up to him, it seems it may not be so, “Oh? What did it do?” 

He’s practically radiating happiness at this point, leaving Kankuro to assume the best for once regarding something Gaara did to another person, “Gaara neutralized the mark Neji left on me. Now, he can’t control me with the chakra he put in it and if I lose to him in battle, I won’t be his mate automatically. It’s brought me nothing but great joy—I’d love to thank him myself if I can, is he around by any chance?” 

Someone wanting to thank Gaara for something he did to them? 

Huh, he never thought he’d live to see the day… 

“Actually, Gaara’s gone training, so he’s not really around right now. He should be somewhere in this area sometime after that. How about you give me your address and I’ll send Gaara to see you?” 

Normally this would be a death sentence, yet something tells Kankuro it could be good for Gaara to have someone say something so kind to him. The omega’s smile fell for a second yet thanks to his sharp eye, he was able to catch it in time, “I wouldn’t mind seeing him in person, but my place is a bit unremarkable and I wouldn’t want him to feel uncomfortable or think that I’m insulting him.” 

Ino finds this to be pretty interesting to hear. Her and Naruto do not know the full extent of Lee’s living situation—he’s never spoken much of anything on it and they’ve never asked. Though hearing him speak about it now has her curious with a twinge of concern for her friend. 

“If he’s up to it, the flower shop my family owns is open pretty late. How about he and Lee meet up there at five or seven?” 

She can tell he is grateful for the idea by the way he releases the tension building in his shoulders, and Kankuro doesn’t object either, which makes this a lot easier on him, “I think that would work…they can meet at five and maybe have a nice little date afterwards.” 

He is barely containing his laughter, allowing her to know he thinks this idea to be extremely absurd. Oh well, it’s no bother to her—she’s fine with his reaction as long as Lee gets his chance to thank Gaara in person.

“I’ll be more than capable of keeping that time! Thank you so much for giving me the chance to thank him…you really do not know how much good he’s done for me.” 

Now Ino is flabbergasted, fighting him on this end because there’s no way any of what he did is good, “What, no! Lee, he is the reason why you were in the hospital! Don’t forget that he still marked your hand without your consent!” 

“Shut up, blondie! If Gaara says he didn’t mean to do it, then that’s the truth on the matter. My brother may be powerful and cold, but he’s not a liar.” Kankuro argues, feeling that big brother instinct kicking in at the omega’s attack on his brother, “In case if you forgot, he was having a mental breakdown when he did mark his hand. There’s no way he could have done it on purpose in that state of mind, no one could’ve. So stop trying to pin the blame on him when there is none to be had on his end.” 

“It doesn’t change the fact it took him far too long to remove the mark. What took him so long? Why didn’t he apologize to Lee about the whole mess?” 

This is a question Kankuro has no answers for. 

It’s true that he could have removed the mark from Lee’s hand earlier without the long wait or anyone else getting involved, yet he didn’t think to do so once. He could’ve overridden the jinchuuriki’s will and wishes on the matter if he truly wanted; Gaara is no pushover, after all, not even to Shukaku. So…what can he say? 

Should he really give the omega in front of him false hope and state what he thinks is actually going on or should he give a neutral answer instead?

“I don’t know why. You’d have to ask him that yourself—Gaara and I aren’t the closest so it’s not like I know everything about him.” 

He’s not technically lying. This is the most neutral answer he could give, the only other option being a less confident, “He could be getting a crush on him” he didn’t feel right saying out to loud anyone other than Temari.

“I will make sure to do just that when I do see him.” he cannot believe the nerve of this omega!

If it had been the happy, upbeat Rock Lee asking this, he could see Gaara handling it well—Lee is the only one he hasn’t tried to kill in this village—but this omega? Hell no, he cannot see Gaara taking it well. Not only is she rather confrontative, but he has heard rumors about her clan…rumors mainly tied to a certain someone he’s nothing but bad things about.

If she’s anything like him, he knows Gaara will kill her for interrogating him.

“No, you really shouldn’t be the one to ask him that.”

“Why not?”

“Because if you’re anything like Deidara, then you will end up being killed by Gaara.”

Imagine Ino’s shock when she heard him say her brother’s name. She didn’t believe anyone outside of Konoha—minus the foreigners who came here—knew of him or his name, let alone the fact he’s her big brother.

It takes all of her self control to not get nasty towards Kankuro, her tone surprisingly even despite the shock and outrage she’s starting to feel, “How do you know of my brother?”

Kankuro isn’t lying when he tells her of this either, “I didn’t know of him for the longest time. All I ever heard back in Suna was the most beautiful omega to ever live resides in Konoha, one who could make sculptures from mouths on his hands. I never really believed it, I thought it was simply a merchant’s tale and nothing else. Our father told us about Deidara on our way to Konoha. He said to keep our guards up because he is known to hate alphas and betas—he believed he would come back to kill as many as possible in the village and take you back to his criminal hideout with him.”

Her hands are itching to ball up into fists, anger starting to take over her as she struggles to stay calm against everything slanderous she is hearing about her brother, “That’s a lie. My brother did not alphas and betas; he hated the sexism he received and saw them give to other omegas. My brother is not a criminal. He never was and I know if he breaks the law now, it’s only because he’s being forced to. Even then, what would any of this have to do with your brother not being able to take a question from me?”

“It would have to do with the fact as is: you’re his sister and from what I saw at the exams, how you acted towards alphas in the first half, I can’t help but to think you’ll be too hostile towards Gaara because he’s an alpha. He’ll pick up on that and when he does, he will strike to kill.” he doesn’t mince his words when meeting her pale eyes, “You may not look exactly like him, but you act like we were told how Deidara acted towards alphas and beta. With your behavior being the way it is towards alphas even towards me right now, you are the worst person to talk to Gaara.”

She was about to argue with him more on this when Lee stepped in to stop things from escalating, “I can ask Gaara myself! Ino, you can be in the room to be sure I stay on subject, that way you can get the answers you seek without angering Gaara.”

Lee means well, but it doesn’t stop her from being angered at what Kankuro said about her brother. How dare he say such slander to Deidara, the same Deidara who had been nothing but wonderful to her growing up. The same one she knows is not a criminal despite what people say.

If he has broken any laws, committed any crimes, it’s all because of Itachi Uchiha and when she finds him, she’s going to kill him and bring Deidara home.

“Okay, we can do that.” she bites her tongue and sets her anger aside for now to ask him, “How did your father know anything about my brother? Last I had been told by Asuma sensei, only those in Konoha knew of his current criminal status.”

“My father said he obtained intelligence on him, but I’m not sure when that was. Either way, I’m not convinced your brother is innocent. Anyone who can commit that much arson isn’t someone who’s right in the head.”

She was about to punch him when Lee grabbed her wrist, “Stop! Fighting like this won’t get us anywhere! We don’t know if Deidara is being forced into this life or not, but fighting over who’s right isn’t the answer!”

She when he did release her wrist, Ino was calm yet she had her head turned to the side, refusing to acknowledge Kankuro for another moment after everything he said about Deidara.

Kankuro, on the other hand, didn’t care about her reaction. No, he was too busy being impressed by Lee and his ability to handle a tense situation with such ease, “You’re right, fighting on it won’t get us anywhere…”

He is about to leave them be, figuring this talk to be over, when he looks over his shoulder one last time to tell him, “You’re really good at keeping angry people calm. You should try those skills out on Gaara sometime. I bet it would do him good to have his crush giving him such special attention.”

Lee blushes at the suggestion being made—he doesn’t know if he gets it or not, yet he can tell he is blushing at the idea of being Gaara’s crush—and stammers, “I-I guess I can try sometime, but it’s rude of you to call me his crush without any evidence.”

“Eh…I think I have enough.” Kankuro teases, “I’ll be sure to have him meet you at the flower shop at five or seven! Don’t leave him waiting, I wouldn’t want my brother’s heart to broken or something.”

The idea of Gaara in love or Gaara with a broken heart left Kankuro shuddering in terror. If he ever does decide he wants to mate that omega, he can only imagine it will be a nightmarish hellscape for him and Temari to deal with.

When he was far enough away, Ino couldn’t stop herself from openly hissing at the retreating form of the beta, “How dare he insult my brother like that! I know him well enough to know he’s innocent, why can’t anyone else see it? Why is everyone so hellbent on thinking he’s some willing accomplice when he’s not? My brother would never commit arson, he would never hurt a fly—that’s not who he is, it’s not who he was!”

Taking a step ahead of Lee, with a fist raised in the air, “How dare he or anyone else speak ill of him! My brother was this village’s pride and glory! That stupid, stupid Uchiha, I swear if Sasuke ever tries to steal Naruto from me like Itachi did to Deidara, I will kill him with my bare hands!”

Lee doesn’t say anything in response to her anger. Having gotten to know her better, he can say his opinion on Deidara is rather split and he doesn’t know which side to actually believe.

For starters, his clan was very much against Deidara. They viewed him as being improper, loud, rude, vain, spoiled, and a bad influence to all of the omegas in the village. When he left with Itachi, his clan used this moment to cast blame on the Yamanaka’s for raising him in a progressive home where he had equal rights and freedoms an alpha or beta child in any other clan would receive. They ultimately used his disappearance to insinuate it was because of his progressive upbringing that he became a criminal.

Which Lee found to be hypocritical given the much higher amounts of criminals coming from strict, conservative clans such as his.

He had always thought his parents’ views of Deidara was stained by pride, arrogance, and intimidation so he always kept an open mind on his case. Then when he met Ino, he began to learn more about Deidara and now, he’s pretty convinced both sides are simply looking at him with whatever views they want.

He doesn’t believe Kankuro would lie about what was said because he can’t see Gaara’s brother doing such a thing over someone he had no connection to. At the same time, he’s overheard Gai sensei in the past speaking to Kakashi sensei about having someone get Ino to drop her dream of ever bringing him home because Deidara was a lost cause.

Despite all he’s heard of him from her, he’s not convinced he’s completely innocent or completely guilty. He’s not sure what to think on him and in all honesty, the whole situation is enough to give him a headache with the little information he has.

“I know you probably didn’t meet him, but Lee, my brother was the kindest, strongest, most beautiful person I’ve ever known. He wasn’t just beautiful on the outside, he was so beautiful and pure on the inside it made his outer beauty all that more potent.” her fist falls to her side, making her sigh, “I know it’s easy to think he could be guilty, but I know my brother. I know he’s a great person. I know he would never, ever do anything he’s being accused of unless if he was forced into it and who better to force him into anything than that Uchiha?”

He doesn’t want to upset her further. As such, he places a hand on her shoulder and does the best he can to lift her spirits, “I know Itachi was said to be very powerful and a prodigy like no other, much like how Deidara was always called Konoha’s pride and glory for his beauty alone. I don’t know the full facts of this case to make a call on my end, but I will always support you and your efforts to bring him home no matter what."

"Thank you, Lee." she sighed, wiping away a stray tear from her eye before asking him, “What do you want to do today? Is there anything else you want to do to kill the time before you see Gaara again?”

“I’m fine doing whatever it is you want to do. All I was wanting to do was get my groceries, but that can wait until later.”

Ino had an idea on the spot, something that she thought he would like, “How about we go get something to eat? I know of some really places to eat thanks to Chouji that I think you would like.”

He grins, feeling a bit hungry since he had nothing to eat at his place, “I am feeling a bit hungry…it would be wonderful to eat something before Gaara comes to the flower shop. Okay, take me to the place Chouji likes to go to best! I know he has an impeccable palate and pretty high standards, so any place he suggests will be wonderful.”

“Okay, I know of this one place I think you’d like. It’s a bit pricey, but I have enough money to pay for the two of us.”

“No, you don’t need—”

She held up a hand and shook her head, “None of that! I want to pay for lunch for us. Whatever happened yesterday was obviously a mix of good and bad things, so I want to give you something good to outweigh the bad.”

He cannot help but to feel guilty despite her generosity, “Okay, thank you, Ino.”

“It’s what friends do, there’s no need to thank me for it.” she took his hand, leading him the way to the restaurant, “Come on, let’s get going. I wouldn’t want to go there when it gets really busy or else we’ll be waiting forever for our meal.”

As she leads him down the street, she cannot help but to feel disturbed by the fact those who never knew her brother think he is a criminal. In her eyes, this meant they were potentially withholding valuable information that could help her bring him home. 

Chapter Text

At the restaurant, Ino is feeling lucky because they managed to get here before it got too busy. The alphas that flood the establishment can be pretty intense and she’d rather not deal with them.

“Wow, this place sure is busy! Guy sensei usually takes me to places that are calmer than this.” he awes when walking in with her, “Are you sure Chouji eats here? I bet it be very slow when it’s this busy.”

She laughs at what he said, finding it to be cute how he didn’t know, “Actually, this is a great time to come! Chouji always comes here at this time because it’s not too busy. This place has the best udon and the only good curry chicken I’ve ever had in this village.”

“Wait, this place can get busier than it is now?”

“It definitely can. Trust me, we got here at a great time.”

He’s amazed to hear this, but then again, this is the sort of place his clan wouldn’t have ever let him anywhere near. The restaurant doesn’t hide it’s also a bar; there are plenty of patrons getting tipsy at tables not too far from them with various people in bright, flashy clothing dancing to the traditional music from the live band to entertain other patrons who are either watching with leery eyes or dancing alongside them.

If his parents knew he were here now, he’d be getting dragged out by his ear and backhanded with a harsh interrogation as to why he was at such a place followed by the reminder that omegas are not to be anywhere so suspicious since it will make alphas and betas of repute think less of them.

Ino was about to get a waiter’s attention when an alpha woman—clearly one who had just turned eighteen judging by how young she looks as well as how poorly she can hold her alcohol—approached them, with her eyes clearly set on her. She set her hand down on the chair beside Ino and, despite lacking some basic coordination from being a bit too tipsy, purred, “Hello beautiful, what are you doing here?”

She blinked, finding it to be odd since no alpha has ever actually said such a thing to her before because of her reputation as being an ‘alpha hater’, “…You’re talking to me, right?”

Ino was convinced she was talking to Lee, but when she didn’t move her gaze away from her, she knew she had been mistaken, “Who else here is as blonde ‘n cute as you?”

Now she’s feeling all sorts of out of place because this has just…it has never happened to her in the past!

Alphas and betas stay away from her because of her being Deidara’s little sister—the same Deidara who would try to blow up anyone who looked at her the wrong way when he lived here. The same Deidara they accuse her of being exactly like.

“…You must be mistaken. I don’t know you and we’ve never met before—”

“We met just now. Why not get to know each other better? I bet you’re nearing a heat or something to be out at a place like this… Why not share it with someone who you will never forget?”

Deidara taught her something to do whenever an alpha or beta is making her uncomfortable. Something that she feels Lee needs to see if he is to learn how to handle such situations in the future properly.

“No thank you, alpha. I’m not interested and I never will be.” was the warning sign Deidara told her to give first.

When the alpha scoffed and tried to grab her with too much force, “C’mon, beautiful, it won’t be that bad! Gimme a shot ‘n I’ll make you see stars!” she followed through with what her brother told her to.

She dodged the grab by getting out of her chair, grabbing her other wrist, she threw the young woman over her shoulder. Glaring at her as she lay on the ground, she hissed at her with a fire in her eyes, “Don’t try to grab any omega like that ever again, alpha, or else you’ll live to regret it!”

The young woman laid on the ground groaning, with a waitress rushing over to their side, “Oh no…what happened now, Ino? Did she get inappropriate with your friend?”

“No, but she did get inappropriate with me which is strange. Is she even from here? No one in their right mind would ever mess with me because of Deidara.”

The waitress grunts as she lifts the young woman up by placing her arm across her shoulder, “Don’t know, but she had to have a death wish or be pretty damn drunk to try anything on you or your friends.”

As she was moving the young woman out, Lee couldn’t stop himself from being in awe of his fellow omega, “Whoa, Ino, that was amazing! Where did you learn that from?”

“Deidara.” she responds with pride while getting back in her seat, “My brother taught me how to handle alphas and betas like that from a young age on up. He was amazing at that sort of thing.”

Lee has to ask because he is curious, “Does this sort of thing happen a lot here?”

She answers him honestly so he knows from here on out, “It can happen if you come at the wrong time. If you come when it’s lunch or dinner, this place will be packed with a lot more people and it will take forever to get any food. If you come at a time like this where there’s less people here to eat, you will run into more people coming here to drink and they can get pretty intense on the touchy-feely end of things. I’ve seen people like her hit on Shikamaru or Chouji and they always stop when Asuma sensei steps in. I’ve never had any alpha or beta talk like that to me until today, but hopefully she learned her lesson.”

She’s not sure if she will or not, but she can hope. If Sakura can start to change for the better, why not any other alpha or beta?

He hopes she did as well because that did not look like a pleasant way to learn her lesson.

“Has Neji been bothering you at all ever since the battles ended?”

She’s stunned with what she hears next, “No, not at all. He’s going to start training today for the next part of the exams.”

It’s stunning simply for the fact she didn’t think Neji to be the type to leave Lee alone for any moment of the day. Hearing he is willing to do so in exchange for a chance to train is somewhat relieving. Now she doesn’t have to worry and stress over her fellow omega being harassed by the alpha this next month.

A waiter does come by to ask them what they want to drink and both omegas ask for water for now, with Lee willing to try to the curry chicken and Ino wanting the udon. Of course, they didn’t have long to enjoy this moment between friends. No, it didn’t take long before they were hearing the scolding from a familiar face, “What are you two doing here?”

They both looked to see a frowning Kurenai sensei, the omegas instantly having differing reactions: Ino’s of annoyance and Lee’s of absolute guilt.

“I took Lee here to get something to eat.” Ino answers her calmly enough yet the beta woman was not too won over by the argument, “When there’s drunken alphas and betas about? Don’t you care about his safety?”

She had to force her snarl down in order to speak to her in any semblance of civility, “Lee is not some wallflower. He can defend himself from anyone if he has to.”

“He can, but why put him in a spot where he could be leered on by perverts in the first place? After everything that happened with those alphas marking his hand, why would you put him in a situation where something worse could happen?”

The young omega girl was about to get snappy with her when Lee got out of his chair to bow, “I am so terribly sorry! If we did something wrong by coming here, then I will be sure to leave at once!”

Kurenai—gaining a look of pity to her eyes that Ino suspects is from her having an idea of what Lee’s clan is like—softens her stance on the issue to the omegas, losing her scolding tone and hands on her hips as she did so, “No, Lee, don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong by coming here, really, but I don’t believe a place full of drunk alphas and betas is the safest place for you two to be alone at. How about I sit with you two so it’s safer for you to be here? That way I don’t have to worry over your safety around these shady alphas and betas who wouldn’t be above using your instincts against you.”

Ino is willing to make the compromise only because she hadn’t thought of it from that point of view.

Lee has been marked on the hand by two different alphas so far. While she can say after talking to Kankuro, she’s not too sure whether or not Gaara was as bad as Neji for leaving a mark on his hand and not removing it immediately, she was in the wrong here for automatically assuming Lee could handle a noncombat situation with alphas and betas in a manner devoid of the sexism he grew up being taught.

She shouldn’t have been so quick to write off what she heard Lee say before the hiatus. He had been deflecting blame from Neji completely and blaming himself instead the entire time they spoke about it. She knows enough about his clan to know they were the ones most vocal about Deidara being a criminal by choice…and she should have kept this in mind when thinking about how he would handle something like sexual assault, harassment, or alphas and betas being inappropriate towards him in any way.

He wasn’t raised like her, he didn’t have a Deidara there to teach him how to spot this stuff out and what to do when it happens.

Would he know to hold his breath when alpha or beta tries to intimidate him using pheromones or would he submit to them and blame himself for falling it later?

Would he know what to do when they use their alpha or beta voice against him? Could he hold his own in that situation enough to not fall into the instinctual fear response of becoming more pliable to the threatening alpha or beta?

She knows she’s horrible for doubting her friend like this, yet she feels a bit justified in it given what she had seen from him at the exams before the hiatus as well as what she had been told about his clan by her parents when they answered her questions as to why they spoke so ill of her brother.

“I’m okay with that if you are, Lee.”

Lee didn’t hesitate to invite the beta with a warm smile, “Then it’s settled! Come, Kurenai sensei, take your seat.”

She did as he asked without laughing at his exaggerated gesture towards the free seat at their table and sat down with them, keeping a close eye on the people here as she did so.

She doesn’t know what exactly possessed these two omegas to come into a restaurant bar with alphas and betas who are clearly here to get drunk before the different meal rushes happen. She hopes it wasn’t anything nefarious, “What all inspired you two to come here?”

“Ino brought me here because Chouji said this place has really good food.” Lee smiles widely, “I cannot wait to try the curry chicken! I bet it will be very good.”

Kurenai has a feeling as to why Chouji recommends this place to eat at, “Let me guess, Ino—Asuma comes here as a special treat for your team and you decided to bring Lee here because the food actually is good but you didn’t want to deal with it being so busy.”

Ino nods, amazed she got it all so accurately, only to see her place her elbow on the table and her hand on her forehead, “You do realize Asuma does subtle scenting to keep you safe every time you come in here, right?”

“Why would he do that? I can hold my own against any alpha and beta.”

“Because it’s a safety precaution to do for an omega student in a noncombat situation. He doesn’t have to do it for Shikamaru or Chouji because an alpha or beta will be far more likely to respect them and their wishes than they would for yours.” the red eyed woman explains to them, “Look, he comes here with me quite frequently and we never have to scent each other because the creeps here won’t do anything to us. This place has enough seedy people that aren’t above trying to get a young, underage omega into their bed—that’s why he subtly scents you every time you come here with him.”

She had no idea he did that…

“How do you know for fact he does this?”

“He told me himself when I got on him for admitting he brings you guys here to celebrate whenever you succeed on a risky mission.”

She pauses then, looking around the place and then coming to a conclusion: “We should leave. There are too many drunken alphas here staring at you two, reeking of pre rut.”

They didn’t pick up on the scent until after they had gotten closer to the door where the scents became thick enough for them to smell. To Ino, the scent of pre rut smells like a muted down note of bitter, rotten peaches. To Lee, it was a bit different and he said as much when they were out of the establishment, “That scent was strange—it was so strong it felt like my nose was on fire from catching a small whiff of it!”

Kurenai nodded in understanding, admitting to him, “I felt the same way about alpha and omega scents before they hit their ruts or heats when I was your age. I bet it had to be uncomfortable to be by such a scent.”

He doesn’t comment on it which leads Ino to believe it could be something either related to his clan or possible embarrassment over being affected by such scents. Nonetheless, she does offer them, “Well, I had gone there to get something to eat, but I can take you two somewhere safer for you guys to go to.”

Lee looks to Ino, who doesn’t want to make him any more uncomfortable than he already must be, “Alright, where do you recommend going?”

She makes a suggestion Ino and Lee hadn’t heard of before until now, “There’s an omega only tea house not too far from here I can take you two to eat at, but I won’t be able to join you—they are very strict on the whole ‘no alphas or betas allowed’ thing.”

Ino immediately agrees to it since such a place sounds far more wonderful than anywhere Asuma sensei would take them to eat, “I think we should go there! How about you, Lee? Are you fine with that?”

“It would be a lot better than whatever it is I had to deal with in there.” he concedes, nodding with a rather dimmed down yet forced smile, “I’m fine with anywhere we eat, but this sounds great to me!”

“Great, I’ll take you two there then.”

They didn’t mind spending time with the beta. She was soothing to be around, her very aura enough to put their worries at bay no matter what the situation would be.

Lee didn’t mind her bringing up a touchy subject either simply because he felt somewhat safe enough to talk to her about it on their walk over to the teahouse, “Lee, your hair isn’t long. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but does your clan know you cut it?”

“No, they didn’t know until last night when I saw my parents again.”

He doesn’t want to talk about what happened between himself and his family because he knows where it will lead. He knows he should, but he doesn’t want to deal with all of the drama that would follow from telling anyone about what his mother did to him during the meeting last night.

She hums in response, commenting then, “I thought they preferred their omega offspring to have long hair.”

What is said next is a fact which leaves Ino breathless, “They do, it’s why I was never allowed to cut it until I made Genin. I never told them I did it because I knew they’d tell me I wouldn’t be as beautiful as Deidara if I ever did cut my hair, but I’m not a Deidara look alike, so keeping my hair long felt more like a constant reminder that I’m not beautiful like him.”

“So they hold Deidara—the one they despise so—up as the ideal beauty standard for you to live up to?”

“Yes, they always have. They may despise him, but they could never deny his beauty. In my clan, an omega’s greatest asset is their beauty and without it, there’s not much to compensate for them. It’s why omegas are forbidden from having short hair or wearing the wrong clothing that only alphas and betas are allowed to wear. They never saw any worth or value in me because I don’t look like Deidara and I never will.” Lee looks off to the side, musing, “I hope that if I ever do mate anyone, they never make me wear my hair long. I don’t want to deal with the bad memories having long hair gave me ever again.”

Kurenai is slowly piecing together something she said she would look into for Guy.

She couldn’t deny looking at the bruise on his face when she first saw Lee and like Guy said, it was near impossible to avoid curiosity on. He believes Lee’s parents may have hit him during the meeting at the Hyuuga home the night before, but he doesn’t have any proof. Before he left to train with Neji, he had caught her on the street and asked her to try to get information from Lee on it.

She agreed and now, it feels as though she is getting a good idea of what happened.

Lee’s clan is openly sexist due to their conservatism. Because they are so strictly conservative, they believe in the old gender roles of omegas being forbidden from having short hair and alphas and betas being free to have hair of whichever length they please.

It makes her believe Lee was struck by his parents for cutting his hair when they ban such a thing in his clan.

She has no evidence of this, to be fair. Though it doesn't her from wondering on it all the same, "I'm sure that if you ever do find a mate, they won't make you wear your hair in a way you don't like it." 

At least, she hopes they wouldn't. 

Then he chuckles, glancing ahead of him in a bit of resignation, "Maybe, but if they do...then who knows? Maybe I could learn to like it on me after enough time." 

...She wants nothing more than to get this kid out of his horrible clan, yet she knows she can't do a thing about it. 

In Konoha, tradition will always surpass the rights of the omega child in a clan. Lee is damned, not by the universe itself or life: he's damned by the sexist laws in his village that make it impossible for him to get real help. 

Chapter Text

After dropping the kids off at the tea shop, Kurenai couldn’t help but to feel as though she hadn’t done as much to fulfill the task Guy requested of her. She frowns as she remembers his words from this morning all too clearly…

“Kurenai!”

“What is it?” she inquired with as little annoyance as she could on her one day off, “Shouldn’t you be training Neji by now?”

He smiled yet it felt forced to her, “I should, but that’s not a big deal right now. Well, not to me anyway…can you do something for me?”

Whatever it was, it had to be something pretty damn important for him to not only stop her on the street at random and say in the same breath that training isn’t important right now, “What do you need me to do?”

“I won’t be able to be with Lee this next month as much as I want to be. Please, keep an eye on him for me and try to figure out who it was that left the bruise on his face.”

Now she’s intrigued, “There’s a bruise on his face? When did he get that?”

He grows serious as he stands straight as a rail, his eyes filled with an angered fire in them she wasn’t used to seeing off the battlefield, “Last night…after the sudden death matches were over, he went to speak to his parents for the first time ever since he made Genin at the Hyuuga home. I wasn’t in the room when it all happened, but when he came out, he had a bruise on his face. I know it had to be his parents who did this…all the same, I won’t ever know for fact because Lee won’t ever tell me anything that could stand a chance of upsetting me. He’s been taught to place alphas and betas above himself no matter what; I know he’d put my potential happiness over his own comfort.”

It's times like these where she realizes how cruel the village’s policies are not only to omega children, but to the alphas who want to save them from their awful homes. It seems the elders and past hokages never took this into account. She wonders if they did, would they have enacted these laws in the first place? She doesn’t believe they would.

“I’ll do as you wish, but keep in mind, I cannot force him to talk.”

“Thank you so much, Kurenai! I would hug you, but I really should get going. Keep in touch with me about Lee, okay?”

“Okay, Guy.”

She really should’ve done more to get more information out of Lee. She knows she should’ve yet speaking to the omega about his clan and potential mate…it was heartbreak fuel she couldn’t seem to break through.

Oh well, she can always try another time. She did tell Guy she’d keep an eye on Lee for him and she will. She may not know what’s going on with him—scratch that, she doesn’t know what’s going on with him. It does not mean she will not give up on her agreement with Guy to keep an eye on him while he’s busy with Neji.

As she was leaving them at the tea shop, the omegas were at a table in the traditional shop—the workers were in kimonos, the floor was tatami mats, and the tables were all made of dark wood with the typical traditional seating arrangements.

Ino couldn’t help but to comment to Lee in a whisper, with her hand covering her mouth so the workers couldn’t see, “Are you comfortable here? Because I feel really awkward being here.”

Lee, on the other hand, was at ease with the tea shop. It was traditional and reminded him of his home—though if he thought too much on that, it would only upset him. As such, he settled for focusing on the beauty of the traditional setting around them in order to put himself in a more positive mindset, “I am perfectly fine being here. My parent’s home is a lot like this, but nowhere near as nice or beautiful.”

She feels like an idiot then for having forgotten for a moment how strict and conservative his clan is, “I should’ve figured you wouldn’t feel so out of place here…my clan is so against traditional gender roles that I grew up without ever having to go to a traditional setting like this. Deidara and I would wear kimonos for special occasions like festivals, but other than that we never had anything traditional at home. Being here feels a bit weird for me because of it.”

“I can understand the feeling…I felt that way for a long time after I joined the academy.”

She listens intently because she wasn’t used to hearing Lee speaking so openly about what he felt back then or possibly to the present time, “I was raised to never meet an alpha or beta in the eye when speaking, so having to do that was incredibly hard for me at first. I couldn’t help but to feel weird when I saw other omegas doing it too—if it weren’t for Iruka sensei, I wouldn’t have been able to meet their eyes now.”

“Why weren’t you allowed to meet their eyes?”

“Because that’s what proper omegas do; they show their submission by not making eye contact and bowing in front of an alpha or beta until ordered to kneel. If an omega breaks this rule, then they are disrespectful and don’t know their place.”

To Ino, this is incredibly backwards, ancient thinking.

To Lee, this is simply a fact of life from his childhood.

“Lee, that is so wrong.” she didn’t even bother to hide the disgust or disdain in her voice to what she heard, “I cannot believe you were raised to think that way. I knew your clan was conservative, but I didn’t think they were that backward.”

Oddly enough, while Lee wasn’t at all offended by the word ‘backward’, there was at least one waitress who had managed to have overheard her rant while not having heard rest of the conversation beforehand. She was going to bite her tongue until she heard Ino say: “Traditional views like that are so gross—I cannot understand why any omega would like anything traditional when it’s so steeped in sexism against us. I don’t get why the person who owns this place went with a traditional theme; all I know is, whoever they are, there’s no way they’re an omega. They must be a beta or an alpha looking to perv on omegas.”

She approached them without any fear, interrupting when she knew she shouldn’t despite the hot rage coursing through her at what she’s overheard, “Actually, Yamanaka, our owner is an omega. An omega who happens to like traditional clothing, tea making, aesthetic, and food.”

Ino is stunned by her sudden intrusion into their conversation. This was the reason why she didn’t reply for a while as she ranted further, “Yes, traditional views on omegas are deeply sexist and have no place in any time or place, but that doesn’t mean an omega cannot like the fashion, food, tea making, or festivals of traditional times and reinterpret them in a way to fit their own personal style and beliefs. My boss is nowhere near a wallflower and was not raised in a conservative home, nor does he hold any conservative views himself. He made this place the aesthetic it is because his loving alpha grandma raised him with it without any of the sexism you associate with it. He loves what he was raised with—he knows how wrong the sexist views associated with it are, but he reinterpreted it in a way that fit his own modern liberal views on omega’s rights. So before you go off making any more outrageous accusations, think before you speak and shame other omegas for liking something you were raised to abhor no matter what.”

Lee was about to say something to ease the tension in the air until Ino nodded slowly and said to her, “Okay, as long as this place wasn’t founded by some alpha or beta wanting to perv on omegas, then there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been so quick to write this place off the way I did, and I’ll do my best to never do it again.”

“Good.” the waitress was quick to recover with a smile, “Now that we’re done with this, is there anything you two want to drink?”

“I’ll have the cherry blossom green tea.” her pale blue eyes landed on the omega across the table from her, “What will you have?”

Lee was frozen for a minute there, having flashed back to the traditional way he had been raised in that moment and bowing, not making eye contact with the waitress as he spoke softly, “Green tea, please.”

She was left to reel in his sudden actions in response to the question and environment he was in, stammering slowly, “You can speak up, you know…we’re all omegas here.”

When he wasn’t replying, Ino was getting out of her seat to go over to his side, “Lee, are you alright?”

The waitress was confused as well, “Is he okay? What’s wrong with him?”

“He was raised in a very strict, conservative clan with very sexist views on omegas. He said this place reminded him of his home but nicer…” immediately, the waitress’ eyes widened as a hot blush of pure shame colored her face, “We were talking about it before I made the comments I did. I think something here must have triggered him to act like this.”

“I-I…had no idea…I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you! I shouldn’t have been listening in! If you want, I can get someone to help—”

“No, it’s fine! I shouldn’t have insulted this place or the omegas who like it here. You were right to call me out, but I think this place isn’t the spot for him.”

Lee, meanwhile, was trying hard to snap himself out of the memories of his mother punishing him so severely for acting improper at traditional places such as this. Doing all that he could to bring himself to the present, he pinched himself as hard as he could so Ino wouldn’t feel the need to leave.

“No, I’m fine! We can stay!” he announced loudly when instantly snapping out of his bowed position, “I like the aesthetic of this place enough to make myself stay no matter what.”

He faced the waitress and with a slight waver in his body, addressed her as confidently as he could, “I’ll have a plain green tea, please.”

“…Yes, I’ll be sure to get that for you right away.”

As she scurried away, Lee was left with a feeling of accomplishment he couldn’t help but to revel in. To know he had broken out of a bad flashback to assert himself to the best of his ability in a traditional setting was enough to make him want to cheer and dance.

He smiled while Ino went back to her seat, “Are you sure you’re okay being here? We can leave if you want.”

“No, I’m fine!” he pauses while looking around the place, trying to familiarize it with something other than his clan, “I do have bad memories of being raised in a traditional setting like this, but I also have good memories as well. I know it sounds strange to you and you will never fully get it… The fact is, I like the traditional aesthetic as well. I just never knew it was possible to separate it from some of the worst of what I was raised with. I can respect the owner here for being able to do just that and I will do my best to do the same moving forward.”

Ino cannot help to be anything other than in awe of Lee. Despite how he was raised and what he continues to struggle with, she can easily say he’s the toughest person she knows right after Deidara.

She was stunned when they left at how well Lee handled everything despite how triggering it must have been for him to be there. She couldn’t stop herself from being proud of him as he announced he would go there every morning so he could one day be in a traditional setting without scaring her like that again.

After they had their tea, they ordered some mochi and took up a conversation with the waitress. Then when they were done, they parted ways but it wasn’t without asking something that currently on her mind despite having left him to go home a while ago, “Lee, what happened when you didn’t obey the rules of your clan? Were you punished severely for it?”

Lee would simply blink, his hand coming up to cover the bruise on his face when he told her in all seriousness (as serious as he could get with that goofy grin of his), “I was punished, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle then or now. I would like to talk to you more, but I should get going. I need to get my food still and I don’t want to put that off too late—I wouldn’t want to rush my meeting with Gaara.”

She has a bad feeling about what happened there, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to pry. Lee already looked uncomfortable from her asking about it, she can only imagine how much worse it would’ve been if she had pried for more information out of him.

As she was nearing her home, she had an alpha clearly nearing their rut grabbing her firmly by their wrist, using her alpha voice clearly on her, “Come, omega, you’re going to be my slut for the week.”

She fought against the grip even with her instincts going haywire in an effort to make her submit in order to survive a possible brutal attack from this, “No, I’m not doing that!”

She fought against the grip, only to be pulled into her chest and have her breast groped as her perpetrator cooed in her ear, “Don’t be so difficult now, we both know you want it deep down… All you omegas—no matter how independent you claim to be—want to be knotted and bred. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to treat you right…unlike those people were said to have done at the Chunin exams, I will mate you with a real mating mark when we’re at it.”

Her voice was enough to make Ino’s stomach churn, but it didn’t stop her from trying to free herself.

Before the woman could land a kiss on her, she heard a low, deep growl which should have terrified her yet didn’t.

The alpha behind her froze for a moment before chuckling at the sound, “How cute…a baby alpha trying to scare me away. Nice try, but if anyone’s gonna break a Yamanaka omega, it’s gonna be me!”

This taunt ultimately got her nowhere in the end.

Ino couldn’t stop herself from being impressed as Sakura used shadow clones to attack her captor from behind and in front of her, making her loosen her grip on her in order to avoid being stabbed by kunai knives being held by each of the clones. With this loosened grip, Ino freed herself and got enough distance to land an attack on her…except, she wound up not needing to when she did just this.

Because she was nearing her rut, her movements were instinctual yet sloppy and predictable, which made for an easy target for Sakura to attack. It didn’t take much to take this woman down: all she needed was her shadow clones along with some well placed kicks, punches, and uppercuts in order to get the alpha woman nearing her rut to retreat before she passed out.

“Are you okay, Ino? Did she hurt you at all? Were you marked anywhere by her? Did she leave a Neji mark on you?” Sakura immediately asked when it was all over, having rushed over to Ino’s side to be certain there were no injuries or marks on her person.

In the end, Ino was overcome with a strange feeling of joyful pride at Sakura’s display of strength, “No, Sakura, I’m fine she didn’t get the chance to do anything to me before you showed up…”

She doesn’t quite know what propelled to do it, but she wound up saying, “You did a really great job there, Sakura! Thanks for stepping in and saving me.”

In response to her praise, the alpha stands tall as her shadow clones disappear into puffs of smoke, “It was no big deal, I was just coming over to your place to see if you wanted to do anything today—not as a date, but to hang out since we’re both free.”

She thought it over before telling her, “I’ll tell my mom about this first and then we can go. She’s been dying to hear about Hinata ever since she learned about what happened at the sudden death matches. If you want, you can come in and we can leave together when we’re done speaking to her.”

Sakura now feels the proverbial rug being pulled from underneath her feet as she realizes what all Ino has just said, “Wait—your mom wants to see me again? I thought she didn’t like me anymore after our fallout.”

“I told her we’ve been mending our relationship and you’re doing a lot to change. The fact you saved me just now without making any sexist comments or trying to pressure me into a date is major proof you’ve come a long way from where you were back when we were in the academy together.” Ino doesn’t hold back when giving her the news she’s been dying to hear, “You really are making great progress Sakura and I’m proud of you for it.”

She really does mean this when she says it. Sakura has come a long way from when they were back at the academy. Had this been the old Sakura—the one from before the Chunin exams—she would have made some backhanded sexist comment to her and pressured her into a date on the spot. To see her standing tall without having done any of the above has her optimistic about maybe one day having that date if she keeps this up…

No, she cannot date now! Not when she needs to bring Deidara back!

“Well, aren’t you going to come in with me? It’d be awkward to go in alone and then tell her you’re waiting outside for me after a while.”

Sakura nods, following her over to the flower shop, “Of course I will! I won’t mess this up for anything.”

Somehow, Ino can believe every word she’s saying this time around as opposed to the many time she’s heard this in the past from her.

Chapter Text

Kankuro, when in front of his siblings, felt odd and almost as though he were in a dream when breaking the news to them, “Gaara, the omega you marked on the hand wants to see you at that Yamanaka flower shop Deidara is said to have worked at around five or seven tonight.”

Temari is the first one to turn around on a dime to face him, her gaze sharp on him, “Yeah right! There’s no way that omega wants to see him after everything! Didn’t he have some meeting to go to after the battles were over? I’m sure he probably got mated to that other alpha.”

“That’s the fun part—he did, but it’s where he found out whatever it is Gaara did to the mark on his hand made it useless.”

Temari isn’t surprised by this in the slightest. Gaara is powerful and the Hyuuga alpha was needlessly cocky to believe for one second he could leave a mark on him that couldn’t be altered by Gaara in any manner.

“How so?” she’s not doing this to be a jerk; she doesn’t mean to be sharp in her questioning, but it’s coming out this way due to her own desire to have her questions answered as well as a fear of any negative reaction Gaara could have to the news.

He shrugged, answering her questions with ease while keeping an eye on Gaara the entire time to gauge his reaction, “Apparently, whatever he did to it made it so he won’t be automatically marked by the alpha should he ever lose to him in battle and the alpha can’t force him to bend to his will anymore by using whatever it is he did when he made the mark on his hand. He’s incredibly grateful for it so now he wants to thank Gaara himself for what he did.”

They now await for Gaara’s reaction to the news, with both of them holding their breaths as they realize they have yet to hear a word out of him or see so much as a change in his facial expression.

What they don’t know is simple: Gaara is struggling with everything that’s been going on ever since the omega tried to save his life before their first fight.

He’s never had anyone defend him before…he’s never had anyone try to save his life or so much as try to protect him, but this omega…he did all of the above and from what he can tell, out of the goodness of his own heart. Then he had the nerve to act as though he was somehow in the wrong when he wasn’t—as far as Gaara can tell, he wasn’t in the wrong for any of this—and never once was he angry with him or hated him for any of what he did.

He hasn’t been nice to him either, let alone patient or understanding. In fact, he views the omega to be self destructive due to his too caring nature. He’s still killed people, he still smells of fresh blood, and yet…he doesn’t hate him. No, he treats him as though they are friends—what can be stranger than this?

Now he wants to thank him for what he did…

Admittedly, he wouldn’t care to be in his position if he were an omega. He would have killed Neji if he were in his shoes if he’s allowed to be honest here. Going off of what he saw and heard concerning the Hyuuga alpha, he can safely say he understands why he would want to thank him for making the mark pretty much useless. Though he can understand his drive for wanting to thank him, it doesn’t change the fact it’s left a strange lump in his throat and he’s struggling to make much sense of why this person is being so damn nice to him instead of being angry at him like anyone else in his position would be.

Hell, if he’d been the least bit suspicious about him he could have accepted it better, yet he’s seen no signs of suspicion towards his behavior from him, making this all the more difficult to properly for him to properly gauge.

In the end, all he can do is turn his back to his siblings and focus on his own training, though it’s not without hearing Temari’s prying, “Are you going to see him at the flower shop? It sounds like the omega is being sincere in my eyes. Maybe you shouldn’t miss out on this unless if you want some sort of embarrassing display of love and affection at the third phase of the exams.”

Gaara almost shivers at the idea of anyone loving him, let alone enough to do something so ridiculous for him. He loves himself, that’s good enough for him—he doesn’t need the love of some omega he’s recently gotten acquainted with, “I will if it prevents something like that from happening.”

She is glad he is willing to go, though she is uncertain of his current demeanor.

He doesn’t seem angry or annoyed. He doesn’t appear to be going out on a killing spree soon and he looks very calm. Whatever is going on, she can only imagine it might end worse than they think it would or better than they hope.

She’s not sure where will the pendulum swing on this issue; Gaara’s been acting strange with the peppy omega ever since they came here for the exams, making this incredibly unpredictable.

Like Kankuro pointed out to her last night when they were alone, Gaara could have removed the mark on his hand without ever having spoken to him in the first place. He could have done it when he was still passed out in the hospital, yet he didn’t. The reason then being ‘I want to have him answer some questions for me that he may not answer without the presence of the mark’. Which, okay: Temari and Kankuro could both grasp this seeing how Gaara is. What they didn’t get was why he didn’t remove it after getting his questions answered or why he bothered to speak to the Hyuuga alpha at his home at all when they didn’t have to do any of it.

Their father is correct; Gaara could and should have removed the mark right away if he never had any intention to mate the omega in the first place.

He didn’t, blaming it on Shukaku, but Temari is starting to believe Kankuro could be right about their brother having what may just be the weirdest crush known to humankind.

Gaara and Shukaku have a fairly positive relationship where he can control the jinchuuriki with an ease too great for someone who is said to ‘loathe’ the creature within himself for making a ‘mess of the mission’. At least from what she has seen, Gaara can stand up to the jinchuuriki yet he hasn’t on this issue for a reason she can now only say is Kankuro’s conclusion: he has some weird sort of attraction or at the very least romantic interest in this omega and he doesn’t know how to express it right.

Maybe she could be wrong about it—knowing Gaara, he will insist she is with an icy stare and no words being spoken—but in the end, he is being far more civil to him than he has ever been to herself or Kankuro and he is going to meet with this omega in person to accept his declarations of gratitude. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?

In her eyes it does at least.

At the Yamanaka flower shop, Lee is bouncing in excitement at the chance to thank Gaara in person for his wonderful job at freeing him from the worst effects of the mark.

He can hardly control his excitement, which means his pheromones are stronger than usual and all over the place.

“Lee, can you please tone it down a notch?” Inoichi asked him as he tended to the flowers, “I would like to work without having to open another window.”

“Oh, sorry about that!” he apologized with a bow, mentally cursing himself for doing so when he did. He knows Guy sensei wants him to not do that anymore, but he can’t help it at times when it does happen as a reflex.

“Don’t feel bad about it.” the blonde man sighed, turning his eyes to him, “Deidara had the same problem when he was your age, but he learned to control it over time. I’m positive you will as well.”

He blinks, his jaw slackened by the news, “Deidara had a flaw? Everyone always speaks of him like he was some flawless being who never struggled with anything—even my clan speaks about him like that despite what they say about how he was raised.”

Inoichi gives him a blank look, clearly trying to hold back the anger and hurt Lee can see in his eyes. He knows this look all too well; he’s seen it on Guy sensei whenever he speaks to him about his clan and the traditions he was raised with.

Whatever Inoichi thinks about Deidara doesn’t change the fact he is a father who lost his son and never got the chance to recover from it, “Deidara was human; he did have his flaws and he didn’t always succeed in everything he did. For example, he always lost at shogi and go, he could never defeat Itachi in a spar, and he was too devoted to his art to really function like a normal kid at times. Despite his beauty, Deidara had no friends and no social life because he was always in his room, perfecting his craft. I always believed he had to be lonely deep down, but he always denied it with that sunny smile of his…”

He glances down at the roses in front of him, his expression revealing some of the hurt and anger Lee is used to seeing in his sensei, “I did everything I could for my son and for what? For him to runaway for no reason, to become a criminal, to possibly mate with that evil Uchiha? I know Ino loves him, but at times, I wish he would just go to prison already so I don’t have to deal with any of these questions anymore.”

He didn’t know what to say to the grieving man. Before he could up with just the right thing to say, Inoichi was shaking his head, “Ino thinks she can bring him home…what she doesn’t know is she setting herself up for heartbreak. Deidara is a lost cause; he made his decision when he left the village to never return. She’d be better off forgetting him and moving on before he breaks her heart next.”

Lee has nothing else to say. Whatever he says will only hurt Ino if she were to come back suddenly or get himself involved in family drama he has no right to insert himself into.

In order to change up the conversation, he does ask, “Where is Ino, anyway? She told me she’d be here when Gaara comes.”

Inoichi chuckles, meeting his eyes as he informed him, “She’s out with Sakura, believe it or not. It seems they have both patched things up…hopefully for good this time. The Harunos may be a bit more old fashioned than I am, but they are not a bad family. They are open to change when push comes to shove. I think Ino would benefit with having Sakura in her life again. She was only really happy when she had Sakura and Deidara around. When he left, it led to a falling out between her and Sakura happening I couldn’t help but to think wouldn’t have ever happened if he hadn’t been so inconsiderate of everyone here at home.”

Lee looks down then, not really knowing what to make of this. All he can do is try to keep changing the subject so Deidara doesn’t come up so often, “Sakura and her are together again? What are they doing?”

“Sakura wanted to take her out to the hot springs. Of course, I wasn’t going to let Ino go with her alone without knowing her intentions—so I decided to interrogate her a bit.”

“Interrogate her? I didn’t think Yamanakas did that.”

“Oh we do, but just not in the way those in conservative clans do.”

When Ino came into the shop to tell her mother of Hinata’s condition at the hospital, she was stunned to find her father there. Then again, she wasn’t the only one stunned here.

Inoichi couldn’t believe he was seeing Sakura after learning about the falling out she and Ino had years ago. He knew Ino had been talking about how Sakura is changing, but to such an extent she’d feel brave enough to bring her around them again?

Now that tells him Sakura must have made better, genuine progress than he originally thought when he first heard of it, “Hello girls, what’s up?”

“Oh nothing—where’s mom? I was going to tell her Hinata isn’t awake yet.”

“Your mother is out doing some errands.” his eyes take in the scene, with him noticing how close they are standing to each other as well Sakura’s protective stance around his daughter…his omega daughter, mind you.

It’s not that he doesn’t think Ino can protect herself; it’s more of he’s not trusting of alphas around her after what happened with Deidara, “So Sakura, how are things with your folks?”

Sakura was quick to reply, “They’re doing great, thanks for asking!”

He hums in response, wanting to know something, “Mind telling me why you two are together like this? I didn’t think things had improved that much between the both of you.”

“Ah, right! I guess it would be shocking after all of this time, huh?” she cleared her throat when making eye contact with him, “I saved Ino from being attacked by an alpha nearing their rut just a few minutes ago. I’m a bit on edge after it, that’s why I’m so close to her now, but I came here because she said I could.”

“I see…” he pauses and asks her, “You wouldn’t mind me going through your mind to be sure this change is genuine and you truly don’t have any ill intentions with my daughter, would you?”

Ino gasped out in horror but he didn’t care, “Dad! Come on, you can’t do that to her!”

“Ino, if I had been firmer with Itachi back then, I could have found out his intentions with Deidara and his clan. I could have saved them all from dying, I could have stopped Deidara from running away if I had only been more insistent with this instead of caving to Itachi’s smoothly spoken rejection.” he looks to her with sorrow in his eyes, “Please know I am not doing this out of this strange thought that I own you, but because I don’t want you to leave like your brother did… I know you already know this, but I can’t afford to lose you after I lost him.”

Ino was about to reply when Sakura beat her to it, “I understand, and I am not afraid. If this is what it takes to prove to everyone in your clan that I have changed from the past, then I will do it.”

His omega child glances over to her, fear in her eyes, “Sakura, you don’t have to do that! I know your change is genuine and your intentions are pure. Please, don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

“I want to date you someday, Ino. I want to be your mate—I have for years now and I’m not blowing my chance to do just that like Itachi did.” she said to her with her green eyes shining confidently back at her nervous pale blue, “I am not going to fail this. I will let him look through my mind and see the evidence for himself. I am not a thing like Itachi. I am doing this right no matter what.”

After this, the interrogation began at the building where criminals and enemies are usually interrogated, but this time around, it was Inoichi interrogating Sakura as Ino watched (she insisted on this one and he wasn’t about to reject her wishes here—though it would’ve been nice to not close the shop before coming here).

It didn’t take him long to figure out the girl’s intentions with his daughter. Sakura was as much of an open book as she had promised to be, freely showing her flaws and faults that led into Ino not being friends with her anymore as well as her sexist comments that made her not want anything to do with her with a side bit of her being horrible to Sasuke.

He also got to see what happened in the exams, all the way to the moment where her confrontation with Neji Hyuuga would become the catalyst for her change. He heard her apology, saw her improving relationship with Sasuke, and saw how she had stayed true to her promise so far by constantly doing all that she could to improve upon herself.

(Yes, he did see the parts where she spoke to Sasuke at the hospital and saved Ino. He was eternally grateful to this memory for allowing him the chance to find the monster who tried to take his daughter by force.)

At the end of the session, he had a bloody nose and a bit of fatigue. Nevertheless, he could meet the determined girl who had been nothing but honest to him and say to her with pride, “You’re a better alpha than Itachi will ever be, Sakura. You are allowed to spend time with my daughter alone and should you two ever date, you won’t hear any complaints or objections from me. You were honest, open, and laid your intentions bare for me.”

She smiles as she gets out of the chair, “Thank you sir, I am more than honored to hear this from you. I never thought I would.”

“Maybe in the past you wouldn’t, but you really are making a genuine change in your life and I can say I trust you to keep improving with age. Your intentions are pure as well, though I don’t know if I should say them with Ino around—I wouldn’t want to tell her anything you’re not ready to.”

She nodded, telling him, “Thanks for that…you don’t mind if we go to the hot springs together, right?”

He laughed this off, letting her and Ino know, “No, not at all! Go on and have fun! I know Ino can defend herself and you will be there to help should anything be too much for her to handle.”

He was met with Ino hugging him tightly, the relief she felt wafting off strongly in her pheromones, “Thank you so much, dad! I promise I’ll be home before dark!”

“Alright, I’ll hold you to it.” he said as she released him from the hug and told Sakura, “I think going to the hot springs together would be nice. We haven’t done that since we were really little kids, so it should be fun.”

“I know it will be.” Sakura took her hand and led her out of the room, “Let’s go before it gets filled with peeping creeps.”

“Yeah, let’s!”

Inoichi felt safe leaving Ino alone with Sakura. He knows she’s trustworthy, he knows she won’t hide anything from him, and most importantly, Ino hasn’t smiled like that ever since Deidara left.

It makes him feel happy to know his daughter is going to be happy and safe, unlike her brother who got caught up with the wrong alpha and is now a mess himself.

“Wow…yeah, my clan definitely doesn’t interrogate like that!” Lee exclaims, though to be fair in his case, his clan would never interrogate an alpha or beta. They’d interrogate him before banning him from doing anything with them.

(Unless if it’s Neji; his parents really want him to mate Neji.)

“I figured.” he stood up from his spot by the roses and went to get some water for them, “Sakura is a good alpha. I know she won’t drag my daughter down the wrong path.”

He nods to this, knowing Sakura to be an excellent alpha he could have had a crush on if life didn’t seem to mess with him in the way it does, “She really is a quality alpha, sir.”

Inoichi didn’t say much to this, leaving Lee to believe their conversation ended.

Then he heard him say, “I know your clan speaks ill of how I raise my children and I know you must have your notions of how my clan works because of it. All I can tell you is to not judge my family by your family’s criticism of my son—Deidara became a criminal not because I was too easy on him, but because I wasn’t firm enough on Itachi when I had the chance to be. If I wouldn’t have been as swayed by him and his reputation as much as I was, the clan massacre wouldn’t have happened and Deidara would still be here. It may sound nonsensical, but I promise you that is the truth.”

Lee doesn’t doubt it for a moment.

He may not know much about Itachi personally, but he cannot help to feel he may have had some manipulative tendencies that never get discussed in the conversation surrounding him and Deidara.

Oh well, he doesn’t have time to think about that!

Gaara has entered the building and is greeting him with a blunt, “You want to thank me, don’t you?”

He turns around on his heel and rushes over to the alpha as joy overcomes him. He hugs him tightly, not knowing what all he has done when he does so.

Chapter Text

It took him a while to register what was really going on. When it did hit him, he almost lost control of his instincts entirely and went primal on him. Through means unbeknownst to himself, he managed to possess enough self control to not go primal on him like the beast within him screamed at him to do.

He won’t get a mate out of this, he won’t, he won’t, he—

“Gaara? Are you okay? I’m sorry, I must have come off as being too intense.” Lee releases him from the hug, allowing him space to breathe, yet it doesn’t last for long as his too excited pheromones fill the air, making this harder for him to control, “I know it must be a lot for you to take in, but I really do owe so much to you… It’s only because of you that I won’t be mated to Neji automatically if I lose in a fight against him and he can’t control me with the chakra he put in the mark anymore either. I am free now and it’s all because of you! Maybe I’m being too crazy when I say it, I don’t care though.”

What else could he say to make this harder on him?

First he’s hugging him—Gaara’s never been hugged before so this feels like an out of body experience to him—then he’s thanking him so profusely and now he’s got more to say? What else can he do to make this harder on him?

“Meeting you has been the best thing to ever happen to me. Thank you so much for all that you’ve done for me.”

That. He can do that and really make him snap.

Suddenly, before Lee knows it, sand is randomly shooting all over the place inside the flower shop as Gaara struggles to maintain his civility—no, his own sanity—after everything he’s been told by him.

“What’s wrong? Did I do something to upset you again? Did you lose control of your sand because of me? If so, I’m—”

“Don’t apologize! I don’t want to hear any apologies out of you for this!”

Before the omega can say anything else to really make him lose all control in a breakdown, he unleashes his grievances on him, “Why are you like this to me? Why do you thank me? Why do you speak to me as though I am a friend to you when I am nothing but stranger?”

“I’m like this towards you because I may not know you or what you’ve done in your life, but I like to give everyone a fair chance.” he glances away from him at that moment, making Gaara calm down enough to notice his own apprehension in his eyes as he speaks on what may be a sensitive topic for him, “It’s also because I like you Gaara and if it weren’t for you, I would be mated to Neji now. I know I would have been if I hadn’t been so set on doing the right thing the day you marked my hand. I wouldn’t have a future if it weren’t for you—I’d be stuck mated to some conservative alpha who’d want me to birth pups after my first heat, stuck in a dead life…but thanks to you, I’m free to live my life as I please it.”

Gaara is taken aback by this, yet he smiles with closed eyes and shrugs to him when facing him again, “I know you probably don’t want me to like you, but how can I not? You saved my life from a miserable path when you used your sand on my hands. I will always be grateful to you for that no matter what and I will always want to thank you for it. I know we’re not friends, but it doesn’t mean anything to me. I will always speak to you like a friend because I know despite your rough exterior, you’re a good person.”

The alpha is suddenly composed…only to scoff at what he’s been told, “Good person? Who are you to say such ridiculous things? You do know why I reek of blood, don’t you?”

Lee’s eyes open to this and Gaara doesn’t stop himself from trying to tear down this omega’s image of him in front of his eyes, “I’ve killed many people…even my own mother with my birth. I live only for myself, I love only myself, and whenever I need to feel alive, I work with the demon within me to take a life so I can validate my existence to myself. Good person—how can you call me such a thing when I am none of the above? Tell me, how can you justify any of what I’ve done, any of who I am as a person to yourself?”

He doesn’t waver on his spot. No, Lee takes a moment to process this information and replies with what he feels in his heart is the right thing to say, “I don’t doubt your claims. I know you’re not the type to lie or sugarcoat anything you say to me. I appreciate that about you; far too many alphas and betas in my life sugarcoat things so severely to me it makes me believe they are patronizing me because I’m an omega who can’t handle ‘alpha and beta issues’. You did bad things in your life, but there’s always more to the story. I know there’s more you’re not telling me and because of those missing details, I can’t say you’re actually a bad person. You may not be completely good—who is? No one is completely good or bad, everyone has some redemptive qualities to them. It doesn’t mean I will ever think less of you…anyone can change, even you, Gaara. I know if you opened yourself up to it, you could change for the better like I had and still have to.”

He approaches him a bit closer and makes his stance on this clear as day, “You did bad things, but everyone has. I know I have—”

“Let me guess, you didn’t worship the ground an alpha walked upon once. How bad indeed.”

“No, I didn’t do that—I did something far worse…” Lee doesn’t like to think about it yet he knows Gaara won’t believe him unless if he says it to him, “I didn’t stand up for an omega relative of mine and they wound up being mated to someone awfully abusive towards them.”

Gaara is having a hard time believing the honest, bravehearted Rock Lee would ever do such a thing, “Like you would ever do such a thing.”

The genuine guilt in his eyes had caught him off guard, he’ll give the omega that one, “I’m not lying to you. I was very young when it happened—my clan is strict and very conservative. We are a poor clan though so it’s not uncommon for omegas in the family to be mated off to wealthy alphas or betas in order to get some money out of the wealthy mate. My cousin and I were close, close enough to where I knew of their fears of being mated to this alpha who was cold, cruel, and sadistic towards them. The clan didn’t know of it—if they did, they wouldn’t have done anything about it, but I know their parents would have despite the risk of being disowned. I never said a word about it because I was threatened by the potential mate with murder if I did. I was scared and I acted out of my own selfish need to survive—”

“It’s not selfish. Any child in that position would have done what you did. That doesn’t count as a bad thing like you think it does.”

“But it—”

Gaara silences him with a hard, “Unless if you’ve killed someone or something, tortured someone, or went out of your way to cause someone innocent harm in any way on purpose, then don’t tell me you’ve bad things as well. It feels insulting and like I’ve wasted my time hearing you berate yourself for something other people are at fault for.”

Lee pauses and his guilt is gone, leaving him with the carefree aura Gaara has come to associate him with, “You see? Stuff like this is why I cannot say you are completely bad! You didn’t have to make me feel better about myself, yet you did it anyway. You never had to see me in the hospital, yet you did. You never had to alter Neji’s mark on me or take anything I desire into consideration yet you still did no matter what. You could have killed me many times over and you never did either. Because of that, no matter what you do, I will always give you the benefit of the doubt enough to do this whenever I please.”

He hugs him for a second time, making Gaara wallow in his own primal urges to mark the omega no matter what.

Once more he manages to avoid mating the omega, but the moment he’s released from the hug, he heads over to the door of the flower shop.

Thinking he was finally safe the moment he went outside, he heard the sound of a gentle bell ringing in the air as Lee caught up to him to ask, “Ah, wait, Gaara! I need to know, why didn’t you ever kill me when you had the chance? Why didn’t you remove the mark in my sleep at the hospital when you had the chance?”

Gaara quickly turns this on him with a sharply spoken, “Where did you get that bruise on your face from?”

Lee immediately covers it, with the alpha keeping his back to him the entire time, “Don’t ask me questions if you can’t answer mine. The day you can tell me what happened after our matches were over is the day I can tell why you I didn’t get rid of the mark right away.”

“Wait, you want to know what happened after the battles were over? Why would you want to know that?”

“Like I said before, where did you get that bruise from?”

He can admit Gaara has a point there, “You’re right. It’s unfair of me to demand answers from you when I’m not answering any of your questions. I hope we can see each other again sometime soon. I do like talking to you.”

“Which is strange, but oddly enough something I can see you doing for anyone like me.”

“No, not for anyone like you—just you.”

…And just like that, Gaara went from a rather quick power walk to flat out using his sand to get away from him faster than he was before. He didn’t quite get why, though. Maybe he said something that offended him…oh well. He did mean it when he said it: he wants to speak to Gaara again because he knows he will be gone after the exams are over and he does like talking to him, no matter how strange that may be in his eyes.

Inoichi exits the flower shop to stand by Lee and tell him, “It sounds to me like you’ve got it pretty bad for this alpha.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What I mean is, you seem to like him a lot and if you ask me, he likes you back. He doesn’t seem to be able to articulate it well, though.”

Lee doesn’t quite believe this due to his own experience with Gaara, “I don’t think that’s his problem, I think may be he’s not used to people being nice to him. I know I was somewhat like that when I first trained with Guy sensei… I think you’re wrong about Gaara and I, though. There’s no way any alpha that handsome would ever look at me and want to mate me.”

Inoichi frowns, finding Lee’s lack of self esteem to be a red flag of something pretty damning about his clan, “Lee, you’re a cute omega. There’s no way he wouldn’t want to date or mate you.”

“No, it’s fine. I know my worth and I know it’s not on par with his.” he looks up to the darkening sky, a glow in his eyes that read of despair as he mused, “I’m lucky to have him in my life, but I know he won’t be staying for long. Once the Chunin exams are over, I’ll never see him again and he’ll find someone new to spend time with, someone who’s good enough for him.”

Lee knows there’s no point in getting his hopes up.

Gaara is far out of his league looks wise. Not only that, but he’s amazing in so many ways he simply isn’t. There’s no way anyone as powerful or handsome as him would want to date or mate someone like him. Gaara is also very blunt on top of it all; if he were interested in him that way, he would have confessed to it by now.

No, Gaara doesn’t like him like that, and he won’t allow himself to think otherwise.

Not only that, but his mother’s threat rings ominous in head as he remembers the painful truth: this is his last month of freedom.

This month is the last full month he has to spend with Ino, Naruto, Guy sensei, and Tenten…this month is the last full month he has to speak to Gaara and show him all of the gratitude in the world before he’s mated off to either Neji or put on auction.

He knows his mother well enough. He knows she wasn’t bluffing when she threatened to put him on auction. He knows if he doesn’t mate Neji when the exams are over, he will be put on auction whether he wants to be or not and he will be sold off to some alpha or beta from a foreign land who won’t be Gaara and he’ll lose everything he has…

There’s no point in thinking about crushes, potential crushes, or feeling anything romantic for anyone else. He’ll have to decide if he wants Neji as a mate or some random alpha or beta from another land so he can make the best out of his future mating situation.

“Worth? You’re worth just as much as him, if not more for being as patient, kind, and loving as you are to him. If you ask me, he’d be crazy to let someone as sweet and accepting as you go.”

He pauses in his thoughts to Inoichi’s words, wanting to believe them deep down only to know it could never be true. Gaara’s out of his league and he doesn’t like him. He cannot afford to distract himself with conspiracy theories like this, not when he still has yet to choose what he will do regarding his mating situation.

“…Maybe, but Gaara’s blunt. If he liked me or wanted to date me, he would have said so. He didn’t and that means he doesn’t. I’m fine with being his friend if that’s all he wants me as. All I ask is to speak to him a few more times before he leaves me behind for good, that’s all.”

Before Inoichi could stop him, Lee was already walking in the opposite direction Gaara went and heading back to his home with the grim reminder of his soon to be fate weighing heavily on his heart.

When he arrived back to his home—his tiny apartment that was tidy despite the small size and less than ideal location—he was met with a letter hanging on his door by a thick needle. Knowing it came from his parents, he removed the needle and took the letter with him inside his home. There, he turned on the light and read the letter, with a inhale he didn’t know he had until after he exhaled upon reading it.

Lee,

I am writing this letter to you to let you know I have begun the process of filling out the paperwork to sell you on auction should you be too incompetent to mate Neji Hyuuga. If you do not mate him after the exams are over, I will sell you off and you will never see this village again. For your own sake, I’ve sent you a copy of the form so you understand how dire of situation this is for you and how imperative it is you do not mess this up for us.

True to her word, right behind the main letter was a copy of the form she filled out for the auction he’d be sold at if he doesn’t mate Neji when the exams are over.

The form is mainly long winded paragraphs essentially asking the parents of the omega if they understand the ramifications of selling off their omega child (ie, running the risk of the omega ending up in an abusive home with an abusive mate, raped and killed on the first night, or leaving the village with a foreign mate to meet an unknown fate that could be worse yet) with both of his parent’s signature at the bottom along with his name right below them, under the part where it states ‘I hereby give up ownership of my omega child, Rock Lee, to the auction house’.

Make the correct decision and your fate is certainly going to be much better. Make the wrong one and you’ll suffer as you should. Either way, time is not on your side. Don’t use this time to dilly-dally about; use it to decide your future as wisely as you can manage.

I’ll see you when the exams are over at the clan home at sunset, until then, goodbye for now, omega

…It’s official then. He’s going to have to make a big decision for himself soon whether he wants to or not.

He will have to choose between Neji or a random stranger at auction, all while facing the fact that no matter what happens, he will never see or hear from Gaara again.

Chapter Text

Ino’s time with Sakura at the hot spring was not at all awkward, tense, or dramatic. All that happened was they chose the co-ed option as opposed to being separated into alpha only and omega only springs.

Sakura wasn’t particularly stunned by her choices. When they were kids, Ino always chose the co-ed options whenever they went to the hot spring. Her parents trusted her being alone with Sakura—Deidara not so much—and Ino herself didn’t feel afraid being around alphas and betas in the hot spring. Her brother had taught her how to defend herself and she was always more than confident being alone with her in the coed hot spring.

To be fair, Sakura understood why she chose this option. Ino had always been the one to save her from bullies when they were kids. She’s always been strong, confident, and fierce when it came down to protecting herself or anyone else from someone predatory. It always made her see herself lesser than as an alpha because while she always will appreciate and be in awe of these traits Ino has, she knows for a long time she failed in being any of the above and it took her a long time to get to her level on it.

Ino would’ve never cared if she wasn’t. She knows she wouldn’t, but the whispers she heard over the years from other alphas and betas in the village mocking her for not being ‘a real alpha’ to Ino was enough to knock down her view of herself.

“Heh, look at Haruno! Can’t even stand up for herself like a real alpha and hiding behind that omega—may as well be not be an alpha at all with the way she acts. How pathetic, I want to feel sorry for her but I can’t.”

…She remembers the teasing all too well if she’s allowed to be honest on the topic.

Being an omega in Konoha meant being constantly compared to Deidara. While he is said to be a criminal, he is still said to have been the most beautiful omega to have ever been born into the village. Many omegas are held up to his standard in conservative clans to this day despite the way they constantly slander the Yamanakas for the way he was raised. Sakura’s not too certain about clans like her own—her clan is mostly betas and alphas; while they are conservative, they are not as strict as other conservative clans—but she does know it cannot be any better than it is for the strict clans.

(She knows her parents were over the moon when they heard about her befriending Ino. They were convinced she would have a chance at mating another Deidara, but she didn’t want Deidara. She didn’t quite see the hype around him and to be honest, she still doesn’t to this day.)

On the alpha end, they are constantly compared to Itachi Uchiha, with Sakura being no exception to the rule.

She remembers her mother’s disappointed glances and her father’s exasperated scold, “How can you ever wish to mate the Yamanaka girl if you can’t be the alpha she needs? You need to be strong, someone who can confidently her from the horrors of our world—she’s an omega, she needs you to be her protector and provider. You ought to try to be her Itachi Uchiha. Now that’s an alpha anyone would want to have as their mate; he’s handsome, powerful, confident, intelligent, and comes from one of the best clans around. If you try to be more like him, then she’ll come to want you as a mate.”

She still struggles with not blaming herself for telling them of her crush on Ino back then because thanks to this, she got the idea into her head that she had be just like Itachi in order to win her over. Looking back on it, being raised around parents and society who enforced the ideals of what it means to be a ‘real alpha’ to alphas like herself didn’t do her any favors either.

In the end, she cannot complain too much.

What’s done is done. All she can do is be proud at herself for the progress she’s made since being confronted by Neji at the exams.

Before, she couldn’t handle coming to the hot spring with Ino without feeling territorial, clingy, jealous, and otherwise insecure of other alphas and betas around her. She couldn’t go long without snapping at someone and upsetting Ino or talking Ino into leaving early either.

Today, she was able to come to the hot spring with her without feeling any of the above. She didn’t feel the least bit territorial, clingy, jealous, or insecure around other alphas and betas concerning Ino. No, for the first time ever, she was able to have a conversation with not only her, but a nice beta couple without wanting to hold Ino close to herself and shriek at them to stay away.

Such a feeling is something so freeing that it makes her have a certain energy and pep to her step she otherwise never had in the past when here with her.

Ino herself noticed it right when they got in the water and were able to speak to each other alone for the first time since arriving here, “Wow, this is the first time you’ve come here with me actually relaxed for real! I didn’t think it would ever be possible after, you know…everything.”

Sadly, she cannot blame her for thinking this way, “I didn’t think I would either unless if we were mated, but after everything that happened at the exams, I am trying to make myself a better person. I even apologized to Sasuke at the hospital and helped him out with Naruto—if that isn’t a major life change, then what is?”

For Sakura, this is a far greater deal than anyone will ever know.

Sasuke and her never got along back at the academy. After he discovered Naruto had a crush on her—a crush she rejected more than once in front of everyone, mind you—he began his crusade of hate against her.

He would try to one up her all the time, humiliate her in front of others by pointing out how much ‘weaker’ she was than him, and worst of all, he started trying to tell Ino “You can do a lot better than someone like her—if Naruto can, then so can you”. That was the last straw for her. She stopped shrugging off his petty actions as simple alpha territorial behavior and started fighting back by telling Naruto in return to his brazen attacks on her around Ino “I would listen to Ino when she says to avoid Uchihas like the plague. I’ve heard horrible things about them from Deidara back when he was still around”.

Her finally getting along with Sasuke after spending most of her time barely being able to stop herself from making snide comments and backhanded compliments in response to his barbs is huge for her. Particularly when she remembers how at one point she had said to him, “I’d rather make you not end up with Naruto then to ever allow you anywhere near him after what you did to my chances with Ino”.

Sasuke and her are not friends. They’re not even acquaintances, but with time maybe they could become work acquaintances with a civil relationship at best someday. She’s not certain if she could ever like Sasuke all that much, but who knows? Maybe they’ll both change and grow enough to one day become friends. She won’t count on it for now.

“You’re telling me! I never thought you’d ever be nice to that guy.” Ino remarks with a chuckle as she leans back into the warm water.

Sakura asks without any fear or desire to secretly try to follow through on her instinctual commands to see her naked, “Can I wash your back, Ino?”

“Go ahead, I don’t mind.”

She’s quick to grab the white cloth she had brought with her to the springs and dampen it up just enough to wash the omega’s back. Things were going good, until Ino decided to ask, “I’ve missed doing things like this with you, believe it or not. You were always such a good friend to me for the longest time—then out of nowhere you unleashed that sexist rhetoric on me and insulted my brother. I felt so betrayed by you for the longest time, like I had been deceived to the entire time…it took me a long time to ever trust any alpha again after that. I can only do it now thanks to my clan and Shikamaru. I know I may be asking for too much here, but why did you change so quickly? What made you into the person you were to me for years?”

It’s not something she expected to hear out of her, but she does answer her, “I was raised in a conservative clan that is open to change…after a while at least.”

Ino didn’t say anything, which led her to believe it is safe now to speak up on the answer to her question, “I thought I had to be a real alpha in order to be good enough to mate you. Everyone always mocked me for hiding behind you, for not being as confident, strong, or fierce like you are. They used to say I may not as well not be an alpha at all for having to rely on you to defend me from bullies. It’s why I tried to stand up for myself more after a while when we became friends—it was to prove I was just as much of an alpha as anyone else. Then I made the mistake of telling my parents about my crush on you and they told me I had to be a real alpha in order to win you over and…I took their advice to heart.”

She slows her motions in washing her back when admitting through a small sigh, “Alpha children in this village are constantly held up to Itachi Uchiha’s standard in conservative clans, even one like mine. For years, my parents pushed me to be like him so I could be good enough for you like he was for Deidara. As much as Deidara’s beauty standard was a bad thing for those clans to force their omega pups to live up to, Itachi’s real alpha standard was just as bad for us alpha kids in the same clans. If we weren’t exactly like Itachi, we were seen as worthless by our clans, by other alphas around us, and by far too many in society as a whole even after he left with Deidara. I did all that I could to outdo everyone else so you’d like me, I really believed I wasn’t sexist because I didn’t talk exactly like Neji Hyuuga, but then he called me out and I realized I wasn’t any better. After that, I made it my personal mission to change so I can be a better person for you.”

Ino turned around suddenly and hugged her tightly. Now, Sakura won’t deny blushing or having a sudden to obsess over the feeling of her naked body against her own because her inner self is practically jumping in joy at it. However, what Ino said next caught her off guard completely, “You never had to be a real alpha for me! You were always good enough for me, Sakura!”

“What?”

Ino pulls away from the hug to confess to something she had repressed for years, something her own brother would kill her over, “Please, please don’t ever tell Deidara this when I do bring him home. He’d kill me if I ever thought this way.”

“I won’t tell, but what could it be?” she wonders when trying to figure out what the hesitant gleam in her eyes meant.

“Sakura… If you would have confessed your feelings to me back then without any sexist claims, I would have accepted them and I would have…I would’ve…I…” she pauses out of frustration, looking away for a brief moment before taking a strong inhale and practically forcing the words out of her mouth, “I wouldn’t mind being mated to you someday.”

This should’ve made Sakura happy enough to give a better reaction than her deadpanned, “Did Deidara really hate me that much? I know he didn’t like me, but that much? Who knew?”

Ino does something then Sakura would never thought in the past could’ve ever happened: her crush criticizing her big brother, the same big brother she remembers her idolizing growing up, “I may not be held to the same beauty standard my brother made as other omegas are, but I was held up to a standard of my own. My parents are okay with us mating; it’s Deidara who always had a problem with it. He always, always said the most degrading, self loathing thing an omega can do is to get mated to anyone in general. He said omegas who do choose to get mated are either victims of a sexist society or they are pathetic, spineless creatures who don’t deserve respect. He viewed mating as being legalized sexual slavery and I never saw it that way myself.”

“Then why didn’t you debate him on it?”

“Because I didn’t want to disappoint him.” she’s nearing tears when recalling it, “My brother was my personal hero. He meant so much to me that I never wanted to let him down or become an object of disgust to him. I wanted his respect, I wanted his pride, I wanted him to always look at me and say, ‘that’s my sister’ with a smile on his face. I could never fight with him, not when we were so close that I almost considered us to be more like twins than average siblings. Even after he left, I never wanted to disappoint him…to this day, I don’t want him to ever look at him in disapproval. Deidara is my world to this day and the whole reason why I am willing to kill Itachi Uchiha now with my bare hands.”

Sakura grits her teeth, hardly hiding her own contempt while doing all that she can to keep her pheromones under control, “Ino, this is why I could never like Deidara no matter how hard I tried.”

Ino was about to stand up for him—she knows she was—only for Sakura to keep talking before she got the chance to, “Deidara did look out for you. He did stand up for you. He was a pretty good brother to you, but if he really cared about you, he wouldn’t ever have allowed you to feel as though you had to agree with him completely on everything just to have his respect and everything else you wanted out of him. He would be willing to listen to you, to debate with you, to not leave you feeling like you have to agree with him completely or else earn his hate. He’s your brother; he should have done more to make you feel comfortable with speaking to him freely without fear. For all he did to bash my clan for being conservative and conforming, he wasn’t any better himself in his own way. I’ve seen him shut you down in the past when I was at your place to spend the night and I couldn’t stand him for it then. I’m telling you right now, I will help you bring him back, but I won’t tolerate him treating you poorly ever again no matter how badly you want me to.”

All Ino can do is divert her eyes from her, a soft question spilling freely from her currently bitten lips, “Do you think he’s guilty? Do you really believe he’s a criminal?”

“I used to think that without evidence because I didn’t care for him. I don’t think that way anymore; I will need to see the evidence before I decide whether or not he’s guilty. I wouldn’t be shocked if he is, though… You never knew Deidara like I did and I don’t think you’re as open to criticizing him as you should be.”

This brings with her a long pause in the air which leaves her anxiety building up inside of her, waiting to burst at any moment, only for Ino to break it by making one request of her: “Tell me about my brother then, Sakura. I know you won’t overexaggerate and I know you’ll be nothing but honest with me. Please, let me know what you know so I can find something that I may have overlooked back then, something that can help me bring him back.”

Sakura looks at the omega girl in front of her in pure concern, not wanting to break her heart at their first good outing to a hot spring, “Do you want me to? Because I don’t want to break your heart in a place with so many people… Maybe I could tell you elsewhere, somewhere more private; what do you think?”

Ino doesn’t hesitate to tell her, “I think I’d rather hear this somewhere more private too. How about you tell me it on that one trail we used to go on whenever we wanted to be alone? Would that work?”

“Yeah, that one would work great actually.” Sakura pauses to place a hand on her shoulder and release some calming pheromones in the air, “Is everything okay? I should’ve kept my mouth shut, I’m sorry.”

“Sakura, I don’t want you to apologize. All I want out of you is the view of my brother you’ve always had. If I know about it, then maybe I can figure out what went wrong, what led into him being stolen away from my home by that damn Uchiha monster.”

She sees the omega’s determination burning brightly in her eyes, yet there’s an undercurrent of hurt there that catches her off guard.

She’s not sure if telling Ino how she remembers Deidara is a good idea or not, but she knows she can’t back down now, not when she’s already made it clear she wants to hear what she has to say.

“There’s no need to worry about it. I’ll tell you everything I remember of him.”

She hopes Ino won’t disown as a friend and future potential mate over this, because what she has to tell her about her brother is not the most flattering information around.

Chapter Text

When I first went to your place, my parents were excited. They thought this was going to be the first step to mating Deidara, thinking I’d want to mate him someday. What they didn’t know was I never had any desire to mate him before you and I met.

Meeting him in person didn’t change my mind either.

My first interaction with Deidara in person was when I went to your place for the first time to spend the night. I would’ve had you at my place, but I didn’t want my parents to interrogate you about your brother so I insisted on staying at yours instead.

We were in your room then because Deidara had been out that day somewhere (I didn’t know where and I don’t remember you knowing where either). We had gotten done having hot pot for dinner and he came back from wherever it was he was at with a bang.

Yes, I mean this literally as ‘he almost blew up your bedroom because he smelled my scent in your room’ because we both know that is what happened.

“Ino, what’s an alpha is doing here in your room?” I will never forget the death glare to end all death glares sent my way from him. He was brimming to the edge with anger, but he managed to hide it well enough from you at first sight.

“I told you I made a new friend!” I think you were mad, but you never let it show, “Her name is Sakura Haruno and she’s an alpha. You were listening to me a few days ago, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, I was, un!” he was always quick to get snappy with people, but this time around was different, “I thought you were joking when you said she’s an alpha. You never told me she’d be coming over today, un.”

“I did, but…you know what? That’s okay. I shouldn’t have told you when you were working on your art and I’m sorry about that.”

It bothered me to see you give in to him like that. You were strong, brave, and confident all the times I’ve seen you. You would never have backed down from anyone, but with him…it’s like you threw away those parts of yourself I admired to appease him.

Deidara didn’t bother to apologize either, which didn’t sit right with me and doesn’t now when I think back on it, “Fine, I’ll let it go this time around, but don’t spring something like this on me ever again.”

His eyes never left me once, his glare just as intense when he first came into the room, “Ino, you wouldn’t mind if I speak to the alpha, un? I just want to be sure she’s not a typical sexist bastard.”

You hesitated, but he knew how to get underneath your skin just enough to get you to bend to his will, “You were fine with bringing one home despite knowing how my issues with them, un. It can’t be that hard for you to allow me to do this.”

I couldn’t believe the brother you had spoken so highly of, the one you had said you wanted to be like someday, was treating you like this. To see you cave in to his demands did nothing to improve my worsening view of him, “Sakura, you wouldn’t mind him talking to you, would you? Deidara means nothing bad by this, I promise, he’s worried over me. He doesn’t want me to get caught up in the same situation he is in with Itachi right now, I know that’s why he wants to do this.”

“That’s dumb, you know I’m not a thing like him, why does it matter what Deidara thinks?”

“It matters to me because he’s my big brother and I don’t want him to feel like he’s not safe when he’s home. He already has enough to deal with thanks to all of the jerks in the village. Why should I make things worse for him when he would never do the same to me?”

I will never get why you were so willing to let him ruin our good time together, but I didn’t want to make you upset, so I agreed to it, “I guess you have a point… Okay, I’ll talk to him alone.”

Deidara didn’t give me time to say goodbye to you. No, he grabbed me by the arm and dragged to his makeshift art studio where he would start things off by letting out his angered pheromones and growling at me as though I were Itachi Uchiha himself, “Okay alpha, what the hell are you doing with my sister, un?”

“What do you mean ‘what am I doing’ with her? All I did was come over here to spend the night after our day at the academy.”

He wasn’t having it, or believing me for that matter, “Yeah, sure you did! Don’t think I don’t know how alphas like yourself operate—you come in, acting all nice and sweet, only to try to rape an unsuspecting omega, un! Well guess what? That’s not happening to my sister, on my watch, in my home, un!”

I didn’t know what all he was getting at back then. I didn’t have the heat and rut talk with my parents yet and I’m pretty sure you didn’t either. It didn’t stop Deidara from bringing it all up so casually with the crazed, angry gleam in his eyes while he leaned down to me, threatening me as he placed a lump of clay in the hand on his palm, “Listen to me now, alpha, if you ever try to forcibly mate my sister or refuse to back off when she tells you ‘no’ on anything, you will wind up losing an arm to something much bigger than this.”

The little baby bird sculpture made from the mouth his hand blew up in front of my eyes, scaring me in the same way it would to any small child or fully grown adult if they were to be by him when he did this, “Do you understand, un?”

I couldn’t use my voice without trembling. All I could do was nod and accept the fact my new friend had a horrible big brother I’d have to deal with every time I came over to see her.

He let me go after that and I thought we would be okay after this. Except this time around, when I went back into your room, he followed me in there.

“Deidara, what are you doing? I thought you would go back to your tent or art studio when you were done talking to Sakura.” when you found his behavior odd, I knew I wasn’t in the wrong for thinking so. I also had a bad feeling he meant it in the worst of ways.

He shrugged when taking a seat on your bed, “Who says I can’t be here? I don’t feel like sleeping in the tent tonight, un. Besides, I want to get to know your new friend, Ino. Is that such a bad thing, un?”

“Well…no, I guess not.”

“Good.” Deidara grinned and I was left to feel on edge despite what he said, “It’s okay, you guys can play whatever game it is you wish, un. I won’t interrupt or stop you.”

I didn’t know what to make of that one. Despite what he claimed, when we did try to play our games without paying much attention to him, he would intervene with a blunt, cold, “Quit being so dominant, alpha, my sister was trying to talk, un.” or my personal favorite from that night, “Why are you sitting so close to her? What, do you need to scent her or something, un? Don’t be such a creep to my sister, alpha, or else I’ll make you regret it for as long as you live!”

When we went to sleep that night, he made me sleep by the door so I wouldn’t be anywhere near you while he slept close to your bed. How messed up is that? I was just a little kid and here he was, the older sibling, treating me as though I were some criminal scumbag in the making!

The following morning, my only saving grace to get away from him was the fact we had to go to the academy that day. Otherwise, I would have been stuck with him far longer than I wanted to be. Thanks to your parents needing Deidara for something at the flower shop—I don’t remember what all it was—we were able to have a quick breakfast of toast, grab the lunch boxes your dad made for us the night before, and head out right away before we were too late.

(Remember how late we woke up that day? I have never seen you so panicked and rushed before. It was honestly an improvement over how hard you tried to appease Deidara while allowing me to see you as being more than this amazing, invincible omega image I built up of you in my head. It’s one of those weird moments that really humanized you in my eyes, as strange as it sounds now…)

I asked you as we were rushing over to our school, “Is it normal for Deidara to act like that?”

“To act like what?”

“You know…mean and controlling.”

You almost tripped over yourself when stopping just to look over your shoulder and frown at me, “My brother isn’t mean and controlling! He’s the best person around who always has my back no matter what!”

I couldn’t believe you didn’t see it, but I tried to help you understand where I was coming from, “But he didn’t listen when you asked him to not get involved with our doll game and he got really angry at you when you and I were talking about mating.”

That wasn’t a lie, either. He did interfere with our doll game we tried to play to distract ourselves from his looming, awkward presence in the room. At different points in the game, he kept getting involved, making snide comments about the direction it was going in and criticizing how ‘hierarchal’ certain things were. At one point you had your character mating mine and he threw a fit so badly to the point where he almost blew up the doll I was holding, hissing the entire time like the beast of an omega he is, “Mating? What the hell is wrong with you, alpha, un? My little sister has far too many ambitions in life to settle for someone as lowly as you! She is going to be the first ever omega kunoichi and like hell will I allow mating talk to get in the way of that, un! Mating is outdated and unnecessary in our world, it’s nothing more than legalized concubine ownership—which neither one of us will ever settle for! So if you dare try to drag her down with you, be prepared for a fucking war, un.”

You had begged him earlier too, “Dei, please don’t get involved! I want to play a game of dolls with Sakura in peace. I never get to do that with anyone else because no one else ever wants to spend the night here to spend time with me.”

He agreed to it, so it wasn’t like he didn’t know how upset it would make you, “I promise I won’t, un.”

That only made it so much worse than you think it did. All this did was prove to me that Deidara didn’t have any respect for your boundaries or you if he couldn’t keep a promise to you over something so simple. I may not have known much at that age, but I knew enough about respect thanks to my parents teaching me about it. It’s only because of them I was able to spot out his lack of respect towards you back then.

“He didn’t mean to! My brother would never, ever do anything to hurt me on purpose. He only did what he did because he was nervous and I know that’s it. It’s all that stupid Uchiha’s fault for constantly bothering him—if he hadn’t, then Deidara wouldn’t have acted the way he did last night, I know he wouldn’t have.”

I didn’t want to make you any more upset than you already were. I dropped it for your sake, though I wanted to keep the conversation going, “Okay, I believe you.”

You didn’t say much. All that happened was your expression softened and you started to run to the academy again, “…We better get going or else we’ll be really late.”

“Right, I’ll be right there behind you!”

I was, but only because I didn’t know what you’d say or do after I dared to question your oh-so-perfect brother.

After our day at the academy, my parents had to ask me what Deidara was like.

“Was he as beautiful as they he is?”

“Is he really as powerful as they believe him to be?”

“Do you think you have any chance to mate him someday, Sakura? Pups from him would be of the best quality around.”

All I could do was be honest with them: “He is powerful and beautiful, but he’s nothing compared to Ino. I think he’s overrated; Itachi can have him if he wants. He’s like a battered up, empty box with pretty wrapping paper on it: beautiful on the outside, ugly on the inside.”

They were so stunned I would say anything negative about him at all. Then I told them about how he treated me, which caused them to contact your parents right away about it. I don’t know what all happened since I didn’t go with them, but I did know that when they came back home, they told me I could stay the night at your place if Deidara was out of the house.

That was why I didn’t spend the night at your place much when we were younger. It did help me to have less contact with Deidara, but it didn’t mean I never had to see or deal with him again.

I would come back with you to your place a few times a week after we got off from the academy. Your parents were like another set of parents to me and they were always so welcoming, so kind, and so accepting of me. Never once did they complain about my gender or act hostile towards me.

Deidara, on the other hand, was a whole other story.

He acted civilly enough in front of everyone else, but when we were alone, he’d be the bully I knew him to be with his cruel comments:

“What’re you doing here, alpha? Don’t you have some other omega to force into a mating, un?”

“Listen billboard brow, if you think you have a shot with my little sister, then think again because it’s never happening, not on my watch! I won’t let Ino mate anyone, especially not someone as ugly as you, un!”

“Let me guess; trying to force my sister into submission like your backwards conservative clan would want her to, un? Just to let you know, she won’t be a conformist like someone from your clan would want you to have in a mate. She’s too good for that, un—way too good for you, actually.”

He used to do things like trip me when no one would catch him, or he’d use his jutsu to try to leave little burn marks on me. I know he did it because I’m an alpha; I’ve heard from my parents after he left that he did this to other alphas and betas in the village for no reason as well. According to them, he was always antagonistic towards alphas and betas. Sometimes it was warranted, but other times it wasn’t. To them it was shocking to learn of this after his choosing to leave with Itachi, though to be honest it didn’t shock or scare me. All it did was leave me feeling validated in a weird way, because I thought I was the only one he was this mean to. Learning he did this to others and I wasn’t crazy for thinking he was mean helped to make it less of a burden on my shoulders after he was gone.

I know you’re thinking this is what bothered me most about him. Actually, it wasn’t.

Your brother was always a jerk to me, but he wasn’t any better to you in my eyes. The way he acted towards you—the one person in the whole village who supported him no matter what—never sat well with me.

I’m not trying to say he was never a good caring brother. If of anything, he was one to you when he wanted to be. That didn’t mean he didn’t have his times where he was less than considerate of you.

I would know, I saw far too many of them when he was still in the village.

Like the time when we got back from training at the academy and you were wanting to go get ramen with him and I because your parents were out somewhere.

All you did was go up to his door and open it a small crack to ask, “Do you want to get ramen with Sakura and I? Naruto talks about this place a lot and I think you’d like—”

“Ugh, great, you made me mess up!”

I will never forget how quickly your face paled in response to his mild irritation over something so mild, as well as how quick you were to try to placate him, “S-Sorry! I can get you more clay if you like!”

“No, don’t bother. I’ll just have to do it later, un. What is it that was so important I had to mess up my masterpiece?”

“Nothing, I was just wondering if you wanted to get ramen with Sakura and I since mom and dad are gone still.”

“Eat dinner with an alpha? What next, whore myself out to Uchiha, un? Not happening Ino!”

“Oh come on, Deidara! She’s the only friend I’ve got that doesn’t like me because of you! Why can’t you try to get along with her?”

“Because she’s an alpha and I know better than to trust their kind, un. Unless if you’re trying to tell me everything I’ve been through discrimination wise was all in my head.”

You gave up then, not bothering to try with him any longer. To be fair, I would’ve quit on him too, “No, I would never do that…it’s okay, I’ll leave you alone now. Sakura and I will go get the ramen together.”

He didn’t bother to apologize or see if you were okay. He never bothered to admit he was wrong either and for all of his talk of wanting to keep you safe from ‘alpha harm’, he was willing to let you walk alone the streets at night to get ramen with me when we were at an age most parents wouldn’t let their kids do such a thing.

Or how about the time he told you he’d meet us at the hot spring and take us out to get sushi only to never show up? You were willing to wait until the place closed down for him and in the end, he was at home, working on his sculptures. He did apologize that time, but he never bothered to admit or think he could be in the wrong. Nope, he was always right, no matter what which annoyed me more than anything.

Remember that time when you got a really good score on your test at the academy and you brought it home to show him, because he had worked with you on it and you were wanting to make him proud by doing good on it?

Yeah, I remember that time too because he couldn’t bother to give you the praise you deserved and I had to hug you and say, “You did great, Ino! I’m proud of you!” because he chose not to for some reason or another.

It was hard to be afraid of Deidara when all I really was, was mad at him for treating you the way he did at times.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I did see him do good for you too.

He would defend you from alphas and betas who tried to grope you. He would stand up for you whenever sexists made comments about how you should be thinking about getting a good mate instead of becoming the first ever omega kunoichi and he did almost kill a guy for saying you were never going to be as pretty or valuable as him. He also had this way of making you feel good about yourself every time you felt down whenever another alpha or beta friend you made was only befriending you so they could have a chance to mate him.

I didn’t think too lowly of him because of that.

Then he left the village and you were so devastated, you came to me crying, “Sakura…D-Deidara, he’s gone! He’s missing, please, please you need to help me save him! I need to bring him home, I need to know he’s alright! He would do the same for me if I was missing, so I’m gonna do it for him no matter what anyone else says, but I need help. Please…won’t you help me?”

I didn’t want to believe that strong, mean omega could ever be taken down by anyone because I knew how devastating it would be for you. He was your world, though I don’t think you were ever his in return.

For your sake, I agreed, “Don’t worry, I’ll do all that I can to find him and when we do, he’ll be eating dinner with you guys and sleeping in his tent again.”

You smiled at me despite the tears, and that day, we skipped our classes at the academy to look for him.

We looked for him in the forests, in the village, in the hot springs, in the border areas, only to come back with nothing no matter where we looked.

Seeing you cry, seeing you so upset, it broke me because I knew I couldn’t fix it this time by making a joke or giving you a hug and telling you how amazing you are to me. I honestly was willing to stay out until midnight to find Deidara, but our ambitions on that end went nowhere.

Iruka sensei found us, and he wasn’t happy when he did. He stood there with his hands on his hips as you wiped the tears from your eyes, “No, I’m not quitting now! Deidara needs me, I know it, I just know he does! I won’t quit on him no matter what!”

“Ino, Sakura! What are you two doing so far away from the village? Don’t you know how dangerous it is for you two to be the near border like this? You had us looking everywhere for you and Deidara today.” I was about to stand up for you because I knew you weren’t in the right mindset to properly word it right to him, but then he said, “I know this is a hard time for you, Ino, but you shouldn’t be worrying your parents like this. They’re already suffering enough with having lost Deidara; they don’t need to lose you too.”

“B-But…he needs me. He’s gone and I don’t know why or where he’s at. I don’t know if he’s alive or not anymore…I don’t know if he needs to be saved or not. Please, sensei, let us keep looking for him. I know Sakura and I can do it, I know we—”

“No. You’re both too young to take on a mission as dangerous as this.” he softened his stance when he saw you trembling on the spot, taking your hand and mine when he crooned, “I know this is an incredibly difficult time for you, but you have to faith in your fellow shinobi here as well as your brother. Deidara is far too powerful and strong minded to go down without a fight; not only that, but the best of the best of our village is searching for him now as we speak. I know it’s hard to do, but you will have to leave it all up to us for now.”

“…Okay. I guess…I’ll have to, but if you don’t then I will bring him back with only Sakura by my side.”

“I understand. Come on girls, let’s get you both home now.”

You don’t know how happy it made me feel to hear you say that, even though the feeling didn’t last when Iruka sensei dropped you off at your home and your mother was at the door, hugging you tightly while reprimanding you for running away to find Deidara.

He told me when he dropped me off at my place, “You did a good thing for Ino today. I know your parents will be upset, but I’m positive they’ll understand when you tell them why you did it.”

They did, though it did nothing to stop me from being mad at Deidara as time went on and the rumors started coming out concerning his disappearance.

I will never fully understand how you can be so loyal to him when in my eyes, he was never worth it.

Ino was stunned after hearing Sakura’s recollection of Deidara in the quiet of the forest path they were on.

She knew Deidara didn’t approve of Sakura—he had said as much to her in the past—but she never knew he was such a cruel bully to her, “Sakura, I am so sorry he treated you like that. I never knew, he never gave off any signs he was hurting you—why didn’t you tell me? I could have gotten him to stop.”

“Because I knew you would defend him no matter what. You always thought so highly of him, Ino, that it didn’t matter what I said or did to prove to you he wasn’t as perfect as you thought he was. You would always defend him, even when he was clearly in the wrong.”

Sadly enough, Ino can acknowledge this to be true, “…You’re right, I wouldn’t have, but that’s only because he was my only real friend before you came along. So many people only became my friend to get to Deidara—I never had anyone who liked me for me before I met you and even then, I was always afraid you’d turn into the others who were only using me to get to Deidara.”

This has always been a downside to being Deidara’s sister.

Alphas and betas would befriend her, only to get to see Deidara or try to get a chance to mate him someday by earning his positive attention. She’s been used and rejected so many times for Deidara that it got to the point where she didn’t want to befriend anyone unless if they were an omega. Then she met Sakura, an alpha who was being bullied and needed her help to deal with it. In Sakura, she found her first real friend outside of Deidara, which is why her turn to being a sexist pig after he left hurt her as severely as it did.

She’s moving on from that because she knows she’s changing. It won’t make the years of hurt go away overnight, but it will at least help her move on from the past of what happened between them.

“I always wanted to be like Deidara, I wanted to be as strong, smart, confident, and beautiful as him…he was my brother, best friend, and role model. I idolized him a bit because he just seemed so perfect and I always felt lesser than compared to him.” she sighs when shaking her head, “You have nothing to worry about, Sakura. I’m not mad at you for being honest about him. If of anything, it makes me feel a bit better to know my brother had flaws and he wasn’t so perfect. If you don’t want to help me bring him home, then I understand. I won’t be mad at you for not wanting to help someone who bullied you like he did, but when I do bring him back, I’m making him apologize to you.”

Sakura took a step closer to her from her spot where she was leaning underneath the tree, grabbing her hand as she did so, “No, I do want to help you find him. I want to help you bring home, but not to make things easier for him. I want to bring him home so you can get the closure you need, and I can put him in his place for hurting you like he did.”

“You don’t—”

“No, I do.” she’s firm on this subject because, “He hurt you so severely when he left. I don’t know if he was forced to by Itachi or not, but I do think there’s a chance he chose to leave. If he really did choose to leave you behind, despite knowing how much it would hurt you and your family, then he’s a scumbag who deserves to be put through the ringer for being as selfish and intentionally cruel as he has been for the last few years. If he really was forced, then I’ll have mercy on him I won’t have should he be found to have been a willing participant in whatever is he’s into now.”

She places a hand on her cheek, telling her with confidence in her view, “Even now, you’re hurting because of him. You’re just as hurt today as you were back then when he first went missing and I can’t forgive him for that. I know doing this alone will be hard, that’s why I’m going to help you through it no matter what, just like I did on the first day he was gone.”

She smiled so warmly at her the alpha girl thought she had been seeing things, but then Ino kissed her when giving her a good hug.

It was quick, chaste, and to the point, but having the omega bury her face in her chest made it all worthwhile, “Thank you for wanting to be there for me no matter what.”

She was taken aback by this, but it didn’t stop her from wrapping her in her arms and crooning, “There’s no need to thank me. I will never you leave you in your quest to find Deidara. I may not have liked him, but I will help you bring him home.”

Sakura meant it when she said it.

She will never forgive Deidara for hurting Ino and her family. Despite this, she will help her bring him home no matter what life throws in their way next.

Chapter Text

Naruto did not have the best day today.

For starters, he’s stuck with the pervy sage to train him for the exams—which he did not want—and now, Iruka sensei isn’t even home! What the hell is going on? First he can’t summon a frog and now this? Why can’t things go easy for him? Isn’t he already being punished by not having Sasuke around to vent about this to?

He would have sat around feeling mopey had it not been for the distinctive voices out of his apartment door.

“I had a great time tonight. I hope you have a safe trip back to your place.”

“Don’t worry about me, Iruka! I can take care of myself just fine!”

…Guy sensei?

Wait, whenever Iruka sensei comes home and he hears things like this, it’s usually because he went out on a date…that means…he must have been on a date this whole time with Guy sensei!

Naruto could feel the joy coursing through his veins as he realized something finally went right in his crappy day!

“Hey Iruka sensei! Did you do anything special tonight?” he greeted him with a big smile, his hands clasped together as he tries to contain his excitement.

His adoptive father ponders this over, a hand underneath his chin when doing so, “Not really. All I did was have dinner with Guy. Why would you think that was anything special?”

“Because you two were so obviously on a date and you’re trying to hide it from me for some reason!” Naruto cheers with an accusatory finger pointing in his direction, “Seriously sensei, how could you lie to me about something so obvious? What, do you think I’m stupid or something?”

“No, not at all! Naruto, it wasn’t a date a between us. All we did was hang out as friends and talked about our old missions.”

He has a hard time buying it, “Uh huh, sure…then tell me why you were being so lovey-dovey out there if there isn’t something else going on here.”

Iruka prepares himself to have a talk with Naruto he feels he needs to hear now before he gets any more wrong ideas about the situation, “We weren’t being lovey-dovey; we were being nice to each other. Guy wanted to walk me home so we could talk more about something relating to Lee, that’s it.”

“Ah ha! I was right then! You two are getting together and he’s going to adopt Lee and save him from his horrible family! This is so great, I’m gonna have a brother and a cool dad to train with too!”

Now he feels horrible for breaking the hard news to him, “Naruto, Guy is asexual. He’s not sexually attracted to anyone, not betas or omegas. Him and I could never work out because I need somebody to share a heat with, someone I can be…physically intimate with and he told me he couldn’t be that person for me.”

“Oh.” watching his son deflate to the news and slump downwards onto the couch in defeat broke his heart more than being rejected by Guy ever could, “Well, that sucks…I didn’t know it was possible to not be attracted to anyone at all. Are you sure that’s really a thing? Couldn’t you have tried to seduce him or something? Maybe he hasn’t found the right person to be intimate with yet…sensei? Why do you look angry?”

His hands are clenched into fists at his sides as he snarls, “Because I am angry! Don’t you realize how wrong you sound right now? How would you like it if someone told you your attraction to Sakura wasn’t possible because it’s impossible for omega boys to like alpha girls because it’s not a real thing?”

Naruto thinks this over and comes back with the quick conclusion of, “I’d be pissed off if someone said that to me.”

“Now, think about if that same person said to someone you weren’t in at all to try to do more to seduce you and to ignore your rejections of them because you haven’t been with them to know if they’re the right person for you or not.”

“I’d really hate that.”

“Why?”

“Because it’d be someone telling my crush on Sakura wasn’t real or possible.”

“Then why would you say Guy’s lack of attraction to anyone isn’t real or possible?” he doesn’t give Naruto any time to counter this, being firm with him on the matter at hand, “Guy really struggled to come to terms with himself over this. We spoke about it tonight when reminiscing over our missions and it’s honestly amazing he hasn’t caved to the societal pressure to get a mate and have pups already. All of his life, he’s been told he’s weird, he’s been mocked openly for not lusting over omegas and betas and for not wanting to have sex with anyone. He’s gone through so many struggles in dating people in the past who only wanted him to have sex with him to ‘fix’ him when there’s nothing broken about him that I have nothing but respect for him for being able to stand tall through everything he has. Guy is in a better place with himself now, but talk like that is what had him feeling like he had to date despite how uncomfortable it made him in order to be a ‘real alpha’. Next time someone tells you they aren’t attracted to anybody, don’t interrogate them on it. Accept it as is and leave them be on it.”

He nods, taking the lesson as is, “I’ll be sure not to judge people on that ever again, Iruka sensei, I promise.”

“Good.” Iruka asks him then, “Have you eaten? If not, I can make some ramen for you.”

“Actually, I haven’t.” he confesses with a nervous smile, “I was too busy training today with the pervy sage.”

“Pervy sage?”

“You know, an old man who summons toads and writes those trashy porno books Kakashi sensei always reads! That guy, pervy sage!”

Iruka has a feeling he knows who this person is, “Does he have bushy white hair and the most annoying scent a beta can have?”

He beams at him when he recognizes it, “Yep! That’s him, my latest sensei, pervy sage!”

His first reaction to the news of Jiraiya training his son is simple enough: “Did he ever try to touch you inappropriately?”

Seeing the young omega shake his head leaves him feeling hopeful, “No, he didn’t when I was in my normal form. If of anything, he didn’t want to train me at first until I bothered him into it. Then he saw me in my sexy jutsu and he was all for it!”

Iruka feels his skin crawl and yet, he doesn’t want to interfere with Naruto’s training, “How about I watch him for a day to be sure he’s not trying anything perverted on you? I wouldn’t want you to be left alone with someone you call ‘pervy sage’ unless if I know he’s going to keep it in his pants.”

“Eh, he’s a beta, he won’t do anything.”

“…Betas have sex drives too, Naruto, and I don’t trust him to not use his on you if that’s how he is acting now.”

Naruto was about to object when Iruka took a seat next to him on the couch, “I know I sound crazy now, but it’s only because I want to be sure you won’t be taken advantage of by some pervert. You can understand, right? You may not be my pup by blood, but I will protect you like you are no matter what the situation may be. Even if you think he is harmless, I still need to see for myself that he is before I trust you with him.”

The young omega doesn’t argue with his adoptive father, finding his concern to be sweet instead of annoying like he would have in the past thanks to everything he’s learned about Lee’s clan recently.

At least he has a parent that cares about him, unlike his friend whose own clan doesn’t seem to even like him from what he can tell, “Something bothering you? Did he do something to upset you?”

Naruto shakes his head, “No, it’s not that at all. I’m not upset, mad, or annoyed by your wanting to meet pervy sage. I would’ve been if this happened a long time ago, before I met Lee and I learned what his clan is like. I actually feel grateful to have someone in my life who cares about me, but it annoys me because I think he should have someone in his life like that too.”

Iruka pauses to this, watching as Naruto sighs, “Why can’t anyone do anything to get him out of there? Shouldn’t his happiness and safety come first in the eyes of this village or does that not matter because he’s an omega?”

He had a feeling this would come up, and he knows as hard as it will be for him to swallow, it will be something he will learn someday when he takes on cases like runaway omegas from clans like Lee’s as a Chunin, “You’re right; Lee should be living with Guy because Guy actually loves him like a father would: he worries over him, he wants what’s best for him, and he does all that he can to keep healthy and happy. However, our laws were written by alphas and betas who placed the value of clan tradition over that of an omega’s wellbeing. Under the current laws, there is no way to get Lee out of his clan and into Guy’s custody. For as much progress as Konoha has made over the years, this is the one area we falter in. As a Chunin, you will go on missions where you will have to retrieve runaway omega children at the request of their clans and you will have to bring them home. Even if they are being abused, there’s nothing you can do about it because it would violate the clan’s right to practice their tradition, which matters more to the elders of this village than the actual safety and wellbeing of omega children.”

Naruto growls, his fists clenched tightly now whereas Iruka’s hands are folded neatly on his lap, “That’s so stupid! If a tradition causes someone else to suffer, then the tradition needs to go if you ask me! No one should be allowed to get away with what Lee’s clan does to him just because it’s in their tradition to treat omegas like garbage; that’s allowing abuse to happen and who knows what else knowing them! No clan should be allowed to get away with abusing their omegas under the whole ‘tradition’ crap anyway—omegas matter just as much as alphas and betas who are never held up to the same strict tradition rules. Why is it so hard for those bastards to understand that they are allowing abuse to happen by pulling crap like this? How can they be okay with it?”

“Because they are moderately conservative and arrogant. They believe because their clans are more lax in certain areas despite being conservative then other conservative clans are this way or if they’re not, then they’re justified somehow in what they do and everyone else has to respect it, despite the fact they themselves refuse to respect the traditions of the progressive clans such as the Yamanakas and Naras. It’s hypocrisy and sexism done to maintain the current social hierarchy of alphas and betas at the top, omegas on the bottom.”

“Oh, like what Ino’s been telling me about for years then.”

“Yeah, like that.”

Naruto is quiet for a moment before meeting his sensei’s eyes in nothing but pure determination and will power, “I will fix it all when I become hokage someday… No one will ever have to suffer through what Lee is going through ever again after I get in and change the system for the better for omegas everywhere!”

Iruka knows he will, but in order to do that, he will have to pass the Chunin exams first.

He’s not too nervous about it. Knowing Naruto, he will improve this month and he will defeat Neji in battle not only for Hinata or himself; he’ll do it for Lee, who was wronged by Neji in every single way.

“I know you will, Naruto, and that alone will make you the best hokage to have ever ruled this village.” Iruka then gets off of the couch and asks, “It’s getting pretty late. Do you want some instant ramen?”

“You know I do!”

For now, he can relax with his adoptive son and enjoy their time together. Tomorrow, on the other hand, he’s going to have some choice words for this ‘pervy sage’ he brought up.

Imagine Jiraiya’s surprise the following morning when he was met with not only Naruto, but his father as well, standing there with crossed arms and a critical eye on him, “Hello, pervy sage.”

He couldn’t help his first reaction when he saw him, “Hello to you too, Iruka. It’s been a while since I’ve last seen you…you actually grew into your natural omega curves by a good bit. Good for you! Most omega men can’t do that if they tried, it’s why I’ll take the ladies any time over them!”

He already feels the need to backhand the man, yet he doesn’t. He chooses to keep his cool for Naruto’s sake, “Let’s get something out of the way right now—are you sexually attracted to my son?”

Naruto paled in horror as Jiraiya deadpanned in a show of his, “Wha? Are you kidding me! I’m not into him! Just because I’m a beta doesn’t mean I have no taste in omegas! In case if you haven’t noticed I prefer the curvier omega women over the straight bodied men with their flat chests and asses. I would never go for your son; he’s not only a guy, but he’s way too young and annoying for me to be into.”

“Fine, I’ll give you that one: you are pretty damn consistent in being attracted to omega women only, but what about his sexy jutsu? You don’t try to touch him inappropriately then, do you?”

“I mean, I do lose my mind a bit, but the kid kicks my ass or cuts off the jutsu right away before I can do anything. Even then, I still wouldn’t touch him because I know it’s a jutsu and not the real thing.”

Iruka looks over the man, trying to find any sign of deceit only to come up empty. In the end, all he can do is reluctantly leave Naruto with the man before he has to head off to work at the academy.

(His next day off will be when Naruto’s fight against Neji takes place at the third round of the exams. He wanted nothing more than to be there for Naruto during such a momentous event in his life, but he knows insisting on this day off meant he wouldn’t be able to take another off until then, which he’s fine with. As long as he gets to watch Naruto make history, then he’s fine with having to work everyday before the match happens.)

He doesn’t leave without at least making one thing known to the notorious pervert, “Okay, I’ll believe you, but if you ever dare try to touch my son, then I will castrate you myself. Got it, pervy sage?”

“Loud and clear, sir!” he is able to answer with a gesture of his one hand while the other covers the area where his dick is.

Iruka then turns to Naruto, suddenly relieved of all threatening and harsh demeanor as he hugs him, “Goodbye, Naruto. Have a good day at training.”

“Goodbye, Iruka sensei. I hope you find someone like Guy sensei to mate. If I’m gonna have a dad, I want a cool one like him.”

He giggles to this, finding it a bit odd Naruto would make such a request, “I’ll be sure to in the future, but I have to work for now so I can go to your match against Neji and cheer you on. Finding someone like Guy to mate will have to wait for now.”

“Fine…” Naruto mumbles as they end their hug and the older omega leaves him be, “I’ll see you later at home, if you can’t make it, be sure to send me a letter, okay?”

“I will!” he calls back as Iruka leaves him in the hands of his new sensei, who finds their relationship to be endearing in a way he didn’t think would pluck at his heart strings so.

Of course, he would never voice such a thing out loud to Naruto or Iruka. What he does say is, “Okay, let’s get started on your training, kid.”

As Naruto grins to this, Iruka is left feeling kind of old.

He knows he’s not that old, but still, leaving Naruto with Jiraiya to train for the third part of the Chunin exams…that was something he didn’t think would make him feel pride and sorrow simultaneously. Now he’s stuck wanting nothing more than to rush over to his son’s side, watch him train, and give him pointers even though he knows he can’t do such a thing.

All he can do is allow Naruto to grow as a ninja in his own way. All he can do is leave him in the capable hands of a legendary Sanin and hope for the best when his match against Neji does happen.

…Hope for the best? What is he thinking?

There’s no need to hope for the best. Naruto may have his flaws, but he’s nowhere near as bad of a person as Neji is towards Lee and while he may not have the natural genius Neji possesses, he knows his hard work will surpass that, giving him the victory he deserves over such a cocky alpha.

Chapter Text

The day of the Naruto’s fight against Neji, he was feeling nervous when he first woke up in the morning. He didn’t know if he had gotten good enough to defeat Neji yet, and not having Sasuke to talk to or see this past month wasn’t easy on him. As much as Sasuke has annoyed him in the past, he does wish he were here to speak to about this because Sakura’s been no help thanks to her thinking she has a shot with Ino, Ino only encourages him which doesn’t exactly help him on this end either, and Lee has been the only one so far understood his predicament…yet…he seems distant somehow.

Naruto doesn’t know what’s going on, but there’s something up with Lee. He can see it in his eyes, there’s something bothering him, and whenever Neji’s name gets brought up, he tenses visibly for a brief moment.

He doesn’t know what’s going on there, and while he does want to help his fellow omega, worrying over him does nothing to ease his own anxiety about facing Neji.

Luckily for him, Iruka notices right away when something is bothering him, “Naruto, you aren’t dressed yet…is something wrong? Are you feeling ill?”

He shook his head, placing his head on his hand as he sits down at the table, “No, I guess—I mean, I wish Sasuke were here right now so I could talk to him.”

“About what?”

Iruka may be making him breakfast right now but that doesn’t mean he cannot help his son, “Ah, well…it’s just…that Neji guy… Lee told me he’s really strong and I’ve seen it for myself. I’ve seen him attack Hinata and almost kill her, I’ve seen how horrible he is to Lee too and I guess…I’m a bit, you know…”

He won’t say it out loud, though it doesn’t matter. Iruka already knows and he’s already to help him out through this, “You’re nervous, huh? Well, don’t be.”

Naruto blinks in shock as he lifts head off of his hand, “You’re nervous because Neji is powerful and he’s obviously the prodigy child of his clan. I think you keep forgetting that you’re powerful too and Neji should be having reason to fear you far more than you do him. I know you Nartuo; you are going to give this everything you got and you’re going to win. So don’t be nervous going into this and go into it with the attitude of someone who’s going to win. If you really can’t, then focus on what it is about Neji that angers you, on why it is you want to defeat him so badly.”

“You think I’m powerful, Iruka?”

He nods, facing the young omega with a smile on his face, “I know you are. You’ve survived through a lot in your time as Genin and I know you will use all that you’ve learned since then to win. You will win this; you have to stop scaring yourself, that’s all.”

Before he knows it, Naruto is getting out of his chair and hugging him tightly, muttering against his waist, “Thanks, sensei. I’ll be sure to beat him and make you proud.”

“You’ll have to tell me all about it when you get back from the exams.” he sighs when running a hand through his hair, “I couldn’t get out of work today like I had planned. I’m sorry, Naruto.”

“No, that’s okay! That just makes me wanna win more than ever before!” he looks down to see the young omega giving him an expression of fierce determination, “I know word will spread around the village very quickly like Lee’s situation did and when I do defeat him, I want you to hear that an omega kicked an alpha’s butt at the Chunin exams!”

He grinned, ruffling his hair as he did so, “I’ll keep my ears wide open for the news! Now, let’s get you some breakfast. You can’t fight Neji on an empty stomach.”

“You got that right! Sasuke would kill me if I did something so stupid!”

Iruka dished up his scrambled eggs with rice while asking, “You seem to be caring quite a bit about what Sasuke thinks…did something go on for that to happen?”

Naruto shrugged as he grabbed the plate from Iruka after it was served, “Not really. Ever since I learned about his feelings for me, I guess all the things he used to do that annoyed me, don’t anymore because I know it was all coming from the same place you come from when you tell me to eat more than ramen, or to brush my teeth every day. It will be nice to see him again and have him giving me some crap about something. At least then it will feel like he missed me too, you know?”

“If he doesn’t give you crap about anything, that doesn’t mean he didn’t miss you. He probably missed you a lot when he was gone.”

“I know he had to have missed me too… I also know if he doesn’t give me crap it doesn’t mean he didn’t miss me, but if he did have something to give me crap about, it’d make me feel a bit better because then I’d know he cares enough to notice things about me.”

Iruka won’t argue. Young love is often irrational and he won’t get in the way of Naruto missing Sasuke like this. He finds it to be sweet and cute in its own way.

As they begin their meal, Naruto is feeling better because he knows his adoptive father is confident in his abilities and on the bonus side, he will get to see Sasuke today. What could be better than that?

He grins as he thinks about the Uchiha alpha seeing him again, his brow furrowed as he chides him, “Didn’t you bother to get enough sleep? How about eating, did you have something other than ramen today? Oh great, you look like crap—did something happen? Is there an alpha I will have to hurt? Why do you call your current sensei ‘pervy sage’? Did he touch you? Do I have to kill him in his sleep now or something? He better not have touched you, Naruto!”

When Naruto left his apartment, he was stunned by the sight of Ino and Lee greeting him, “Hey Naruto, do you mind if we walk with you to the stadium?”

He could never reject Ino’s offer, not when he feels so happy to have the support of his friends, “Not at all! Come on, let’s get going!”

As they walk out of the apartment, Naruto asks Ino, “Where’s Sakura? I thought you and her were all lovey-dovey now after that kiss.”

“She said she’s gonna meet us up there at the stadium and we’re not lovey-dovey now! That kiss was out of gratitude, nothing more, nothing less.” Ino insists with a light pink blush to her cheeks that both omegas take note of, “Anyway, enough about me, what about you? Aren’t you excited to be getting the chance to become the second ever omega Chunin today?”

“I am, actually, and I know I’ll beat that snooty alpha without trying!” he proclaims, with his attention now on how silent Lee is being, “Hey bushy brow, is everything okay? You’re not being as loud as you usually are. Are you nervous about Neji for me?”

He had gone to Lee about his anxieties in facing Neji twice and he was met with the usually upbeat, optimistic omega tensing at the mention of Neji’s name with a forced happy reply of, “I know you’re scared Naruto and I would be too if I were in your shoes. Just know that no matter how strong Neji is, a hard working ninja like you can defeat him.”

He couldn’t really believe it then when he seemed to be so down. Today was not any different, actually, “No, not at all! I was wondering if we will have a chance to see him or not before the exams.”

Naruto and Ino both find this to be odd, Ino especially, “Why would you want to see him after everything he’s done? According to my dad, you and Gaara obviously like each other. Why not see him instead?”

They both can tell that Lee seems to be down about something relating to Neji yet he’s not really talking about it, though bringing up Gaara does bring a shine of joy to his eyes, “N-No, your father must be mistaken. Gaara doesn’t like me and I don’t know if I like him or not. Besides, Gaara wouldn’t want to be bothered with me before the exams. I wouldn’t want to annoy him or anything.”

Naruto shoots down this idea as well, “I really don’t think he’d turn down the chance to see you, Lee. Going off of everything I’ve heard and seen, it seems like he would want to see you or at least he wouldn’t mind it. Why would you want to see Neji anyway? Did he do something to you that we should know about?”

“He didn’t, really, none of this is his fault! I’ve just been wanting to speak to him for a while now over something pretty personal.”

Ino and Naruto don’t like the sounds of this.

“I don’t feel comfortable talking about it with anyone. Can we please not make a big deal out of it? I want to cheer for you, Naruto, and watch as you defeat Neji for all omegas out there who want to become Chunins. I don’t want this happy event to be ruined by my personal issues.”

“Okay, we won’t talk about it then.” Ino speaks up before Naruto could press him further on the subject, “How does it feel to get a chance to be the second ever omega Chunin in the village? I bet it must be exhilarating.”

“It feels great, like I’m making Iruka sensei really proud of me and carrying on his legacy!” Naruto tries to be upbeat for Lee’s sake, but it doesn’t stop him from boiling in anger on the inside at the idea of the omega being bothered by something Neji did to him.

He almost feels compelled to try to get the answers he desires out of him, but he knows that would be a mean thing to do to him and Iruka sensei wouldn’t be happy if he did that. So he will back off from his curiosity for now and try to remain as positive as possible for his sake.

Ino is wistful when admitting, “I wish I could be getting the chance to become a Chunin. I want nothing more than to be the first ever omega kunoichi and get my brother back…you’re so lucky, Naruto. You get to have the chance we didn’t get, so you better not lose, okay?”

“Oh trust me, I won’t lose to that jerk.”

He didn’t say it just for himself, Ino, Hinata, or Iruka sensei, but for Lee as well.

His friend deserves better than what he’s receiving so far in his life. He certainly deserves a better teammate than someone like Neji, who clearly had no respect for him whatsoever to ever leave a mark on his hand like that in the first place.

Neji…the same guy who stole his chance to become a Chunin today, the same one who tried to mate him using underhanded, disgusting tactics! The same guy who left him afraid of Sasuke because of his actions towards his friend.

When they arrive at the stadium, Lee appears more downtrodden than ever before at the very sight of the building yet he forces himself in there somehow. Ino and Naruto are very concerned for him, enough to where they allow him to go in ahead of them to talk for a little bit about this.

“He’s not acting right.” Ino immediately says to him in a whisper, “Did something happen to him after he and Gaara had that talk at my family’s flower shop?”

“I don’t know, the last times I saw this last month, he didn’t seem like himself. He wasn’t his usual happy go lucky self; he seemed scared and sad at the sad time.” Naruto then pauses, asking her, “Wait, he spoke to Gaara at your family’s flower shop? When?”

“A month ago. I don’t know what all exactly was said because I got home too late to see it happen after I went to the hot spring with Sakura. All I know is my dad told he thinks they have crushes on each other but are too oblivious to see it.”

“Did he say if he was sad then or not?”

“He didn’t say anything about him being sad, only that he and Gaara seem oblivious to each other’s feelings.”

Naruto’s frown deepens as he wonders, “Whatever is bothering him seems to be something bad…should we tell somebody about this? I know Iruka sensei says it’s always best to go to an adult whenever one of your friends is acting strangely or if you think there’s something wrong.”

Ino wasn’t completely against it, but, “I think we should… Knowing Lee he wouldn’t be the type to talk about it with Neji around. Remember how bad it was at the sudden matches of the exam the first time around? He was so willing to keep Neji’s mark on him a secret that he didn’t tell Guy sensei or anyone else until it was too late.”

“Right…” that only left Naruto feeling incredibly stumped as to what he should do to help his friend. He doesn’t want him to be forcibly mated to Neji or anything, yet he has a feeling Ino could be right on this one. Even if they did tell Guy sensei, there’s a chance he wouldn’t say anything to protect Neji because of how he was raised in his clan.

It’s a low move, but he’s willing to go through with it if it means he will keep his friend safe, “Ino, don’t get mad at me for saying this, but I think we should spy on Lee and Neji when they do see each other.”

“Naruto, that’s wrong! We can’t betray Lee’s trust like that!”

“What other choice do we have? We don’t know what’s going on with him and he seems to be really upset right now. It’s like what you said: there’s a chance he won’t come clean with anything bothering him if we do tell an adult about this. He won’t even tell us what’s going on and we’re omegas just like him—we should be the ones he trusts the most out of everyone else, but he’s giving us the cold shoulder on this problem too! You know this means something serious is going on and we will have to step up to stop it for his sake, even if it means listening in on him.”

She didn’t want to, yet she knew Naruto was right about this, “Alright, we’ll spy on him when he goes sees Neji. After that, we will do all that we can to help him.”

Naruto nods, heading into the stadium as Ino calls out to him, “Good luck, Naruto! Win for omegas everywhere!”

“You know I will!” he calls back to her as he heads out to the stadium with nothing but pure will power driving out the anxiety within himself as he heads into the battle area to stand beside the other people taking the exams today.

He looks around and sees Sasuke isn’t here, which causes him to have instantaneous concern because it’s not like Sasuke to not show up for something as important as this.

He does all that he can to defend him, though in the back of his mind, he cannot stop worrying over Lee and his predicament with Neji at the same time.

He doesn’t know if Neji will use whatever is bothering Lee against him in this battle. He cannot say he sees him as being above doing such a thing if he could do whatever it is he did to ruin Lee’s chance of making it to the Chunin exams.

Chapter Text

The day of Naruto’s battle against Neji, Lee woke up feeling a bit groggy but otherwise fine…until he saw the letter from his mother on his kitchen table and was brought back to reality. 

He hasn’t seen Gaara ever since their talk at the Yamanaka’s flower shop which was disappointing, but he didn’t mind. Instead, he’s been spending the last month training because he knows it will be his last. He could have seen Ino or possibly Guy sensei during this time…he didn’t, that’s mainly because training was meant to keep his mind off of the inevitable decision that would rack his brain at nights, keeping him up the entire time: to choose between being sold off at auction or mating Neji. 

Naturally, being sold at auction scared him more than anything else. The idea that his parents would want to sell him off to someone who would more likely than not be from another village, take him away from everything and everyone he knows, and more likely than not abuse him and do who knows what else to him is horrific to think on despite having grown up knowing this was always a possibility that could happen to him.

Being mated to Neji, while not seeming to be all that terrifying at first thought, didn’t sit well with him either. 

He knows how Neji views omegas and since his views haven’t changed once during this entire catastrophe of an exam, he feels far safer in his assumption that he wasn’t all that off from his idea of what a mating with Neji would look like when he was home alone in his room the day he left the mark on his hand. 

The idea, of course, being that it would be miserable like his parents’ mating is: with Lee himself playing the role of the silent, submissive, yet enabling partner like his father and Neji being the domineering, cold, and cruel partner like his mother. Though he could never see Neji being physically abusive to any pup they had together, he could see him being verbally abusive towards them in the same way many of his aunts and uncles were to his cousins. 

Call him crazy, but he had always believed that in for a mating to be real, it had to be miserable like his parents’ mating to each other is. Despite going on missions as a Genin and seeing this is not the case, he cannot help the fact this is the standard he has been given all of his life until his time as a Genin on mating relationships. 

So much has happened during this exam as well that, when given the time to properly process it over the month he had to make his decision, left him with a bad taste in his mouth. 

He’s not one to hold grudges in general towards anyone, which is why he isn’t holding any of what happened between Neji and himself against the alpha as much as he isn’t with Gaara. This being said, he doesn’t know if he wants to be mated to someone he doesn’t have any nonplatonic feelings for. He doesn’t know if he wants to be mated to be Neji when he has Gaara who can make him smile just by thinking of him.

Gaara—Gaara is the only reason why he doesn’t feel comfortable mating with Neji outside of the fears he’d be verbally abusive towards their pups and give him a relationship no different from that of his parents. 

Why would he want to mate Neji when he’s not positive he could ever find him as fascinating as Gaara or as attractive as him? Why would he want to be with Neji when he’s not sure if he could ever feel fully comfortable speaking to him again whereas with Gaara, he feels safe to tell him everything on his mind? Why go for Neji when he has Gaara? 

Except, he doesn’t have Gaara, does he? 

Gaara was never going to be an option. He knows the attractive young alpha can do better for himself. He knows it will only be a matter of time before he heads on home and finds someone to be his mate. Thinking of this has always left him feeling more dead inside than it should. Besides, who was he to ever think someone that handsome would ever want someone who looks like him when they can get any Deidara omega they want?

No matter thinking about it. All he can do is go to the arena today to see Naruto fighting Neji and hope he wins…all with the knowledge of this being his last day of freedom before he’s mated off to someone of his choosing. 

When he headed outside of his home and went down a street to head to the stadium, Ino had caught sight of him, calling out his name immediately, “Lee! Do you want to come with me to walk Naruto over to the stadium for his match? You know if we don’t do it, he’ll just get lost.” 

He doesn’t want to be alone with his thoughts and the idea of spending some more time with his friends before he loses the freedom to do so is far too appealing of an offer to turn down, “Sure, I’d love to!” 

On the walk over, Ino tells him all about her improving relationship with Sakura. He didn’t want to say it, but he thinks the young omega is starting to see the alpha in a light not too different from how he sees Gaara. He won’t ever say such a thing to her, though this is what he genuinely believes the more she tells him about how much time they’ve been spending together over the last month. 

He gives the other omega a few one worded answers here and there, mainly letting her speak so she doesn’t catch onto the burden weighing him down enough to the point where he doesn’t wish to speak any longer.

During Naruto’s battle with Neji, he’s beside himself as he sits beside Ino, Sakura, and Chouji, all of whom are too busy cheering for Naruto to notice just how tragic Neji’s story is.

Learning of the mark on his forehead and why he came to believe fate is something as unchangeable as it is predestined, he realized why it is he said a lot of the things he did after he left the mark on his hand and why he didn’t see anything wrong with marking him in the first place. While he holds no grudge against Neji, it did help him see the alpha in a new light he never had before—a light that was a bit more human than the natural born genius he had strived to beat for so long. Neji before was so perfect in every way imaginable to the point where he felt as though he was lesser than him at times, but hearing what he did on the battlefield helped him to see the other in a more humanizing light than he had in the past.

He could never really be mad at him over what happened after learning of his past…in the end, he supposes being raised in a conservative clan is just as destructive for alphas as much as it is for omegas like himself.

Despite being able to better relate to Neji now than he has in the past, he still wanted to see Naruto win and make history as the second ever omega Chunin in their village.

It’s with this desire in his heart he can give a genuine, “Go, Naruto! You can win this, I know you can! If anyone can defeat Neji—it’s you!”

Naruto—who had seemed so shaken by the very prospect of fighting Neji earlier—turned around then, his eyes wide for a brief moment before he grinned and gave a thumbs up to Lee before growling at Neji, “You can talk all you want about fate being something that can’t be changed, but you’ve been fighting it all along! If you really believed any of what you said, you wouldn’t be here today trying to become a ninja, you wouldn’t be so hellbent on hurting Hinata, and you sure as hell wouldn’t have tried to alter Lee’s fate by leaving that mark on his hand in the first place! If you ask me, you’re all talk, no action, alpha!”

Neji had frowned, not snarling or making any other show of his anger at the omega, “What I did to Lee was not altering his fate! He’s an omega, he was always fated to be mated to an alpha—all I did was make my move before anyone else could.”

“How do you know it was his fate to be your mate, you jerk? You have no right to speak for him and his fate, he’s not your property!”

“No, he’s not, but it doesn’t change the fact that I was always the only logical option for him to mate. Lee, with his poor clan and appearance that doesn’t appeal to a Deidara loving crowd…he had no other options but myself, or some random rapist. All I did was act on what is natural.”

Naruto seethed, not relenting in his strikes as he stood for Lee in a way he hadn’t ever really had anyone do for him before, “Shut up about him, just because he comes from a poor clan doesn’t mean he needs to mate you to make him happy! He also may not look like Deidara, but that doesn’t mean nobody else would ever find him attractive! Lee is a good person; that alone makes him way too good for someone as hypocritical as you! In my eyes, he’d be seriously downgrading if he mated you; he can do better than you and I know one day he will.”

Neji rolled his eyes, “Like you would know any better. How about you do yourself a favor and stay out of my and Lee’s love life?”

“Heh, yeah right, like I ever would. Lee is my friend and I won’t ever let you hurt him again like you’ve done so far.”

It brightened up his spirit on the spot to hear Naruto defend him so vigorously. Thanks to Naruto’s defense of him, he felt a certain burst of optimistic energy more in tune with how he normally is as he smiled and got more into the battle happening in front of him.

His excitement peaked the longer he watched the match with bated breath, wanting nothing more than for his friend to win. In pure anxiety he watches as Neji seems to get stronger and stronger while Naruto appears to be struggling against him.

He had been gripping the edge of his seat so tightly, his knuckles turned white the longer he kept his eyes glued to the battlefield.

At one point, all hope seemed to be lost and Neji appeared to be the victor, making Lee almost cry out in defeat for his friend—only to be stunned when the moment the victor of this fight was decided.

Out of the earth came a tanned, dirtied fist rising out into the air right underneath Neji’s face. It somehow felt both instantaneous and as though the world stopped turning as Naruto—the one everyone had thought had lost the match, the one no one believed would beat Neji—delivered a hard, searing blow to his face, one that knocked over the usually smug Hyuuga as though he were nothing more than a leaf being blown away by a gust of wind.

The moment it collided with Neji’s face, Lee was awestruck, standing out of his seat in pure amazement at the sight of the Hyuuga alpha who he had once viewed as indestructible being taken out with something so simple, so inherently Naruto that it left him breathless the entire time it happened.

Naruto was declared the winner and at that moment, Ino hugged him tightly, cheering loudly, “You did it, Naruto! I knew you could, you just proved all of these alphas and betas wrong about omegas everywhere!”

He hugged her back, smiling widely as he enjoyed this moment with his friend, having made up his mind then on what he will do now that he is here and seen this moment of history in person, “That was amazing, Ino! Did you see it? He hit him—he actually landed a hit on him and won! I never knew it could be possible with someone as strong as Neji, but…he did it!”

His excitement, his joy he felt at his friend’s victory had him realizing that staying here with his friends, his sensei meant more to him than his own lack of nonplatonic feelings for Neji.

Matings are supposed to be miserable, he supposes. Why not mate Neji so he can at least stay in the village with his friends?

It will be his last decision as a free omega, but it’s one he can say he won’t regret in the end as long as he doesn't ever have to give up everyone he loves.

After the match was over, Naruto was curious as to where Lee went, as was Ino who ran over to him in the hallway where he was walking, “You were so awesome out there, Naruto! If they don’t make you a Chunin for that alone, then they’re crazy!”

He grinned, though it was only a momentary sensation, “They would be, wouldn’t they? …I know it sounds weird, but I don’t feel right celebrating without knowing where Lee is. He hasn’t been acting like himself all day and I’m worried it has something to do with Neji.”

She cannot help but to agree with him, “I do too…he was way too excited when watching you fight him. It was like he was in another world—when he left, he said he was going to get himself something to eat, but I don’t think that’s what he did. I think he only said that to avoid upsetting me.”

Naruto didn’t care for this the longer he thought on it, wanting nothing more than to find him so they could listen in on his conversation with Neji, “This sucks! If I knew where Neji was at, we could find Lee and—”

“You two want to know where Rock Lee is?”

They both turn around to find Hiashi having made a turn and coming down the hall. Ino is the one who answers before Naruto says something that gives away their plan to him, “Yeah, we’re looking for him. We haven’t been able to find him for a while and we want to be sure he’s safe. You know alphas and betas can get around nice omegas like Lee when they’re alone.”

Hiashi nods, appearing far kinder yet sage in appearance than what Naruto was expecting of the head of the Hyuuga clan, “I see…if you are looking for him, he came with me to see Neji in the medic area. If you go there, you should be able to find him before he gets into any trouble.”

“Great! So…do you know where it is by any chance?” Naruto is slightly sheepish when asking the man, who doesn’t hesitate to give them the directions, “If you do not wish to get lost, then perhaps you should write this down.”

Naruto leaves Ino to it as the Hyuuga explains where to find the omega, not knowing the entire time how deeply worried they are over him for reasons other than what they had said.

After the match was over, Lee had managed to get away from Ino by telling her, “Ino, I’m going to get something to eat, I’ll be right back.”

She nodded before turning to talk to Sakura and Chouji about Naruto’s victory over Neji, mainly the punch at the end. Lee couldn’t blame her—none of them spoke to each other once when the fight went on, all of them being too absorbed by the events playing out in front of their eyes. Though the most memorable clearly had to be the punch at the end…at least for Lee it is.

In truth, he isn’t getting anything to eat. He is making his way to Hiashi Hyuuga so he can finally get this over with, “Wait, alpha, please—I need to speak to Neji about something very important!”

The head of the Hyuuga clan turned round to face him, finding this to be a bit odd as he looked him over, “What could be so important you need to speak to him right away?”

“It’s something very urgent, something he needs to know today.”

“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

Lee shook his head, “I’m sorry, but this is something meant for Neji’s ears only. Can you take me to him? I promise it won’t take long at all and I will leave him be when it’s all over.”

The elegant man shrugs, not bothering to ask him any other questions though Lee wonders if he knew what he was wanting to talk to him about, “You may come with me to see him, but know that I will speak to him alone first before you. What I have to tell him is of far greater importance for the time being… It’s something I should have told him earlier instead of waiting as long as I have.”

He nods and follows the man, hoping Neji will be willing to accept what it is he has to offer him. He doesn’t know if this fight will have a big impact on him or not, but it will be interesting to see if Naruto managed to make any breakthroughs with an alpha he knows to be set in his ways.

“Thanks, sir. I promise it won’t take long and I won’t bother Neji.”

Unbeknownst to Lee, Hiashi has a guess he feels is very accurate to what it is Lee wishes to speak to his nephew about.

He believes Lee wishes to speak to Neji alone to ask him to be his mate because his clan wants him to mate him.

Knowing Neji, he won’t reject it and he won’t stop him from mating this omega boy. He genuinely seems like a kind hearted, sweet person who would be a good match for him. In his mind, out of all of Neji’s options, this one may be the best for him and who is he to stop Neji from doing what is right by himself?

“I know you won’t. Just be sure to give him time to think things over when you are done talking to him. Being injured and humiliated by an omega, I’m sure he wouldn’t want to be alone with one for too long even if it is you.”

Lee doesn’t say much to this, already feeling his heart hit the bottom of his stomach as he realizes while this mating is the only way to not lose everyone he loves, it will be the death of his freedom, his dream, and the chance he could have to see Gaara again…

Then again, so would be being sold at auction, though with that option he would also have the added con of never seeing anyone he loves again which he doesn’t ever want to go through.

He uses this thought to keep himself optimistic about mating Neji, though it doesn’t make his situation any easier on him as every step feels like a death knell to everything he ever strived for in his life.

Chapter Text

Upon arrival to Neji's room, he was given a specific order by Hiashi: "Wait here until I am done speaking to Neji. As important as your subject matter is, mine far outweighs yours in terms of importance." 

Lee agreed with a nod and left the Hyuuga man to speak to the young alpha alone, deciding that whatever it is he wanted to talk about to him had to be something of greater importance to set aside a potential mating offer. Waiting for his chance to speak to Neji again was not as anxious of an experience as he believed it would be. Instead, Lee was calm the entire time when thinking over his choice of words he would say to the young Hyuuga prodigy.

He supposes this was always going to happen…maybe Neji did have something right when he says he was always meant to be mated to an alpha. Maybe he wasn’t wrong about anything at all—maybe it was always for the better of things that Lee wound up mated young to an alpha he knows, one who won’t take him away from everyone and everything.

When Hiashi walks out of the room, he gives him a small nod and a guide for the talk: “Wait at least fifteen more minutes. Neji is dealing with a sensitive subject right now and he will be needing the time to properly absorb it all in before seeing you.”

“Yes sir, I will be sure to do that.” Lee doesn’t ask any questions, figuring it must be something sensitive or personal for Hiashi to be looking so stoic and yet pained in his own subtle manner.

He doesn’t know what is going on, though he has a guess it could possibly affect his response to his offer.

It’d be the worst case scenario, if he’s being honest. On one hand, it could propel Neji to want to mate him on the spot. On the other, it could make Neji reject the offer all together out of disgust, which would mean he will be put up for auction and taken away from everyone he knows and loves…

No, he won’t think like this! Guy sensei would be so mad at him for being so dour and pessimistic! He has to look on the bright side of things no matter how dire if he ever wants to come out of this with the core being of himself intact.

Fifteen minutes later, he had knocked on the door and was allowed in by a shockingly kind, “You may enter.” from Neji.

When in the room, he sees Neji’s eyes are a bit red and he wonders if this is a good time or not to bring up his proposition to him.

Neji, on the other hand, is overwhelmed with guilt at the very sight of Lee—the last person he wanted to face after everything that happened—his defeat and reading his father’s letter to him…his father would be so angry, so disappointed and disgusted with him for how he treated his own teammate!

He cannot stop himself from getting on the floor and bowing to him in the same manner Hiashi did to him earlier, his voice showing nothing but sincerity and vulnerability as he spoke to the omega he wants to make amends with, “Lee…I am so sorry.”

Hearing his response only increased as he felt the weight of his father’s gaze on his back from beyond the grave, already hearing the scolding in his head ‘you should have known better than to take advantage of someone like this, did I not raise you right’, “Why are you apologizing? All of what happened between us is my fault for not being able to stop you when I should have been able to.”

“No, Lee, it’s not your fault.” he is firm yet gentle when voicing his grievances to him, “It was all mine…I may not know if destiny can be changed or not, or if it’s even predetermined—all I know is, what I did to you was wrong and all I am asking right now of you is your forgiveness.”

“How was it wrong? You were just being an alpha and I should’ve known better than to be so stupid as to confess my omega status to you alone. It’s like what my mother says, ‘don’t tempt an alpha or beta with your status unless if you are able to face the consequences of such decisions’. I was being ignorant and I’m sorry for—”

“Don’t apologize to me, Lee. I was wrong, I stopped you from achieving your goals, I tried to manipulate your destiny to fit what I wanted because I didn’t think I could win you over otherwise!”

Lee is stunned at the admission as much as he is to the apology because, well, he never believed Neji to be the apologizing type, especially to him. Learning this was the reason why he did all that he did has him feeling a strange amount of pity for the young alpha in front of him as he approaches him, “Neji, you could have won me over if you were nice to me and listened to me. You never needed to leave a mark on me or stop me from fulfilling my dreams. All you had to do was be honest about your feelings for me and be a nice person who listens to me when I talk. I know you’re going to keep apologizing, but all I want is for you to stop. I’m not mad at you over what happened—I’m not one to hold a grudge against anyone, not even my own parents. There’s no need to apologize, so please, stop for my sake, okay?”

Neji raises himself off the floor, meeting his eyes nervously, only to find nothing outside of warmth and kindness in his gaze, “…I’ll stop for your sake, then. Is there any way at all that I can make up for what I did to you? Any way that would allow you to one day agree to be my mate of your own volition?”

He could be cruel and push for his wish to be mated off before the day ends, but he knows better than to be so cruel to poor Neji who is genuinely so apologetic for what happened to him, “I mean, all you really could do is be a nice person who listens to me, that’s it, that’s all I would want from you. I want you to see and treat me as your equal, Neji—I don’t think that’s asking for much.”

Neji nods immediately, agreeing to it without so much a complaint, “I’ll do just that then…hopefully one day, I’ll be worthy of you.”

Lee couldn’t stop himself from blurting it out, not even if he tried, “Worthy of me? Neji, you’re way too good for me! I am really amazed you actually like me at all…I always thought you never did before the mark, but to hear you talking like this—it still catches me off guard, I guess. I never thought I could get anyone to like me at all. I’m not beautiful like Deidara, I don’t have the same alluring scent Deidara had, and I’m nowhere near as interesting as him either. I’m as plain as can be, from a clan that is quite possibly the poorest in all of the village.”

Neji raises a brow to this and Lee concludes his thought with a resigned, “I guess I don’t see myself as anything special or attractive. I never thought I could get anyone as amazing as you to like me and even now, hearing you talk like this, it’s hard to accept.”

He looks at Lee curiously before concluding, “You really were raised to think nothing of yourself, were you? Because that’s the only reason why I believe you couldn’t grasp my affections for you no matter how obvious I could be at times.”

He moves in closer yet to Lee, but there’s a distance between them considerate of his personal space that the omega notes he wouldn’t have gone out of his way to give in the past, “You don’t need to be Deidara to be beautiful, interesting, or have a pleasant scent. You already had all of the above, you always have—you just never saw it.”

He was about to make a move to take his hand—Lee saw it coming from a mile away—and in the end, he didn’t, choosing to restrain himself instead, “You can get anyone to like you…anyone in their right mind would be mad to turn you down if they all knew you were an omega upon first meeting. I knew this to be the truth and I knew I had to mark your hand before anyone else could steal you from me. I know I fell back on a claim of tradition and destiny, but that was all for show, to make you think I wasn’t so afraid of losing you to someone else.”

He could use this to his advantage, he could bring up the mating proposition…and yet, all he does is shake his head, reassuring Neji instead, “I think you think less of yourself as well because of how you grew up in the Hyuuga household, then. You never had to worry about losing to me to anyone else; all you ever had to do was be a nice person who listened to me and I would’ve been yours. So please, don’t look down on yourself anymore—you’re a handsome prodigy of the Hyuuga clan. You are easily the most eligible alpha in all of Konoha, the pride of our village right after Itachi. You need to remember that from here on out, okay?”

“I’ll be sure to do going forward.” he takes Lee’s hand into his own and mutters a small, “Thank you for being so kind and understanding, Lee. I will treat you right from here on out, and one day, I will become someone you wish to mate.”

“I can’t wait for you to do just that, Neji!” the omega smiles widely, his spirits high, thinking he finally has a shot for the alpha to treat him as an equal.

He doesn’t bring up the offer to mate him.

He knows he should when he has the chance, but he can’t bring himself to burden Neji with such a proposition after all he has gone through mentally, emotionally, and physically. His teammate needs a break and a mating offer—after their wonderful heart to heart—would only insult him in the form of being a verbal spit to his face.

Lee knows better than to try to work in such an offer to someone after they have been so vulnerable and sincere to him.

Looks like he won’t be mating Neji then…auction really is the only option left for him and such a thought does more to distress him than any other event could at this moment.

After exiting Neji’s room and heading back to the stadium, he stops in his steps to find Naruto and Ino there, “Naruto, Ino, what is going on? Are you guys here to see Neji too? Because he’s busy right now with the medic nin and he won’t be able to see anyone for a bit.”

Ino shakes her head, telling him with a wave of her hand, “No, we’re here to check on you, that’s all! We were worried because you were gone and we had no idea where you went.”

“Y-Yeah, that’s why we asked Hiashi for directions to get here!” Naruto cheers in response, which has a spark of warmth forming in Lee’s chest as he realizes this very damn well could be his last day with people who care so much about him, “You really went so far out of your way to find me? I matter that much to you two?”

Naruto is the first one to say it, “Of course you do, why wouldn’t you? You’re our friend and fellow omega ninja! We have to stick together if we want to make history in our village!”

“He’s right, you mean a lot to us and we won’t ever leave your side!” Ino speaks with such confidence, he finds himself almost envying her in her amazing prowess of such an emotion when he himself doesn’t have much of it in anything outside of his capabilities as a budding taijutsu master.

He wipes a tear from his eye and raises his fist, his happiness hardly contained, “I’m so sorry, I never should have worried you! I promise, it won’t ever happen again. Next time I leave, I’ll tell you two where I’m going so you guys won’t be stuck wandering the stadium looking for me.”

While they are both relieved to hear this, unbeknownst to Lee, his friends are concerned for him.

Ino and Naruto both believe there is something else going on with him they aren’t being told of. As such, Ino asks him a question as selectively worded as possible to get the best answer out of him, “Why did you go see Neji anyway? Hiashi said you were here to speak to him, but I can’t figure out why you’d do that unless if it wasn’t clan related stuff.”

“He apologized to me… He says he’s going to treat me better so he can one day be the sort of person I want to mate.” Lee answers the first part honestly, but he’s not sure how to address the second part other than with honesty as well since lying about it feels wrong to do to someone he considers to be a true friend of his, “I was pressured by them to arrange a mating with him, but I couldn’t do it, not after he had been so sincere and honest with me.”

She isn’t sold on this for reasons Lee can only predict, “How can you trust him on that? Neji isn’t exactly the type of guy who’s proven to be considerate of you in any way.”

“She has a point there—the guy is a stuck up jerk who deserved to get his ass beat by me.” Naruto claims with such boldness despite the fact Neji’s room isn’t too far away and he’s pretty positive he can hear him.

It makes him admire his friend for being able to be so honest around him despite knowing his reaction could possibly upset any alpha or beta nearby, “I know he’s done wrong in the past, but I’m not mad at him for anything and I don’t hold grudges towards anyone, not even Neji. I know he was being sincere, he wouldn’t have apologized in the way he did if he wasn’t. I don’t expect you two to take it seriously, but I know him well enough to believe him on this. I’m not asking you guys to be nice to him or be his friend—all I am asking is that you both trust my judgment on this end.”

“…Alright, we can do that, right Naruto?”

“I can, but only because I trust your judgment more than I do in his ability to not be a jerk!”

It really does help to keep his morale up during a time where he is struggling to do such a thing. Having so much support from his friends has him on cloud nine for now, and as such, he won’t dwell too much on what will happen after his failure to get a mating out of Neji, “Thank you so much! Ah, we should be getting back to the stadium… We wouldn’t want to make anyone else worry over us.”

“Sure thing!” Naruto cheers, a grin taking over himself as he openly muses, “I’m thinking Sasuke will be back by then and I’ll get the fussing of a lifetime from him! It’ll be amazing, because he’ll be doing it in public and letting everyone know that I am his and his only, because only Sasuke can fuss over me not anybody else!”

“What about Iruka sensei?” Lee wonders to his fellow omega’s bold declaration, “Can’t he fuss over you as well? What of Kakashi sensei or any other sensei—”

“Alright, alright they can too, but not anyone else outside of them and Sasuke.” Naruto clarifies when leading them back to the stadium, “I swear if that teme doesn’t fuss over me, I will make him regret it for the rest of his life!”

Lee chuckles while Ino scoffs, “I can’t see why you’d want him to fuss over you…if any alpha or beta did that to me, I’d dump them on the spot.”

“Only because you don’t know the glories of being fussed over!” Naruto shoots back at her, almost purring at the idea of it alone, “Sasuke fussing over me is a sign that he cares about me, worries over me, and thinks about me whenever he can. Him fussing over me is simply a sign of him placing me first in his life, what can be better than that? Someone who doesn’t fuss over me isn’t someone I’d want at all—someone like that who doesn’t care enough about me to worry over me or think of me at all is not someone I’d ever want to mate. It’d be more like mating someone who hates you as opposed to loving you, you know?”

This hits very close to home for Lee.

Being fussed over in the manner Naruto describes is generally something he’s never experienced growing up. All he’s ever had is strict standards of beauty, conduct, and traditions to abide by that were enforced on him by his entire clan. Never once in his time living out of the home have his parents (or anyone else in his clan for that matter) ever written him letters wondering how he was doing, who he was with, where he was living, if he was safe or not, if he was sick or healthy, happy or sad… They never checked in on him, never contacted him at all until that damned letter a month ago.

This description of being fussed over from Naruto only serves to further remind him of what exactly it is he is to his parents and his clan overall: a piece of property to be sold to the highest bidder, consent be damned.

If they loved him, they wouldn’t see him this way. If they loved him, they would be fussing over him like so many people do for Naruto…instead, all he has are parents and a clan that couldn’t care less about him to the extent where he will be sold off at auction since he didn’t manage to get that mating with Neji like he thought he would.

No, now is not the time to dwell on this!

If today really is going to be his last day with his friends, then he wants it to be as good of a time as possible for their sakes. Because when the day is over and nightfall is upon them, he cannot guarantee he will be anywhere in the village come the next sunrise.

Chapter Text

Naruto is excited…not for Shikamaru’s match against Temari, but excited at the idea of Sasuke coming over soon (which he just knows he will). 

This being stated, he cannot take his mind off it. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot think about anything else which is leading into him becoming antsy in his seat. 

He doesn’t want to be antsy the entire time. He does want to have fun with his friends, but it’s getting so hard to do when all he can think about is Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke… 

Thanks to this problem, an idea pops up in his head, leading him to ask Lee something he hopes he will consider, “Do you want to see Gaara?” 

“I can see him? I thought that wasn’t an option.” 

Huh…looks Ino’s dad might’ve been onto something there if that sudden burst of life in his eyes is anything to go by, “It is! I can take you to him if you want. I mean, I did drag Shikamaru down to his fight by force and nothing happened there, so I think I can take you to see Gaara pretty easily in comparison to that.” 

His fellow omega hesitates and Naruto counters, “If your parents can try to pressure you to arrange a mating with Neji, then I think it’s more than okay for you to see Gaara now before Sasuke shows up and wins in his battle against him.” 

“I really don’t think it will be that easy to defeat Gaara—but…” Lee thinks it over for a quick moment and slowly nods in response when he considers the offer more, “Okay. I’ll go see him with you.” 

“What are we waiting for then? C’mon, let’s go!” Naruto cheers, grabbing his fellow omega’s hand, hoping this will be good enough to finally get his mind off Sasuke. 

As they are leaving, Lee wonders, “Shouldn’t we tell Ino first where we’re going?”

“Eh, don’t worry, we’ll be back before the match ends. I don’t think she’ll notice anyway, not when she’s cheering that hard for her teammate.” 

“I guess you’re right on that one. She really is being super enthusiastic for Shikamaru right now; I don’t think she notices Sakura or anyone else and the way they’re all staring at her like she’s crazy.” 

The boys were immediately stopped when they left the main stadium area by none other than the upbeat voice of Guy sensei greeting them, “Naruto, Lee! Why aren’t you two watching the match?” 

“Um duh, because Lee wants to see Gaara.” Naruto stated as though it were simple fact…going by Lee’s blush this apparently is not the case to everyone who knows him, “I do, but it’s not what you may think, sensei! All I want to do is wish him luck on his battle against Sasuke and let him know that at least one person in the Leaf is cheering for him.” 

“Okay then.” he noticed how the cheery alpha was eyeing up Lee in a bit of a curious concern he is used to seeing Iruka sensei give him whenever he suspects something is up that he’s not telling him about, “I won’t stop you, but just know you don’t need to do anything you don’t want to do. You have a choice still, and if it ever gets to be too difficult to make a choice of your own…let me know and I’ll handle it for you.” 

Lee doesn’t say much, other than a small, “I will let you know when I need to, sensei. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me—you’re like the dad I never had.” 

He gave a small sniffle and hugged the omega boy tightly, “Oh Lee! You’re like the son I never got to have! Don’t you ever worry about anything, I promise I will always keep you safe no matter what!” 

Naruto doesn’t know why, but this felt more like a lifelong goodbye as opposed to something casual. 

It didn’t sit right with him. He did nothing to rush it or make it end earlier than it should, though. They both look like they need this.

He personally hopes he never has to hug or speak to Sasuke like this. It would kill him to be without the alpha any longer than he already has.

By the time they got near to where Gaara was located, they were both speaking about their ideas of who would win between Gaara and Sasuke…that eventually became a talk about their favorite foods when Naruto’s stomach growled. 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me! You only had ramen after you joined Guy sensei’s squad!”

Something about this felt all so many shades of wrong and made him hate Lee’s clan for keeping him away from something as delectable and life changing as ramen. 

“I’m not, really! My clan always said that ramen was too fattening and would make me all bloated from the excess salt. No alpha wants someone who is fat or bloated, they’d always say, and I had to adhere to the rules until the day I joined my team.” 

“Your clan is a bunch of jerks and dumbasses to make comments like that… You know what? After this, we should get some ramen together! You, Ino, Kakashi sensei, Iruka sensei, Guy sensei, Sasuke, and me—Iruka sensei knows of a really good place to go too. If you’re any bit smart you’ll agree to it. Trust me, nothing’s better in life than good ramen." 

And Naruto will die with that saying because it is an invaluable piece of knowledge.

However, he can admit he didn’t expect to hear a blunt, “What’re you doing here?” out of what felt like nowhere. 

They were only a few steps away from the area where those participating in the third part of the exam were located when this was said by none other than the scary alpha himself. 

(At least in Naruto’s eyes he’s scary—what, with his intense stare, strong scent of blood mixed in with the lavender and the possibly powerful jutsu he has a gut feeling the alpha possesses.)

Lee smiled at the sight of the alpha, almost appearing to come to life at the sound of his voice, “Hey Gaara! I thought I’d stop on by to wish you nothing but good luck in the battle against Sasuke!” 

Gaara looks at him oddly and to be fair, Naruto cannot deny he’d be doing the same if he were in his shoes, “Why would you wish me that? Shouldn’t you want someone from your own village to win?” 

“I know I should, but I also know that despite what you believe about yourself, you’re really not a bad guy—” 

“Stop it, I am a bad guy. I don’t get why you can’t see it that way.” 

Now things are feeling tense and Naruto is wondering if he’s done something wrong by bringing Lee here, “Don’t get mad at him! I offered to bring him here to see you because I know he likes you for some reason or another. If you’re gonna be mad at someone over this, then be mad at me.” 

He rolls his eyes, commenting in response to Naruto’s outburst, “I’m not mad at him or anyone. All I am confused on is why someone like him—who knows enough about me—would ever see me as anything other than a murderous monster who cares for, lives for, and loves only himself.” 

Lee’s answer is spoken with a sad expression, leading the blonde omega to believe there’s something vital here he should know if he really wants to grasp what’s going on, “Because you’re not a murderous monster. You’re a person who’s made mistakes and I don’t hate you for it. I’ve made my fair share of them as well—with what you know, I’m amazed you don’t see me as being far worse than you.”

He doesn’t shy away from him, even when Naruto tries to grab his hand to hold him by his side out of this instinctual alarm bell going off in his head around the redhead alpha, calling him volatile and violent, “I know it’s a stretch, but please believe me when I say it: you are not a bad guy and I will never see you that way.”

Gaara doesn’t understand his logic. Then he supposes he never will—Lee is strange for being so unafraid of him. He has never met anyone who honestly isn’t terrified of his very presence yet the omega is very open to him in ways he didn’t have any hope of happening to him.

“Whatever.” he answers him bluntly, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get going. I know Temari’s battle won’t take too long and I would prefer to be ready for mine when it does end.”

Naruto was more than happy to leave the guy, but leave it to Lee to try to stretch this out, “Wait, Gaara—do you want to do anything after all of this? We could get dinner together or do something else if you’re not up for dinner, anything you want, really.”

“Why would you want to do anything with him?”

“Good question—why do anything with me after all of this? You realize I’ll be leaving after the exams are over and I won’t be around after they’re done, don’t you? Why would you want to waste your time on me when you have others you could spend it with?”

“Because I do like you and I want to spend some time with you before you leave if I can.” Lee’s answer is painfully honest—especially to Naruto who can practically hear the pleading in his voice—and it gives them both pause.

Then Gaara turns his back on him, letting him have a goodbye of his own given the mission he himself is on with his siblings at the moment, “I can’t do that. I’m needed home right away—enough time has been wasted as is. I can’t be here any longer.”

Naruto was about to chew him out for being a jerk when Lee replied with a small and sad smile that had him wondering just how deep in his feelings is he for Gaara, “Oh, that’s okay, I guess you couldn’t be here forever… I want you to know that I’m cheering for you to win.”

The alpha seemed to cease all movement to this, but the sand around him was starting to rustle into random tendrils at the news as Naruto let his inner outrage out, “Huh? You’re cheering for him instead of Sasuke, my stupid dumbass teme? How dare you! I thought we were friends, how could you cheer for anyone but Sasuke, my Sasuke!”

“Because I like Gaara and I want him to win a fair fight. What happened between him and I wasn’t a fair fight—I know he’s powerful and I know he can prove everyone wrong about him if he is given the chance to. I want him to win, he’s my friend too as much as you are.”

Thanks to Neji’s interference with their battle—and Naruto refuses to believe any other version of events than Neji making Lee lose to Gaara—many believe Gaara didn’t deserve his spot at the third part of the exams. As such, rumors went about that the sand nin was not as powerful as once believed and indeed, was weaker than what was let on. Many in the village believe that if he had gone up against a ‘real alpha’ instead of a ‘weak omega’ he would have lost.

Yes, Naruto’s heard the rumors.

Yes, it enrages him because not only is it insulting to Gaara, but it’s incredibly insulting to Lee and omegas everywhere who wish to be ninjas as well.

He may not know much of him, but he has reason to believe he is powerful in his own right. As for Lee’s end—the end which really pisses him off—he knows what the implications are: Lee is an omega, ergo he is weak and shouldn’t be a ninja shouldn’t in the first place because of his gender alone. He is just as powerful as any other alpha out there, he knows he is, and to have so many in the village downplay it so severely because of his gender felt deeply bigoted to himself as well being an omega ninja who made it to this point in the exams.

If he were a kid and he heard these rumors, it wouldn’t have done anything to discourage him. However, it could discourage other omegas who would be more sensitive to this because of the young alphas and betas who would insinuate they are too weak to be ninjas because of their gender because of these rumors. That alone pisses him off about the rumors.

Lee’s reasoning for wanting to Gaara win leaves him with no reason to be mad at him any longer and as such, he drops the subject entirely.

Though he notices the tendrils in the sand are moving quickly and twisting about at random, he also notices how Gaara doesn’t face Lee once, nor does he ever reply to Lee. He leaves after standing there in a moment of silence, with Lee looking pretty at peace with it.

He wonders what Gaara is thinking—why the sand was shifting and changing as rapidly as it did.

All he can do is tell Lee with a hand clasped on his shoulder, “C’mon, we should get going.”

“…Yeah, we should.” he smiles, and this time it doesn’t feel sad despite the empty look in his eyes.

After the battle is over, many are in doubt about Sasuke returning on time and as such, Naruto defends him valiantly because like hell will he allow anyone to doubt his teme!

The moment Sasuke does arrive, his eyes are bright and he’s holding back on tackling him in a tight hug, “Sasuke, I knew you’d make it!”

Sasuke looks him over, his eyes sharp, and Naruto prepares himself for a fussing…

“Of course I would.” his dark eyes take in his future mate more and he comes to a conclusion, “Seems like whoever trained you did a good job of taking care of you while I was gone. I was worried you’d be worn out, injured, or too skinny to stand. Now that I know you’re fine, I can rest easy.”

Naruto frowns with his left twitching at the news he’s hearing, “You stupid teme! You call that fussing over me! I want you to make a big deal out of me—ask me how many hours of sleep I’m getting, what my diet has been like when we were apart, and who even trained me in the first place! I cannot believe you’re being so careless about this! Don’t you care about me at all!”

“I do, but I know better than to act like my brother! I’m not going to interrogate you and treat you like you’re a little kid who can’t make a good decision to save their lives!”

“I’m not asking for that! I’m asking for some damn concern out of you, now show it to me!”

Sasuke is at his wits end with him, but he knows better than to make Naruto any angrier at him. If he does, he knows the blonde omega will do something on purpose to make him upset to get the concern he wants out of him and he knows better than to test him on it, “Alright—there is something I am wondering…who did train you?”

Naruto grins when telling him, “Pervy Sage.”

Watching the alpha’s face go from neutral to panicked in a matter of seconds had him feeling victorious in his goal to get the fussing he deserved, “You were trained by a person you call ‘Pervy Sage’?”

“Yeah.”

“…Tell me everything right now that happened when you were being trained by that monster.” Sasuke seethes, “I will kill whoever they are if they so much as dared to lay a hand on you!”

Naruto is enjoying this a bit too much and he can admit he is. He can’t enjoy it for long because Sasuke does need to start his battle with Gaara and he cannot make him delay it any longer, “The old man didn’t lay a hand on me once. He’s way too into the ladies to ever do that to me. All he did was train me while slacking off occasionally to creep on women.”

This gives Sasuke enough relief for the time being, “I’ll tell you more about it later. For now, all I want is to see you win against this guy.”

“Fine, but when I do win, you owe me that and a lot of alone time together.”

Sasuke knows this is a bit much to demand so casually but then again, he has missed Naruto severely this entire month. It took everything in him not to snap and leave Kakashi’s side to be with his omega, how he managed…well, the desire to defeat Gaara and grow strong enough to avenge his clan from Itachi’s actions were enough for motivation by a mere bit. It was hardly enough to drown out his desire to be by Naruto’s side, which is intensified now that he is by him again in person.

For now, he will do all that he can to win against Gaara. When he does, he will spend as much alone time with Naruto as possible, Iruka sensei be damned! No one is keeping his Naruto away from him for another moment!

“You’ll get it, don’t worry so much!” Naruto then hugs him and almost purrs in his ear, “Now go out and there win already for me. I’m ready for some alone time with you.”

It’s enough to leave him mildly flustered on the spot when hugging him back, “Trust me, we are getting that alone time together. I’ll win this match quick so we can get to it as soon as possible.”

Naruto beams when the hug ends and he gets ready to head back in the bleachers, “Heh, you better, teme! I’ll see you when you win!”

The moment he is in the stands, the battle can commence and Gaara’s true mission begins.

Chapter Text

When the attack happened, Sasuke was left shaken by two distinct instincts: one of pure outrage at the fact his opponent had the nerve to run away when he was nearing his chance to win and one of instantaneous panic.

Naruto—where is he? Is he okay? Are there any evil alphas or betas by him who would dare to try to mark him now that he’s most likely in a vulnerable state somewhere in the stands?

“Sasuke, go after Gaara!” he heard Kakashi’s order, and yet his first instinct was to respond with a worried, “Where’s Naruto? I’m not leaving without knowing he’s safe!”

Kakashi groaned because really, now is not the time to be obsessing over Naruto’s safety and secondly, as a ninja, he will have to learn a lesson he himself had to back when he first met Iruka: “Naruto will be fine! He’s a ninja, not a damsel in distress! Now, go stop Gaara before he can do something that could get Naruto killed!”

It is with a heavy heart that he leaves Naruto behind, warning Kakashi sensei, “If anything happens to him, I won’t forgive you, sensei and I will kill those responsible for hurting him.”

He meant every word he said and his sensei knew better than to argue over the matter. As such, he let Sasuke leave the arena to chase after Gaara while he, Guy, and the others who were quick enough to break through the enemy’s attempt at sedation fought off the ninja who were there to kill.

Naruto remembers a few things before waking up in the stadium: Sasuke’s battle with Gaara starting, watching him use the Chidori along with Lee’s moves, Lee’s wide eyes when he noticed it—and Naruto feeling the need to tell him, “Whoa, look! He’s using your moves!”

“But…why? I’m an omega, wouldn’t that embarrass him?”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re an omega or not! Sasuke doesn’t care about that stuff and he never will, especially not when I become hokage. What matters to him is how powerful you are as a ninja, not what gender you are. Not all alphas and betas are like your family, you know.”

Lee had appeared to be happy to this, and yet, despite this, he was the lone person in their part of the stands cheering, “He may be doing well now, but you’ve got this, Gaara! You can win, I know you can!”

It stunned him—he didn’t expect him to be so bold as to cheer for a foreign alpha in front of so many alphas and betas who would definitely talk about it afterwards in settings where his clan would discover this. He had thought Lee would be too afraid to do such a thing so boldly, and yet here he was, cheering for Gaara with reckless abandon so much so to the point that when Gaara did cry out in pain, he was genuinely concerned, “Gaara? Is everything alright? Naruto, please, is there any way at all I can do something—anything to help him? I’ve never heard him scream like this before…I’ve never seen him like this in all of the times we’ve seen each other, something is wrong, I know it.”

Ino had to grab his arm to stop him from doing something stupid, warning him, “Lee, if you interfere now, you could get him disqualified from his own match!”

“Who cares about that? Gaara isn’t in a good place right now and he needs someone to help him before something bad can happen that’s out of his control! Do you really want another incident like the one that happened at my first fight against him?”

“We all don’t want that, but you cannot go out there, it could get dangerous for you and make him never want to see you again.”

“It’s not like he will ever see me again! Ino, don’t try to stop me from helping—”

It was then that Guy sensei stepped in by hitting a pressure point in his neck, making the omega pass out. Ino was about to thank him, as was Naruto since he didn’t believe he could have stopped Lee himself even with her help, but then everything black for some reason or another…and now, he’s being woken up by Sakura.

“Naruto, get up! We’re under attack!”

Immediately, he was up, looking around and asking the question of, “Where’s Sasuke? Why didn’t my stupid teme wake me?”

“He went after Gaara after the attack started.”

“What! Nuh uh, no way in hell is he leaving me like this!”

She glanced at him in concern as he began to eye up a moment to get to the nearest exit, “I’m gonna go after him! If he thinks he can leave me like that, then he has another thing coming!”

His teammate rolled her eyes, “You can go ahead and do that then. I’m staying here to get Ino to safety.”

Naruto looked at her incredulously then, his eyes wide at what she said, “You can’t leave me to go after Sasuke alone!”

“You can find someone else if you don’t want to go alone!”

“Who else would go with me? Unless if you want me to bring Lee and Ino along, then fine, but those are the only ones I feel safe with if you’re not gonna go.”

She smacks him upside the head, “Idiot! Like I’d let Ino go out and get herself killed or kidnapped or who knows what they’d do to her! You know Lee can’t go along either, he’s too attached to Gaara from what Ino told me.”

He was about to argue with her when she gave him an exasperated response of, “You know as well as I do that while he is powerful his attachment to Gaara will prevent him from being able to go into battle with a clear head. Can you really not think of anyone else?”

“All I can think of is you…maybe Shikamaru too, but that’s only because I know he wouldn’t be the type to hold me back going off what I know about him.”

Sakura truly did not want to go after Sasuke.

If she’s allowed to be honest here, she’d much rather get Ino to safety than chase after Sasuke. Just because she’s done all that she can on her end to put the past behind them does not mean she’s willing to revolve her life around him. She’s free to have other goals, other desires, other motivations for her actions outside of Sasuke. Why bother wasting her time on him when she wouldn’t need to?

That being said…Sasuke and her will be back on bad terms again if she dares let Naruto go without her. Knowing him, he’ll be all jealous if he shows up with another alpha or beta by his side and he’d blame her for letting it happen, thus leading into another fight between them that may not get resolved this time around.

It with all of the reluctance in the world that she agrees to his idea, “Fine, I’ll go with you, but I better get back in time to get Ino out of here.”

“You will! Now all we need to do is find Shikamaru.”

Thanks to Guy sensei’s having been in earshot of their conversation, he was able to give them an enthusiastic tip, “Looking for Shikamaru, huh? Well, look no further than over there!” with a finger pointing in the direction where he was passed out, they were able to get him in time.

Before Sakura could wake him, Kakashi sensei did inform them of something, “You’re going after Sasuke, aren’t you?”

“Well duh, I am! No way in hell am I leaving that stupid teme all by himself!”

Kakashi didn’t want Naruto doing this alone and he could tell by her annoyed expression that Sakura didn’t want to go either. However, he also knew Naruto well enough that even if he did try to stop him, he would go out on his own anyway and get himself hurt, killed, or forcibly mated to someone, leaving Sasuke in a position to do something really stupid ending in his demise.

Because he cannot have this happening, he does nothing to stop him, “Fine, but you guys are taking Pakkun with you.”

Naruto didn’t mind though it did nothing to ease his anxiety, “Come on, we have to get Shikamaru up right now or else we’ll be too late to save my teme!”

Pakkun, when in front of Shikamaru frowned and instantly seethed, “Hey, he’s not under some spell or jutsu…he’s actually sleeping!”

Both of them were not shocked by this in the slightest. What they were shocked by was Pakkun’s reaction to get him awake: slapping his face with his paw so hard that he may have almost left a bruise on him, “Huh, wha? Why did you guys wake me?”

“We woke you because we’re under attack and that Gaara guy lured my Sasuke out to his possible demise. Now, you’re gonna come with us to save him whether you like it or not.”

Shikamaru scoffed, “Why should I come? We don’t know each other that well.”

“You’re coming because you’re the only other alpha or beta ninja I feel comfortable going with since Sakura won’t let me bring Ino along and Lee can’t come because of his feelings for Gaara.” Naruto was at the point of hissing when grabbing his shirt, “We’re leaving now, whether you want to or not.”

“Great, what a drag…” he mutters underneath his breath yet stopping himself from going any further when faced with the hardened glare from the omega still gripping his shirt.

Shikamaru doesn’t fully understand what’s going on still, but he has a feeling if he doesn’t do anything to help now while he can, their entire village will be lost.

Naruto had been pins and needles the entire time they made their way to where Sasuke was located.

In his opinion, they took far too long to leave the stadium. Now he feels as though it will take them forever to arrive to where his teme is, something which he cannot hide from Sakura and Shikamaru as they make their way through the woods, “Can’t we go any faster? I could lose my teme over this!”

“Naruto, we can’t afford to rush this! We don’t know what traps may lie ahead of us from the enemy or if their reinforcements will be located near the area they are setting to do battle in. All we can do is keep an eye out for potential enemies for now and do our best to either avoid them or defeat them quickly in battle so we can make it to Sasuke’s side in time.” Shikamaru tries to reason with him in order to calm Naruto down and make him think critically for one moment.

Of course, this goes over his head and Pakkun is left to finish Shikamaru’s attempt for him, “He has a point, Naruto. You cannot stress yourself out—what matters most right now is getting to Sasuke and saving him from whatever it is Gaara has planned for him. If you want to be able to defeat Gaara, then you have to go in with a clear head without letting your emotions getting the best of you.”

Naruto is trying his best to do just that…it’s easier said than done.

He cannot stop thinking about Sasuke getting hurt, about Sasuke getting killed—if Sasuke ever did get hurt or died on him, he doesn’t know what he would do—that stupid, stupid teme! How dare he leave him like this? How dare he make him worry over him!

No matter, they’re getting closer to him…at least, he thinks they are. They better be because like hell is Naruto going to be waiting forever to get to his teme when he could endangered.

It may seem obsessive to think so hard on Sasuke. It probably is, however, if he doesn’t think about him then he’ll be stuck worrying over Iruka sensei.

He knows his sensei is strong, he has nothing but full confidence in his abilities, but at the same time, he’s worried over him. He worries about his sensei because he knows that he has those kids he is teaching today and while he knows there is a protocol in place in case if something like this happens, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t worry about his adoptive father’s safety any less than he does Sasuke’s.

Sasuke is the one he is talking about the most, but only because he’d be really breaking down if he had to dare vocalize his concern for his sensei right now.

It’s strange: many would not think he’d care so much about Iruka sensei since they’re not related by blood, but to Naruto, he is the best form of family he could ever have. He took him in, he accepted despite what happened to his parents, and he loves him as though he were his own. They may not see eye to eye all the time, but they are always there for each other through thick and thin. Because of this loyalty and bond he has with him, he would love to see if he’s okay, but he has to have confidence in his abilities for now and focus on saving Sasuke if he wants to remain sane through all of this.

He doesn’t know why this attack happened or what could have provoked it. All he knows is Lee will be hurting when this is all over…

Lee…he frowns, his fist clenching by his side when he thinks about his friend and whatever feelings it is he has for Gaara.

He doesn’t know what is going on with him, but he cannot help to think he wouldn’t be acting so strangely, or having to speak to Neji at all on his parents’ request, if Gaara had never had the meltdown he did during their first battle (if one could even call it that since no fighting actually did happen between them).

He wonders if they knew about Gaara and whatever it is Lee has for or with him. He wonders if this is why Lee has been acting weird for so long—are they trying to force him to mate Neji so he won’t ever mate Gaara or are they trying to get him to mate Neji for some other nefarious reason? He’s not sure, but he’s positive they wouldn’t be pulling anything on him at all if the Chunin exams had not been put on hiatus thanks to Gaara’s actions.

To think, Lee actually cheered for this guy—he cannot imagine the pain he’ll be in when he realizes Gaara was a part of this mission to destroy their home.

He may not want to be there when he does discover this. It doesn’t mean he won’t be and it certainly does not mean he will not give Gaara a piece of his mind when this is all over.

Sasuke, when alone in the forest with Gaara, is quick to remember his suspicious encounter with the redhead alpha. It makes him wonder, “Why do all of this? Aren’t you worried over Lee?”

The alpha doesn’t flinch at the mention of his name, yet his sand starts to form spiraling tendrils in his silence.

Sasuke presses onward, asking him further, “I saw how you interacted with him when you two fought after the hiatus was up. I may not have said anything to you, but I did see how you two spoke to each other afterwards. I don’t know your exact relationship with him, but if he is someone important to you, why do this? Why not end whatever issue it is you have with me at the arena when you had the chance to?”

“…He doesn’t matter in this.” he growls, his voice starting to sound uneven in pitch, “What matters is that we get to settle this once and for all, Sasuke Uchiha!”

The Uchiha alpha doesn’t really understand why he is so hellbent on battling him—all he ever got that one time he saw him during training was the comment about them having the same eyes—but he doesn’t care. If this alpha is going to be a threat to Naruto, then he will deal with him accordingly.

“If he doesn’t matter, then why does your sand react like that when I say Lee’s name?”

“Stop bringing Lee up, you’re going to make him angrier! Just battle him now and get it over with, mentioning that omega will have devastating consequences for everyone when he’s in this state!” Temari warned, having seen the signs herself and coming to the conclusion that if Sasuke doesn’t stop bringing Lee up, it will end badly for him.

If her and Kankuro are correct about Gaara having a crush on Lee, then bringing him up now when he’s in the midst of a breakdown like this will only make it that much worse for everyone around him.

Before Sasuke could ask her more, Gaara strikes out at his own sister, the tail of sand knocking her away with ease, “Shut up…just shut up! I don’t want to hear his name being spoken by anyone here, not even you!”

It’s enough to make the message loud and clear. If he’s willing to strike out at his own sister over Lee’s name being brought up, then it’d be for the best if he didn’t bother with that at all.

He readies himself for another Chidori—despite the fact there may be a chance he may not be able to use another one so soon after his initial usage of it in the arena—more than ready to get rid of this alpha who dared to launch an attack on the village his Naruto will one day be hokage of. The same alpha who will cause great harm to one of his Naruto’s friends when this is all over and he’s won against him.

Yes, he will win against him. Because like hell he will lose to this alpha, not now, not when he has Naruto to protect and save.

Chapter Text

The first thing Naruto did when arriving at the area where Sasuke and Gaara were located was to glance at Sasuke and drop everything he was about to say to the volatile alpha, “Ah! Sasuke, what happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine, Naruto. It’s no big deal—”

“Yes it is! You’re hurt and I wasn’t here to stop it from happening!”

His Uchiha wanted to rip his hair out the moment this was said. He couldn’t believe he had to tell him what was pretty damn obvious, “Naruto, stay out of it! I don’t want you to get hurt by this guy!”

The blonde omega wasn’t budging on this, “Oh hell no, teme, you don’t get to talk to me like that, not when you look like you’re about to pass out at any moment!”

“You don’t understand—he’s not like any other person we’ve ever faced before! I could hardly hold my own against him, and I don’t want you by any alpha who can attack his own sister at the very mention of Lee’s name!”

Sasuke hadn’t managed to much of a hit on Gaara—in fact, despite his attempt to defeat him, he had used up too much chakra on using Chidori one too many times and as such, was left in a state where he couldn’t hold off Gaara much longer.

The very fact he snapped and more of the sand from the gourd on his back came around him to form a new nightmarish body at the mention of the omega in their village had him fearing for Naruto’s life the moment he arrived. He’s terrified of the prospect of Gaara getting close to Naruto and hurting him because he’s an omega.

(Sure, Naruto may try to say otherwise, but if he could hide working with that bastard Orochimaru all of this time—then what else could he be hiding? For all they know, he could be worse than Neji was to Lee.)

He kicks himself for not knowing Naruto better, because true to form, his omega—whose stubborn nature he usually loves, but wishes he would do away with in this moment—frowns and snarls at him, “How dare you tell me to leave—I’m not leaving, not now, not when that bastard hurt you!”

“Naruto—”

“Don’t ‘Naruto’ me, not when you look like that!” he is pissed and Sasuke feels so stupid for ever saying anything to try to get him to run, “I am not leaving you behind, I refuse to! Even then, how dare you assume this is only about you?”

He is curious as to who else it could be about, wondering if there is another alpha or beta Naruto could be fighting for, feeling a momentary jealous that fades the second he says, “That bastard not only hurt you…he also hurt Lee with all of this. Lee is going through some stuff with his family right now and I can’t help but to think Gaara is just as responsible as Neji for it. If he thinks he can pull this crap on our home, our families, our friends, and Lee, then he has another thing coming to him.”

Sasuke is left to feel stupid while Sakura is left to wonder what all was going on she wasn’t told about by Ino over this last month. She wonders if she has done enough to earn her trust back or not if she didn’t tell her about whatever it is that has been bothering her fellow omega friend. It’s something she stores in the back of her mind to later ask her when this is all over and their lives have a semblancy of the old normalcy they used to possess.

Naruto heads over to Sasuke’s side, kisses him on the cheek, and gives him a confident, “Don’t worry, I’ll beat this guy for you and for Lee.”

Sasuke doesn’t know if he can trust him to win against such a monstrous alpha, but when he sees Naruto looking at him in the way he does whenever he has one too many thoughts running through his mind, making him start to lose focus from anxiety, he knows what to say in order to help his future mate out, “You better, Naruto. You’re going to be the next Hokage—this alpha should be nothing for you.”

Naruto loses whatever tension was within himself when he hears this, leaving him to face Gaara head on properly, “You’re going to regret hurting my teme, jerk!”

Gaara didn’t so much as budge, though to Naruto he appeared to be…rather demonic looking—it reminded him of the nine tailed fox within himself, but if it were to take over him physically.

Wait—is Gaara like him?

He doesn’t know or really care. What matters is settling this now so he can take Sasuke to somewhere safe and save his home along with everyone he cares about back there.

(Iruka sensei, may you be safe—may we have not lost anything, he chants in his mind.)

“Hurting your teme? Is that how you talk to someone you hold dearly enough to protect?”

Naruto is taken aback by this for a simple reason, “Excuse me, who are you to talk! Sasuke is going to be my mate someday and he knows teme is my nickname for him! Besides, you have no room to speak…I believe Sasuke when he says you attacked your sister—”

“I don’t care for her so don’t use her if you want to be smart about it.” Gaara then goes on to say in a voice that is slowly becoming distorted, “I have no reason to love anyone else—I love only myself and will defend only myself. Unlike you, I am not weakened by loving or caring about anyone else outside of myself.”

“Oh yeah right, like you’re one to talk!” Naruto isn’t taking this lying down for good reason, “I saw the way you and Lee spoke to each other before the match you had with Sasuke. It’s obvious he likes you and cares a lot about you—Ino thinks he has a crush on you even. For you to go and do something so horrible like this, when he’s already going through a tough time, knowing it will hurt him… You’re a real piece of work, you know that? How can you be so selfish to hurt him like this?”

He narrowly dodges an attack from Gaara, the sand spike grazing his cheek while the alpha glowers, “Don’t bring him up…he has nothing to do with this…don’t involve him in this.”

In response, Naruto huffs, pointing at him accusatorily, “Ha! You do care about Lee! If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be acting so crazy like you are now! So stop that talk about loving only yourself when it’s obvious you are just like me, with someone you want to mate someday too!”

“I am not—”

“You are too, quit lying about it! Look, me speaking about Lee is enough to make you actually do something impressive in a fight. If that isn’t making you stronger, then what is?”

Gaara seethes, his next move one that none of them saw coming, “You actually are naïve enough to believe I was weak enough to need such an upgrade to my power?”

“To be fair…I didn’t really see much of your skill in any battle so…you can’t blame me for thinking it.”

“I’m powerful...powerful enough to know I don’t need any mention or thought of him to be stronger than I am now. Thinking of him, speaking of him…it won’t help anything. All I need is to do what I normally do when I want to feel alive: kill.”

Before Naruto knew it, Sasuke was being pinned to the tree by a large splatter of Gaara’s sand, the alpha’s body now half monster and half human, his eyes changing when speaking to Naruto, “Let me guess…you believe fighting for him will give you strength to defeat me? You’re painfully naïve, but I guess you can’t help it—naivete seems to be trait of you Konoha omegas.”

The tail made of sand swishes ominously behind him, his eyes narrowing, his voice sounding less and less human the longer he spoke, with the blood in his scent overpowering the lavender present, “If you cannot defeat me in time, the sand will crush your alpha to death and you will lose your mate along with your own life when I inevitably win.”

Naruto seethed because there is something that is bothering him, “You’re really going to act like you did nothing wrong to Lee, huh? Well, okay—if I am going to lose my life and Sasuke if I do lose, then if you lose, you have to go back to the village and apologize to Lee for all that you’ve done to hurt him.”

All he got in response was a scream—no, more like a pained cry as Gaara clutched at his forehead over the mark on his forehead, Naruto feeling smothered by the scent of blood and starting to believe he may be a bit over his head in choosing to fight this alpha.

The entire fight, Gaara was stuck in his thoughts.

Thoughts of his memories, thoughts of his life…thoughts of Lee…Lee…the omega making his way into his mind like a snake slithering in a bird’s nest yet he’s not certain if thoughts of the omega are unwanted or not.

He’s throwing all that he has at the blonde omega from Konoha, having told him the same basic story of his life he told Lee, yet being met with nothing more than an angered opponent more determined than ever to defeat him.

It shocks him to know this omega can summon a giant toad to use in battle. It shocks him to know this omega can hold his own against him whereas Naruto appears more shocked that Gaara himself is actually strong.

(He’s actually more upset at Neji than anything for making him look so weak to the other Genins in the village—thanks to his using that damn mark to make Lee lose at their match, Gaara didn’t get the chance he got to have a proper battle where he could showcase his skills. Now he has people thinking he’s weak when he’s anything but…damn that alpha for this! When he’s done with Naruto and Sasuke, he should go back to take on that smug Hyuuga for what he’s done!)

We should go back to kill the Hyuuga for trying to take our mate from us.

Stupid, stupid Shukaku! Like Gaara has any need for a mate, let alone one like Lee who most likely is going to be mated to Neji anyway when he leaves!

Can you imagine that guy being mated to our omega? How disgusting! He better not lay a hand on him or else I’ll rip his throat out myself!

Shut up, shut up, shut up!

Gaara is focused on this battle—well, he’s trying to remain focused. It’s hard when Shukaku is so damn loud and he’s bringing up Lee over and over again, triggering something he’s never felt before or been able to identify ever since meeting the omega.

Is this some sort of instinctual reaction being flared by Shukaku?

Is this a type of early puberty being caused by the spirit’s open desire to mate Lee?

He doesn’t have the time or energy to care. All he has time and energy to care about are two simple things: winning in this battle and completing his mission.

Though he didn’t expect Naruto to actually put up as good of a fight as he has so far. In light of these recent successes the omega has made in battle against him, Gaara is left to do the one thing he doesn’t want to do yet is left with no other option at this moment in the battle: play possum.

He doesn’t want to sleep—no matter how much he could use it—because he knows when he does, Shukaku will flood his mind with thoughts of Lee (or so he tells himself). At this moment, he has no other choice but to tolerate whatever images of Lee Shukaku will put in his head…

All he sees are images of Lee smiling at him, holding out his hand, “Gaara, I’m glad you’re alright. Do you want to go to somewhere we can be alone for a while? I’d like to have at least one moment alone with you before you go.”

It’s nice because it’s just so…Lee.

To accept him no matter what he’s done and forgive no matter what’s gone on.

He doesn’t mind playing possum if it means he’s not stuck with his awful childhood memories or whatever else it is Shukaku can throw at him. At least with this, he can feel a semblance of safety, allowing himself to follow Lee and forget this is all a dream and he’s in a serious battle somewhere out there.

 At the end of the battle, they are both on the ground, both of them worn out and breathing heavily.

Sasuke’s life has been saved and Sakura—who had been smart enough to keep her mouth shut and lie low the entire time this battle went on—went over to Sasuke’s side. The young alpha was passed out from the weight of the sand choking him until his eyes closed and his breathing slowed. However, now that the sand is gone from him, he’s breathing normally, his chest rising up and down in a manner a healthy person’s would.

She doesn’t hesitate to take him to Naruto. She truly didn’t believe he would win, but he did. He won and defeated someone as powerful as Gaara all on his own.

It makes her want to strive to be that strong so when they do face Deidara and Itachi someday, Sakura will be able to be as strong as Ino as Naruto was for Sasuke in this instance.

Meanwhile, with Gaara and Naruto, the alpha is annoyed with himself as he realizes he had thought of Lee the entire time he was asleep. He actually thought of him in a fond manner, finding him to be a soothing balm to his constant hot rage and agonizing misery that came with his memories, his very reason for existence in his eyes.

In all of his humiliation, Gaara cannot find it in himself to fight any longer. All of his chakra spent, all he wants is to go home and recover, to forget any of this ever happened and that Lee ever existed so it won’t be so—

“You’re still moving? How?”

Naruto is dragging himself by his chin, his stubbornness driving him when explaining his side of the story, “I was…just like you. I had no parents, everyone in the village hated me for the nine tailed fox inside me…and I was angry at them for the longest time. Then I got people in my life who cared about me…who gave me a home, who gave me a family, and friendship and a whole life I’d never thought I’d have. You can go ahead and think I’m weak for having people who I care about, but…they made me strong. They made me who I am today and who I will be when I become hokage.”

He is seething when getting closer to Gaara, who is immobilized by not only the loss of his chakra, but the fiery determined glare of the omega approaching him, “You talk all big and tough…you act like you love no one but yourself, but in my eyes, you like Lee. You fought harder and transformed faster because I kept bringing him up. The thought of him drove you to be stronger than you are usually and if that isn’t proof that you’re all talk, then what else is?”

He won’t acknowledge that. He can’t, he won’t—he doesn’t like that omega, he doesn’t want to mate that omega, he’s—

“Which is why…I am going to do whatever it takes to drag you back to the stadium where he is laying there unconscious because of you and make you apologize to him for all the trouble you caused him!” he is getting angrier the longer he speaks, leaving Gaara to wish his body would move already, “He was the only one who cheered for you in that stand because he likes you—not because of some bet, but because he likes you as a person for some reason or another, without caring if anyone would try to hurt him for it. Now when this is all over, he’s going to be left with people hating him for it and his family probably treating him like garbage for it.”

Why is his family being brought up? Is there something going on? Is Lee in danger of winding up like the cousin he mentioned to him?

No, he doesn’t care. He is an omega from a village he will never see or speak to again—

“I think you’re worse than Neji because at least Neji could apologize to Lee for all that he had done to him right to face like any decent person would. You may think you’re blameless in what happened to Lee, but you aren’t! His family…they probably wouldn’t have ever gotten involved and tried to get him to mate Neji if you hadn’t ever reacted the way you did at your first match with him. Now you have the nerve to pull this and try to leave without ever considering what he’s feeling after all you did to the one person who was ever nice to you? Yeah, you’re definitely worse than Neji and I won’t let you off the hook that easy!”

Before he could reach that bastard who ruined Lee’s life, Temari and Kankuro appear out of the woods to get Gaara. Temari is about to argue in Gaara’s defense, her green eyes full of rage at the ballsy omega to say what he did to her brother, “You don’t know anything about that situation. How dare you act as though Gaara was ever a problem when it was all—”

“…Temari, stop.”

To her brother’s command, she stops her speech and instead listens when he says, “Temari, Kankuro…I’m sorry. Let’s go home.”

The moment they are gone, Naruto growls and yells, “Cowardly jerk! How dare you leave Lee behind like this! After everything he did to support you no matter what…screw you! I hope he ends up with Shikamaru or Neji or—or anyone better than you!”

He was about to push himself further when Sakura’s voice cut him out of his thoughts, “Naruto, stop. It’s over, he’s gone; you’ve done all that you can to win and you’ve won. We need to get you and Sasuke back to the village to heal, okay?”

He glares at the sky, not okay with them leaving like that—with Gaara leaving so easily, running away from his responsibilities while Lee is left to deal with the brunt end of the aftermath of this invasion.

Chapter Text

Waking up in the hospital, he was greeted immediately with Iruka sensei by his side.

Naruto had never been happier to see him in his life until then, “Iruka sensei? You’re alright!”

Iruka sensei, from his spot on the chair by his bedside, smiled when returning the tight hug Naruto gave him, “I was worried over you, sensei. I-I was so afraid…”

“It’s okay, Naruto, you never had any reason to worry. I was safe the entire time with the students at the academy.” he tries to release calming pheromones to help Naruto’s worried mind, yet it does nothing when he himself is still so shaken by what had happened.

Before he knew it, Naruto was pulling out of the hug to ask with wandering eyes, “Where’s Sasuke? Is he okay? How about Ino and Lee? Are they alright too? No alpha or beta jerk tried to mark them against their will, did they? Because if so, then I—”

“Sasuke’s recovering in a room right across the hall from yours. Ino and Lee were not forcibly marked by anyone. In fact, Ino’s home now with her family and Lee…well…” he doesn’t know how to properly explain everything to Naruto because what happened is something he’s never experienced before in his lifetime until yesterday.

Naruto’s worried now; his back is straight and his eyes are trained tightly on him, leaving Iruka feeling oddly small in this moment when trying to explain the situation to him, “Naruto, what happened yesterday…it wasn’t something mild or small. It wasn’t a normal battle where there’s a clear victor or everyone comes out of it alive. This invasion took the lives of many in the village—we lost the Third Hokage to Orochimaru and Lee is one of the many who lost his clan to the resulting destruction of the invasion. All he has left is his mother now; I’ve heard that he’s with her for the time being.”

He knows his clan was horrible to him, but he knows at the same time that Lee probably loved them regardless of how badly they treated him because that’s the sort of person he is. If he can care about Gaara—wait…

“Tell me, what happened to Gaara? Did he really get away after everything he did?”

Iruka had never heard Naruto sounding so angry, so volatile before in his lifetime. His Naruto usually doesn’t act or speak in such a manner—with a monotonous yet quiet voice to try to hide the burning rage inside. It leaves him wondering if now really is the best time to tell him, “Naruto…”

“Tell me what happened to that bastard who hurt my teme and my friend!”

Looks like there’s no way out of it then. If he doesn’t tell Naruto, then he’ll march over to Gaara’s home himself and make him pay for what he did, which is the last thing the village honestly needs at the moment, “…Orochimaru had gotten in the village by killing the Kazekage and impersonating him. He manipulated Gaara, his siblings, as other ninja from their village into attacking us with the cooperation of the Sound. Currently, Gaara is at home with his siblings—they are probably going through a lot right now with their father having been the Kazekage—”

“I don’t care about that… What I care about is whether or not he ever apologized to Lee for all that he did.”

“…You’d have to ask Lee about that. I wouldn’t know if he ever did or not.”

Naruto is growling and it’s a surprising sight for Iruka to see because he’s never seen him this genuinely angry before, “That bastard…he didn’t ever apologize to him—I wouldn’t be shocked if he didn’t. After all Lee did to show him nothing but kindness and support too! That stupid, stupid—”

Iruka decides to change the subject before Naruto possibly explodes from his anger, “Before you go off being angry at Gaara, there is something I need to tell you.”

He is listening but Iruka hopes he really has his attention now, “We lost our home in the invasion. I am trying to find us a new place now, but it may take a while.”

Naruto doesn’t appear to be too upset by this because his first idea is, “Oh cool, we can stay with Sasuke then!”

He cannot believe that is his first suggestion. Then again, he is going to ask either Guy or Asuma if he and Naruto can stay with them until they can find their own place so maybe Naruto’s not off for suggesting Sasuke as a potential option here.

Then again, he does remember being a young omega and he remembers what alphas were like when they were Sasuke’s age…needless to say, he doesn’t for one moment think this is a good idea.

“It’s a nice suggestion, but maybe we should stay with someone who has enough room for us. I was thinking about asking Asuma or Guy—”

“Oh, Kakashi sensei would be another one to ask! I don’t think he’d mind us staying at his place for a while!”

And right when this is suggested, like freaking clockwork, comes the voice of Kakashi himself ringing in the room, “So I hear you lost your home. Like Naruto said, I wouldn’t mind having you two over for as long as you need.”

He was about to reject the man when Naruto cheered, “Of course we will stay with you! Then I can train with you whenever I want and we can get ramen together whenever I please!”

He doesn’t mean to rain on his adoptive son’s parade but… “Kakashi, do you have enough room for us? I mean, Asuma and Guy have pretty spacious places clearly meant to house more than a single alpha bachelor."

"No need to worry, my place is spacious enough for the both of you to stay. Besides, Guy is taking in Lee and his mother at his place, meaning he has no room for you. Asuma’s only one got one spare bedroom as well that he’s not housing anyone in as far as I know. You two could stay with him, but would either one of you be willing to share a room with the other?”

“Yes.”

“Ew, no way! I need my space; I cannot share a room with my sensei!”

Iruka glances over at Naruto, his shock written all over his face, “Naruto, you’ve got to be kidding me. Sharing a room with me won’t be that bad and besides, there’s a lot you can learn from Asuma.”

His son crosses his arms against his chest, looking away while pouting, “Easy for you to say! I need my space and privacy, thank you very much! In case if you’ve forgotten, I’m a growing omega boy and I just so happened to have saved this village from Gaara’s attack, so I feel like I should have majority say in this decision. Here I won the battle and for what? The bastard to get away, to lose our home, and worry over my teme and friends? I think I deserve to have one good thing going on, sensei. Don’t you?”

Of course, leave it to Naruto to leave his otherwise powerful will to reject Kakashi at every twist and turn useless. He knows Naruto is going through a lot and he will have a lot to process the longer the news of the many losses that the village suffered kicks in. Going forward, he is going to have to do all that he can to make him happy and feel some semblance of normalcy as well as safety in his day to day life. It’s all he can do to make up for what happened to him during this invasion.

It is with a forced smile he quits in his opposition, giving in to Kakashi’s wish for the sake of Naruto and his happiness, “…Okay, we can stay with Kakashi until we find a new place.”

He can feel the joy radiating off both Naruto and Kakashi at his decision, though he is more now than ever to find a new place as quickly as possible to make this stay as temporary as it can be.

“Thank you so much, sensei! Now we can see Kakashi sensei’s exploding oven—hey wait, how are we going to eat if your oven is always exploding, sensei? Will we have to eat out all the time now?”

To this, Iruka turns around to face Kakashi, his eyes gleaming in the delight of catching the copy nin in a clear blatant lie, “Yes, Kakashi, how are we going to eat at your place if your oven is always exploding? In fact, how can we be safe there at all if there is an exploding oven waiting to blow at any moment around dinnertime?”

Kakashi is quick to come up with a way out of this, per usual and as expected really by all in the room, “Oh, that oven? I got it fixed while I was out training with Sasuke this last month. I understand your concern, but trust me, there’s no need to worry.”

“Okay, I’ll make ramen for dinner tonight then on the stove that is now fixed. How does that sound?”

“Great, actually. I’ve been in the mood for some comfort food after everything that’s happened.”

Leave it to Naruto to be excited over this without really reading the room, “Ramen’s for dinner tonight? That’s so great, thank you so much, Iruka sensei!”

“Don’t mention it, Naruto. You deserve a nice meal after everything you’ve done.”

He can say this with a real smile to Naruto and mean every word he’s spoken because, well, Naruto has survived through so much recently. It’s amazing he’s still here when he hears accounts of Gaara and his terrifying jutsus, to be here with him now feels more like a blessing than anything else.

Because for as much Naruto worried over him, Iruka worried over Naruto far more than the young omega could ever comprehend.

When he woke up, the stadium was ruined and he felt lucky to be alive.

Lee had thought he was going to get lucky for once—after all the bad things he’s endured so far, there’s no way it could get worse than being sold off at auction and never seeing his friends or sensei again. That had been what he had thought, anyway.

Then he saw the devastation of so many homes, businesses, and families in the village. It really hit home then that perhaps his situation wasn’t as bad as losing everything and everyone in one fell swoop as many did.

He had felt lucky and he wonders if that is moment of confidence is why he couldn’t stop himself from reacting the way he did.

Waking up in the stadium beside Guy sensei, his first words were, “Sensei, what happened? Where’s Gaara? Is Neji okay? How about my family, are they alright?”

His sensei—looking stern and hardened for the first time he’s ever known him—gave him a blunt, “We were invaded, Lee. The Sand and Sound Villages collaborated to attack our home and kill our hokage. Gaara…he’s nowhere to be found, though Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura went after him. Going by the silence and the retreat of the enemy, I can only assume they won. Neji is fine; he was in the recovery area of the stadium and that part wasn’t hit during the invasion. As for your family…I can’t say. I haven’t checked the village yet to be sure.”

Immediately, he was running out of the stadium with his sensei behind his heel in silence with no intention of holding him back.

Lee felt grateful for this but seeing the village in such devastation was a shock that left him feeling less and less optimistic as he saw all of these nice homes and businesses in ruin with the distinct cries of pain and loss thick in the air.

No matter how misplaced, he still felt confident enough to believe everything at home would be okay.

His clan’s home wasn’t in a nice area. It wasn’t even that deep in the village—if of anything, it was closer to the village gates, in what could be called a more rural area given how far their closest neighbors were. He had every right to believe his family would be okay. He had every reason to believe his family home would still be the one building standing, with his clan safe and sound.

Before he could see it, Guy sensei got in front of him, “Lee, wait, you don’t want to see it. I think it’s gonna be an ugly sight you don’t want to have in your head for any amount of time—”

“Guy sensei, please, I need to see it for myself! I have to know if they’re okay—they may have treated me badly, but they’re still my family and I deserve the right to know what happened to them.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to see it. I don’t want you to be scarred for life by this.”

His sensei is sincere and yet, Lee doesn’t stop himself, “I’m going to be a Chunin someday. Seeing death is just a part of the job, right, sensei?”

To be fair to his sensei, he really did try to prevent him from seeing it, but Lee moved away from his attempted grasp to see it for himself because he was so confident everything was going to be okay…until it wasn’t.

When he saw it, he collapsed to his knees, his eyes unable to focus on any one point at the collapsed building, his nose burning with the stench of blood in the air, and…is that his father? Is he okay—why isn’t he moving?

He tried to rush over to his side, but with that unique sixth sense his sensei has to predict when something will be too devastating for him to handle, he hits a pressure point on his neck before he can rush over to him, effectively knocking him out.

By the time he woke up again, he was at the hospital, with a medic nin telling his sensei, “He appears to be just fine, no scrapes, cuts, or bruises anywhere on him.”

“That’s a relief…what about his family? Is there anything left of his clan?”

To this, Lee stilled himself, waiting to hear the news he knew would devastate him far beyond anything else out there: “I’m afraid not… His clan’s home is gone and the only surviving members of it are his mother and himself. His family were all dead on arrival; there was nothing that anyone could have done to save them.”

“What of his mother? What’s her state, will she make it?”

“She’s recovering just fine, out of all of them, she’s the one who sustained the least severe injuries. I expect her to be out of the hospital in a few days at the most.”

“Okay…thanks for filling me in, but I should check on Lee now. I’m sure he’s going through a lot.”

The nurse was understanding and before he knew it, she was gone. Lee wished he could fake being asleep better, yet his sensei knew the moment he turned around, “You heard everything, huh?”

He nods, not able to talk right now because even though they did treat him badly, they were still his family and he had other omega relatives there he had been pretty close to. To lose all of them hurt more than he ever believed it would.

His sensei sits beside his bed and sighs deeply, taking his hand, he promises him, “Lee, everything will be alright. You and your mom can stay with me, it’s really no issue for me to have you over for as long as you need—”

He paused, giving him a moment of silence to absorb everything in. In the end, when Lee could talk—which felt like an eternity before he could—all he could think of was, “Is my mom okay? What about Neji, Naruto, Ino, or Gaara? Are they all okay?”

“Why would you ask about Gaara? Aren’t you mad at him for what happened?”

Lee shakes his head, firm in the viewpoint he has now, “I won’t judge Gaara until I have all the facts I need to make a decision on what to think about whatever role he could have had in this. Gaara isn’t the type to do something like this without good reason…he’s not the type to attack randomly and even if he did, I’m sure there’s something else driving him to do it. I know you may think it’s crazy but I cannot believe he’s a bad person because that’s not the Gaara I know.”

He doesn’t know why he is so willing to give Gaara the benefit of a doubt. It makes him wonder if perhaps throughout all of this, Lee had gotten closer to Gaara when he hadn’t either been around or paid enough attention.

All of this aside, he can give credit where it’s due: he can respect Lee’s decision to wait until all facts are known and given regarding this situation. He figures it’s the best call they can make for the time being and it’s the most mature one to follow through on given the current state of the village itself.

This being said, it does nothing to stop his tears for the omega student in his hospital bed and it does nothing to stop him when he asks, “Can I go see my mom, Guy sensei? I know she may be a bit much, but she’s still my mom and I want to be sure she’s okay.”

He really doesn’t get why he would want to see that woman after everything she’s ever put him through. However, he won’t stop him from seeing her. He supposes any person who lost their clan would want to make sure their mother is okay if she is the lone survivor of an attack outside themselves, “Sure thing. I happen to know where her room is—I’ll take you there and give you some alone time with her. I figure you’ll want it after…everything.”

“Thanks, Guy sensei… You really are the best.” Lee says with tears in his eyes as he sits up in his bed and prepares himself for the hardest part of all of this: facing his mother after she survived the invasion.

Chapter Text

He’s alone with his mother now, the walk to her side having been too short, too quiet, too…heavy on him.

Every step closer to her room has his stomach twisting into the tightest of knots, his legs feeling as heavy as lead, and his mind stuck on what she will say when she sees him again.

Knowing that after this, he will be living with her again full time…it only makes this interaction all the more intimidating as much as it is important. If things don’t go good here, he can already say with much certainty that it will go badly when they are living together again. If there’s one thing he knows about his mother, it’s that one interaction with her can set the tone for what their time together will be like.

Hence why he is putting up the calmest, most neutral front he can in front of her now. If he does this just right—avoiding anything that could trigger a bad reaction out of her—then their time together at his sensei’s place won’t be so bad.

“Hi, mom.” he starts things off, hoping she will be reasonable and not too angry at him for anything.

Her first response?

A sneer, cruel yet to the point none the less, “Who are you to act as though nothing is wrong?”

He says nothing, hoping she will get it out of her system, hoping she will try to be good about this, but when she goes on it only ends up being nothing more than a bad sign, “Because of you and your selfish decision to not mate the Hyuuga boy, I lost my clan, my home, my mate—had we been living with the Hyuuga’s after your mating to Neji, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now! Thanks to you, your father is dead and your clan is gone. Tell me, how do you plan to atone for any of your inactions this past month? How do you plan to atone for the loss of my mate?”

Lee looks to the floor, relieved that Neji and his family are okay yet feeling nothing but guilt all the same, “I’m sorry, mom. I tried to get Neji to mate me, but he refused. He felt bad over what happened with the mark on my hand and how he acted towards me…he didn’t feel right becoming my mate because of it. I tried, I really—”

“Clearly not hard enough!” she snaps, her scent growing sour in her rage, “You couldn’t have mated with this boy sooner? You actually had the gall to wait a month before asking him to mate you? What, did you want me to auction you off—because I would have if you told me so instead of wasting my time waiting on you to make up your mind for so damn long! Who are you to be picky on who will be your mate—you’re not Deidara Yamanaka, you should have agreed to be the Hyuuga boy’s mate the moment he left that mark on your hand then my home wouldn’t be gone, I wouldn’t have lost the family I had, and I wouldn’t have ever lost my mate to your selfishness and misplaced pride!”

When ranting, she picked up the pitcher that was once full of water by her bedside and at the end of her rant, she threw the glass object with the full intent of hitting her son with it.

What she hadn’t expected was for Guy sensei to step in right then and grab it before it could hit her son.

His eyes were full of rage and hate for the woman on the hospital bed, his cold tone of voice unhidden when he spoke, “I don’t care what the law says—if you ever try to hurt my student like this ever again, I will punish you for it myself.”

“Sensei!” Lee interjected, trying to get him to stay out of it, with Guy stopping him after this was said with a raised hand at him.

“Listen, I was willing to have you in my home with Lee after the losses you both experienced. Here I had thought you would have had enough compassion and empathy within yourself to worry over your son, to regret your awful treatment of him after having lost everything you both did and instead I hear you having the nerve to blame that sweet child for something that was never his fault.”

The angered gleam in her eyes never faltered once, leading Guy to say what he did next, “I won’t have anyone that abusive towards Lee in my home. I absolutely refuse to tolerate anyone mistreating him under my roof, even you. You’re on your own lady, good luck finding anyone to care enough to help your miserable, awful self find any form of shelter.”

He turned his back to her, his eyes on the door all the while, “Come on Lee, we’re leaving. You don’t need to hear this or tolerate it.”

“…Yes, sensei.” is all he could say in that instant.

He is amazed at his sensei for doing the one thing his father and no one else in his clan ever did: standing up to his mother for him.

In light of what he saw, he does ask him after following him into the hall, “Sensei…why did you step in? You didn’t have to do that for me; I would’ve been fine—”

“No, you wouldn’t have been.”

He glances at him curiously, finding this declaration to be odd, “I don’t know what you grew up with regarding her and her punishment of you, but after everything you experienced today you didn’t need her blaming you for something that was never your fault and mistreating you for it. Maybe you don’t know this, but you deserve better than that, Lee. You always have and you always will.”

“But sensei, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t have handled. I’ve gone through worse with her than that. I’m sure if I were to go back there and apologize, she’d be calmer and willing to apologize too—”

“Has she ever apologized to you?”

He goes silent because she never has and Guy can tell as much from his silence, “Then why should you apologize to her when she’s never apologized to you?”

He glances down, not sure what to tell her on this issue, but then he says, “Lee, you did nothing wrong. This entire invasion was Orochimaru’s fault, not yours or anyone else’s. Information has come out that he killed the Kazekage and impersonated him to kill our hokage, which he did succeed in unfortunately enough. So in a way, you were right to not rush to judgment on Gaara since it really was no one else’s fault but that monster’s. If your mother wants to blame anyone for both of your losses, it’s him, not you. You shouldn’t have to deal with someone who blames you and mistreats you like she does—”

“But she’s my mom, sensei. She’s the only family I have left.” he tells him while wiping the fresh set of tears from his eyes, “I know she’s not good to me. I know it better than anyone else, but she is my mom… I don’t want to lose any more family if I don’t have to.”

Guy knows this and yet…he really doesn’t think she’s worth the concern or effort to keep in his life.

He knows by law there’s nothing he can do to keep Lee’s mom out of his life. He knows the law is also stacked in her favor no matter how horrid she is to him and no matter what he does to try to save him, it will all mean nothing in the end because tradition always comes before the health, safety, and wellbeing of any omega in any household.

That doesn’t mean he can’t do all that he can to try to convince Lee to have as little contact with her as possible for the time being. He may have to go back to her someday, but he has a feeling that won’t be for a long time, especially since he’s a Genin in his team still.

Since he is a Genin in his team, he feels it is his responsibility to take care of Lee no matter what even if the laws are stacked against him, “I heard her talk about auctioning you off…you would tell me if your clan was going to do something like to you, wouldn’t you?”

“What would be the point in it? I know there’s nothing that could be done if I did tell anyone; the law is on her side, it always has been and I’m starting to think it always will be.” if he sounds defeated on the issues, it’s only because he has been for years now, “I have tried to tell people in the past and it always ended up with nothing being able to be done to help me. All it did was get me punished worse than what I would’ve been if I had just stayed quiet and put up with it. I’m sorry if I didn’t tell you about the auction, but what could have been done to stop it? They would’ve only done worse if I did tell anyone about it.”

The sad thing is, Lee isn’t wrong. If they had claimed it was tradition, legally speaking, nothing could’ve been done to stop it because tradition in this village matters more than the omegas who suffer the negative side effects of it.

Though knowing Lee did try to get help in the past and suffered for it helped him better understand why he didn’t tell anyone about the auction in the first place. While it did help to ease the hurt that sprung within him at the idea of Lee not trusting him enough, it also left a new sort of hurt for the omega who didn’t deserve to suffer from such a cruel fate, “I understand, but Lee…if I had known about the situation, I could have helped you if you let me. I wouldn’t have been able to get you out of being mated, but I could have helped you avoid auction all together if given the chance to.”

“How could you have done that, sensei? She gave me only a month to either mate Neji or be put on auction. I didn’t really have any other options—I know it sounds awful, but I am sort of glad the invasion happened. Thanks to it happening, there’s no way an auction can take place and it will give me some time to try to figure out if my mom is still planning on auctioning me off or not. If she is, then I still have a chance to mate Neji before that happens so I don’t have to leave everything behind.”

It’s hearing Lee put it this way that makes him realize he couldn’t have done anything to save him from that fate.

He was gone with Neji for a month training him. He couldn’t have known what was going on with Lee that whole time and even if he did, his only resort would be to either get him mated to Neji or Gaara, though Neji would’ve been preferable since him being mated to Lee means he wouldn’t have ever had to leave the village. Also, he’s still a bit iffy on Gaara despite Lee’s high opinion of him, which means Neji would’ve been the one he gone for in this case. Even then, would it have been enough? According to what Lee told his mother, Neji did apologize and he rejected the offer to mate him—while he is proud of Neji for doing so, he can admit it would have put a wrench in things and given what Gaara did at the exams, well…it’s not like that would or could have happened either.

“If I had known about it, I would have cancelled training with Neji and taken you and Tenten out on a month long mission. I would have done all that I could to keep you away from them and their grasps if I had known about this earlier—”

“You couldn’t have known earlier, sensei. I didn’t find out about it until after I spoke to Gaara on the day you left to train with Neji. By then, it was late out and I didn’t know how to reach you and even if I did, it would’ve been pointless. My clan knew how to win at this stuff; it’s why they always did. Besides, it’s not like the hokage or the elders would’ve allowed me out on a month long mission when my clan would claim it would interfere with tradition.”

He figures the omega is correct on this end, though it is a rather interesting turn of events to see Lee being so defeatist about something for once. Then again, he knows he has good reason to be.

It doesn’t stop him from trying to plead with him, “Lee, I think it’d be best to leave your mom be and give yourself some space from her. She’s not worth your time or energy on a visit to see her—you’d be better off helping me with the work we have to do to bring this village back to a semblance of normalcy for now. You can always deal with her later. Hopefully by then, she’ll have calmed down somewhat and try to be somewhat civil with you.”

It’s all they can both hope for in regards to his mother. If there’s one thing he excels at, it’s wishing for the best and getting the worst in return regarding her (and his entire clan in general). Though even with this in mind, knowing the law forever tethers him to her, Lee intends to enjoy his time at his sensei’s home while he can because he never knows what his mother will do next in the name of ‘tradition’.

Gaara, on the other hand, is home with his siblings, the future of the village uncertain now that they have no Kazekage. While he should be more worried about his village and its future, he cannot help but to think about what that blonde omega told him in their battle…something about how he got stronger when Lee was mentioned…

No, not that part! The part about his family trying to get him to mate Neji, along with the other part about his situation sounding eerily similar to what he had heard Lee mention when speaking about a cousin of his who had been auctioned off…

Right, that’s what he’s thinking about. His head is still fuzzy from what the medic nin had to do to heal him and remembering everything exactly is harder now than he’d like to think.

He doesn’t know why he keeps thinking of the omega or his sketchy sounding situation with his family. It shouldn’t mean anything to him; Lee is an omega from a village that he will never go to again. He won’t ever see or speak to him again, so why bother thinking about him in general?

What’s more frustrating as much as it is confusing is he cannot stop thinking about Lee when awake or dreaming. It further confuses him when he tries to decipher why he feels as though he’s screwed something up on the last day he talked to him and he doesn’t know why he cannot stop his brain from going to Lee even after he leaves the hospital.

Going about his day to day, with meetings, training, and speaking to his siblings (well, attempting to at least), he finds it hard to focus on anything when his thoughts are constantly on Lee and his situation with his family.

Why this bothers him so, he cannot explain it. However, he wants to stop thinking about it in general. Because of this, fifteen days after the invasion happened, he sent a spy his father used to weed out omega auctions (omega auctions are illegal in his village regardless of family tradition) to figure out what Lee’s status amongst them is.

Two weeks later, he receives news he thought would be good enough to take his mind off the issue, “Rock Lee is nowhere to be found on any auction whether it be in Konoha, the Mist, the Sound, or any other village. All I could find out was that he had lost his entire clan during the invasion, with himself and his mother being the only survivors. He apparently is staying with his sensei while his mother is said to be with her parent’s clan for the time being. It is unknown if she planned to auction him off or not before the invasion of Konoha happened.”

It doesn’t add up, though. From what Naruto said at the end of their fight, his family was trying to get him to mate Neji and the situation sounded like one where he was going to possibly be auctioned off…maybe Naruto got it wrong or maybe he’s remembering it incorrectly?

No, there’s no way Naruto got it wrong. He wouldn’t have been so passionate about it if he did and there’s no way he’s remembering it incorrectly since he knows his memory is sharp and accurate (painfully so) about everything that goes on in his life.

He can only respond to the news with a more direct order than the first time around, “Alright, then find out if she ever did plan to auction him off or not. Do whatever it takes to discover what it is she had in mind that had his friend so upset when he spoke to me last about him.”

“Will do, sir.” he answers with a polite bow before heading out, but it’s not without Temari giving him an all too knowing grin from her spot in their father’s old office, “You’re worried about the Konoha omega, aren’t you?”

“…It’s none of your business if I worry over anyone or not.”

Gaara is trying to be nicer to his siblings, trying to figure out why things happened the way they did from their perspective, but it’s easier said than done at times when they annoy him like this.

She almost cackles yet she’s still afraid enough of him to not do so in front of him, “I see…so that’s why you’re ordering father’s top omega auction spy like a dog to figure out what is going on with that omega: you’re worried over him and afraid he could be in danger. You must really like him to go that far for him.”

Gaara says nothing in response, not wanting to dignify her with any possible suspicion being proven true. In the end, all he does is leave the room to get away from her questioning and the disturbing thought popping up in his mind of that maybe she could be onto something…or is that Shukaku suggesting it?

No matter. He doesn’t want to deal with any possible idea of liking an omega because he’s going to be single for life and he doesn’t care if Rock Lee mates someone as miserable as Neji Hyuuga.

(The idea of Lee and Neji being mated to each other keeps him up that night and many others after this. He doesn’t want to think about the reason why, though it does cause him to feel both angered to the bone while leaving him feeling threatened in a way he hadn’t been before.)

No, he’s doing this to ease his curiosity. Nothing more, nothing less.

The spy comes back with nothing, leaving Gaara to tell him to keep an eye on Lee in case if his mother does try to auction him off. When asked why he should do this when the omega comes from a village where such a thing is legal as long as the clan claims it’s a tradition, all he can give him for a reason is, “Because I want to. Now get to it and don’t question me on it again unless if you want to face consequences for your in subordinance.”

He does as he is told and Gaara does his best to ignore all Lee related thoughts from here on out.

Because Temari isn’t right and neither is Shukaku. He refuses to believe either one could ever be.

Chapter Text

Ino, compared to her fellow omegas, has it easy after the disaster that struck the village she calls home.

Sakura had been the one to be there at the hospital when she woke up. When she did, the first thing she asked was, “What happened?”

Sakura looked down at her lap, trying to put on an air of strength when beginning her tale of what went down only hours earlier, “We were attacked by Orochimaru, his men, Gaara, his siblings, and the people they brought with them from their village.”

It was a simple summary of events that Ino would have asked her more about, that is, until a nurse came in with a forced smile on her face, “Hello dear, how are you doing?”

“Good…were we really invaded? Is my father okay? What about my mother?”

The nurse could only nod, her forced smile gone, “Yes, we were. Information is still coming in as we speak—all I can tell you is that it was all Orochimaru’s doing. I’m sure your father will tell you more when you get home.”

There’s a strong sense of ease coming over her at the news of her father being alive, though she is curious, “What about my mother? Is she still alive?”

“She is, there’s no need to worry. Your sensei told me to tell you that when you woke up.” she informs her before examining her, asking her basic questions about how she felt and whatnot.

None of it really mattered to Ino. She said what she had to get this over with so she could go home and see her mother after what happened. Having lost Deidara to Itachi was one thing—she will be bringing him home one day, but if her parents were lost to an invasion, she could never get them back.

When cleared to go home, Sakura makes the offer of, “You want me to walk you back? It’s dark out now and I don’t know if you’d feel safe going home alone or not.”

She doesn’t reject the offer for good reason, “I do…I’d rather be with someone than no one at all for a bit if I can.”

The alpha girl nods and they subsequently leave the hospital together, with Sakura telling her solemnly the moment they were outside, “Gaara was a part of the attack on the village, Ino. He and his siblings both played big roles in it.”

She snapped her head to look at her with wide eyes, “No, that can’t be right! My dad was so convinced Gaara and Lee had crushes on each other…he wouldn’t do anything like that if he liked Lee! His actions could have gotten him killed if he wasn’t careful and from what Lee told me, Gaara’s not a bad person. Even my dad didn’t think he was really a bad guy—how could they both have been wrong about him?”

“Maybe he was better at putting up an act than they thought.” Sakura seemed angrier the longer she spoke, “His actions could have not only killed Lee. It could have killed you, your family, and my family too and I cannot believe he couldn’t do the bare minimum in the end. Naruto is right; Lee would be better off with Neji because at Neji could apologize for what he did. I don’t think Gaara ever will.”

Her father being wrong on someone…it feels familiar….probably because it did happen in the past. She thought he had learned from it, though, she didn’t think he’d ever get it wrong again.

“Ino, I’m not insulting your dad, but I’m sorry if I did—”

“No, you’re not insulting him. It’s just…I thought he had learned from the last time.”

She has a feeling Sakura knows what she is talking about. She doesn’t comment on it, except to say, “He probably did, but who knows? Maybe Gaara is on the same level as Itachi when it comes down to deceiving people.”

He could be, but she wonders if he really is.

Itachi was a whole other level of deceptive that many would not be able to achieve. To play up the act he did for so long and then massacre his whole clan before kidnapping her brother and holding him hostage for years…it’s far too despicable for her to comprehend even now. Maybe it’s because of how despicable Itachi is that she cannot believe her father and Lee were wrong on Gaara.

Gaara—while intimidating—lacks that sort of deviousness Itachi possessed in droves. There’s no way he could be completely guilty in this.

That’s how she sees it as anyway. She won’t argue with Sakura over it; it’s already very nice of her to walk her home after the horrible day they all had when she could have gone home a long time ago.

“I thought so too, but I guess not.” is all Sakura said before going on to tell her more about what happened when she was asleep in the stands.

Ino is listening, but at the same time, her mind is flashing back to the first night when they had failed to find Deidara after discovering he was gone.

After she had been brought home to her parents, Ino did not get off easily.

Her attempts to find her brother were not taken well by her parents, especially her father—who had looked so worn, tired, and sick all at once when he spoke in the stern tone he used whenever he was mad and trying to contain his outburst, “What were you thinking? Why would you do something so stupid?”

“Stupid? …I was trying to find Deidara! I couldn’t let him down, not when he never did that to me!” she spoke boldly through an emerging sob, her throat sore as she did so, “You don’t understand…I couldn’t leave him. He would never, ever leave me and I know he needs my help—I know Sakura and I can find him if we’re allowed to look for him. I know my brother better than anyone, I know we can find him, dad, please let us keep looking for him! He could be scared, hurt, or worse!”

“Ino, I cannot let you and Sakura do that. You two should have gone to the academy today instead of endangering yourselves looking for your brother.”

His voice was softer, but it wasn’t without its edge. Her mother, on the other hand, wasn’t as understanding, “That’s no reason to make us worry over you like that! What if you got kidnapped? You’re an omega child, Ino—who knows what those omega auctioneers would have done to you! We could have lost both you and your brother in one go if Iruka hadn’t found you girls in time!”

“Stop it dear, Ino’s already upset. We don’t need to traumatize her more than she already is.”

“Stop it? No, I’m not going to ‘stop it’, this is not a small playing hooky from class to run around in the park with her friend situation—this was her going on a dangerous mission that could’ve gotten her taken away from us and sold away to some disgusting alpha or beta for mating! I will not stop it, not when she was being so reckless!”

“It’s not her fault for being so reckless, it’s someone else’s for daring to mention his disappearance when she was within earshot of them.”

“We don’t know if that’s how she found out about it!”

“Then I’ll ask her myself!” Inoichi took a deep inhale and faced her with a calm expression, his hand on her shoulder now, “Ino, how did you find out about Deidara going missing?”

She told them something she had thought they known, but apparently didn’t before then: “Deidara always leaves me messages on the table before I have breakfast and head off to the academy. He puts them in a sculpture of a moonflower: I usually break them open because they don’t explode like his other ones do. I found it in my room, right on my dresser, and when I broke it open, I thought it was going to be a message about a test I was supposed to take today…instead, it was him saying goodbye.”

Inoichi’s eyes were blown wide to the news, “Why didn’t you tell anyone right away? Ino, if we had known earlier, we could have possibly found him! What did the letter say? Do you still have it on you? Where is it now?”

“I didn’t tell anyone because no one was home, and I didn’t know how to reach you guys. All I had was Sakura and I was so scared for Deidara that I knew I had to find him before anything bad could happen to him.”

She hands her father the letter from her pocket, her tears filling her eyes once more when giving it to him, the words of it seared into her mind.

Ino, I know this is cruel to do, but I am leaving the village for good. You won’t ever see me again and before you do it, I don’t want you to blame yourself. I want you to blame the very thing I hate most about this place and hold it against that factor for as long as I am gone. I would take you with me if I could, but I can’t for now. Maybe someday I’ll be able to come back, I don’t know…all I know is, I don’t want to say goodbye like this. I feel like crap for having to do it and I’m sorry about that. Take care of yourself, never stop trying to be the first omega kunoichi, and always, always remember what I told: you can never trust an Uchiha. Goodbye for good…your brother, Deidara

After reading the letter, her father orders her monotonously, “Go to your room. I won’t punish you for what you did today—none of what happened or how you reacted is your fault. All I want you to do in return from now on in order to avoid punishment is to come to me or any other Chunin or Jounin you know whenever you get any important information like this in the future.”

“I will, dad, I promise.” she said before being hugged tight by her mother who could only whisper a small, “Sorry, I love you, I shouldn’t have snapped like I did at you”.

After this she went up to her room, anxious over what would come next from the letter’s discovery by her father. It didn’t take her long to learn what was thought of it; only five minutes when she was alone in her room, in her bed did she hear what her father was thinking.

“Inoichi, you need to calm down. We don’t know if this had anything to do with the Uchiha massacre from last night—”

“…Deidara hated Itachi the most in this entire village.”

“That’s not evidence—”

“Except it is.” she listens with heightened interest while he continues on with a strong, visible sense of anger in his voice when he speaks, “It is evidence—look at this letter! Deidara clearly wrote it when he wasn’t in a safe situation. The wording, the things he said—all of it reeks of a kid who was forced to leave home against his will! That Uchiha boy was always so persistent with Deidara…it only makes sense that he would be the one who took him from us last night.”

“But you yourself said Itachi was to be trusted. How can you go back on that now?”

“Because I was wrong!”

Ino felt her throat tighten when the house went silent to her father’s cry. It wasn’t until he spoke through a sob of his own that she heard why he thought this way now after praising Itachi for so long, “I was wrong about him. I shouldn’t have been so quick to trust him, I shouldn’t have been eager to believe him on every single thing he said, and I shouldn’t have ever put aside any negative feeling in my gut that came up with him. All of this is my fault; if I had gone through his mind the moment he showed interest in Deidara, I could have stopped all of this. My blind naivety is what led to the massacre of a clan and my son being gone.”

“None of it is—look, we need to calm down and contact the hokage right away before we can say or do anything else, okay?”

“…Right, I’ll do that now then.”

It was a few moments of silence after this, followed with a whisper of a goodbye from her father and her mother’s crying filling the home after the door had closed.

Ino didn’t sleep that night. She couldn’t, not when she knew Deidara was in danger, and she needed to be there to help him at any given moment.

Then, she supposes no one slept that night. The following morning, her mother’s eyes were puffy and red, her father’s face devoid of color, and her own body felt too heavy to move yet she was too wound up to sleep at the same time.

Even with the day off, she couldn’t relax, not when she knew her brother was out there, getting hurt by the very person he hated most in the entire village.

Sakura dropped her off at her house with a concerned glaze in her eyes, “You’re alright with going back to an empty home?”

“I am…it’s no big deal, my dad will be back later and so will my mom.” Ino looks her way one last time for the night, “Thank you for walking me home, Sakura. I appreciate it and I know my parents will too.”

“It’s fine, just be safe now, okay?”

“There’s no need to worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

Maybe in the past she would’ve been annoyed with her asking that, but Sakura has changed. This wasn’t said to imply she needs an alpha or beta to be safe. It was said out of genuine concern from someone who wants what’s best for her. Because of that, she is fine with her saying something like this now.

She enters her home by taking out the spare key she had in her pocket in case if her parents were out late with the Naras after the exams ended. She unlocks the door and enters a calm, quiet, dark, empty home.

It’s soothing somehow because it shows that while things have changed, at least she has one constant in her life.

She makes herself some instant ramen—not really in the mood to cook or eat much after all she had learned from Sakura along with what she had seen of the devastation from the attack—and eats it while leaning against the counter in the kitchen, not caring if the rules are to eat at the table only even if it is something as informal as instant ramen.

(It makes her want to laugh because if Deidara were here, he would eschew the rules and have all the junk food he wants in his tent after a day like today.)

At the end of her impromptu meal, she glances out the window to the backyard to see if his tent is still standing.

Luckily for her, on this bright full moon night, she can clearly see her brother’s tent in the same condition it has been over the years he has been gone. It makes her smile to know she was right to assume that, even in the worst case scenario, her brother’s tent would always be the one thing untouched by it.

Ino doesn’t know why, but she feels the urge to go out there just once to see it for herself again to be sure it really is okay. So, with a toss of the ramen cup and a setting of the chopsticks on the counter, she heads out to the backyard to check on her brother’s tent.

Over the years, her parents have tried to get rid of it.

It started in the first three months after he went missing, when her mother first said, “Ino, maybe we should get rid of Deidara’s tent.”

Ino fought it back then with a disgusted, “Mom, it’s been only three months! We can’t get rid of his tent, Deidara could be coming back!”

“…Alright, we won’t get rid of it for now, but if he’s not back by the end of the year, then we should think about it.”

At the end of the year, it was her father who said, “It’s been a year and he’s not come back. It’s time to talk about getting rid of the tent.”

“We can’t do that! Just because it’s been a year doesn’t mean he won’t come back! I can’t believe you would give up on him, didn’t you love Deidara?”

“I do love him, but it’s time for us to try to move on as a family. Your obsession with finding him isn’t healthy and will lead you down a bad path. Please, Ino, consider it—”

“I’m not! He’s still my brother and that’s still his stuff out there and I always promised I wouldn’t touch it no matter what! I’m not going back on my word to him—and when I bring him home, he’ll be happy to see I cared enough for him to keep his tent up and untouched, like he would want it to be!”

Then the next year came and went, the conversation stayed the same: her parents insisting it was time to remove the tent and Ino fighting them on it until they backed off on the idea. It has been this way for years and she knows when the end of this year comes up, she’ll have to fight them on it all over again.

Still, seeing the tent being in perfect condition up close made her smile because it always felt nice to have kept the parts of Deidara near her over the years and knowing this one thing wasn’t lost forever was the greatest relief of all, as sad as that sounds.

She sits beside the tent, feeling less frazzled and stressed the longer she by it, staring at the moon—wondering if Deidara is looking at it too wherever he is right now.

Chapter Text

Two days later, Ino woke to hearing her mother ask her father with a frantic, “But are you positive this has anything at all to do with Deidara? I thought it was well known by now that this entire event was Orochimaru’s fault!”

“We no evidence showing any outside involvement with Orochimaru’s plot, but there is something important about Deidara that I am being called in for.”

“Are they going to finally bring him back? Have they actually found a way to convince him to come back home?”

Holding her breath in hope, Ino waits in pure anticipation for her father’s response, perhaps being too optimistic because what she heard had felt like a let down, “I’m sorry, but they haven’t. I don’t know what they want to see me for, and I don’t know when I will be back. Please, don’t tell Ino of this. I don’t want her getting involved any more than she already tries to be.”

“I won’t. Be safe, okay?”

“I will be, there’s no need to worry.”

As he said this, she is getting dressed right away and crafting a plan to sneak out of her room to get outside to follow her father to his meeting about Deidara that he, apparently, had the nerve to not say a word to her about.

Inoichi, for his part, was genuinely curious as to what Jiraiya would want to speak to him about regarding Deidara. All he knew was that it had nothing to do with him coming home any time soon. Outside of this, he had no clue what he’d want to see him for.

Upon arriving to the meeting spot, he is met with not only Jiraiya, but Kakashi and Asuma as well, each one appearing rather somber as they watched him come onto the rooftop of a partially destroyed building in a desolate part of the village.

Jiraiya has a crestfallen expression to him, his eyes struggling to meet with the father of the young man they brought him out here to talk to about, “Inoichi…your son really was one of the prides of this village. His beauty was said to have been unmatched as much as his passion for the things that mattered most to him.”

He has a feeling then this conversation isn’t what he would want it to be.

In the cool morning air, Jiraiya gives him some of the worst news he could ever expect to hear from anyone: “Your son is alive, but he is in the S-ranked criminal group, the Akatsuki. It appears from what we have seen that he is not being held there by force nor is he being forced to commit the crimes of arson he has across the land.”

“Where’s your proof of this? What reason do you believe my son is a criminal by his own free will? How do you know the Uchiha didn’t use his eyes to manipulate him?”

It was only what a good father would say when faced with such news. Honestly, no one could blame him for being so defensive when it came down to Deidara after everything that’s been said of him over the years in the form of cruel rumors and criticisms of his clan’s traditions.

However, there was nothing that could beat the evidence as is: “I have a bingo book with his face in it, and there’s been numerous documented evidence of the young man using his jutsu in a criminal way.”

“I need to see it then.”

Kakashi hands him the bingo book in silence whereas Asuma hands him the files containing the documented evidence of his attacks on others, “I’m sorry, sir.”

At least Asuma gave him something because what he saw next only served to break his heart.

Deidara’s face is indeed in the bingo book…in there, he is listed as a member of the Akatsuki. In the files, he finds photo after photo of the young man who he knew to be his son using his jutsu to commit crimes. Reading the reports on his crimes has him knowing for fact that the young man he knows to be his son is nothing more than a stranger to him now because, “…It’s him, I know in the pictures it’s Deidara but—at the same time, it doesn’t feel like my son is there anymore. The Deidara I knew would never use his jutsu like this—”

“Except he did to alphas and betas he would wrongly accuse of trying to harm him or being sexist towards him.” Kakashi reminds him, “Your son had a chip on his shoulder towards alphas and betas that didn’t get better with age. Tell me Inoichi, why didn’t you stop it when you had the chance?”

“Are you blaming me for this, Kakashi?” he asks with narrowing eyes, “Because last I checked, a man who’s never had a child of his own should be criticizing the parenting of one who does.”

“He’s right on that end, you know.” Asuma points out with a side glare at Kakashi, “You ought to remember you’re not the one with the child here, he is. Any criticism you make will be seen as invalid by anyone and everyone who knows you too well.”

“What, I can’t ask him what everyone’s been thinking all of these years? Don’t tell me you never thought it yourself, Asuma.”

He says nothing to this while Inoichi goes on the defensive, “You think I didn’t try to stop him from doing that? I tried, but Deidara wasn’t like other omega children! He was silent, with no friends of his own, and a strange love for his art that I honestly believed would have driven him mad over time if I didn’t force him to get out of his tent and art studio at least once a day!”

“Then what exactly was his relationship with Itachi Uchiha?” Jiraiya speaks up in partial frustration to what he’s hearing, “Do not take offense to this, but I’m starting to believe he left with the Uchiha boy by choice, not by force.”

Inoichi himself isn’t too certain anymore after the evidence he’s seen for himself, “His relationship with Itachi Uchiha was one of pure antagonism. He hated that boy more than he hated anything or anyone else alive. Deidara used to be so quiet, but when Itachi came around, things changed for the worst.”

Deidara had always been a good kid. Inoichi can attest to this: as a child, he needed minimal discipline since he tended to listen to the rules very well the first time around, yet when he did break a rule, he would be reprimanded for doing so which would lead into him learning his lesson. He was always kind, always friendly, and yet around strangers he simply clammed up. He never quite knew the reason why the boy was so shy, though he suspected it always had to do with being in the spotlight for his beauty as opposed to the one thing he considered his passion: his art.

Yes, the omega boy was so preoccupied with his art, it left him wondering if this was the reason why he didn’t make friends anywhere he went. Whilst other omegas his age were playing house and dreaming of the day they’d be mated, Deidara was too busy perfecting his sculptures and declaring his wish to be an artist. When asked how his future mate would feel about this, his son would grimace and speak with such disgust, “Mate? Eww, I’m never getting mated, un! Alphas and betas are gross! I wanna be an artist, not some person’s slave, un!”

(…Looking back on it, that could’ve been a great reason for other omega children to not want him as a friend…as well as alphas and betas for that matter. While he's sure jealousy over the praise he received for his beauty could have played a role in it, he honestly believes it's his personal views put into a standoffish manner that really made others put off from wanting to be his friend.)

He did his best to help Deidara try to understand the other kids, only for it to go nowhere and for his son to remain friendless. Oddly enough, he was happiest alone and having no real social life or friends bothered him in the slightest.

No, all Deidara ever wanted was to be left alone to make as many sculptures as possible and perfect his craft enough to become an artist. It wasn’t what he wanted for the boy, but he wouldn’t deny him the one thing that made him happy. Besides, as long as he was friendly to people in general and didn’t do anything to hurt them, he was fine with leaving him be. He’d come to have friends and a social life one day—or so he told himself.

His son’s life really had been one of relative monotony: school, sculptures, art, babysitting his sister after she was born, and taking over some business hours at the flower shop when he was old enough. Other than this, there was nothing really unusual about Deidara he could think of.

He can the say same about Itachi Uchiha: the kid was a prodigy back then, someone who was very popular in the village with a line of beta and omega suitors wanting to have him as a mate. There was nothing truly unusual about him other than his lack of desire to mate anyone in general. In fact, Inoichi can recall the first time Itachi ever spoke to him about something outside of work after he was done interrogating someone he caught, “Inoichi, you have a son, correct?”

“Yes, I do.” he didn’t know why he was asking this at first—he figured that maybe the guy needed a new friend or something, but then he got a calm, “He’s an omega, isn’t he? Long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a penchant for all things art…isn’t that your son?”

He found this to be a bit awkward of a conversation to have, and yet he answered him honestly because he figured he would find out the truth anyway from someone else, “Yes, he is all of the above. Why are you asking me about him? Are you interested in being his friend?”

Itachi shook his head, his answer clear enough to make him think nothing of what had been said until that point, “No, not at all. I was only wondering if this Deidara Yamanaka I have heard about so much truly was related to you as they say or if it was all a rumor.”

Inoichi didn’t think much of it since Itachi had changed the subject immediately afterwards, “Did you manage to get anything useful from your interrogation?” and to top it off, he never brought up Deidara again to him at work when this conversation had been held between them.

It wasn’t until Deidara came home one day, beyond angry as all get out, muttering underneath his breath a mile a minute while rushing over to the fridge to get his favorite snack, that Inoichi had first heard him mention Itachi Uchiha, “Deidara, what’s wrong? Did Itachi do something to make you upset?”

He grunted with an angered expression on his face, “How would you know, un?”

“…I heard you say ‘fucking Itachi’ under your breath just now.” Inoichi pauses, waiting for Deidara to tell him what’s wrong since that’s what he usually did in situations like this.

Except this time, he didn’t. He grabbed his favorite snack and headed over to the basement to get some clay, with his father following him closely, “Do you want to talk about it? I can talk to him if you want me to.”

“No, I’m fine… Damn Uchiha, un! Won’t leave me alone!” he went back to grumbling under his breath and Inoichi knew better than to talk to him any longer, “Alright, but if he gets to be too bothersome for you, then come to me and I’ll make him leave you alone.”

Deidara didn’t say much after that. All he did was grab the amount of clay he wanted and headed up to his art studio where explosions were heard one after another.

Inoichi left him be, believing he would come to him if his issues with Itachi escalated. He had reason to believe he would; he hadn’t hesitated in coming to him in the past when he had been on the brunt end of some undesired attention from alphas and betas in the past. Which is why he had thought at first that Deidara didn’t need his help again because he believed he had gotten the Itachi issue under control by himself, thinking this is why he never spoke a word of him to him again.

That is, until he learned of the incidences in public where Deidara would snap at Itachi and at times try to get violent with him in bursts of pure rage that were—by witness accounts—unjustifiable.

Talking to Deidara afterwards never went anywhere either, “Why would you get that violent with him? Don’t you know getting angry and violent won’t solve anything? Deidara, please, let me handle this for you! I can get Itachi to back off—”

“No, un! I can handle him myself, I will defeat him myself and he will regret ever pissing me off!”

“Dei—”

“Dad, I know what I’m doing—don’t you believe me, un?”

He couldn’t tell him the lie no matter how badly he wanted to, “I don’t know anymore. Your outbursts are getting out of control and there’s only so many times I can beg the Hokage to not make you suffer any punishment for it before you do. Please, let me handle Itachi; I know he’ll listen to me.”

His defiant son refused nonetheless, “I am handling him myself, no questions asked.”

“Fine, you can try this one last time but if you mess up then I’m taking over.”

His son was quick to use his own clan’s views against him in that moment, “And invalidate my strength as an omega, un? I thought our clan was supposed to progressive on omega’s rights, not backwards regressives like that one poor clan.”

“That’s not what I—”

“But’s that you’re doing when you say stuff like this to me, un! It’s like you’re saying I’m not capable of protecting myself because I’m an omega! So which is it, dad: am I capable or not, un?”

“You are, you always have been—”

“Then why try to invalidate that?”

He tried to work his way around it, only to have it fall flat, “As your father, I have a right to keep you safe from anyone trying to hurt you. If Itachi really is upsetting you this much, it must be because he’s hurting you and I have a right to protect you from him. That’s not invalidating your strength, Deidara, it’s being a good father.”

He was about to retaliate when his mate intervened, “Inoichi, what’s going on? Why are you arguing with Deidara?”

“He’s been snapping at Itachi in public and having these violent outbursts of rage at him. I’m trying to offer him help, but he doesn’t want to take it.” he explains to her, but then Deidara spoke up, “I’m only snapping at him because he makes these stupid comments and gets under my skin to the point where he makes me want to blow him up, un.”

His mother—as always—took his side immediately, “Inoichi, there’s no need for you to get involved here! It sounds like Itachi is only annoying Deidara and Deidara needs to learn how to handle it better.”

He could agree to that one though he is a bit apprehensive on where she’s going with this, “Okay, I agree with you there. Maybe Deidara needs to go to someone to teach him to better handle his anger towards Itachi.”

“Let my son learn how to do that from some alpha or beta? Not a chance! He needs an omega to teach him how to do that!”

“There’s no omega in the village qualified to do that.” he tried to reason with her, but with Deidara being her favorite child, she naturally had her mom goggles on and refused to see much reason anywhere else, “Nonsense, I will find one myself right now for him! Come, Deidara, we’re going to get you real help for your Itachi problem.”

It’s easy to blame his mate for this, though he knows at the forefront of his mind he’s more to blame for not setting his foot down back then and doing something more about Deidara’s obvious anger when he had the chance.

“I didn’t want to upset my mate or make Deidara resent me. I tried to keep the peace in my home while trying to get Deidara to keep his angry outbursts at home only, but it wasn’t exactly easy when we hardly ever spoke at a certain point before he left.”

Jiraiya muses then on what he’s heard, “So you said he hates Itachi, correct?”

“His relationship with him was nothing but one of pure hate.” Inoichi reiterates, “Believe me, if he could have killed Itachi back then and gotten away with it, he would have.”

“But it sounds as though Itachi didn’t do anything outside of annoy Deidara at best by your own account of events. In fact, no one has ever seen or heard of him mistreating Deidara either.” the Pervy Sage then asks him, “Do you remember any moment at all where Itachi got violent with your son?”

“None at all—even when defending himself, he showed nothing but restraint when knocking Deidara out by hitting a pressure point instead of using any weapons or jutsu on him.”

Asuma can confirm this as well, “My father never had a bad word to say of Itachi. Had he ever been violent towards Deidara, I would have heard of it.”

Kakashi can confirm this as well, “I have never heard of him getting violent towards Deidara either. I have heard of Deidara snapping at him, but never of it happening the other way around. No offense, Inoichi, but your son had a lot of anger problems that needed to be sorted out instead of brushed under the rug.”

He groaned while rolling his eyes, “I know that—don’t you think I knew that better than anyone else? I tried to get him help, but my mate fought me every step of the way whenever I tried. It wasn’t worth creating an unhappy home for Ino, so I let her take the reigns when it came to Deidara.”

“You said he never brought up Deidara to you at work ever again. How about outside of work? Did he ever approach you to talk about Deidara?” Jiraiya wonders, hoping to come to a conclusion on his suspicion sooner than later.

Inoichi can answer this one confidently, “He did once and only once. It didn’t end well.”

The men in the group listen intently, hoping this answer will help to shed more light on what led the omega to leave with Itachi in a manner that is appearing more and more to be consensual as opposed to forced like Ino had long claimed.  

Chapter Text

When Itachi had approached Inoichi to speak to him about Deidara, it wasn’t at work, and it had been far too long since he first asked about him. So imagine his surprise when he answered his door and Itachi was standing there with a neutral expression, greeting him calmly, “Inoichi, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“I mean…I guess…” Inoichi is confused by this because it’s been so long since he’s actually spoken to the guy, but the fact he came here while it was dark out has him asking right off the bat, “Why are you here, Itachi? Is there something you need from me?”

“Yes, there is something I do need from you. Do you mind if I come in?”

“No, come on in.”

Itachi is let in through the door and immediately is asking him, “Are there any traditions surrounding mating in your clan?”

He found this to be strange to ask, though he didn’t stop himself from answering him, “No, in our clan if the child wants to mate with an alpha, beta, or omega then they are free to do so whenever, wherever, or however they please. All I ever ask of my children is to tell me before or immediately after it happens. Why are you asking me about mating traditions? Is this something to do with Deidara?”

“…I’m glad you said it, actually.” Itachi doesn’t mince words; he never has, he never will. He knew this and yet he was still caught so very off guard when he asked him the most simple yet important question he could have heard then, “In the Uchiha clan, the mating tradition is one of arrangement. Deidara has met all the requirements to obtain the approval from my clan for the mating. All I need now is for you and Deidara to sign your names to go forward with it.”

Inoichi couldn’t believe he would ever bypass Deidara to just ask him himself. For one, it didn’t seem like him to do such a thing given how blunt he could be and for another, if he had tried to reason with Deidara, maybe he could have this happen someday…which is why this felt so gross to him, “Have you spoken to Deidara about this?”

“I’ve tried, but regrettably, he’s been rather…hard to work with on the matter.”

“Which means you did something to upset him.” Inoichi regrets the notion all together on the spot, “I’m sorry, but I cannot approve of anything if Deidara doesn’t want it for himself. Deidara has to want this mating too or else I won’t want it for him.”

Itachi had been about to argue with him on the subject—he could tell by the way he subtly narrows his eyes at him—but was stopped by the presence of the very omega he had come over to ask about, “What the hell is he doing here, un!”

Deidara’s angered shout is heard loud and clear, his father mentally groaning at the latest addition to this argument, “There’s no need to be here… I was going to make him leave.”

“Make him leave now then or else I’ll blow him away to smithereens!” he hissed at the sight of the alpha, “What the hell is he doing here, father, un! Tell me!”

“I’m here to ask you to mate me according to the Uchiha tradition of arrangement. All I need is for your father and yourself to put your names in a book—”

“No, not happening in my lifetime, un!”

Inoichi hand rest on his nose bridge and a headache is coming on when, instead of backing down out of respect for his son’s wishes, Itachi keeps going, “Realistically speaking, how do you know this for fact? People change as they age; how am I to know you will not want to by my mate one day?”

Oh if looks could kill…Itachi would be reduced to ash right about now, “I mean it when I say it: not happening in my lifetime, Uchiha. If you think you can come in, acting all alpha and treating me like I’m some piece of property that can be bought or bartered for, then you have another thing coming, un!”

“Fine, believe as you wish…but one who cannot defeat me in battle has no real room to be rejecting me.”

“What?”

Itachi said it all so effortlessly, “Realistically speaking, I am the best choice for anyone to mate: I’m a prodigy member of the Uchiha clan and I am far more skilled in my Sharingan than most in my clan are. There are a very few who can defeat me in battle and even then, it’s not because of skill or power; but more of them exploiting whatever mistake I may make in battle.”

Deidara is getting angrier and whenever he gets like this, Inoichi cannot stop him from doing or saying whatever it is he does next, “I am powerful myself, un. I don’t need a mate to keep me safe—I don’t need a mate for anything! Mating is a backwards tradition I refuse to participate in, un! No way will I ever consider anyone to be my mate, not when I can take care of myself.”

“Deidara…no, please—” Inoichi attempts but his son is already pushing away his hand as he marches right up to Itachi and meets his eyes, “You think I can’t defeat you in battle, un? I think you’re sorely mistaken.”

Itachi didn’t take back anything he said earlier, thus escalating things further, “Funny, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you use your jutsus for anything outside of attacking innocent people. Are you sure you can hold your own in a fight against me?”

“Positive, un! I will not only fight you, but I will win right here and now!”

He swore for a moment that he could’ve seen a shadow of a smirk on Itachi’s impassive face, but that could’ve been in his head for all he knows. Though it wouldn’t shock him, if he’s being honest—on some end or another, he believes Itachi gets joy in riling Deidara up, “If you’re that confident, then fine. We can fight here and now; if I win, you and I will be arranged to mate, but if you win, there will be no arrangement.”

“Deal! And when I do win, you better leave me alone for life, un!” he seethed and the Uchiha was as impassive as ever, “Very well, though I do not believe I’ll be doing any such thing.”

Inoichi instantly tries to stop his son from going outside to fight, begging him, “Deidara, do you know what you’ve signed yourself up for! Itachi is powerful—I’ve seen his skills and Sharingan in use before: he’s a formidable opponent even I couldn’t defeat. What makes you think you’d be better off? Just reject him and go to your room; I can make him leave for you if you want—”

“No!” Deidara reacts with such intense anger it makes Inoichi take ten steps back as a sculpture is made quickly and detonated just as quickly as it was made, “The damn bastard, the nerve he has to make such comments to me, un! Screw him, un! I will win and make him leave me alone forever, un!”

He’s really mad if his speech impediment is acting up this bad, “Deidara—”

It was only his luck that Ino would step in then and ask so innocently, “Dei, what’s going on? Why’s the Uchiha here?”

He didn’t snap at his sister—to which Inoichi was grateful for—but then he said so calmly with a demeanor detached from what he was like before, “He’s here to get his ass kicked by me. Nothing more, nothing less, Ino. You should go up to your room now…I wouldn’t want you to get hurt by the shrapnel from my explosions.”

“Oh…alright.” she shot Itachi a dirty look before heading up to her room, and immediately when this was done, Deidara followed Itachi outside to fight him.

Inoichi followed them to a wooded training area, hope within himself building that the further they got from his home Deidara would eventually snap out of his anger and come home to hide in his room while he made Itachi go away.

Such a thing never did happen.

Instead, what happened was Itachi and Deidara stopped at a clearing in the training area. There, he unleashed his explosions immediately—while Inoichi was impressed with their strength and how quickly he could make them, it was ultimately no match against an unaffected Itachi who had managed to avoid the damage from the explosions far too easily. Before he knew it, the young man was looking at Deidara in a bit of awe (or was it pity? He couldn’t tell with Itachi), his first words to say to this display were, “For one who once deemed the life of a shinobi a vain and meaningless pursuit, this was impressive. However, it all means nothing in a battle against me.”

Inoichi didn’t have time to step in and stop him or save his son from it.

Itachi used his Sharingan on him. With that, the battle was already won.

“Deidara!” the concerned father cried out while rushing over to his son’s side, “Let him go, release him, please Itachi! This has gone too far!”

It took Itachi a mere minute after this was said to release Deidara from his hold, with the blonde artist fainting into his father’s arms immediately afterwards, “Looks like I have won… Let Deidara know you and him can come whenever you two want to do what’s needed of you for the arrangement to work.”

The audacity he had to say such a thing after what he did to Deidara!

“You can go ahead and believe whatever you please—but I made no such deal with you! Deidara did this without my consent and as his father, I refuse to go along with your plan when I know you enraged him on purpose to get what you wanted out of him.”

“It’s all Deidara’s decision, is it not? If he chooses to go through with following my clan’s traditions, then who are you to reject him it?”

He was about to counter when Itachi shrugged it all off, “It all doesn’t matter now. What matters is whether or not Deidara chooses to go through with our agreement. An agreement made in anger is still an agreement regardless of how it was made. All we can do is wait until he wakes up to decide.”

Inoichi didn’t bother with him after this.

All he did was take Deidara home before things could escalate into the Sharingan being used on himself when he tried to strike at the young man for doing such a thing to his son.

“How did Deidara take it?” Jiraiya wondered, to which Inoichi scoffed, “How do you think he did?”

Kakashi and Asuma shot each other knowing looks while the father answers the question.

When Deidara woke up, he was on the couch in the living room and he was mad, “Damn Uchiha! He cheated, un! I want a rematch!”

Inoichi stared at him incredulously—he had been by his side, waiting for him to wake up and beg him to make Itachi go away…all to get this instead.

“Deidara…that’s crazy! You can’t beat him, why bother trying again?”

“Because I know I can if I try hard enough, un! Just you watch, I’ll train really hard and one surpass that bastard!”

“But Dei—”

“Don’t doubt me, un!” he snapped right at him, “I will defeat that Uchiha bastard and make him regret ever using that dirty trick on me! No way in hell am I ever mating him, un!”

“I spent a whole night trying to talk him out of it…but Deidara never budged. He just kept challenging him to rematch after rematch only to lose each and every time afterwards. I never saw the point in it, but he was always so insistent that I knew nothing I could do would ever convince him otherwise.”

They were all silent upon hearing this, each one trying to come up with something they could use to better figure out what to do regarding Deidara…only then does Kakashi mention, “Iruka and Naruto are staying with me for the time being…Naruto also happens to be dating Sasuke Uchiha right now.”

“What would that have to do with anything?” Jiraiya asks with a side eye, “I’m not interested in spying on preteens, Kakashi.”

“No, we wouldn’t be spying on them—we’d be asking Sasuke questions about Deidara and Itachi. Who else would be a better source of information than him? Unlike Ino, he wouldn’t be blinded by a rose colored glasses point of view of his brother and he would be able to tell us everything regarding both of their behaviors accurately in the days before they left the village together.”

Inoichi sees nothing wrong with this, although, “Are you sure it’s wise to ask him about Itachi? I’ve never ventured to ask because I always believed it would cause the poor kid more trauma than doing anything to help him.”

Asuma doesn’t see anything wrong with it, for what it’s worth, “Look, he’s got a point here. Talking to Ino about Deidara is pointless—I’ve tried numerous times myself and it always ends up in her believing her brother was perfect human being when he wasn’t. We’ve gotta be realistic here if we want to draw a proper conclusion on this matter—it’s time we ask Sasuke about those two so we can decide what to do about your son from here on out.”

“Do you truly believe there’s a chance he’ll be a threat to the village?”

None of the men say anything…their silence said it all, “I understand…then, I suppose it’s time we speak to Sasuke to better decipher my son and his motives.”

All four men headed out to find Sasuke to ask him some important questions about Deidara and Itachi.

Inoichi doesn’t want to believe the worst about his son, though there’s a very damned good chance he truly could be a criminal intending to harm their village now the Hokage is gone. If that is the case, then he will have to do all that he can to stop him, no matter how much it kills him to think so.

Ino, on the other hand, hadn’t ever found her father. He left too early and was far too quick in his movements for her to keep up with, ultimately leading her to head over to Hinata’s place to see if she was willing to help her on this mission she had to figure out what information her father most likely has at the moment.

She was on her way there when she smelled it in the air…

The scent of roses and carnations…yes, she knows it from anywhere because only one person had this scent and it’s a scent that is burned into her mind even now.

Itachi Uchiha’s scent.

She wasted no time, moving quickly to track him down, not caring if she was in casual clothing, not caring that she was alone and he could be with anyone right now—no, all that mattered was killing that man and bringing her brother back regardless of the consequences.

He’s moving quickly, though even with her eyes constantly darting about, it seems he is practically invisible to the naked eye. There’s the scent of someone else with him, someone who smells of water crest and campfire smoke, though she didn’t care at that point.

She kept moving, trying to find him before he could do anything to this village—anything to her home, to be exact. She knows that monster probably came back to kill Sasuke, probably came back to kill her entire family off for trying to look for Deidara, and she wasn’t going to let that happen!

She hasn’t seen or spoken to her brother in years.

She doesn’t know if he’s truly safe, if he’s being hurt, tortured, or worse. All she knows is he’s with Itachi Uchiha and he’s being forced to be a member of this Akatsuki group because of that man’s wishes.

“Ino, wait!” she heard a voice call out, though she wasn’t paying attention—she couldn’t, not when that man was here, not when the monster who stole her brother had the gall to come back to this village when it was at its weakest, to finish off whatever sick, evil plot he had in his twisted head.

“Stop, Ino!” she felt a hand on her arm and immediately was stopped by Hinata, “What’s going on? I saw you coming near my home when I was outside, but then you ran like you saw an enemy. Tell me, please, whatever it is you’re doing, I can help!”

She knows Hinata will help; the girl who is in love with her brother will always be one of the best ones to have on her side in a situation like this, “Hinata…I’m sorry I didn’t stop earlier, but I can’t stop now. Itachi is back in the village; I can’t stop until I kill him for taking my brother from me.”

“Wha—how do you know that?”

“His scent…roses and carnations…it’s reeking in the air, but he’s moving so quickly—he has someone with him too, smells like water crest and campfire smoke. If we keep moving, we can find them and I can kill him for stealing Deidara from his home.”

“That’s not a good plan! You’re not armed with anything and to face Itachi unarmed is—”

“What other chance will I get! I have to do this for my brother!”

She’s strong on her stance, her resolve unmeasured by any in that moment, “I will not let him get away with stealing Deidara from me. I will not let him continue to hold him hostage and make him into a criminal when he doesn’t want to be one. I will kill him, then he will be free enough to work on a plan to leave on his own and come home. If you’re not going to help me, then fine. I’ll handle him on my own.”

Hinata had been training that morning so she was still armed and ready to strike. Knowing Ino was so hellbent on facing Itachi that she’d fight him unarmed and alone was beyond crazy to her.

Knowing she won’t be able to talk the stubborn girl out of it, she decided to at least go along with her to keep her safe, “…I’m going with you then.”

“You mean it?”

“I do; I said I’d help you bring back Deidara and I meant it. I won’t let you or Deidara down, Ino! We’re going to defeat this guy together!”

Ino smiled at her and declared, “Great, now let’s get going before his scent disappears! We’re going to make that Uchiha bastard regret ever coming back here!”

As they head off to face Itachi, Inoichi, Kakashi, Asuma, and Jiraiya are tracking down Sasuke to get their answers from him regarding Deidara and Itachi.

Chapter Text

Finding Naruto wasn’t too hard, actually: he had slept in and was spotted by Kakashi when his group were on the way to find Sasuke, “Naruto!”

Hearing his sensei call his name had caught him off guard, but he didn’t think much of it, “Oh, hiya sensei! Don’t tell me you wanna train now…I’m gonna go to Sasuke’s place for a while. It’s been a long time since we were alone together—”

“I don’t need to hear all the sordid details.” Kakashi cut him off quickly, his first instinct being to ask, “Where’s Sasuke now?”

“He’s going to meet me at Ichiraku’s…why are you asking anyway? You’re not going to third wheel on our date are you?” he asked with accusatory eyes attempting to size up his sensei.

Now that they know where he’s going to be, he was debating on whether or not to tell Naruto the truth. That is, until Asuma chimed in, “Hey, Kakashi, does he know where Sasuke’s at?”

“He does, but—”

“Good, so, Naruto,” Asuma begins, “We need to speak to Sasuke right away. We have discovered some distressing information about Deidara Yamanaka that we believe he would be of use for. Tell me, has he ever said anything about Deidara to you? How about Itachi, has he spoken about him at all?”

Inoichi approached the duo, just as shocked as Kakashi was by Asuma’s bluntness, “Asuma, isn’t there a better way to go about this? Why ask him such a thing in public?”

“Because Naruto is friends with Ino and if you’ve ever spoken to your daughter enough about Deidara, you’d know she thinks far too highly of him. We need this information to not only keep the village safe, but her safe as well.”

He takes a cigarette out and crosses his arms against his chest, “Now’s not the time to be vague. Naruto, with our village in the state it is, we need to know for fact if Deidara is an enemy or ally. Answer my questions then bring us to Sasuke. The matter is too urgent to wait too long to investigate it.”

Naruto doesn’t know what’s going on but knowing that Ino could be at risk because of something to do with her brother has him going along with their plan, “Sasuke never told me anything about Deidara or Itachi. Whenever I brought them up, he always changed the subject on our dates. I can take you guys to figure this out, but mainly because I don’t want anything bad to happen to Ino because of Deidara. I know that would devastate her more than anything that could happen.”

“Let’s get a move on then. Time is of the essence here.” Asuma says while Jiraiya catches up to them, “Ah, so looks like we’re going to find Sasuke, huh? Well, which one of us should ask him about Itachi and Deidara then?”

He’s met with a glare by Asuma who insists, “Inoichi, his father, should be the one asking the questions. Deidara is his son—of all people, he’s the one with the most rights to know the truth.”

“Ah, no! Not the Pervy Sage!” Naruto seethes, “He’ll ruin my perfect date with Sasuke!”

“Naruto, this isn’t a date anymore!” Asuma reminds him, “Right now what matters most is getting this information before something bad happens to Ino or the village. Now, let’s go to the ramen place and get the information we need.”

He nods and as they begin their walk over, Kakashi comments to him, “Don’t be so upset now, Naruto. You and Sasuke can resume your date after we’re done getting the information we need.”

“I guess…but it still sucks to have Pervy Sage intruding my date like this.”

“I know, but it’s what is for the best. Like Asuma said, time is of the essence in this investigation.”

Naruto doesn’t much in response because truthfully, he’s rather scared of what he’s heard.

What if someone is after Ino and it’s all because of Deidara?

What if their village gets invaded and it’s all Deidara’s fault?

He doesn’t want to think about this way, but one can never be too sure with a someone like Deidara who left under mysterious circumstances.

Sasuke had been taken aback when, on what was supposed to be his first date with Naruto in a long time, he’s instead met with a group of four older men who happened to have come along with Naruto.

He glares them all down, shooting Naruto a small annoyed glance, “What is going on here? Today is supposed to be our date—I even chose a ramen place for you because I wanted it to be special. You better have a good explanation for this, Naruto.”

Before he could answer, Asuma beat him to it, “Alright, we don’t have the time for that drama. What I need is for you to tell us all you remember about Deidara Yamanaka and his relationship with Itachi Uchiha. We have new evidence concerning his case that we believe your memories could help us figure out better.”

Sasuke didn’t hesitate to speak when he heard this, “…Let’s go talk somewhere more private. I think the shrine at the Uchiha clan’s compound would be the best place to go.”

“Sure sounds like it…lead the way, kid.” Jiraiya tells him while Kakashi glances around, the scent in the air a bit…off, smelling like roses and carnation…

“Kakashi?” Asuma interrupts with a worried gaze, “You okay?”

He pauses and shakes his head, “No…I think there’s something I need to address here. You go on ahead without me and let me know what happens.”

Asuma would stay with Kakashi, but he has to see this through. Inoichi isn’t showing it though he knows the man is struggling with all of this…he can only imagine how hard it would be to be a father of a potential criminal like Deidara is—no, not just any criminal, but a S-ranked criminal who happens to be a part of a group like the Akatsuki. Someone needs to be there for him and he has given himself that role since Jiraiya won’t be any better in this situation.

Kakashi can handle whatever it is that is bothering him. There’s bigger things affecting him now.

At the shrine on the Uchiha clan’s compound, Sasuke is facing Jiraiya, Inoichi, and Asuma with Naruto by his side. The compound is silent and deathly still while he faces them, his dark eyes glued to them when speaking, “What do you want to know? Do you want to know all of my memories of Itachi and Deidara?”

“Try telling us about their relationship…did you ever see them interact with each other much in public?” Jiraiya offers while Inoichi goes a different route, “Tell me everything Itachi ever said about Deidara to you and all the interactions you saw them having together anywhere in the village.”

Sasuke thinks on it for a moment and sighs, “I’ll do my best to tell you everything you need to know then.”

The first time I ever heard the name ‘Deidara Yamanaka’ it was when my grandparents said there was a rumor the most beautiful omega in the village was interested in someone from our clan. I had asked who they were, afraid that I’d hear of Naruto being interested in Itachi like every other omega and beta was regardless of age, “No, Deidara Yamanaka, silly!” they said like it was nothing and I didn’t pay any attention after that.

Oh, wait—they did say, “I do hope the Uchiha is Itachi… Can you imagine our prodigy with the most beautiful omega in the village? The pups they would make would be the most beautiful and powerful of all!”

Everyone was talking about it nonstop after that. I didn’t really care, but I do remember my dad asking Itachi the morning after this made so much fuss in the compound, “I heard the rumor of Deidara being interested in someone from this compound…care to tell me who it may be?”

“Oh,” he didn’t flinch when saying it either, “he doesn’t have interest in anyone here…but I do have an interest in him.”

“That’s wonderful!” our father was so proud of him then, “Are you going to court or date him? With an omega like him, you really to have to give it your all to win him over.”

I had never seen my brother appear unsettled before, but it was gone as quickly as it came, “I know, and I intend to do just that.”

I never got the chance to ask him about it because he finished his meal too fast for anyone to talk to him after he said this. Before I knew it, he was gone for the day while I was left at home without any answer to the questions I didn’t get to ask. Itachi took up a habit of coming home late, often smelling of angered omega, and I would always ask him, “Where’s the smell of angry omega from?”

To which he’d say as though it were nothing, “Job gone wrong, nothing more or less.”

Then over time I quit asking because the scent never changed, though the talk of Deidara did die down at the dining room table. I always wondered if Itachi was making progress or not, though it was impossible to tell because he never told us anything about it after that first talk with dad.

I met Ino Yamanaka at the academy by her coming up to me, growling, and yelling at me, “Hey, Uchiha! Tell your brother to leave mine alone!”

“What do you mean? Itachi’s too busy to be by whoever your brother is.”

“Ha, I wish!” she’d seethe, “He’s always coming around to the flower shop, always coming up to him in public, and always making him mad and act angry when he’s not that way at all normally. Either you get your brother to leave him alone or I’ll do it myself!”

“Who is your brother, anyway?”

“Deidara—can’t you smell angry omega on him whenever you come home?”

It all clicked in me then.

Itachi—for the first time in his life—was failing at something… He was failing at doing the one thing any alpha in his position should’ve been able to pull off easily: winning over the heart of Deidara Yamanaka.

I never knew it was possible for my brother to fail at anything. Some sick part of me sort of enjoyed it because of how favored he was, but I also felt bad for him too because he had to have liked Deidara a lot to put up with such severe humiliation as often as Ino made it sound he did, “I can, but I didn’t know it was him! I’ll try to tell him to back off Deidara, but I can’t stop him from doing what he wants, Ino.”

Ino didn’t seem to get it. Then again, she never did when it came to Deidara.

That day, my brother came to get me from the academy—which was odd because he never did that in the past. I would have greeted him, but Ino beat me to it.

“You, you big jerk!” she snapped at him with Sakura following her, “Ino, not him! He’s a powerful alpha!”

“I don’t care, he doesn’t get to bother Deidara and get away with it!” she said to her and then turned her attention back to him, “Leave my brother alone forever and never come back again! I don’t want to see you near him for as long as he lives! My brother doesn’t need you as a mate; he’s going to be an artist someday and fall in love with someone who gets him, so get over it and move on already!”

Itachi didn’t blink, all he did was comment, “You really are your brother’s sister, aren’t you? Most omega children would be too afraid of me to ever speak to me in such a way but here you are, so mouthy and brave…I can respect it in a way.”

She was about to say something else when he told her, “But I’ll have to decline your orders. I want to one day mate your brother and nothing you say will take that away from me.”

I could tell she was getting angrier and Sakura’s tug on her shirt alongside her quiet, “Ino, let’s leave now…it’s not worth it. Deidara wouldn’t want you doing this.” doing nothing to stop her.

“I don’t care—no one messes with my brother and gets away with it!”

We all thought (there’s no way my brother didn’t see it coming) she was going to attack him but she was stopped in her tracks by Deidara taking her hand, “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but that’s not what I want you to do.”

“Dei!” she exclaimed, all while looking at him like he was some sort of deity.

He was…okay, I guess. He wasn’t as beautiful as Naruto was, though I guess I could somewhat understand the appeal… Okay, I couldn’t, but I could see why my brother would want him as his mate.

“Back down, Ino, un. Don’t waste your precious time, energy, or strength on some alpha scumbag like this guy.” he said with a pointed glare at my brother, who acted like it was never said, “Hello Deidara, how are you doing? I see you came here to get your sister—”

“Save it, un.” he was eerily calm but there was an undercurrent of simmering outrage from him that could be smelt in his scent and it was intimidating, “I don’t know who you think you are, but no way in hell am I allowing you to lay a hand on Ino! You can do whatever it is you want to me—my sister is off limits, pig, un. Got it?”

“I wasn’t going to do anything to her, I assure you.”

Even though I did think he was crazy for liking this omega who seemed to hate him, I still stood up for him anyway because he was my big brother and I wasn’t going to let Deidara falsely accuse him of anything, “Stop, Ino tried to attack him first! My brother is innocent!”

Deidara’s ice cold eyes met mine for a brief moment and it sent such a chill down my spine, I couldn’t help but to view him as being the most terrifying person I’d ever met in that instant. Then he was back to directing that anger at Itachi, “Stay away from my sister or else I’ll have your head, Uchiha, un!”

“I was never going to harm her.” he tried to tell him, but Deidara hated him too much to listen. In that moment, I smelt the scent I had been smelling on him for the longest time—angered omega…it was then that I knew it was all true: he was failing at something in his life for once. Something anyone else in his position could have done far better than him, “Deidara, all I want is some civility with you. Please, try to be reasonable—”

“Like I would ever trust you!” he snarled, and it was the scariest snarl I had heard for many years, “Alphas are not to be trusted and that applies to you too, un! I don’t care if you’re an ANBU, you’re still an alpha first, which means I will never trust you!”

If it hadn’t been for Shikamaru interrupting with a blunt, “Ugh, you gotta be kidding me! Deidara, stop it right now or else I’ll get Iruka sensei to deal with you!”Deidara would have tried to kill my brother then.

He backed down with a cold, “You got lucky alpha, un.” and yet he was able to drop this tone with Ino on the spot, “Let’s get going, Ino. Mom’s got something good for dinner tonight and I don’t want to be late for it, un.”

“Okay.” she was smiling while they turned around to leave.

I was happy they were gone. My brother wasn’t from what I could see and his angry stare at Shikamaru as he left was as equally confusing to me.

“Um, nii-san? Can we leave now?”

“…Oh, sure, Sasuke.”

On our way back home, I couldn’t stop myself from saying it to him despite knowing it would make him angry because to me it made no logical sense, “I don’t get it…why Deidara? Why would you choose him over anyone else? You know there’s other omegas and betas in the village who would kill to have you as a mate, right? So why go for someone who clearly hates you?”

Itachi didn’t seem offended by my question, though the first part of his answer made no sense to me then or now, “I think ‘hate’ is too strong of a word here… Deidara is complicated, but I’m positive he doesn’t hate me. If he did, I’m sure he could have blown me to smithereens a long time ago.”

“You and I both know this is not true—you’re too strong to be taken down by that short, skinny omega.”

“Okay, you’ve got me there.” he had taken a good pause to better explain his nonsensical answer, “Deidara is reactive and quick to anger; I understand it’s not his fault. Being an omega in this village is incredibly difficult and I get why he became the sort of person he is today. I don’t blame him for it, much like how I don’t hold anything he does in anger towards me against him… In the end, he really can’t help his reactions in my eyes. Society made him the way he is—it can’t be helped. Since it’s society’s fault he reacts to me the way he does, I have no reason to believe he hates me.”

I don’t fully believe that. I think he hated him and Itachi couldn’t face the facts as is, “Why do you want him as a mate? What could really be so great about Deidara?”

He was quick to tell me this one, “If you think this is about beauty, then you are wrong. I am interested in Deidara because of his passion for his craft, the kindness he is capable of showing strangers, how wonderful he is towards his sister, and how strong he is to be the sort of omega he is in a village that debases such an omega in any other circumstance. He may not be a strong fighter like I am, but he’s resilient and durable through tough times far better than anyone I know. It’s quite admirable, really.”

I called it for what it was back then, “Pfft! Yeah right, you only like him because he’s a loud, stubborn blue-eyed blonde.”

He gave a small chuckle to what I said, clearly not offended by it in the slightest, “That’s another way to put it, I suppose.”

He didn’t say much afterwards, but then again, neither did I.

When we were nearing the compound, he told me, “I do not intend to give up, Sasuke. Deidara does not hate me; all I have to do is prove to him that I am not like the others and one day, I will get the sort of answer I desire from him when I ask him out to somewhere as refined as he is.”

I don’t believe he’s ‘refined’ for one moment.

Deidara always has been and always will be the one who hated my brother more than anyone alive. I wonder if my hate for him now could ever match up to the Deidara I saw back then…

Chapter Text

He didn’t bring up Deidara after this except to say, “Don’t tell anyone what we spoke of. I still have yet to crack Deidara’s rough edge on his diamond heart and I’d rather be in a real relationship with him first before telling anyone of any progress I’ve made with him.”

“Okay, I won’t bring him up…but only if you take me out to the candy store sometime.”

“That’s fair… I’ll be sure to make it happen, Sasuke, don’t worry.”

I figured he was being serious enough so I didn’t tell our parents or anyone that night of Itachi’s failed attempt to win over Deidara, thinking it would be the last time I’d ever see him or hear of him being rejected by the loud, stubborn blonde.

I was wrong: over the course of his many, many failed attempts to win over Deidara, I would hear about it almost every day at the academy.

“Didya see how that Itachi guy got Ino’s brother so mad he almost blew him up?”

“No, way really?”

“Really, he did it on my way here too! Ino’s brother is super pretty, but too scary for me.”

“Yeah, you got that right! He’s the scariest person alive!”

I would also overhear conversations like this quite often:

“Sasuke’s brother must be super dumb or just crazy to keep talking to Ino’s brother. How many times does Ino’s brother almost have to kill the guy in public before he gets the hint?”

“I know right? I cannot believe my sister likes him—he’s so pathetic to keep going for an omega who hates him that much.”

“Right? Ugh, Ino’s brother would be better off with a real alpha who could handle him and his craziness without looking like a lovestruck chump like Sasuke’s brother.”

I would have stood up for my brother, but I couldn’t help to think they were right.

Seeing Itachi pursue Deidara wherever he went was pathetic as much as it was annoying to me back then. It was like he was only spending time with me and taking me places for the sole sake of trying to find Deidara so he could get rejected by him in public again.

I have seen far too many instances of Deidara rejecting my brother publicly…he never came by the compound so I never got to see it happen in private, but I have seen enough in public to know he had rejected my brother far too often for me to keep track of.

For example, Itachi did take me to the candy store like he promised…it wasn’t how I expected things to go because right away, when we were outside, he saw Deidara heading somewhere down the street…and greeted him.

“Deidara, how are you today?”

I knew the moment he froze he was mad, “…What the hell are you doing here, un?”

“Getting candy for Sasuke. What are you doing here?”

“None. Of. Your. Business.”

“I see…do you want to go get something from a tea shop perhaps? I’m sure Sasuke would like—”

“Not with you, un! Now if you don’t mind, I have somewhere to go.”

“That’s fine, we can walk together.”

Deidara hissed at him and I knew it was time to run yet my brother stood his ground, “Go. Away, un.”

“No.”

I believe everyone saw it coming because they cleared the area when Deidara attempted to choke him out on the street. Had I not begged my brother to leave, he wouldn’t have. He would have simply kept speaking to Deidara despite his open disdain of him.

Of course, this was one of many instances that ended in my having to stop him from provoking that ticking time bomb any further than he always did in public.

There was one time after I had gotten him away from Deidara and back one the path to our home to be on time for dinner. Deidara had thrown a kunai at him before hitting him with a sculpture that could have killed him had he not gotten out of the line of fire in time yet he still kept trying to speak him, to get him to agree to date him…it was pure madness and at that point, I had enough. He took a simple trip to the playground and made it miserable for all because he couldn’t take a ‘no’ for the life of him.

I tried to hide how annoyed I was back then, “Why do you keep making him mad all the time?”

“What do you mean by that?” he had the nerve to act stupid and that’s when I unleashed my frustration with him onto him, “You know what I mean, nii-san! You know Deidara hates it whenever you approach him in public, you know how people talk about him whenever these events happen, and you know how afraid people are of him now because of you. How many times does he have to almost blow you up before you get it? Deidara doesn’t like you—why can’t you move onto someone else who does like any other person would?”

Itachi didn’t give me an answer I could accept then or now, “He doesn’t hate me and he hasn’t rejected me yet. He’s putting up a wall; when I manage to crumble it down, he’ll be more than willing to be my mate.”

“…How is trying to blow you up more than once not him rejecting you?”

“Deidara is unique. He puts up a convincing tough guy front, but on the inside, he’s a scared little loner who wants to be loved by someone who won’t quit on him.”

“Aren’t you making him lonelier by getting people to be too afraid to go near him?”

He didn’t react much to it. Though he did tell me something I didn’t understand until I first learned of other alphas and betas being as interested in Naruto as I was, “You don’t know this now, but you will one day… We Uchiha alphas are a jealous type—we do not take anyone showing interest in our betas or omegas lightly. When the one you will one day love has someone else showing such interest, you will feel a desire to eliminate the competition while scaring away any potential or current unknown threats. For example, I provoke Deidara in public because I know he is beautiful with many who desire to mate him. I thought only once or twice would do to scare off the threats, but it seems there are still far too many who wish to mate him. As such, I have to scare them all whenever, wherever, and however I can.”

Back then it made no sense to me since I didn’t know what jealousy was like. I hadn’t met or heard of any other alpha or beta being interested in Naruto. All I knew was my brother’s explanation sounded crazy to me for a good reason, “But won’t it make Deidara hate you in the long run? He already hates you now; how do you know he won’t hate you more when he learns why you provoked him?”

“Perhaps…but you keep forgetting, he doesn’t hate me. He’s only putting up a front to appear tough and strong when he’s anything but.”

I thought he was being dumb, but I did get him to at least agree to one thing, “Can you please stop making him mad in front of me then? I don’t want Naruto to think that being by me will get him blown up!”

He laughed leaving me to almost yell at him for doing that, but then he said, “Ah, I understand! Sorry about that Sasuke—I won’t provoke him around you anymore unless if it is absolutely necessary.”

“…Fine.”

He agreed. It didn’t mean he kept his word: every time we spent time together in public, he would make Deidara mad regardless because every situation was a situation where such a thing was absolutely necessary. All he did was humiliate me in front of Naruto by acting like that…the damn jerk.

In the end, I couldn’t blame Deidara for hating him. All he did was provoke him on purpose to keep anyone else interested in him away from him all while living in some fairytale version of reality where the bombastic blonde didn’t hate him for some reason or another. If I were in his position, I’d hate him too.

Inoichi asks him something important then, “Do you remember anything strange happening between Deidara and Itachi before they left the village?”

“…I only remember one thing happening and that’s it.”

Naruto watches as he gets out the book containing the names of the arranged mates, “I think you already know this one, but Itachi wanted to mate Deidara. Unfortunately for him, Deidara wasn’t interested. My family had been mad when Itachi reported of his failure to get your son to be his mate—they said he had humiliated himself and our family in front of the entire clan.”

“Do you remember what he said to them? How did he act towards your parents and clan after humiliation?”

Sasuke paused, telling him while handing them the book. 

On the day he was supposed to mate Deidara, the clan had been ecstatic.

It was the first time he had ever confirmed to anyone he was going to mate Deidara. He had told our grandparents of it, who had told everyone else, and before we knew it, it became the celebration of the decade for our home.

Everything was extravagant that day—the food, the drinks, the decorations, the clothes people wore, the music, and the shrine itself even got a bit of a makeover. It was honestly a busy, stressful, yet oddly exciting time for everyone…who didn’t know how poorly received Itachi was by Deidara.

My brother always hid his failures from the clan—including those who worked in either law enforcement—by using his position as an ANBU to get records destroyed without anyone knowing any better. The constant explosions had him telling our clan: “Deidara only responds that way because when he gets flustered, he reacts with anger and explosions to hide his inner embarrassment. There’s no need to worry, such a thing will go away when we’re mated.”

I knew it was all a lie, but I had promised to keep it a secret or else he’d tell Naruto about Kiba’s ‘crush’ on him. I didn’t want to run such a risk, so I never said a word about it to anyone.

I did ask him before he headed out to get the hostile omega, “How did you get Deidara to agree to this?”

“I haven’t yet, but I have a foolproof plan to get him to arrive here tonight.”

“…Yeah, sure. Good luck with that.”

“Don’t underestimate me now; Deidara will be my mate, this much I can assure you.”

I didn’t believe him but I didn’t care either. As long as he didn’t get in the way of Naruto and I being together, I didn’t care.

Of course, when it didn’t pan out the way he wanted and he arrived there alone, the clan was severely disappointed in him for playing them like a fool.

“Itachi, where’s Deidara?” our father asked the moment he entered the compound without him by his side, “I thought you had managed to get that beauty to be yours! Did you two separate?”

“No father, his family doesn’t approve of arranged matings.”

“That’s nonsense! I know Inoichi and I know how their clan views mating.” father was mad because he could tell they had all been deceived and it was going to get worse from there on out, “What’s going on? Have you been lying to us about Deidara and your relationship with him? Did you really pull such a stunt to make us all look stupid for fun?”

Itachi didn’t answer him. All he did was sigh and rolls his eyes in response, making father angrier than before, “Answer me, dammit! What was all the deceit for?”

“…I thought he was ready to mate, but it seems he wasn’t. What do you more do you wish to hear from me? How much longer do you have to humiliate me?”

“Humiliate you? …That’s rich! You’re the one humiliating us by telling such lies about getting Deidara to agree to be your mate and having us throw on this huge celebration for you—”

“Deidara wouldn’t like any of this. He’s not one who likes the attention.”

“Don’t turn this back on me! Of course we were going to celebrate your mating the most beautiful omega our village will ever know! What else were you expecting of us? You’re an ANBU at such a young age and to have Deidara as a mate on top of it would have warranted such a celebration. We did nothing wrong here; you did by wasting our time and efforts like this.”

Itachi didn’t roll his eyes again, but he did remind him, “I never told you to throw such an extravagant event for me. You were the one being selfish here, not me.”

Father didn’t take that well either, “Ungrateful—how can you be so rude? At least apologize to everyone here for wasting their time to give you something they wanted to out of the goodness of their hearts!”

He never did. All he did was mutter, “I don’t have time for this.” and left the area.

After that, he began to distance himself from everyone, including father, mother, and me. He never stopped pursuing Deidara, though he did it away from me for once which was nice but…I missed spending some time with him…that is, until the massacre happened and Deidara went missing.

I do remember so clearly asking him, “Don’t you…don’t you care about what Deidara will think? Do you really believe he’ll want to mate you after this?”

Itachi had told me in response, “I do care deeply about what Deidara will think…though I know it won’t matter in the long run because we will be mated no matter what.”

I knew then what he meant: he wasn’t going to kill his favorite omega like he did with the clan.

He was going to try to kidnap him and force him in a mating.

I may not have liked Deidara, but I knew leaving him to such a fate was the cruelest thing anyone could do to a person. I turned around and tried to run, get out of the compound, and find the Yamanaka home so I could warn him to run.

My brother seemed to sense my motives before I could take more than three steps out of the area, taunting me one last time, “Poor Sasuke…couldn’t save the clan, so instead you try to save my omega from a fate I know he wants. How sad and pathetic—you’ll never be able to defeat me or keep Naruto safe in the future should you manage to get him to be yours. No, you’ll fail like you’re damned to do while I succeed in eliminating everything that stands in my way.”

Everything went black after that…the next morning, I learned of Deidara’s disappearance and came to my conclusion.

Itachi kidnapped him using the Sharingan and is keeping him under his control with it.

“Here are the arrangement records. You can find Itachi’s name line in there very easily since it’s the only one lacking the name of the intended mate and his parents.”

As Jiraiya flipped through them, Asuma commented then with a bit of relief in his eyes, “You truly believe Itachi kidnapped him?”

“I do.”

“And Deidara really was not here on the compound the night of the massacre?”

“Trust me, he wasn’t.” Sasuke then goes on to give his view of the situation, “I know there are far too many who believe he left willingly, but I know for fact he didn’t. Deidara hated my brother for good reason and going by what Itachi said, he fully intended to kidnap and mate him by force. I know my brother wouldn’t lie to me about it—he was too dead inside to lie any longer at that point.”

His eyes fell on Inoichi, finally getting the chance to give him the one thing he felt he deserved after all these years, “I’m sorry for the pain my brother’s actions brought your family in this village. I know your son is innocent and when I do kill Itachi someday, he will be free to come home and clear his name.”

While this did bring Inoichi comfort, it was hearing what Naruto said next that helped to clear the air more for them, “Whoa, Sasuke…that had to be horrible to live through. I’m sorry you went through so much alone—”

“You have nothing to be sorry about. You’re mine now; you are more than enough to make me feel complete in life.”

He blushed a bit mumbling, “How cheesy…um, anyway, I was wondering—are you related to a Shisui?”

“Shisui? Yeah, he was my cousin and Itachi’s best friend… He was the one who died under suspicious circumstances before he murdered my clan. There were people who suspected he killed Shisui and I’m inclined to believe them after everything.” Sasuke paused then, Sharingan almost coming out to this, “Did he do something to you back when he was alive, Naruto?”

“No, he never did, I never met the guy!”

“Then why bring him up?”

“Because I heard Deidara talking about him to your brother once! I didn’t know who it was at the time, but I thought it was strange because I didn’t think he could care about the death of a beta, or any beta in general.”

Everyone pauses in their movements as Naruto recalls what he had heard back then.

I remember Deidara being violent and scary, like a monster in the night or the demon in those horror stories. I always did my best to avoid him because he was always trying to kill Itachi in public and I was afraid of getting hit by the blast as a kid. There were a few times I almost did, but Deidara always saved me before I could get hurt.

He always looked me over to be sure I had no injuries and then he’d tell me to run away before moving the fight away from where I was. It’s why I can’t say he’s a bad guy despite being violent and scary.

One time when I was at the park at night—this was before I lived with Iruka sensei—I smelled Deidara’s scent in the air but he wasn’t angry for once… When he wasn’t angry, it smelled really good and comforting somehow, like how a mom would smell to their pups.

I followed the scent because I guess I needed the comfort after a bad day and I was hoping he’d be nice enough to give me some.

Instead, what I got was him waiting in the woods by the park.

Shortly after I got in the bushes, his scent flared into his angered one, but this time, it felt like I couldn’t breathe with how angry he was when he saw Itachi this time around, “Where the hell is Shisui, un?”

“Shisui? Didn’t you hear of his passing?”

“I know of his passing and my dad already talked about the rumor saying it was you who did it!” he growled and there seemed to be something different this time around…like he was wanting to kill him for real, “Did you do it, Uchiha, un? Did you really take away the only friend I ever had because you couldn’t stomach me spending time with a beta?”

I felt a lump in my throat and I wanted to run, but I was frozen in fear! I couldn’t move no matter how hard my brain tried force my body to and Itachi’s glare was off the charts, “Come now, don’t be like that.”

“I can be like this, un!” he almost shrieked, “This is my friend we’re talking about here, the only friend I’ve ever had in my lifetime! The only one I could fully trust—and now he’s gone under suspicious circumstances that you just happened to be there for, un? What a load of shit! I know better than to think you’re innocent in any of this—”

He grabbed him by his shoulders and kissed him.

I didn’t see it happen, but somewhere in this, he used his kunai to stab him in the side, making Itachi pull back from him and keep his distance, “Don’t you dare kiss me after everything, un… Don’t you ever speak to me, touch me, or walk in the same direction as me ever again unless if you want a kunai going through your jugular!”

“Deidara, there’s no need to be so irrational. You’re angry, I get it—”

“No, you don’t, un! If you did, you wouldn’t have kissed me just now!”

His scent calmed down and yet it didn’t feel any safer to approach him. He made a large clay bird with his jutsu and said so calmly, “I’m done with this, un… I’m so, so done with this! All you’ve done is isolate me, tried to control me, and made a whole village think I’m some violent psychopath when I’m not, un! I’m done with you, Uchiha! This is the last time I’ll ever see you again, un!”

I had never seen Itachi look like a wounded animal ready to strike before until then and it was honestly more terrifying than anything Deidara had ever done, “…What do you mean by this?”

“Wouldn’t you love to know?”

“I would, actually.”

He scoffed and got on the bird, “You’re not my father—I don’t need to tell you anything.”

Itachi was over by that bird faster than the speed of light and when he got there, he was holding onto his wrist tightly, “Tell me or I’ll mate you now.”

“Release my wrist or else I’ll take yours, un.”

“Don’t be unreasonable—either you tell me, or I find out using my Sharingan.”

It was incredibly silent and before I knew it, he used his kunai to pry his hand off his wrist, “…I am leaving the village for good to be an artist in another one. Shisui was my main reason for staying and trying to make it work, but now that he’s gone…I have no one, un.”

“What of your sister?”

“She’s coming with me. I won’t let her stay here and be ruined by this hellhole.”

“Like your parents would ever—”

“I’ve already discussed it with them, and they agreed to it, un. They’re going to come with us too so it will be like a fresh start for the entire family.”

As the bird began to ascend into the air, he told him, “I meant what I said: don’t come near me, speak to me, or walk my way ever again—I’m done with you for good, un.”

He left and Itachi didn’t chase after him or tried to argue anymore. All he did was stare at the sky while Deidara flew away from him.

“He left a bit after that, but I don’t think he ever saw me…or if he did, he didn’t care enough to say anything.”

Asuma immediately asks Inoichi, “Is it true? Were you really going to leave the village with Deidara and Ino after Shisui’s death?”

“No…I never planned that, Deidara never told me anything about wanting to move, let alone taking Ino with him!” Inoichi exclaimed in shock, “Maybe he did it to get Itachi to finally leave him alone for good or…or maybe there was someone in Suna he had fallen in love with and wanted to mate... I wouldn't know, I didn't even know he had a friend in this village until now!”

“Looks like we’ll have to try to find some more information on Deidara and Shisui’s relationship then…” Jiraiya remarks, “Did your son ever keep a diary or journal of sorts, Inoichi?”

“I think he did…” he paused and shook his head, “I don’t really know; we’d have to ask Ino that one. She was the closest one to him.”

“Looks like we have to find your daughter then…” Asuma replied to the news, and then told the boys, “Thanks for your help, guys. Go on and have a wonderful date today.”

He slipped them a wad of money from his own pocket and handed it to Sasuke, “Take your future mate somewhere nice, okay? You’ve both earned it after this.”

“Thanks…” Sasuke responds in shock while Naruto awes, “Whoa…that’s so much money! Thanks a lot, Asuma sensei! You’re so cool—are you sure you aren’t interested in dating Iruka? Kakashi sensei can be a bit of cheap ass and I think Iruka would be a lot happier with you.”

“Sorry kiddo, no can do. I already have my eye on someone else.” Asuma waves it off, “Now, let’s get going! We don’t have time to waste!”

Before the couple knew it, the men were gone and they were alone at the Uchiha compound.

Naruto’s first suggestion?

“…Ramen, Sasuke?”  

“You really need to eat more foods.”

Chapter Text

In the end, the group of men couldn’t find Ino at the home, flower shop, or Sakura’s place like Inoichi had thought she’d be. All they could do was look around the Yamanaka home for any journal or diary of Deidara’s that could have been hidden anywhere. This led to nowhere, until Jiraiya asked, “What’s up with that tent outside?”

“Oh,” Inoichi began as Asuma caught wind of it as well, “Deidara lived in a tent outside to make his bedroom into an art studio…all he did was blow stuff up in there though.”

Looking inside the makeshift art studio and the basement had turned up nothing. Asuma could only state the obvious to them, “Let’s go see it then. I’m sure there has to be something out there.”

“Who knew we’d get so lucky to have this anyway? Most people would have gotten rid of that piece of junk a long time ago if their kid was Deidara.” Jiraiya then patted him on the back, “You’re a great dad to keep this up for him, Inoichi. I know I wouldn’t have if he were my kid.”

“No…I’m not a good father. I only kept it up all these years because Ino fought me so hard to keep it up in case if he ever came back.”

This is the truth and Inoichi feels like a horrible person for admitting to it out loud.

He won’t deny being iffy on Deidara’s innocence—there were certain things about his disappearance that didn’t sit right with him enough to dispel doubts on the theory Ino had of him being kidnapped by Itachi—but after everything he’s learned today from Sasuke and Naruto…he cannot see himself as a good father for as long as he lives. He shouldn’t have ever doubted Deidara or his innocence in all of this. He should have been far more loyal and trusting of him like Ino had been all these years he was gone.

If it were to come out that he did choose to leave, then he would have to ask himself if he ever did anything wrong to make him want to leave. Because perhaps he had never been a good father to Deidara at all if he could doubt his innocence in the slightest bit for a small moment.

When they arrived at the tent, all they found was a tent worn down from the elements over the years—holes from rain, hail, and insects that tore through the tent, dust on inside where animals had dug holes through the earth on the ground and chewed through the bottom of it along with the sleeping bag in there, and a sketch book, full of ideas for his sculptures, with a bag of his clothes and other miscellaneous belongings that were of no substance to their investigation into the missing Yamanaka.

All they got was nothing and it was frustrating as it was demoralizing, “Great…looks like we have to find your daughter then.”

Jiraiya’s grumbling didn’t stop him from obsessively thinking over every single little detail of each and every memory he has with Deidara…it didn’t stop him from wondering what he could have done to have stopped this in the beginning (outside of making Itachi leave him alone, that is).

“Inoichi, are you okay with doing this?” Asuma’s voice cuts him out of his thoughts before they grow too depressing, “If you ever want to stop, you can always leave this to us.”

“No, it’s alright. I want to come with you guys—Deidara is my son and I owe it to not only him, but my whole family to bring him home.”

And he means it when he says it: he owes it to not only Deidara, but his whole family to bring his stolen son back home.

As for Itachi Uchiha…if he ever sees him again, he’ll kill him for Ino and Deidara’s sake. Simple as that, really: because like hell he’ll allow that monster to get away with massacring his clan and stealing his son from him. No one messes with his family and gets away with it, that much he can still say with conviction and pride.

Ino finally—after all this time—had him in her sights.

Itachi Uchiha…the bastard who stole her brother from her years ago and ruined his life for his own selfish purposes.

Getting her hands ready in the position needed for her jutsu, she was getting ready to take over his body to kill the man beside him and leave his body just in time for Hinata to finish him off.

“Ino Yamanaka…it’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Itachi pauses in his steps and turns around with his partner to face the girls, “Are you mated now to a Hyuuga? I can only imagine how upset Deidara would be about such a thing if he knew.”

Her anger flared at the sound of her precious brother’s name leaving that monster’s mouth, “Don’t you dare say his name…not after you stole him from my home, not after you ruined his life! How dare you come back here after everything you’ve done to him!”

His partner turns to look at him oddly, seemingly unthreatened by the two girls in front of them, “Huh… You never said anything about stealing Deidara from his home—”

“Of course he wouldn’t, he’s a shameless Uchiha! My brother told me everything I needed to know, and I know better than to trust him.” she was clear in her wording when making direct eye contact with the man she’s wanted to kill for so long, “This will end here today. I will not allow you to keep ruining my brother’s life any longer. Your life will end here and I will bring him home with me, where he should’ve been this whole time!”

Hinata was about to grab her wrist while trying to get her to calm down, “Wait, Ino, don’t—”

“Don’t hold me back, Hinata.” she growled lowly, “If we’re going to be in this together, then we need to work together to kill him now so we can bring Deidara back.”

His partner chuckles low, the sound unnerving Hinata when he looks away from Itachi, “Ah, looks like you’ve got unsettled drama with little girls…let me know when you’re done and ready to get back on track with our mission. I’ll be sitting this one out; children are of no threat to me.”

Itachi didn’t lose focus from Ino once and it only made her madder, “I promised Deidara I wouldn’t lay a hand on you…I also promised him that I wouldn’t harm you or so much as use my Sharingan on you for any reason whatsoever. However, if you dare use any Inoichi-esque jutsu on me, then I will respond accordingly.”

She didn’t care anymore.

Hearing him speak about her brother in such an intimate manner…making it sound as though their whole relationship was consensually cordial…only provokes her to use her jutsu to go forward with her plan.

“Don’t!”

“Take care of my body for me, Hinata. I’ll need it after this.”

The last thing she heard?

A calmly spoken, “Very well then” from a too nonchalant Itachi.

When inside Sakura’s body, the greatest resistance she had faced was from the inner Sakura. She hadn’t taken too kindly to Ino trying to force her to forfeit the match and yet it was her grabbing her, shaking her, begging her to give her a fair chance that made Ino leave her body immediately.

She never brought that up to Sakura because well…she can only imagine how embarrassing it would be to hear.

Sakura was not at all suffocating or anxiety inducing to be in. Itachi, on the other hand, is.

His presence is strong, it’s clear that while she is the one who entered his body by force, he is the one who is totally in control of it still. Why he hasn’t kicked her out of it yet, she’s not sure…

“Tell me…” his voice is far clearer than Sakura’s was too, “were you wanting to find any information about your brother’s disappearance? Were you wanting to kill yourself and I in order to free him as you claim you want to do? Help me make sense of this, tell me why you did something so stupid that Deidara would rant at you about it if he could?”

She almost lost control then and ended up back in her body, “Will you stop talking about Deidara like you know him better than me already! You don’t know him, you never did, not even when you were in the village pretending to be a great person!”

He took a pause to this statement from her, finding it to be strange, “I never knew him? How odd of you to claim…”

“You didn’t! All you ever did was make him mad until he acted out in a way that got people to hate him!” she reminded him then, “I was his only friend and he was mine until Sakura came along. I knew him better than anyone alive, I know he wouldn’t be chummy with you after everything you did to make him look bad in front of everyone.”

She was met with his spirit—his far too powerful spirit, for what it’s worth—facing her in a manner that was similar to the inner Sakura, but different because he held her with his only visible hand and the grip was fairly loose, as though he were holding a doll as opposed to a person, “…You probably don’t know this, but only one person can be territorial over your brother and it’s me. Only one person can claim to truly know him, Ino, and trust me when I tell you: only I myself truly know your brother better than anyone else alive. You only ever knew him as a good brother, not the human being he was.”

“You’re lying…I know him far better than you! I know he wouldn’t ever get close to you for anything!”

Itachi didn’t so much as flinch when he pulled the corner of his cloak down, exposing a bite mark on his neck, one that she knows far too well, “You don’t know my mate better than me. You never have and you never will; it’s better to accept things as is between him and I—we’re mated and happy. He’d prefer it if you accepted it instead of trying to separate us like you wish to do.”

She doesn’t stop herself from going speechless, nor does she stop herself from leaving his body when he gives her the chance out of severe shock.

She knows her brother too well…he’d never be mated to Itachi. He hated him far too much—there’s no way he’d ever—

When she was back in her body, she was in Hinata’s arms and the other girl appeared to be terrified, “Come on, we have to leave now! They’re too powerful for us to take on!”

“…N-No, I’m not leaving…not after that Uchiha bastard lied about being mated to my brother.” she seethed, her pale eyes on the dark eyed man across from her, “My brother would never be your mate by choice…this is some Uchiha trick, some Sharingan shenanigan that you made up to mess with me—”

He did the same thing as he did when she was in his body: he pulled down the collar of his cloak, exposing the bitemark on his neck that she knew from anywhere, “No tricks or Sharingan, I’m afraid. Just Deidara and I getting along well enough to decide to be mated to each other.”

Hinata was devastated then, “N-No…Deidara was too kind and far too beautiful to ever settle for someone as cruel and evil as you! There’s no way—”

“I see he still has one too many fanboys and fangirls here…” Itachi muses, “It’s fine though, I know none of you can kill me and I know if any of you try to steal him from me, I can always take any of you out of the picture to keep him safe.”

Hinata was about to strike with her Byakugan, but was stopped by the intervention of a man with a commanding tone who appeared to be a bit too optimistic to one of the criminals in front of him, “Alright kids, take it down a notch! I can smell Ino’s ‘I’m gonna kill you’ scent all the way from the tea shop, there’s no need to go that extreme when you’re both at a clear disadvantage!”

They both paused while Itachi’s partner grunted, “This is the best that could come to save these dumb kids? How pathetic.”

“Don’t underestimate him; he may not look it, but he is plenty strong with his taijutsu alone.” Itachi warned the man, who appeared apathetic to such claims.

However, Guy wasn’t going to let them off so easy, “Aren’t you Akatsuki types supposed to be smarter than this? Making your scents so obvious and known—if I didn’t know what to expect from Itachi, I would have still came here anyway since Ino’s scent was so vicious it had me worried something was severely wrong.”

Ino was about to make a move towards Itachi when Guy grabbed her by the wrists, her drive to kill him far more powerful now that she’s seen him in person and knows about the forced mating between her brother and him, “Stop. I’ve already contacted the ANBU; they’ll be here shortly to help me deal with them, but for now, you two have to leave.”

“You really want me to leave? After I’ve found out he forced my brother to mate him?” she stared him wide eyed, disgusted by what all she had heard from the man she had seen as respectable thanks to Lee.

Itachi would give a small eye roll—the most expression and emotion he has shown so far—with an annoyed response accompanying it, “By force? …I may be many things, but a Konoha alpha with an ego too big I am not. Deidara and I mated consensually without any manipulation, coercion, force, or Sharingan interference. Despite what you believe or think of me, this is the truth.”

She was going to protest this, to call him out for every single lie he’s said in front of her in this moment, to end up denied this chance as he and his partner fled the scene.

The moment they were gone, Guy turned his attention to her, asking in an even tone, “Ino, are you okay?”

While Hinata was mentally applauding the man for choosing to hold back on his clear outrage for her reckless behavior just now, Ino could only clench her fists and shake her head, too upset at the lies she had heard just now about her brother from the man who had stolen him from her.

Somewhere outside of Konoha, Kisame asks Itachi, “How did the girl know that was Deidara’s mark on your neck?”

“In the Yamanaka clan, it is customary for immediate family members to give noncommittal bite marks to each other. Think of it as a form of familial love biting; before you think about it, there’s no sexual or romantic undertone to it. Deidara and Ino used to do this to each other all the time in the morning before they’d separate their ways to go about their days.”

“Really now? What would such a bite serve if there is no sexual or romantic undertone to it?”

“There is a good reason for it.” Itachi recalls as they make their way to a good vantage point for their mission, “Such bite marks are meant to show other alphas and betas that the Yamanaka is one from a family that will avenge or protect them should anything to happen to them. It’s more of a safety precaution and blanket than an actual love bite in that respect.”

Kisame took a while to absorb this fact and then commented with a sly grin, “She really thinks you forced him into being your mate, huh?”

He shrugged carelessly because it was truly no big deal to him, “She can think whatever she pleases. It doesn’t change the fact we are mated now and there’s nothing she can do to change this outside of killing me, which I won’t allow to happen and Deidara would kill her for if she ever got close to trying.”

He doesn’t say much in response for the longest time… That is, until he said, “You think Sasori finds him to be as desirable as those in that village do?”

Itachi says nothing to this, but it doesn’t stop his scent from flaring as the sour notes of burnt roses and carnations flooding the air around them.

After hearing a good lecture from Guy about not letting her anger get to her to the extremes it did today, Ino is alone with Hinata, still simmering in outrage at everything she’s heard that damned Uchiha say.

“Ino…do you really think Itachi was telling the truth when he said it was something consensual between them?” she was taken out of her revenge fantasies for a moment to look at the heartbroken beta girl by her side, “I’m hoping it’s not because I…I’ll always love your brother no matter what. He will always be so precious to me, but if he did, you know, mate him…by choice…then what can I do? What am I supposed to do now that I know there’s a chance that if we save him, he’ll never be mine?”

…She forgot about her. In all of her anger and hatred towards Itachi, she forgot about the one person she’d ever want to mate Deidara, the only one she’d ever say could be good enough.

Hinata is nearing tears, trying so hard to hold it all together, and here she is, only focusing on herself.

She’s a crap friend and the beta girl deserves better, “I don’t believe it for one second.”

She pauses in her motion to wipe away the tears that had fallen so far from her eyes, “I refuse to believe it. He’s an Uchiha and my brother hated him so much for it. If Deidara did choose to mate him, it’s probably because he was being threatened by him or forced by him using some Sharingan mind trick on him. I know my brother too well…he wouldn’t ever agree to be mated by someone as cruel and evil as that Uchiha.”

It took all of her focus on Hinata to not go after that monster on the spot, but she managed for her friend’s sake, “I know that when we do save him and snap him out of that creeps control, you will be the only one to sweep him off his feet. No one else here in the village really could, not in my eyes at least.”

Hinata gives a warbly, “T-Thank you, Ino… I really do love him and I really wanna be his mate someday. I just…I wish I knew where he was now so I could see if he’s okay or not. All I want to know is if he’s safe.”

…She didn’t know Hinata cared so much about Deidara to wish for the same things she does, “I do too, but we won’t know that for now, not until we find the Akatsuki hideout and save him ourselves.”

Her friends nods numbly and hugs her tightly, crying quietly onto her shoulder while Ino herself does her best to process everything said to her by the man she blames for her brother’s disappearance.

Chapter Text

Kakashi had gotten to the girls sometime after Itachi had left and Guy was gone. Immediately, he noticed something was wrong, “I can smell Itachi’s scent in the air…what happened, Ino.”

She clenched her fists in response making Hinata take notice. Thinking she wasn’t in the right frame of mind to answer, she took over from here, “Ino smelled Itachi’s scent in the air when she was coming over to my place…at least, I think that was her intention. I saw her outside and then she ran off for no reason—she was unarmed so I followed her. She said she smelled Itachi’s scent in the air and that he’s here with someone else. We never found out this person’s name.”

Kakashi didn’t ask why Ino wasn’t answering his question; he could tell she was in no proper state of mind to recall everything without getting angry again. As such, he allows Hinata to speak in her place for now, “I went with her because she was unarmed and alone. I couldn’t leave her like that, but I also went because I didn’t want her to do anything too reckless…then she found Itachi and his partner. She took over his body so easily, but she got out of it a lot faster than she did during her battle against Sakura.”

He notices Hinata’s scent changes, it becomes too strong and burnt in notes, “He said he’s mated to Deidara and he kept talking about how he said he wouldn’t hurt her because of what he promised Deidara, acting like he was so close with him, and claiming their mating was consensual…Ino got mad so she tried to strike at him, but then Guy sensei came in and stopped her from attacking. They both left after he brought up calling in the ANBU to come over to stop them.”

His attention goes back to Ino with a stern, “You should’ve known better than to let your anger get the better of you like that. Had it not been for Hinata, you could have been killed or kidnapped, Ino.” she shot him an annoyed glance (looking so much like her brother in the process) and he went on, “You want to bring your brother back—there’s nothing wrong with that, but you have to be smart about it or else you’ll die at the hands of an opponent too powerful for you to handle. Next time he’s here and you’re unarmed, don’t go charging at him alone—get someone else involved so you will survive…even if you are armed, you should get someone else involved, actually. Itachi is a powerful foe not many could defeat alone; in a group setting such a victory is still uncertain given how prolific his skills as a shinobi are. You should consider this before you make any move to take him on in battle.”

She still says nothing in response, simmering in rage at the memory of Itachi acting so confident and calm the entire they spoke. To think of the nerve he had to dare make any comment about being mated to her brother consensually was enough to make her want to hunt him down again and kill him!

Kakashi gives up lecturing, but before he can do much else, Inoichi arrives with Asuma and Jiraiya in tow, “Kakashi, you found her? I thought you had something else to do.”

“Sorry Inoichi—I thought I smelled Itachi in the air and I went to investigate. Turns out I didn’t get here in time to stop him from doing whatever it was he had been here for.” he then asks, “What are you three doing here?”

Asuma takes over for Inoichi, “We have been trying to find Ino. Had it not been for your scent, we wouldn’t have regrouped to find you and we wouldn’t have found Ino here.”

He eyes him up, asking himself, “What did she do to piss you off that badly anyway?”

“She went into battle against Itachi Uchiha unarmed and with only Hinata as her backup.”

“…Damn kid, that’s just dumb.” Jiraiya whistles, while Asuma gives her a firm, “Ino you had no right to take him on like that! How could you—”

“What, was I supposed to let him leave? Was I supposed to do nothing while he just did whatever he wanted to do here?” she growled then, “I almost had him too—but his spirit was too powerful and I couldn’t control his body! Then he kept talking about how he promised Deidara he wouldn’t harm me or use his Sharingan on me—the monster had the nerve to say he is in a consensual mating with my brother… Was I supposed to not be mad at him? Was I supposed to just run after he had the nerve to say that slander to me?”

Inoichi paused as did everyone else when they heard this from her. Slowly, he meets her eyes in a sad yet desperate motion, “He is mated to Deidara? How do you know this?”

“He showed me his neck and it had Deidara’s bite mark on it. He showed it to me when I took over his body and when I was back in my own.” she admits with a sad sigh, “I’m sorry dad…I shouldn’t have ever taken him on alone, but I really thought this was my best chance to kill him and bring Deidara back. I let my anger get the better of me…that’s all my fault.”

Asuma asks her then, “Listen Ino, your punishment will not be that severe if you just tell us a few things about your brother.”

“Is this to do with the investigation into him?” she replies, clarifying when she’s shot with surprised glances, “I overheard you talking this morning to mom, dad. I tried to follow you, but I was too late to catch up to you, so I decided to go see Hinata instead. That’s when I smelt that monster’s scent in the air and tried to go after him myself.”

“…Well, that explains it.” Kakashi mutters, but it’s ignored for Asuma’s questioning, “Did your brother ever keep any journal or diary of sorts?”

“No, he never did. Deidara was too paranoid about mom reading his entries for that to ever happen.”

“Okay, what about friends? Did he have any friends?”

She raised a brow to this, “Of course he didn’t and it’s all because of that stupid Uchiha bastard making him look bad in front of everyone. I was his only friend, much like how he was my only friend for the longest time before I met Sakura.”

Jiraiya chimes in then, “What about the name ‘Shisui Uchiha’? have you ever seen or heard your brother mention that name or person before?”

“…Who’s Shisui?” she’s genuinely confused on this question, making the others who were present for the talk with Sasuke and Naruto to feel more lost than they originally were, “I have never heard him mention that name to anyone and I have never seen him speak kindly to anyone with that name in public or private.”

Inoichi asks her something that has been bothering him ever since learning of Naruto’s memories with his son, “Has Deidara ever spoken to you about leaving the village to go to Suna? Did he ever want to run away there and take you with him?”

Now she’s wondering where they’re getting this from, “No, he never talked about doing that! He always said he’d wait until he was eighteen before moving out to Suna to go to some art school, but he never talked about bringing me with him. He always said I shouldn’t run away from here if I wanted to fulfill my dream of becoming the first ever omega kunoichi. Where are you coming up with this stuff anyway? Did you learn something weird from your investigation?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re home.” Inoichi responds then, “Come on, Ino. Let’s go home; we have a lot to talk about concerning your brother.”

Ino doesn’t know why she was asked all these questions, but if going home with her father, facing a good chew out from him, and getting punished for her actions is what it takes to learn what information he had obtained from this meeting with Deidara, then she’ll accept it as is.

“Okay.” she gave Hinata a quiet, “Goodbye, Hinata. Thanks for being there for me today.”

“It wasn’t a big deal, I wanted to be sure you were safe, that’s all.” she replies in her soft tone of voice as Ino leaves with her father and she’s left wondering when she’ll learn more information about Deidara again.

It was sometime when Sasuke dropped Naruto off after their date he had heard the knock on his door that would upend his entire day, “Pervy sage? What are you doing here?”

“Ah, nothing much—just letting you know that I am going to be taking over your training for a while.”

He raised a brow and it led Iruka to come to the door, hand on his hip while glaring the man down, “What do you mean ‘taking over his training for a while’? I wasn’t informed of this by anyone until just now and as his father, I have the right to know immediately when changes to his training routine will be happening.”

Jiraiya paused then and sighed, “Okay, Naruto, can you give us some space for a moment? I need to talk to your dad about something pretty damn important.”

“Mm…alright, but don’t take too long! If this will help me get closer to becoming hokage then I don’t wanna wait forever!”

“Trust me, you won’t. Now go wait out in the hall; I have to talk a with your dad.”

Naruto did as he was told, though he was taken aback by it… The random questioning Sasuke had to endure today when they were supposed to go out on their date, the way Kakashi sensei left at random before the questioning could start, and the fact that Iruka didn’t know a thing about the sudden change up in his training regimen has him wondering if there’s something else going on that he doesn’t know about.

Little did he know how on track he was with this thought.

When alone with Iruka, Jiraiya began things simply, “I know you don’t think much of me, but this is a dire topic that as his father, you deserve to know about.”

He was about to rip into the man but held off on it when he saw how grim his expression had become, “Naruto has the nine tailed fox demon sealed away inside of him and usually this wouldn’t be as much of a detriment to him as it is now.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What I mean is the Akatsuki are after your son because of the demon within him.” Jiraiya is honest while continuing, “I don’t know what they want to do with the demon, but I know they wish to take him away because of it. Today we had a confirmed sighting of Itachi Uchiha and another man I have confirmed as Kisame Hoshikage after looking him up in my bingo book by Ino Yamanaka and Hinata Hyuuga. It stands to reason that whatever the Akatsuki are planning it must be serious to send someone as powerful as Itachi here to obtain Naruto for them.”

Iruka grew grim along with the man after hearing this, his first thought being, “I know why Kakashi had to meet you today… He told me to keep Naruto out of the apartment and away from Ino Yamanaka because of a meeting he was going with you and others about Deidara. I may not know what it was actually about or what was said, but I don’t like to write him off without good evidence to first… Tell me, is Deidara on our side? If he is, could we not use him as an ally to find out their plans or spy on the group?”

He doesn’t mince his words here when giving him his thoughts on the taken omega, “Deidara Yamanaka is an enigma in my eyes. A loner omega who was bold for his generation in standing up for omega rights, but also lethal and feared by all as much as he was praised and loved for his beauty. We have discovered more information on him, but all of it is contradictory: on one end, Sasuke, Inoichi, and Ino herself all have given accounts of Deidara hating Itachi with every fiber of his being to the point of trying to kill him in nearly every encounter they’ve ever had. Then there’s the account of Naruto showing a viable reason to assume Deidara is indeed on our side—the reason being that he believed Itachi had killed his only friend, Shisui Uchiha, before he had massacred the clan.”

“Where’s the contradiction then?”

“The contradiction is from what Ino had heard Itachi claim today: claims of not harming or using his Sharingan on her due to a promise he made to Deidara, acting as though they are a loving couple, and claiming their mating was consensual after showing a mark from him on his neck. Then there’s the possible lies that were told by him with no true way to confirm if they are or not making it a bigger mess yet with that kid. My two cents on the matter is Deidara only acted out because he was afraid of Itachi finding out about a secret relationship he had with Shisui and after the bastard killed him, the omega kid said things he shouldn’t have out of the heartbreak he felt that provoked him into kidnapping him after massacring his entire clan.”

“Wouldn’t he be on our side then?”

“Not necessarily. I believe that he is under the control of Itachi’s Sharingan, making him docile and obedient towards him in a manner he cannot break out of without killing that young man first. I’m sorry to tell you this, but Deidara Yamanaka—while a victim in my eyes—isn’t our ally any longer. He won’t be until we free him from Itachi’s grasp on him.”

Hearing this honestly broke Iruka’s heart.

He had always seen Deidara as a strong young omega who wanted better than what the sexist society surrounding him was willing to give. He stood up for many omegas and betas who were wronged by alphas and betas. He fought so hard for omegas to be taken seriously in the Konoha art scene that without his work, they wouldn’t be in it today. Sure, he may have snapped at alphas and betas in a violent manner, but he saw that as more of a defensive mechanism from a kid too ahead of his society’s time who didn’t know how to better deal with the anger and frustration within himself.

He had always wanted Deidara to come back and prove his innocence because he had always believed the young omega to be both an innocent victim of Itachi’s tricks and the slandering of a sexist conservative society that sought to discourage any omegas from being as independent and strong as him.

The idea that he could be under control of Itachi’s Sharingan all while being mated, docile, and obedient to the young murderer has him wanting to puke and cry at the same for the artist who did his best to make things better for his own gender.

As heartbroken as he is over the news of Deidara’s condition, he has to learn to accept it for Naruto’s sake and do what’s best for him now, “That’s truly terrible to hear. He really was such a strong omega…for this to have happened to him, it really does break my heart.”

Jiraiya appeared to be a bit impatient and Iruka couldn’t blame him, “Since time is of the essence here, I won’t refuse it. You and Naruto can leave immediately. Just let me say goodbye to him first.”

“I wouldn’t ever stop you.”

He went out of the apartment and met with Naruto in the hallway, doing his best to keep his composure so as to not scare the boy, “I agreed to allow Jiraiya to train you, Naruto, but I want you to be extra careful and vigilant of your surroundings while you’re gone. Do you think you can do that for me?”

“You mean it? You’re okay with me going?”

“Only if you’re extra careful and vigilant of your surroundings while you’re gone.”

Naruto cheered then hugged his adoptive father tightly, “Thanks a bunch, Iruka! Don’t worry, I’ll be extra, extra careful and vigilant of my surroundings and I’ll come back strong enough to become hokage someday, I promise I will!”

“I know you will.” Iruka smiled, trying to fight the further heartbreak he’s going to face when his son is gone, “Goodbye, Naruto.”

“Goodbye, Iruka sensei.” Naruto said in response when freeing him the hug.

Jiraiya then entered the hall, facing Naruto with a laidback grin, “You ready, kid?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be!” the young omega beams in joy while exiting the apartment with the pervy sage and his father, who is later on waving him off with a smile on his face.

Iruka could feel himself wanting to go along with them, wanting to keep Naruto safe at all costs, and fighting such an instinct was the hardest battle of his life when he stood there waving goodbye to him.

…At least, it had been hard until Naruto came rushing back to him with a sense of urgency he didn’t expect as he fished through his pocket, “Wait—I cannot leave you without this! It’s super important!”

He had thought it was going to be a charm or something sentimental, “Naruto, you didn’t have—” he paused when he slapped it on his palm, looking down at the object in it, “W-Where did you get this!”

“They’re called ‘condoms’. You taught me all about them when we had that talk about sex and consent, remember?”

“I know what they are, but why are giving this to me? Where did you even get this from!”

Naruto states it like he is reading his future itself, “I got it from Shikamaru’s dad when he saw Sasuke and I making out underneath the trees. He said to not do stuff like that in public and that if we were to have sex in private, then at least we could be safe about it. Sasuke was so embarrassed, it made me laugh really hard until he gave them to me instead because apparently I’m ‘too open’ about this sorta thing.”

Why does that sound like something his son would do?

Never mind that, what really matters now is, “Why are you giving this to me? Don’t you think I can get my own condoms?”

“I know you could, but I also know that you’re going to be in a home alone with Kakashi sensei who is a shameless perv. I don’t wanna come home to you being pregnant with his kid. I’m not really ready to be a big brother yet, and if you’re gonna have a kid, I’d rather you have one with Asuma sensei because he’s loaded and generous about it, unlike the tightwad we live with.”

“N…Na…Naruto!” he’s shaking in pure humiliation, his face red when countering him, “You have no right to comment on my sex life or my family planning! I’m a grown omega who can refuse the utterly pathetic advances of Kakashi Hatake—”

“Nice try, sensei, but I’m only looking out for you like a good son would!” Naruto smirks, “If I’m not careful, you could be seduced by him in like, a day or so when I’m gone and I figure if I have to make a promise to you when I’m gone, then you have to make one to me: no sex with Kakashi sensei no matter what!”

“You cannot make me—”

“So you wanna have sex with him then? Wow, I thought you had better standards than that, sensei.”

Iruka is gritting his teeth and slowly, he responds to the goading, “…I don’t want to have sex with him and I’ll prove it by keeping my promise to you: I will not have sex with Kakashi Hatake while you’re gone.”

He cheered to this, “Great! I’ll see you soon, sensei! Keep it in your pants around Kakashi sensei!”

As he hurries back to a laughing Jiraiya’s side, Iruka finds it a lot easier to be okay with Naruto leaving with the man.

Chapter Text

Sasuke didn’t know Naruto had left for the longest time. That is, until he stopped by Iruka’s place to give Naruto something he had forgotten to gift him when they were on their date. He had gotten to the apartment and when he did, he was stunned upon overhearing his future mate’s dad speak to their sensei, “Itachi was in the village today? When did that happen! I remember his scent being very strong and distinct!” 

“I believe he may have been using something to make it less powerful overall. Had it not been diluted, I could have found him earlier before Ino and Hinata did.”

With bated breath, he listened closely—his mind stuck on a certain thought he’d never thought he’d have to entertain, “Do you really believe Naruto had to leave the village with Jiraiya—the pervy sage as he calls him? Was the threat of Itachi trying to take him really that severe?” 

Sasuke’s blood went cold to this and yet Kakashi was being a bit too casual about this, “We cannot run the risk of another Deidara situation happening. We need to do what we can to prevent Naruto from being kidnapped and winding up in his position or worse.” 

He doesn’t want to think on the possibility of Itachi taking Naruto away from him for the sole sake of mating him. He doesn’t want to believe there’s ever a good reason to be on edge of one of his worst nightmares coming true. 

Without hearing another word of their conversation, he heads on out as quickly as he can without either of them noticing. He knows if they discover he had listened in, they would be trying to stop him from finding Naruto. He’s only so lucky his mate has a scent he has had burned in the foremost part of his mind: otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to track him down. 

With fear and hatred fueling the adrenaline coursing through his veins, Sasuke made his way out of the way village as quickly as possible, following Naruto’s scent the moment he was out of it. 

Itachi stole Deidara when he left the village. That was something Sasuke couldn’t prevent and he genuinely feels some guilt for not being quick enough to save the one victim of his brothers who has suffered the most over the years. 

Knowing he wasn’t above taking Deidara by force always had him in fear of such a thing happening to Naruto since he wasn’t too different from the first omega he stole: loud, stubborn, blonde, blue eyed, and nowhere near the quiet/obedient archetype most alphas (and betas as well for that matter) are said to desire. 

(Yes, he knows very damn well how messed up it is to be so heavily interested in the same type of omega as his brother is. It won’t be enough to make him ever not want Naruto: he knows he has wanted him way longer than Itachi ever wanted Deidara. It only makes sense for him to believe his brother may have ripped off on him this time around.) 

No matter. He won’t allow him to steal Naruto from him. He won’t fail him like he did with Deidara. Itachi will never steal anyone again as long as he’s alive, that much he can vow to himself for Naruto’s sake!

Naruto, for his part, was done with the traveling when they came to some town with far too many vices for the pervy sage to get into. He would have been fine going to another town instead, yet he was stuck here, in this hotel room, while the old pervert was out on a date. 

He’s currently in the room they got for the night, wishing Sasuke was here to keep him company because he’s just so bored now and no matter what he tries, his mind keeps going back to their date today. He really had a great time with Sasuke, which he wasn’t really expecting—okay, he was expecting to have a good time, but he didn’t think it’d be as wonderful as it was. Dating the Uchiha felt easy, comfortable, and right somehow, like he had found a puzzle to something he didn’t know was missing within himself.

Things may not have started smoothly—what, with the Itachi and Deidara talk—but it overall ended up being a really nice time filled with Sasuke taking him to some of his favorite places he liked to go to alone and a kiss turned that into something more…something he wouldn’t mind exploring more of when they’re both old enough to have ruts and heats they could enjoy with the other.

He blushes thinking about it. Though the blush dies the moment he hears a knock on his door.

Thinking it was the pervy sage (seriously, who else could it have been), he answered it without a second thought, “About time you got back—”

He paused at the sight of him, the one he remembers pursuing Deidara so hard that it has Sasuke convinced he kidnapped him, “I…Itachi?”

“Naruto, it’s been a while hasn’t it? It’s a shame we never got to speak back when I was in the village and Sasuke was longing after you.” his presence alone made Naruto freeze with the effect becoming worse as he realizes he is staring in the same eyes of the man Sasuke had plenty of reason to believe had kidnapped Deidara, “Come, let’s have a talk now and get better acquainted before something bad happens to someone innocent.”

…He’s here to take him…is this what Deidara felt when in his presence? When he finally realized his interaction with Itachi was not a simple daily annoyance anymore?

“Y-You…you’re gonna take me away, aren’t you? Just like you did with Deidara…” was all he could muster as it became all too real.

He hadn’t really felt a fear like this before. Even in his past instances where he’d been up against someone powerful, he never felt something that left him chilled to his bone because he can admit that it’s scary to think an alpha like him would go out of his way to follow him like this—him specifically, an omega who resembles Deidara in certain enough ways that it makes this seem as though the young man is trying to build himself a harem of loud, blonde, blue eyed stubborn omegas.

“Who’s to say I want to do anything to you at all? All I want is a simple chat with you.”

His grip on the door is tightening as he begins to slowly force it fully open, leaving Naruto in a state he hadn’t ever been in before: instinctual control.

He’s heard of this numerous times from Iruka, but he never took it seriously nor did he ever really listen to him on it—something he’s cursing himself for now. All he knows is, whenever an older, powerful shinobi like Itachi flares up a pheromone usually used to seduce an fully grown omega in their heat, it can cause an omega who’s not yet had their first heat (like himself) go into a state where his base omega instincts take control, leaving him without any option to better protect himself.

Fighting against the complete loss of control he’s slowly coming to experience, he fights back with a shaken, “No, I-I know better than to trust you—I know better than to trust anyone who could kidnap an omega from their own home after massacring their clan… I don’t believe you…I won’t—”

“Kidnap Deidara?” Itachi pauses with someone behind him chuckling, remarking then, “Another one from Konoha who thinks this, huh? I’m starting to think there was something so severely wrong you that no one can believe you’d get any omega to agree to be your mate—let alone someone said to be the most beautiful omega of the village like Deidara.”

There’s a glare thrown at this person’s direction for a very brief moment before the young man glances back to Naruto, “I don’t know where you received such nonsensical ideas from, but no, I did not kidnap Deidara. Deidara and I are mated now in a consensual mating.”

“T-Then…why…why me? Why come to me? Are you trying to build a harem of loud, stubborn, blue eyed blondes like Deidara because he secretly hates you and you know it?”

The one who chuckled before let out a laugh to this and he could tell by the intense scent in the air that he made him mad, “No, I have no such plan in mind. Deidara and I are happily mated in a consensual mating with no secret hatred of myself anywhere within him. To add onto this, why would I want a harem of lesser Deidaras when I already have the original as mine?”

Naruto was frozen regardless of this, his instincts starting to take control like some sort of defense mechanism ingrained into him by his omega nature. The alpha leaned forward, his hand reaching for him, “Now, leave the room and come with me to have a little chat before I am forced to use my alpha voice on you.”

…He means business then. Oh god, he really must want a harem despite what he said!

Alpha voice is usually only used by alphas who want to force an omega into submission by triggering an instinctual submission out of them that, much like he is experiencing now, is a defense mechanism to prevent them from being killed.

Just when he felt himself about to fully lose himself to the part of his omega nature he never believed he’d ever have to contend with, he heard a deep growl, one that saved him in that moment, “Naruto, get away from him now!”

Sasuke. His teme, his first date—the one who wants to mate him one day, “S-Sasuke?”

“Don’t worry, I’m here now, and I promise you, I won’t let you down.” he reassures him from his spot down the hallway, Chidori ready to use on the one who had stolen Deidara after massacring their clan, “You couldn’t be happy with just Deidara, could you? You had to come here and steal Naruto too after everything—like massacring our clan wasn’t enough, you just had to come back and take Naruto like he’s some possession…”

He gets in position, leaning ever so slightly forward, “I didn’t get to save Deidara after you said you’d take him away whether he wanted to go with you or not—but I will not fail Naruto!”

His partner pauses and asks, “Did you really say that to him? …I’m starting to think your mating relationship isn’t all you claim it to be.”

Itachi doesn’t respond. No, he simply maneuvers his way out of Sasuke’s attack, breaking his wrist in the process, and pins him against the wall at the end of the hallway they are in, leaving Naruto to gasp in the background with a horrified, “Sasuke!” at the action.

His eyes are hard on Sasuke, making his outrage and irritation clearer when he does speak to him, “I have no perverted intentions with your Naruto; why would I? I do have the most beautiful omega in the village as my mate now. All are rust compared to such a diamond and I’m not one to settle. If you are going to hate me, at least have it be for a reason based in reality as opposed to whatever fantasy it is you have worked in your mind.”

Sasuke was about to retort to this when Itachi went further yet, “Though perhaps you need the fantasy—because if you ask me, Sasuke, your hatred of me is not strong enough and if there is anyone who stands a chance of killing me, it’d be Ino Yamanaka long before you; her hatred of me is the strongest I have ever felt from anyone. At the rate you’re going, you will never be able to defeat me.”

Naruto was about to rush in despite his body feeling like lead and the final pieces of control he had over his body fading, “L-Leave him a-alone!”

His partner approached him, speaking to him in his alpha voice, “Shut up, omega.”

Immediately, Naruto lost all control over himself, his mind going blank and vision going black as he heard the faint voice of the pervy sage in the distance.

When it’s all over, Naruto is awake with the pervy sage by his side in their room, “What’s going on?” he sat up instantly when remembering, “Sasuke! What happened to Sasuke, is he alright? What about his brother and that other guy—are they still around?”

“Easy, Naruto! You’ve gotta calm down now, everything’s okay.” Jiraiya cautions him with a wary eye on his person, “Now, the fight ended right when I showed up and tried to stop Itachi along with his partner. I almost had them caught, but the bastards got away from me… Anyway, Guy showed up to take down Itachi after following Sasuke here, but he was too late to the fight. Sasuke’s heading back to Konoha for now where he’ll be safe.”

Naruto didn’t feel any better after learning this and it seemed Jiraiya could tell, “I know going through a fully grown alpha using alpha voice on you when you haven’t had a heat yet had to be the scariest thing ever—”

“I don’t really care about.” he admits from his spot on the bed, “I only care about helping Sasuke heal from whatever it is his evil brother did to him, but with the way the village is now, I don’t know if anyone will be able to.”

The older man crossed his arms against his chest, huffing as he realized, “You really didn’t listen to me on our way here then…lemme guess, too busy thinking about this Sasuke, huh? Omega kids and their alphas…” when Naruto looks at him strangely, he stops with the rant and gets to the point, “I was asked to be the hokage after the old man passed and I didn’t really wanna do it, so I turned down the offer. Now we’re out here not only to train you to become stronger with a new move that could surpass the Chidori, but get to Tsunade to—”

“I’m not in that now, not when Sasuke’s hurt!” Naruto snaps, “Tell me—do you think this Tsunade will be able to save Sasuke or not?”

He’s amazed for a good reason, “…You really care about this alpha, don’t you?”

“You’re damn right I do! Now tell me if she can save him or not!”

The older man nods with a confident smile on his face, “I know she definitely can! Trust me when I say it kid, she’s the best of the best.”

Naruto truly hopes she is…his Sasuke got hurt because of him and his own dumbassery for not listening to Iruka when he should’ve. If he cannot help him to recover from what was done, then he’s just as bad as Itachi for causing him such grief in the first place.

In an attempt to snap Naruto out of whatever funk he is in, Jiraiya is quick to give him some handy info, “Ya know, if she becomes the next hokage, there’s a damn good chance a lot of the more backwards laws surrounding omega rights will be changed to be closer to something Deidara Yamanaka would approve of.”

“…You know about Deidara?”

“Impossible for me to not know of him, actually. The guy’s got an interesting record, that’s for sure.”

He thinks then of Lee—his friend with the horribly conservative clan who abuses the currently laws to keep him under their oppressive thumb with no hope of escape.

When he thinks of him and his clan, he wants to kick himself for not thinking of him far sooner than he did. However, he doesn’t allow himself to wallow in self-pity; instead, he chooses to answer with a, “You sure about that? I don’t even know what gender this person is. How do I know she’ll care about omega rights?”

“She’s a beta and trust me when I say it, she’s particularly pro omega rights—far more so than the average beta is. If there’s someone you want to be hokage to fix the problems with the laws now, it’s her.”

If she really can fix the problems now, then there’s no need to waste their time any longer: not when Sasuke can get cured and Lee can finally have the freedom he deserves, “Let’s go get her then! Ow!” he yelps at the end, his body burning when he sat up too quickly.

“Lay down, kid! Your body’s still recovering from the stress you put it under by trying to resist the natural instincts you have in the way you did.” he watches him closely for a minute, deciding afterwards, “We’ll leave in an hour or so to go find her. Just know that it won’t be easy and you will be expected to train at the same time, okay?”

“Right!” Naruto said with a certain fire burning within himself at the prospect of getting a hokage who can not only save Sasuke, but Lee as well.

Ino had learned everything Inoichi had in the meeting today about Deidara and his only plea for his daughter was a sorrowfully spoken, “Ino, I know you and Deidara were close, but it’s not worth getting yourself killed trying to find him. Please, wait until you’re at least a Chunin to try to bring your brother back. You’re not strong enough to save him now from Itachi; you need more time to train if you want to save him. For now, at least, give yourself the time to grow and learn in order to save him…and should anything relating to him come up again, get myself or any other Chunin or Jounin involved right away. Don’t be stupid like you were today; be smart and get a skilled ninja involved with this to lead a proper investigation to bring him home.” 

She knows she told him she would do that from now on, but when she finds a sculpture of a moonflower—a sculpture which, upon further inspection, had been made by the same sort of clay Deidara had always used in the past—on her window sill, she throws all promise and caution to the wind, believing this may be the only way she can receive enough evidence to prove her hunch correct: that Deidara had left by force.

Cracking it open without any care for the actual sculpture (Deidara would be so proud of her for doing this, wouldn’t he?), she finds a letter from her long lost brother.

Ino, how have you been?

I hope you’ve been good over the years in that hellish village. I don’t know why you’re still there or why you’d ever want to defend it…but I won’t judge you for it. You have your reasons, as does everyone else who fights for a place that bad to omegas despite being one themselves. I don’t have much time to pull this off, so please be precise about it and come alone at the exact time and place not a minute too late: come by the border of the village at midnight next Saturday. I have something important to tell you about the night I left and this is the best chance I’ve got to do that without any distractions. Don’t tell anyone about this, especially not mom. I don’t want anyone to be endangered from seeing me again. I hope you’ll come, but if you don’t want to, then I can understand. Hope to see you then—Deidara

Holding the letter firm in her hands, she rereads it six times over before hiding it and the moonflower remnants in a spot her family will never find them as a feeling of overwhelming happiness takes over her at the chance to meet her brother again.

This could be the best shot she has to bring him back without endangering herself or him. She has to take it now or else she'll hate herself forever for not striking when the opportunity was given to her. 

Chapter Text

Sasuke did wake up after Itachi’s attack on him, though he had thought he’d be back at his home, not at a hospital with a teary eyed Naruto pouncing on him the moment he woke up, “You’re alive!”

“…Did you think I was dead?”

Wrong thing to ask because Naruto is hugging him tighter now, “Well yeah I did, idiot! You just…I mean, you passed out for no reason right in front of me! Okay maybe not for no reason, but…dammit, I was worried enough to get that old lady here to cure you, don’t take that for granted now.”

Sasuke didn’t say a thing as he allowed his future mate to hug him as tightly as he possibly could. Though when Naruto did end the hug, the sensation of being special faded quickly when he remembered something important, “You were this worried over me—didn’t you think I’d be the same over you when you just left without saying a word to me?”

“What?”

“Naruto, you know what I’m talking about.” he begins with a pointed look at him, his anger and frustration seeping out as he spoke, “You left with that old man without ever saying a word to me before you left! What if I hadn’t arrived in time to save you from my brother? You could’ve been mated to him if he had used his alpha voice on you! You could’ve wound up like Deidara had I not shown up in time—did you know how I found out about my brother trying to find you?”

He shook his head, to which Sasuke tells him, “I had to find out from overhearing Iruka sensei and Kakashi sensei speak about it when I came back to give you something I forgot to give when we were out on our date. Don’t you know how worried I was? How willing I was to kill him in that moment to make up for not doing enough to stop him from ruining another person’s life even if it meant I would die myself?”

“You were…willing to die to keep me safe from him?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? I’d rather die than have you mated to him by force like Deidara was.” he relaxes somewhat when confessing, “Seeing you freeze up at the presence of him had me so mad and terrified for you because what if I hadn’t found out about it? What if I had never arrived or arrived too late? You would’ve been gone and he would have taken one more person away from me that I deeply care about.”

Naruto instantly experiences guilt about the way he left, apologizing on the spot because he was being so dumb about it, “I’m sorry, Sasuke. I got too excited over the training and I forgot to tell you…but I figured when we left the village that Iruka sensei or Kakashi sensei would’ve said something to you about it! At least, that’s what the pervy sage said to me anyway when my forgetting to tell you about it hit me.”

It’s just like Naruto to get that excited over training—and seeing that the omega was genuinely sorry, he figured he could let it go on one condition only: “…I should’ve seen that coming. I figured you didn’t know why you really were taken out of the village by that man when I saw how frozen you were by Itachi… Okay, I’ll let this slide for now if you promise me from now on that you will never leave without telling me first again.”

“I’ll promise that if you promise to never leave with that Orochimaru guy."

Sasuke raises a brow to this and Naruto sighs, “I know about it…I heard the guy talking about you when I went to get granny Tsunade to come back here, be the new Hokage, and save you from whatever it was he did to you. I don’t wanna lose you to that creep ever, so promise me you won’t ever leave me for him.”

“Naruto, that is the dumbest thing you could ask of me.”

Right when Naruto was about to rip into him for saying a such thing, Sasuke tells him, “I would never leave you for that guy. I would never leave you at all—not when I know leaving you means you could be swept off your feet by someone new.”

His future mate blinks a bit to this, leaving Sasuke to growl, “Like hell will I ever allow Itachi to steal you away like he did with Deidara…and yeah, I won’t allow that bastard Kiba to have a shot with you either.”

“What?” Naruto blinks with wide eyes, “Wait—did you overhear that? I don’t think he actually meant it.”

Before Sasuke woke up, Naruto had been waiting nervously in his room for him to open his eyes and join the land of the living. However, it was taking a while and before that could happen, he was met with Kiba entering the room with a calm, “How’s he doing?”

“What’re you even doing here? I didn’t think you were close with Sasuke!”

“Eh, I’m not but I saw you coming here, looking all worried, and decided to see what’s up.”

Naruto had been grateful for this…at first, that is, “That’s cool… thanks for coming then.”

He then shot a glance at the blonde omega a bit too suggestive in nature, giving him a proposition he figured he couldn’t refuse, “You know…if Sasuke doesn’t wake up, or if he does join the traitor so hell bent on getting him to his side—my clan has the best homemade ramen recipe in the entire village and I can promise you a good time too if you want it.”

“Why would you want to do any of that with me?”

“I dunno…I guess I like strong omegas who can kick my ass and you were pretty tough in battle—”

“He will.” Naruto insisted, “I know he will…Sasuke isn’t the type to make a commitment without following through on it. I know he won’t give up on me or leave me, no matter how stupid I am. I don’t know where you got this idea from, but I will not give up on Sasuke, not as long as he’s here and with me!”

Kiba didn’t say much outside of, “Well…if he ever leaves…I’ll be right here with the best homemade ramen in the village and the promise of a good time.”

“He meant it, Naruto. I could tell he did—and like hell am I leaving you here to be taken by someone else.”

Knowing he doesn’t have to worry about Sasuke ever leaving him, Naruto is able to give him what he wanted, “Great! Now, I can make you that promise then.” he releases him from his hug and gives him a big smile, “I promise I won’t ever leave again or do anything big without telling you first!”

“Good. I don’t ever want to go through what I did again if I don’t have to.”

Things are silent between them before he asks him, “What day is it, anyway?”

“Friday, why?” Naruto explains as a look of shock graces his features, “You were out for almost a whole week…but thanks to granny, you’re awake now so that’s good, right?”

“Yeah, I guess…” he thinks it over for a moment, wondering, “What has gone on since then?”

“I don’t know really, I haven’t been around much lately.” he casually admits, his eyes now on the ceiling, “Now that I think of it, I should check on Lee and Ino to be sure nothing too crazy has happened to them while I was gone. You wouldn’t mind if I do that today, right?”

“No, not at all. You can go now if you want, just be sure to come by again when you’re done so I can get filled in on what’s been going on lately too.” Sasuke is rather serious when saying this, “I want to know if my brother has tried to do anything to the village while I was out. Try to find that out if you can, okay?”

“I’ll be sure to.” Naruto said, getting off the bed as he did so, and headed towards the door, “See you later, Sasuke! I’ll be sure to bring you some good food to eat when I come back.”

“Better not be—”

“The finest ramen around should do then! Goodbye!” Naruto cheered when exiting the hospital room, while Sasuke tries to be mad or annoyed only to fail in the end when a smile comes on his face instead.

When Naruto found Lee, he was rather excited to see him for a good reason, “Hey, Lee! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Oh, hi Naruto! How have you been?” he greets him kindly with a gentle wave in his direction, “How’s Sasuke doing, by the way? I heard about him being injured from Guy sensei and I was worried for you two.”

“He’s awake and he’s doing fine now. How about you? How have you been doing lately?”

Lee’s smile fades when telling him what has happened, “I don’t know, really… My clan was killed in the attack on the village, but my mother survived. My last interaction with her was at the hospital—it didn’t really go well, but Guy sensei made things better for me, a lot better actually.”

He lets his friend explain more, hoping things have started to improve more for him, “You see, I’ve been living with him this entire time while my mother lives elsewhere and it’s been great, actually. He’s so nice and supportive of me and I never have to be afraid of anything when I’m with him! It’s so great and yet I always feel like a bad person because I should be missing my clan more, I should be more upset, but I’m not and I don’t know why.”

“Maybe it’s because they were awful to you and you don’t owe them your tears?”

Lee is taken aback by the words his friend just said and yet, Naruto continues on, “Look Lee, I know you think you probably have to feel bad about their loss, but you don’t have to feel upset about losing people who wouldn’t care if they lost you forever. I don’t know if this is some proper or improper thing, but maybe you should try setting that aside to focus on what kind of person you want to be and what would make you happy.”

He gives a small upward tilt of his lips (hardly enough to call a smile, but with the way he’s acting to what was said, he’s happy with it), “I suppose you’re right there…Guy sensei said the new hokage is willing to listen to him sometime in the upcoming week or so to talk about the rules and laws concerning omega rights and adoption. He said if things go well, I could be adopted by him and never have to see my mother again…but I know better than to get my hopes up. I know I will probably go back to her long before I’ll be taken away, but it doesn’t mean I can’t make the most of the time I have with my sensei.”

Here Naruto had been wanting to tell him about the granny too! Oh well, nothing he can do about it now, “Yeah, when I got her here, I actually told her about your situation and she promised me she would do something for you and other omegas in your situation. I hope it happens, but like Iruka sensei says, things won’t really change until someone who really gives a damn about omega rights gets in power.”

Lee nods to this, not having much to say about it, but he does change the subject rather quickly, “Oh, that reminds me! Have you spoken to Ino lately?”

“No, why?”

“Because Guy sensei said she did something very irresponsible.” he looks around before continuing on, finding the market place to be a bit too crowded for them to talk about it so openly, “…We should talk somewhere more private about it. He said it was for the best if few people knew of it.”

“Alright.” Naruto didn’t know what happened or what was going on, but he didn’t like where this was going.

Whatever happened with Ino, he’s not positive it was anything good if the reaction from Lee was anything to go by.

Sasuke had expected Kakashi sensei to come and visit him. What he didn’t see coming was Sakura visiting him before their sensei could, “Sakura? What are you doing here?”

“Came in to check on you and ask you for advice on something.”

Sasuke looked at her oddly because she never ever did such a thing before in the entire time they’ve known each other, “What’s going on?”

She lets out an irritated sigh, “You had Naruto leaving without telling you, right?”

He nods and she can barely suppress her growl, “Well, guess what Ino did after I thought we had reached an agreement that we would work together to get Deidara back?”

Now Sasuke’s interested in what is going on, “She did something stupid without telling you, did she?”

“Yeah, she did!” Sakura was seething, “Itachi came to our village a week ago and what did she do? She ran off and fought him unarmed without telling me anything of it, while dragging Hinata along with her!”

Sasuke’s eyes were glued onto her, allowing his fellow alpha to rant because he knew she’d be more open and honest this way, “Ugh, she was being so dumb about it too—she smelled his scent in the air, then she ran after him instead of seeing Hinata at her place, and to top it all off, she took over his body with her jutsu only to be kicked out of it by him! She could’ve gotten killed, she could’ve been kidnapped—but no, she set that all aside to put her horrible brother first.”

He now gets it…why Itachi had said Ino’s hatred of him was far stronger than his own. Something had to have been said about Deidara to make her that angry to do something so irrational, “Did he hurt her? What of Deidara, was he ever brought up?”

“No, he said he promised Deidara he would never hurt her or use his Sharingan on her. He also said Deidara and him are mated consensually—which to be fair, I can believe—”

“That has to be a lie…Deidara hated him too much to ever willingly, let alone mate him.” Sasuke clarifies, “I know my brother better than you do. I know he’s got to be lying about this to make Deidara look bad in front of everyone in the village to make them look away from his actions.”

Sakura scoffed in response, “And you don’t know Deidara as well as I do either, so you have no reason to doubt me when I say I can believe it happened consensually like Itachi said it did. Deidara isn’t one to be forced or manipulated into anything that easily—for all we know, he could’ve been working with Itachi this entire time—”

“My brother wouldn’t have ever allowed that. He was too prideful to drag Deidara into a such a scheme.”

Things were tense between them for a brief moment before she rolled her eyes, “Whatever, I don’t care about being right. What I care about is getting some advice from you because she’s not talking to me and you’re the only one I can turn to for this.”

This allows Sasuke to drop his own competitiveness in order to figure out what could be going on and whether it has anything to do with Itachi or not, “Ino didn’t tell me a thing about it until a good few hours after it happened and I got mad, naturally, because I thought we were on good enough terms to be partners on this. She took it as me trying to control her or being jealous of Hinata and okay, I am a bit because she turned to her first—but still…I don’t like the fact she didn’t tell me right away.”

“Were you anywhere near the area Itachi was first spotted in by her?”

“No.”

“Was Hinata the only one close by?”

“Yeah…what’s your point?”

Sasuke doesn’t sugarcoat it for her because she needs to hear it, “Naruto left the village without telling me anything… You know how Ino is regarding Deidara and bringing him home—everyone knows how she is about that. Her going after my brother upon first sight despite being unarmed shouldn’t shock anyone; what should shock people is that she allowed Hinata to come along in the first place.”

“What’re you trying to get at?” Sakura asks curiously, to which Sasuke answers her, “You shouldn’t be jealous of Hinata; you should be grateful to her for coming along with Ino. She may be the only reason why she’s still alive or not kidnapped now… Also, in my eyes, you have no right to be as mad as I was when Naruto left with saying a word to me. Ino told you what happened when she could, Ino didn’t leave without telling you, and Ino probably told you more that she didn’t tell others.”

She was about to argue with him on it when he pointed out, “How was she supposed to find you when you were nowhere near the area she found my brother in? How was she supposed to set aside her years worth of hatred and rage in a calm, rational manner to find you without risking losing him in the crowd? She was being stupid, but she hates him as much as I do, Sakura…possibly more than I do if my brother was right in what he said to me about it…you couldn’t have really expected her to act rationally, not when she lost someone important to her because of him.”

“I guess…” she runs a hand through her hair, owning up to it then, “I wish she wouldn’t put him first all the time. The Deidara I knew wasn’t worth it—he’s definitely not worth it if he could mate someone like Itachi consensually…all I wish is for her to put herself first for once instead of him. Isn’t that really too much to ask for?”

Sasuke cannot blame her for thinking this. However, he doesn’t agree on the idea of Deidara and Itachi being consensually mated. He knows his brother had to have done something to trick or make him agree to it—there’s no way the Deidara he knew would have ever been okay with mating Itachi Uchiha, “I don’t think so, but at the same time, I know Deidara was her only friend for the longest time and despite what you say, his being a good brother to her was part of what drew my brother to him. I cannot really blame her for wanting to bring back someone that special to her, especially after hearing years’ worth of slander and criticism about him from people who barely knew him.”

She thinks about it from this perspective, ultimately groaning, “Okay…I guess you’re right about that. I may not have liked the guy, but he was important to her and I should do more to remember that than I do.” she was about to leave the room with a gentle, “Thanks for advice, Sasuke—I’ll go try to make things better with Ino.”

“Wait, Sakura, before you go…can you tell me right away if Ino tells you anything about my brother possibly coming back?”

“Yeah, I’ll be sure to do that, but I doubt that will happen.” Sakura admits honestly, “See you around, Sasuke.”

He lets her leave after this, hoping she will keep him up to date regarding anything to do with his brother, but knowing that if she doesn’t, it’s alright because Naruto definitely will.

Chapter Text

“How did the chat with Sasuke go?” 

Leave it to her sensei to be right there when she exits the room, “Like you said it would.” 

If she’s a bit defeated in expression and tone, it’s only because she is! 

She only came here to see Sasuke after Kakashi had overheard her complaining about what happened with Ino to her innocent mother who had made the mistake of asking why she was in a bad mood when they were in a place too public for such a talk to be had in a civil manner. Kakashi’s advice was to talk to Sasuke about it because he went through something similar with Naruto recently and well…that didn’t work out the way she wanted it to, that’s for certain! 

“I told you that being interested in an omega ninja would never be easy.” he is smooth enough when reminding her of what was said in the past, “Especially one as independent and strong willed as Ino—you really ought to expect that she will do things on impulse from time to time without telling you anything of it beforehand. Look at who her brother is; it’s safe to say that she’s not going to be much different from him on that end.” 

“It couldn’t have killed her to at least try to find me before doing anything that stupid!” 

“It couldn’t have, you’re right, but she wasn’t thinking about herself in that moment. She was only thinking of her brother and how to bring him back.”

Which is annoying because in her eyes, Deidara wasn’t ever worth such consideration to begin with. 

When she says nothing to this, all Kakashi can do is remind her, “She won’t be able to tell you all the time whenever she is about to do something dangerous or stupid. All you can do is trust her enough not to do it or if she does, then have enough in her strength and intelligence to come out of it okay.” 

She doesn’t say much to this either leading him to try another tactic all together, “After I got to know Iruka better, I would always worry whenever he did take on a mission or a job that involved doing anything out of the village. I tried to get myself involved, tried to control the outcome to the best of my ability, and it never worked because Iruka was usually able to handle things just fine on his own or I wasn’t able to be around him because that’s the life of a ninja: you cannot choose when and how you will get to be by someone you like and want to keep safe. You have to learn to accept that if you do want to make this girl your mate. If you don’t then that won’t ever happen.” 

“How did you get over it then?” 

“I got over it by having more confidence in Iruka and his capabilities as a ninja." 

She thinks he could be onto something, though she is uncertain, “I know what Ino did was stupid and reckless, but at least she told you what happened instead of hiding it or trying to downplay the situation. If I were you, I’d be happy she’s safe and sound instead of trapped in some sort of Sharingan trick like Sasuke has been.” 

“…I guess you’re right. I have to go, sensei. Keep an eye on Sasuke for Naruto, okay? I don’t want to deal with any drama involving them.” 

He thinks he’s gotten through to her, but he can never be too certain, “I will. Have a nice day, Sakura.” 

She will…after she takes some more time to cool off and think over everything she’s been told. 

When Naruto and Lee are alone on a wooded trail, he tells him it bluntly, “The day you left the village…the morning hours before you left, I should say, Ino was on her way to see Hinata and when she got close, she smelled Itachi’s scent in the air. She went after him alone, unarmed, with only Hinata by her side.” 

“What! Is she alive even? Stupid old sage, why didn’t he tell me—”

“She’s alive, there’s no need to worry about that.” Lee is quick to reassure him with raised hands, “She just did something very stupid, that’s all.” 

“What did she do?” 

“…She used her jutsu to take over his body and he forced her out of it. Had it not been for Guy sensei coming over to them in time, Itachi could have done something horrible to her and Hinata.” 

Now Naruto is a bit confused, “Did he do something to actually hurt her or something? Because you’re acting like she’s severely injured and it doesn’t sound like she was.” 

He shakes his head, his eyes on the ground with his brows furrowed, “She wasn’t—what she did with trying to fight him alone, unarmed, was incredibly stupid and reckless. She keeps trying to tell me that Itachi forced her brother to leave the village, but I don’t know if I believe that.” 

The orange clad omega is going to have to disagree with him on this, “If Sasuke believes his brother took him by force, then I have to agree with him on it. There’s no way anyone who hated Itachi that much would leave with him willingly.” 

He can tell Lee is not sold on this idea and his eyes are full of the doubt his words convey, “I don’t believe that though—Itachi is a ruthless criminal who got his own brother hospitalized and tried to kidnap you. If he did kidnap Deidara and force him to mate him, then why bother to keep any promise to not harm or use his Sharingan on Ino? I’m sure he’s had to have made those same promises to his family and yet he still killed them anyway, he still hurt Sasuke. Why keep a promise to someone he supposedly kidnapped when he wouldn’t do the same with his own brother?” 

Okay that is a good point…that does nothing to stop the shock coursing through him when he focuses on a small detail he had learned when he had first been approached by the elder Uchiha, “So it’s true then? Him and Deidara are mated like he says they are? Did he tell her it was consensual?” 

“He didn’t just say that,” Lee looks around before whispering in his ear, “He showed her a mark from him on his neck that Ino recognized as his right away.” 

“He had a mark from Deidara and he showed it to her?” 

His friend nods and it leaves Naruto in a whirlwind of confusion, “He did. Ino told me she saw it and she knows it’s a mark from her brother, but she still thinks he was forced into it somehow.” 

“You don’t think that way, do you?” 

Lee shook his head, “I have no real reason to. All of it is too strange to me…like, he can break his word to so many people, but to Deidara, the person she’s convinced he kidnapped and forced into a mating, he can? I’m sorry, but people who do that are not likely to respect their victim’s wishes. That’s why I can’t believe he was forced into it.” 

Naruto has to argue with him here because, “You have to be wrong—there’s no way there was an actual on his neck from Itachi that wasn’t brought about by Sharingan or manipulation!” 

“How do we know it would’ve been one of those two things? Deidara is a criminal and he’s had plenty of chances to be away from Itachi—” 

“It sounds like you’re trying to blame Deidara for what he did.” 

Lee is left stammering after this because he cannot believe what he’s hearing now, “Me…trying to blame him for this? Pointing out that he’s a criminal who’s had many chances to run away and get help isn’t blaming him.” 

Naruto doesn’t back down from his position, “It is, though! How do you know he could’ve ran away? How do you know Deidara isn’t being manipulated or forced into anything? Just admit it—you feel comfortable criticizing and blaming him for everything because that’s what your clan has done ever since he left!” 

He knows he has a lot of internalized sexism to deal with. Anyone growing up in his home would, but with Guy sensei’s help, he’s deal with a lot of it and let it go. He knows he has a lot more to go through—he’d like to think he has done enough to set it aside that internalized sexism and come to a clear, rational conclusion on Deidara. 

Maybe he hasn’t, though it doesn’t change his plans regardless, “You’re right, maybe I am. I have a lot of sexist views to unpack and I know that despite my best efforts, it won’t go away overnight…but Deidara’s case doesn’t add up to me. Maybe if I heard things from his point of view, I could come to a better conclusion…until then, I can’t say anything I’ve seen or heard about him has done much to make me not believe he’s complicit in this somehow.” 

Naruto can admit to being impressed with this…though he does wonder how they could make such a thing happen, “Do you wanna try to find him or something? Because Ino would wanna kill you if you tried to do that without telling her.” 

“Actually…” he sighs and runs a hand through his shiny black hair, “Naruto, I think Ino could be planning something without telling anyone.” 

“What do you mean?” Naruto is now concerned because he has a feeling this could go badly, “What proof do you have of it?” 

“She’s been a lot more introverted lately. I hardly ever see her and Hinata has said that she’s never at the flower shop anymore. Then Neji told me that he’s seen her going to areas further away from the village, trying to be sneaky about it, and he thinks she could be trying to carve out a path to run away from the village in general to try to find Deidara.” 

Naruto’s eyes widen to this, “Have you asked her about that?” 

He shook his head, admitting in a saddened tone, “I haven’t spoken to her ever since she told me about the incident with Itachi. I think she didn’t like it when I couldn’t say I thought her brother was completely innocent.” 

Ah…well…that would do it for her. Anyone in the village would know this, but he supposes maybe Lee thought she wouldn’t.

Oh well, nothing they can do about it now!

He would approach her himself, but he knows he will mess things up. So he won't push their luck: all they can do is try to talk to Sasuke about it and see whether he'd be able to come up with a good idea for them regarding her, "Gee...I didn't know things got so bad. I know I shouldn't say anything to her because she will get mad at me when I do say something that will make things worse. Maybe Sasuke could help us with this: he would know how to better handle this situation than anyone else I know...and I did tell him I wouldn't do stuff like this without telling him first ever again so let's do something that allows me to keep my promise instead of breaking it." 

“Yeah, I think Sasuke would be the one to go to…I’d like to go to Guy sensei about this, but I don’t want Ino to hate me either. I’d rather not lose one of my only omega friends, you know?” 

“I hear ya on that one!” Naruto does feel as though he’s doing something right with this, though he does feel a bit more comfortable with another suggestion, “I think we should tell Sakura too. She does want to date her and she’d kill me if I didn’t say a word about this to her.” 

“Are you sure she won’t do something that would make Ino mad?” 

“I can’t guarantee anything…all I can guarantee is that she’d have my head if she knew we did this without telling her and trust me, I do not want to be on the receiving end of her wrath!” 

He can agree to this…though he is wondering, “Should I involve Neji in this? She is going through than an area he is familiar with and I think he’d be of great help to us.” 

Naruto rejects this notion for a simple reason: “Why Neji? You know I don’t like the guy after what he did to you. How can you want to work with him?” 

Lee insists on something he never thought he would ever see him do, “Neji is a changed person, though! He’s apologized to me and he treats me the same way he does with Tenten, which is all I ever wanted from him. I know you may not agree with it, but I think he’d be of great help to us in devising a strategy to help us stop Ino from doing stupid!” 

The blonde omega is stubborn on his rejection, not wanting to have a thing to do with him if he can avoid it, “Nope. Nu-uh. No way. I’d rather work with Hinata, Kiba, and Shikamaru before him.” 

“Oh, Hinata and Shikamaru would be wonderful for this!” 

He is allowed to feel especially intelligent over this, right? Well, he thinks he should be, “You really think so?” 

His friend nods, beaming when thinking about it, “Neji would be a bit too divisive to bring along…he thinks Deidara left willingly and when Ino told me about it, he happened to be in the same tea house we were at when he made it known to her. They got into a big fight; it wasn’t pretty—but Hinata likes Deidara and Shikamaru would be great at devising a plan for stopping her from doing something stupid! This works perfectly, Naruto!” 

Lee then begins to walk away from him, catching his fellow omega off guard, “Let’s go find Shikamaru and see what he thinks is going on! If Neji, Hinata, and I noticed something off about her lately, then I’m positive he has and I know he will know what’s actually bothering her thanks to their fathers being friends.” 

To Naruto, this makes a lot of sense and though he would love to tell Sasuke right away, he knows it’d be best to see Shikamaru first for the same reason his friend has given, “Alright, let’s go find the lazy bastard and see what all he has to say!” 

It took them a little while, but thanks to Naruto’s having been to Shikamaru’s place in the past, they were to go to his home and ask for the lazy alpha.

Naturally, his father was a bit proud when grinning at the two omegas, “Lemme guess: you guys are here to see my son, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, know where he is?” Naruto speaks up before Lee can, leading the man to point up the stairs, “He’s in his room. You can go in if you want—but I gotta say, I didn’t think he’d have so many omegas interested in him!”

Lee blinks to this, finding it be a bit of a leap, “Wait…you…think we’re here because we’re interested in him…like as in, mating him?”

“No way!” Naruto huffs, “Sasuke is the only one for me! No other alpha or beta will ever take his place!”

The older man looks to Lee, wondering, “You have someone special to you?”

The taller omega thinks it over briefly, ultimately coming back with, “I’d like to think I do, but I don’t believe he’s interested in me back.”

It’s depressing enough to make him step aside and clear his throat, “Sorry for assuming anything then…please, come in. I’m sure he’ll be willing to see you.”

They enter the home and with Naruto’s guidance, go up to his bedroom with Lee being the one to knock on it politely, “Excuse, Shikamaru? I was wanting to talk to you about something pretty important…do you mind if we come in?”

Shikamaru answers the door shortly after this, his hair a bit of a mess since well…it appears as though he had been asleep for a while before he saw them, “What is it? Did something with Gaara come up?”

Lee shakes his head, being crystal clear on the issue at hand, “No, I can promise you that nothing with Gaara has come up!”

Naruto is the one to say it: “It has something to do with Ino and that recent run in she had with Itachi. Can we talk about it in your room?”

“Sure, come in. Don’t be shocked if it’s a bit messy now.”

A bit messy had been an understatement. He had just woken up, so his bed was a mess and there was some laundry on the floor that reeked of his pheromones, making the omegas want to gag upon first smell. However, they managed well enough for Lee to voice his concern, “Have you noticed anything different with Ino lately?”

The laidback teen in front of them ties his hair up in his signature ponytail as he thought about his answer, when he did say it, it did nothing to ease their concern, “Yeah…she’s been more distant out of nowhere lately. I’ve heard from Hinata that Neji’s seen her by this one area that would lead to the border of the village. I’ve been by her place at least once after she confronted Itachi but it didn’t go well.”

“Did she get snappy with you when you acted like you didn’t think Deidara was completely innocent?”

“Acted like? Pfft, I straight up told her he wasn’t completely innocent and she got mad at me enough to fight me on it before kicking me out.” he notices the distraught look in Lee’s eyes and takes some mercy on him, “I shouldn’t have ever done that, but it’s Ino. She thinks Deidara is basically perfect when he’s a human being just like the rest with us with flaws like everyone else. Give it time, I’m sure she’ll come around…but we should probably do something before she tries to leave the village to take Itachi on by herself again.”

Naruto now finds this interesting, “You really think she’s gonna try to run the border to find Itachi and fight him?”

He is confident when giving them his honest opinion on the situation, “Yeah, because why else would be she acting like this? Isolating herself, not working at the flower shop, and going down strange paths she never went on before confronting Itachi…I think she’s going to try to chase him down and kill him because she thinks it will ‘save’ Deidara somehow, which is delusional because there’s no way he’d ever come back if she did that. If of anything, it’d only make him angry and strike at the village for all we know.”

As much as he’d love to debate him on this, he realizes he can’t, not when there’s a chance this could ruin their chances at stopping Ino from doing something completely reckless like running away to fight Itachi. So he keeps his mouth shut on the issue whereas Lee brings up a helpful idea, “Naruto was saying we should tell Sasuke and Sakura about our plan to keep an eye on Ino. Do you think it’d be wise to involve them as well?”

“Sasuke would be a good one to tell because with his Sharingan, we could stop her from doing something really stupid should she actually best us. Sakura would be one of the best to tell, actually: since she spent so much time with the Yamanaka family growing up, she would know how to spot out Ino’s scent from the herbal baggie she keeps with her kunais to hide her scent when it’s needed. That and she could probably answer some questions for me that I would want answered before we do anything else.” he didn’t hesitate to speak up on the manner, but he did have yet another suggestion, “Don’t hate me for this Lee, but I think we should get Neji involved.”

Naruto was about to rip into him when Lee asked, “Why not Hinata instead?”

“Because she did nothing to stop Ino from confronting Itachi in the first place. If we brought her along, there’s a greater chance she’d sabotage our plan to stop Ino and run away with her in the process. Neji is the only neutral Hyuuga we’ve got; we’re best off using him instead.”

He had the perfect argument prepared for this when his friend suddenly spoke up for himself on the idea, “Okay, I see nothing wrong with that.”

Shikamaru raises a brow to this, “You really have no problem with it? Aren’t you still upset after everything he did to you?”

“I’m not anymore. I’m not one to hold grudges and besides, he’s been a lot nicer to me ever since he apologized. I am willing to give him another chance; he’s not a bad guy anymore, I know he’s not.”

Naruto is stunned by this turn of events, but then Shikamaru lets out a sigh of relief, “Great; we should try to find Sakura first then. Since she’s the one who’s known the family very well and has been trying to get in Ino’s good graces as of late, she’d be the most useful one to turn to for information as well as how to deal with Ino in her current mental state. Then we’ll get Neji on our side to help us out in keeping an eye on her, and eventually following her should she actually be dumb enough to try to leave to get Deidara back. We still don’t know if Sasuke will be in good enough condition to come along with us for that, but if he is, then he can—”

“Wait, you wanna spy on Ino?”

Naruto just has to be sure he’s getting this right.

To his own dismay, Shikamaru’s not denying it, “What else are we supposed to do? She’s acting strange after a confrontation with Itachi, the guy she blames for everything that happened with her brother. She was already crazy enough to take him on alone and unarmed; who’s to say she’s not plotting to leave the village to go after him for the sole reason of killing him?”

Naruto doesn’t feel right about spying on his friend. Something about it makes him feel gross inside, “We don’t know she’s planning to do that yet either! Can’t we talk to Sakura before jumping to conclusions? Who else would be better to ask than her?”

“…Okay, we’ll ask her about that when we do find her. Then we’ll plan out a strategy from there.”

He is relieved to know Shikamaru had listened to him. He knows if they had gone in, making these accusations about Ino to Sakura without asking her more questions, it would lead to problems with his teammate and that’s the last thing they need for this mission they are taking upon themselves.

Chapter Text

After taking some time to cool off, Sakura felt as though she was in a better state of mind to properly approach Ino without causing any more drama between them. She figured it would be best to apologize for not having more faith in her abilities as a budding kunoichi and try to get to her to see why what she did bothered her so much in the hopes of salvaging their relationship if she really did ruin it.

Thus she marched herself over to the Yamanaka home and with a quick a knock on their door, waited anxiously for Ino or her parents to answer it, secretly hoping she’d get her parents instead.

What she got was the opposite of that: Ino answered the door with a rather discontented, “What do you want?”

Maybe it’s best to get it out of the way now before she says and does something irrevocably stupid that makes her not want to talk to her ever again, “I’ve had some time to think about what I said when I found out about you trying to fight Itachi and after speaking to Kakashi sensei and Sasuke, I got to see how I was wrong to freak out like I did. I’m sorry about that—I hope we can still be on speaking terms.”

What she never saw coming was Ino’s eyes softening to her apology and the response that came with it, “You must have felt really torn about it if you could speak to Sasuke about this…the you a year ago wouldn’t have ever done that, and the you a year ago wouldn’t have ever apologized either or saw how she was in the wrong.”

“Does this mean—”

She’s met with her dream omega nodding in confirmation, a small smile on her lips when giving her the answer she didn’t see coming, “Yeah, it means I forgive you. To be fair, I did overreact too—I shouldn’t have gotten so upset at you and my dad got me to see why you’d be so upset. I’m still grounded now after what I did, but I’m still allowed to train at least.”

“Oh, he did? What did he say?”

“He said that you only reacted the way you did because you love me and didn’t want me to get hurt.” she was allowed to feel some sort of special confidence that her father had her back, but then she went on to say what else he had told her, “He also said you were probably jealous of Hinata and that’s why you didn’t take the news of her being there too well. Was he right about any of that?”

The last time she had spoken to Ino about this, it was at her place a few hours after the incident with Itachi had happened. The conversation took place in her room and well…it didn’t go over well, needless to say.

She’s not here to think about this, though. She’s here to move forward and make more progress on their relationship that at times feels like it hasn’t really moved much beyond friendship, “…He wasn’t wrong about any of it.”

“Not even the Hinata part?”

“No.”

Ino sighs, her hands on her hips, “You realize she’s in love with my brother so much to the point where she’s the only one I’d ever approve of as a mate for him, right? We don’t like each other like that; why would you be jealous of her?”

It’s embarrassing to admit, but honesty has always been the best policy with someone as blunt as Ino. May as well stick to what she knows works, “It’s hard for me to not be jealous of her, though! I want to be the only one to bring Deidara back with you, no matter how selfish that sounds, because even though I didn’t like the guy I want to do it because it will make you happy and I want to be the only one to do that!”

“You do know that other people and things will make me happy…don’t you?”

“I know, but—ugh, I didn’t word it right.” she tries again, hoping to get it across to her, “Yeah, of course I know other people and things will make you happy, but what I mean is…I want to be the only one who makes you smile so wide that your eyes light up and your scents turns really sweet like it does whenever you are that happy. I want to be the only one who makes you that happy because that’s what a good mate does. I know I’ve messed up a lot in the past, but I’m doing my best now to be the sort of mate that’s good enough for you, who can make you that happy…having Hinata or anyone else involved in your mission to bring him back feels like an obstacle in the way to making it happen.”

Ino doesn’t say much of anything at first, but she does look at her with a glimmer of hope Sakura knows she might crush with whatever it is she has to answer for next, “…As strange as it sounds, I actually find that to be sweet. You’re doing this to prove that you can be a good mate to me and make me happy in a way I haven’t been since Deidara left: it’s sweet when I think about it.”

Maybe she’s off the hook then! Maybe—

“All I want to know is: after everything I’ve told you about my encounter with Itachi, do you think Deidara is innocent or do you think the Uchiha monster was telling the truth?”

Looks like the honesty will screw her over then. Lying about this is an impossibility for her greater than anything else.

“I think he was telling the truth, but that’s mainly because I’ve never been convinced of Deidara’s innocence in the first place. A year ago, I wouldn’t have ever considered the thought of him being innocent…now I can believe there’s a chance he could be innocent somehow in all of this.”

“So, what’re you saying then?”

“That I think even though I believe he’s not innocent, there’s a chance he could be innocent and unlike in the past, I want to hear his side of the story before writing off that chance completely.”

She didn’t take this bad at all. In fact, she looked relieved and her hands were no longer held into tight tense balls on her hips as she moved out of the way enough for her to come in, “That’s all I wanted to hear from you. Do you want to come in?”

“Yeah, why not?”

Shikamaru, Lee, and Naruto had tried to find Sakura by the way anyone would: they asked her parents at her place and went to the Yamanaka household to see if she’s still there or if Ino knows where she is at.

It had been decided that Naruto would be the one to knock since Lee wasn’t too keen on seeing Ino again so soon and Shikamaru acknowledged that he shouldn’t be anywhere her place at the moment. As such, Lee and Shikamaru kept themselves at a great distance away from her home while Naruto was left to knock on her door alone.

“Sakura? You’re here?”

“Yeah, what are you doing here?”

Her tone screamed skepticism and her slowly forming frown was starting to give him more of a warning than what he needed, “Uh, well…I was gonna see Ino, but I wanted to ask you something too.”

“Okay.” her frown is currently absent yet he can tell he’s treading on thin ice here around her, “Has Ino been acting strange to you lately?”

She rejected this notion immediately, her desire to shut the door on him growing stronger the longer they speak, “No. I haven’t really talked to her ever since our disagreement on the day she confronted Itachi, so I can’t say. Today is the first day we’ve talked since then and it’s going great so far. Please leave if you have nothing urgent to tell me.”

“Did you notice anything strange about her when you talked to her today or on the day she fought Itachi?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It’s just…” he doesn’t see the point in lying about it; it’d be best if she knows anyway, “okay, Lee is worried about Ino. He thinks she’s been acting strange lately because she hasn’t been in the flower shop and she hasn’t really been talking to many people lately. He just wants to be sure she’s alright after everything.”

Sakura doesn’t mind answering this for him, “She’s been grounded after what she did in confronting Itachi; that’s why she hasn’t been at the flower shop or out with anyone. Her dad is still allowing her to train, but other than that, this is her final day of being grounded.”

Which is not a lie: Ino had told her as much when she entered her home and she made her some tea after she had indicated she’d like some. In fact, she remembers Ino’s exact words being, “I’m actually happy you came. My parents won’t mind you being here and I know they won’t get mad at me for having you over like this.”

“I guess they really did punish you this time, huh?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t the same as the first day when I went after Deidara with you. That time around, all they did was try to comfort me and keep a close eye on me. Now I’ve actually been grounded, which is pretty weird after everything. Like, I can’t go to work in the flower shop, I can’t see my friends outside of training or running errands…all I can do is speak to my friends if I see them in public or when I’m heading out to train. Other than that, they want me at home to make sure I’m not going to run after Itachi with someone I’ve talked into it.”

“Geesh, how long are you being grounded for?”

“Today’s my last day, actually, so it’s not too bad.”

“Lucky! My parents wouldn’t have gone so easy on me.”

Ino hands her the tea—a white tea with a soft aroma—and shrugs, “I’m used to punishments like this. My parents are not big on it. They think going hard on discipline creates an environment of distrust, so they’d rather go easy on Deidara and I than hard.”

“Yeah, they always have been that way.” she took a few sips of the tea then, doing all that she could to get that image of Deidara out of her head.

“Oh. I see then.” Naruto then has to ask because he is curious, “Why hasn’t she spoken to anyone lately, though?”

“Because she hasn’t seen anyone while out on errands or training.”

“Where is she now anyway?”

“She’s taking a shower, but I’ll let her know you stopped by.”

She really is taking a shower, but that’s a story she’d rather not think about with her teammate right here.

“Great.” Naruto did seem relieved, but for reasons that escape her at the moment, “I’ll see her tomorrow then. Thanks for letting me know, Sakura!”

She was about to shut the door on him, yet she kept it open for a brief moment longer to tell him, “Yeah, sure…hey, I spoke to Sasuke today and he was really worried over you. Next time, don’t make him so upset; I don’t want to deal with a pissy Uchiha, got it?”

He stares at her wide eyed upon hearing this, “Wow, you really have changed…okay, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind from now on. See you later.”

She does shut the door on him after this, finally free to get back to her time alone with Ino in a house while Naruto is quick to report back to his friends: “Don’t worry, guys! Ino hasn’t been around anyone much because she was grounded after what happened with Itachi!”

Shikamaru accepts this pretty easily, much to Naruto’s surprise, “Lemme guess: they went pretty on easy—as in, way easier than any other parent out there would after what she did.”

“Yeah, all they did was make her not work at the flower shop—”

“Ah, so she got a vacation then? Typical Yamanaka method…”

“and she wasn’t allowed to see her friends, but she could speak to them if she ran into them while out running errands or training.”

He huffed to this, “Again, typical Yamanaka method. Looks like we may have jumped to conclusions guy…though to be sure, we should ask my dad since he’s best friends with Inoichi and he would know what’s going on with that situation better than anyone else.”

When Ino’s done with her shower, she is dressed in nothing more than a sleep shirt and some black shorts, her own face still red at the memory of why exactly she needed to leave Sakura alone in her room to take a shower.

It is something she is a tad bit—no, more like extremely embarrassed to think about.

Maybe it’s because she’s on her period, but something about Sakura’s scent when they were in her room, on her bed, talking about what’s been going on this past week for the both of them, had accidentally make her leak a little bit of preslick that Deidara had always said could happen. His advice had been to remove herself from the scene and take a cold or lukewarm shower to make it go away.

He did warn her of this before he left particularly because she had gotten closer to Sakura at the time and they did have a habit of cuddling together, scenting each other. He said such a thing would happen when she gets closer to the age of her first heat, but he also said it was normal to happen to omegas who were taking in the scent of someone they had a rather big crush on in a space where they were too close to them for a bit too long. Of course, she’s not focusing on that aspect—only the horror she felt when Sakura commented on it, "Ino, no offense, but your scent just changed and it’s a strange one I’ve never smelt from you before.”

“Oh…uh…” that was when she felt it and it was just Deidara said it would be: thick, gross, and possessing a strong scent that she could smell on herself, “I have to shower, I’ll be right back.”

“Hey wait, what’s causing this? You’re not dirty or anything, why would you need to shower?”

“It’s nothing, I swear! Just some gross omega period stuff, that’s it!”

It was better than the alternative, but Sakura’s smarter than that so naturally she read right through it, “We both know it’s not that; if it were, your scent wouldn’t have gotten that strong. C’mon, you can tell me anything, I promise I won’t tell anyone!”

“No, really, it’s nothing—” then Sakura placed her hand on her forehead to see if she was sick or not, which led into her letting out some warbled, jumbled mess of a sound that she thinks was supposed to be a purr that came out horrendously wrong, leading Sakura to sort of click it all together, “Are you having preslick right now?”

“W-Why would I? I wouldn’t ever—”

“Ino, don’t lie to me. Your brother never stopped sleeping in your room whenever I spent the night here because you used to cuddle me to take in my scent nonstop. I know all about preslick and I don’t mind it—all I want is for you to be honest about it.”

It was so disgusting because it almost felt like discharge from her period, but thicker and stickier and somehow more endless in the way it was coming.

At the same time, she knew it was pointless to lie any longer. As such, she owned up to it in the only way her instincts would let her. In other words, she muttered a ‘screw it’ underneath her breath, grabbed Sakura by her shoulders, and kissed her with all the awkwardness that comes with attempted passion in a first kiss.

It wasn’t really magical or anything fairytale, storybook worthy like other omegas she knew had said their first kiss was…but she would never deny the sparks she felt or way she was able to feel lighter when prompted to come out with it when Sakura had asked, “You like me back? Since when? I thought you didn’t want to date or be with me as anything more than a friend.”

“It’s just—you’ve changed so much that you’ve become the sort of person I can say I think is hot. You’re no longer sexist, controlling, demeaning, or judgmental—you’ve become open minded, encouraging, freeing, and someone who sees me as an equal enough to actually talk to someone you swore you’d hate for the rest of your days in the past to get advice about how to make things right with me.” she sighed when explaining it further, “Maybe I was forming a crush on you or maybe I had one on you back when Deidara was around and I didn’t know it, but the idea of dating anyone else, being with anyone else that isn’t you—it makes me uncomfortable and almost sick to my stomach. All you’ve done is make me like you too much to hide it anymore with how much you’ve grown.”

She couldn’t meet her eyes, her face was feeling incredibly warm, and she was positive she made a complete idiot of herself.

That was until Sakura cleared her throat and gave her an answer that left her feeling okay about everything enough to meet her eyes, “That’s good—for me, at least, because I still want to date you and be your mate someday if you’ll have me.”

When Ino had no immediate response for it, she told her, “You don’t have to answer me now. Just go on, take your shower, and meet me back in your room. We can talk more about it or about something else if you want—don’t stress out about it. We can always work it out later if you want.”

While she is incredibly grateful that Sakura let her get a change of clothes and rush over to the bathroom without another word being said, it didn’t make things easy on her to confront her when she did return to her room. With a bated breath, she mustered up the courage to face her in the room.

What she didn’t expect was for Sakura to find the letter from her brother and greet her with her hurt being displayed so clearly on her face, “Ino, were you really going to meet him without telling me?”

She glances over in horror at the fact that when getting herself a clean pair of panties, her letter from her brother had fallen out from where she had hidden on the floor alongside the panty she hid it under.

This is not how she expected this conversation to continue on.

Chapter Text

Ino had not thought this would happen. Mainly because she had thought she’d been careful, but it looks like she had been too quick getting out the clothes she needed to change in to recognize her mistake here. Now she’s stuck in a position she didn’t think she’d be in with anyone—let alone Sakura, of all people.

“…Sakura, this is my only chance to get my brother back. If I have to do what he says, then I’ll do it—”

“I thought we were going to bring him back together, though! Didn’t any of that matter to you, did you ever mean any of what you said?” Sakura is angry and rightfully so; she probably shouldn’t have hidden this from anyone but, “And this letter—how do you know it’s from him?”

That she will stand for, “You read the letter, you’ve seen Deidara’s handwriting in the past: that handwriting is his and I found it in my room inside a moonflower sculpture, exactly like the one you know he used to leave me. There’s no way anyone, not even Itachi, could’ve known that well enough to fake it so accurately without disturbing anything in the house. I know he wrote it! My brother wouldn’t let anyone mess with me like this!”

Oddly enough, this is the one thing Sakura will not fight her on, “I know it’s his handwriting and I know you had to have found it inside a moonflower sculpture, but what I meant was, how do you know Itachi didn’t use his Sharingan to manipulate or force Deidara to write this? How do you know this isn’t some trap?”

“I don’t know if it’s a trap or not, but I am willing to go if it means getting the first real chance I’ve gotten in years to bring him home.”

The alpha with the pink hair groaned then, throwing the letter to the floor while a palm meets her forehead, “You’re doing it again…you’re putting him first no matter what.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ino is now the one starting to get upset at what she’s hearing, “I don’t always put him first—”

“Except you do and you have for years!”

Sakura has never snapped at her before, so to have her do it now completely blindsided her, “When we were kids, you always listened to him, you always did what he wanted you to do, you always cared so damn much about what he would say or think about anything you did that you always had to include his thoughts on a subject in any decision made.”

She tries to defend herself from this, though deep down, she knows Sakura may be onto something, “I only did that because he was my only friend in the village before you came along. I couldn’t just cut him out of everything; he wasn’t just my brother, he was also my best friend. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be the person I am today—”

“Except you would have been, but with more of your own thoughts and opinions that aren’t completely copied from his.” Sakura doesn’t mince anything when she speaks, laying it all bare for her to hear, “I get that he was a huge influence for you, but you never disagreed with him on anything, even if you thought it was wrong—like, Deidara was super against mating, but you told me you weren’t against it more than once, only to agree with him when he brought it up.”

It cuts her deep because it’s making her face some harsh realizations about herself she didn’t really want to acknowledge, yet Sakura didn’t hold back, “Let’s not forget that every time I spent the night here, Deidara always slept in the same room as us even though your parents were fine with us sharing a room alone together. You said you’d tell him ‘no’ and ask him to leave, only to wither under his command and do as he said. I honestly think my parents were right for all these years: you’ve always had a crush on me, but you never allowed yourself to acknowledge it because you were afraid Deidara wouldn’t ever approve of me being the person you’re dating. Once again, putting him first not only before me, but before yourself too and I’m honestly sick of it.”

“I do want to date and mate you someday, but Ino, I don’t want to come second to Deidara for an entire relationship! He’s been gone for years, he hasn’t contacted you in years, and he’s done nothing to come back home for years, why place so much importance on him that you’d actually risk getting kidnapped or killed from something that could be some cruel hoax just to see him again? Don’t you care about what that’d do to me? Don’t you think I’d be hurt the same exact way you were when he left?”

She had a hard time fighting back the few tears coming in her eyes at what was said, yet in the same manner Sakura didn’t hold back or mince anything with her, “…Yeah, I may have put Deidara first, but that’s only because he did the same for me. In case if you forgot, I never had real friends before I met you. Everyone always used me to meet Deidara, to try to have a shot at the most beautiful omega in the village; they were never my real friends, but he was. Whenever people laughed at my goals or made me feel terrible for trying to be an omega kunoichi, he always built me up. My brother was the only person I could talk to, the only one I could play with, the only one who really did all that he could to give me the confidence and backbone I needed to survive this freakishly sexist village.”

Ino wiped a few tears away when reminding her, “Don’t you think he could’ve had a life outside of me? Don’t you think he was ever annoyed or irritated that I’d take time away from his art to talk to him or get him to do things with me? There were so many times he’d set anything and everything he was doing aside just to do something dumb and mundane with me that looking back on it, I feel freakishly selfish for ever asking so much of him. There was so much Deidara could have had with the sort of popularity he possessed, yet he always gave it up for me… If I do the same for him, it’s only because I want to return the favor.”

“I know it sounds crazy to you, but I know if I were missing and I left him a note like this, Deidara would risk getting kidnapped or killed to get me back. I’m not failing him now, not when this is the first and only chance I’ve got to see him again in person. I know there’s a chance it could a hoax, but I won’t know unless if I go to see him for myself.” the omega girl does admit that, “Yes, I was being terrible for not telling you anything, but I was really mad at you the last time we spoke so I didn’t see the point in telling you or anyone anything.”

Ino heads over to her bed and sits on the edge with Sakura following suite, mimicking the actions she made, looking at her from the side, “…Okay, I can get why you put him first, but you know if you ever want to have a mate, he can’t always come first, right?”

“I know that, and I swear he won’t always come first—I have other friends now, friends who are my real friends, and I have you back in my life as a positive presence. I don’t need him to build me up anymore, but I do want to save him from that Uchiha bastard more than anything else.” she sighed then and looked to the floor, “I promise that when I get him back, getting him home won’t always come first before everything else.”

Sakura won’t fight her too much on this for now. If Deidara really is going to be where he says he will be in the letter, then this very damn well could be their only chance to see him again and possibly get him home (she doubts that will happen, but she won’t vocalize this to Ino).

What matters most is getting one thing answered: “Were you going to tell me about the letter at any point when I was over?”

“I mean…” Ino pauses and gives her the most accurate answer she can at the moment, “it would have depended on if we got into another argument or not. I would have told you everything if we didn’t argue, but if we did, then we both know I wouldn’t have done it.”

The thing is, Sakura’s fine with this answer because it fits her perfectly. Ino and Deidara do have certain things in common (at least, she cannot see Deidara having given up these traits of himself over the years): they don’t back down from a fight when angered, when angered they tend to make rash decisions, and they can be stubborn. She wonders if they get it from their mother, who also tends to be the same way at times.

That being said, she does ask her, “Do you want me to come along with you to see Deidara tomorrow or not? Either way, I promise I won’t tell anyone, not even Kakashi sensei, Naruto, my parents, or yours.”

“You would do that for me no matter what I choose?”

“Yeah, because I’m willing to put you first.” Sakura won’t add in the part of ‘unlike your brother’ because she knows it’s best to not be snarky about Deidara for the time being.

On Ino’s end, she couldn’t help but to possess a feeling of guilt over what Sakura is willing to do to put her first when she herself hasn’t been the best about doing the same for her in return, “I want you to come along. I think if you were to stay a good distance away, hidden from his view, he wouldn’t notice or care you were there.”

“You want me there? You mean it?”

“Yeah, of course I do. You aren’t the only one who can change and grow as a person—it’s time I start doing that for myself and you too.”

Sakura is incredibly grateful that she’s willing to do at this at the very minimum for her. It may not be the same as acknowledging that she’s always placed Deidara first no matter what and valued his opinions/comfort more than anyone else’s (including her own), but she’ll take it regardless. Besides, it’s for the best if she is the only one there: knowing Deidara, if he’s not being controlled by Itachi to do this, he would be able to spot out if he’s being ambushed. The guy always had an amazing sense of smell; some would say among the best in the village right after Itachi himself. If other people were to come along, he would catch on and he would react very, very negatively in the most violent manner he knows how.

She smiles to this, leaning back just enough to look at her ceiling while still being in a seated position on her bed, “Great…so, how do you think we should go about this? Because I’m not sure if my parents will let me spend the night or not.”  

“Why’s that?”

“Because I’m an alpha with a crush on you and we are getting closer to the ages where our first heat and rut will hit us. They just want to be careful because they don’t know what being in a room overnight with you would do to me now that Deidara’s not around to sleep with us in here.”

Ino finds this to be a bit backwards, but she won’t be disrespectful about it for Sakura’s sake, “Okay, that’s fine. I suppose I can somewhat get it—I mean, I did get preslick. I don’t know if alphas have a variant of that or not, but I guess it’d be better to be safe than sorry.”  

“Maybe it is…but if I can’t spend the night, can we meet up at the forest outside the village gates?”

“Yeah, I see nothing wrong with that: we could meet up there at eleven and then head on out.”

“Okay, I can make that happen. My parents are going out to a hotel tomorrow to spend a rut together, so I’ll be home alone then.” Sakura is glad they got this part down, but now comes the rest of the planning they’ll have to do to pull this off without getting hurt or killed.

This would include planning a method to hide her scent so Deidara won’t be able to smell her out, finding the best path to get to the border area without being spotted or gaining anyone’s suspicion, and most importantly, what sort of weaponry they’ll bring with them to this meeting in case if it really is a hoax meant to kidnap or murder Ino.

“My scent—how will we hide it? Deidara’s sense of smell was always on par with Itachi’s and we both know he doesn’t like me—we both know he’ll be very mad if I’m there.”

“Deidara used to make a blend of ash and dried herbs from my dad’s garden that would hide anyone’s scent, even his own, from a nose as sharp as his. I still have the recipe to make it underneath my pillow.”

“Okay, but what about the best path to get to the meeting area? Do you know a way to get there?”

“What do you think I’ve been using my ‘training time’ for? I’m not allowed to train in our backyard because dad doesn’t want his garden damaged. So whenever I went out to ‘train’, I was actually scoping out an area to get to the meeting area without being spotted by too many people and I found the perfect one we can use.”

Sakura is stunned by this, “They didn’t really keep a close eye on that?”

Ino shook her head, commenting, “My parents always get like this whenever news about Deidara comes up… They get so upset about anything that can be said to the point where they do all that they can to preoccupy themselves: my dad will work more and my mom will as well, but she’ll also try to see friends and relatives to take her mind off everything. Giving me any attention at all is the last thing on their minds since they trust me to not break the rules they set up.”

Now she’s left despising Deidara more for making these wonderful parents so upset and possibly ruining their trust in Ino with his stupid demands!

It wasn’t enough to simply run away with Itachi and choose to be his mate, was it? No, he just had to make his parents so miserable they’d actually give Ino less attention to focus more on doing anything possible to not think about him.

“Ino…if your parents find out about this…you may lose their trust in you for good. Is he really worth that?”

Ino is firm in her conviction regardless of this, “I know he is. I know if I can bring him back, then everything will be fixed. Mom and dad will like being home again, they won’t be gone all the time to avoid being here, and they will be able to finally heal from this—everyone who loved him will be able to heal from what happened to him. I know I can make it better, I just have to do this and bring him home now while I can.”

She won’t fight her on this either because for all she knows, maybe bringing him home would fix this. Then again, she’s also not fighting her on this because she does feel incredibly guilty for letting her own stupid, narrow-minded sexist views and attitude prevent her from being able to be in Ino’s life over the years when her family was struggling like this, “If you say so…but how will you sneak out of the house? Do you really think your parents will not notice that?”

“They’re only ever around here to eat, sleep, bathe, and get ready for the day. I think it’s because there’s too many memories of Deidara here for them to properly cope with being home.” she would add in then, “Besides that, whenever they do sleep, it’s heavy and they’re on a schedule: they usually go to bed at nine and when they’re down, they’re down. I showered once at midnight and they didn’t wake up once from it.”

…Well, that’s convenient!

Looks like they should be prepared for Saturday then, except for one little detail that’s missing: “There’s a chance this could be a hoax still. We should bring some weaponry with us in case if that is true.”

“Right…how about we bring the same amount and type of weaponry we would bring to any mission we’re sent on? I think that would be the safest bet; and it’s something Deidara wouldn’t be offended by since I’m sure he would know or expect I’d be thinking of that possibility.”

“I was actually going to suggest that!” Sakura smiles faintly, commenting then, “It looks like we’ll have everything ready for tomorrow night then.”

“Yeah…but that doesn’t mean you have to go home so soon.” Ino suggests then, “Stay for a while and head back when you want. At least then we’ll have some relaxing alone time together.”

Sakura will accept this for now; it has to be lonely here for Ino and the last thing she will ever do is make such a situation worse than it has to be, “I was planning on doing that anyway. I wouldn’t mind some relaxing alone time together.”

She doesn’t know it, but Ino is relieved to have her not only here to make this empty house feel less lonely, but to also have her coming along for this mission to see Deidara again.

She loves her brother and she will always defend him no matter what, but having someone to help her in case if it really was an Uchiha hoax makes it feel less daunting than it did when she thought she was going to have to do this all on her own.

Chapter Text

It was eleven on Saturday night when Ino and Sakura met up outside the village gates, Sakura being incredibly shocked the omega girl really could sneak out of the house as easily as she said she could.

“Your parents really are deep sleepers, huh?”

“They like to wake up early to start their day and get out of the house.” she shrugs, “Are you prepared to see my brother again?”

“Yeah,” Sakura then pulls out a twine necklace containing a little cloth bag at the center of it like a pendant, “spending two hours getting Deidara’s mixture for this just right was exhausting. I’d rather never have to grind something that finely by hand and pestle ever again.”

(Yes, they had to do that when she was over at Ino’s place earlier in the day. It was grueling and Deidara’s instructions weren’t exactly the clearest, which again, she saw coming somehow.)

“It wasn’t easy, but it will be worth it when we do see him again.” Ino comments and Sakura keeps her mouth shut because she doesn’t believe this visit will go over well.

Forgive her for thinking this, but there’s no way Deidara is some innocent victim in her eyes. Ino’s confrontation with Itachi all but proved it to her. Of course, she won’t be dumb enough to say it now, though it doesn’t mean she can’t think it.

“How are we going to find the exact meeting place to go to him? Our village does have more than one border…unless if being gone for so long made him forget that.”

This is a much nicer version of her initial thought of Deidara expecting Ino to be able to read his mind and know exactly where he wanted to meet.

Ino herself doesn’t seem to know either, leaving her to suggest, “How about we head to the border where the statues are and see if he’ll be there or not. Though we should be looking for any sculptures of any sorts in the forest. He could have hidden one somewhere with the exact location to meet up.”

“Fine, let’s try that then.”

Ino had known her brother would leave a sculpture somewhere with an exact location on the border to meet. What she didn’t expect was to find it on the first tree branch she happened to get on by the pure dumb accident of stepping on it. However, she didn’t complain, instead taking it as a lucky event whereas Sakura didn’t comment on it—though she had a wary look to her that suggested her skepticism of this meeting had grown.

She wouldn’t let that thought get to her, not when she finally has a chance to see her brother again.

What didn’t escape her was the one thing about the location when they arrived to it: it was near the exact same area they had gone looking for him the day he first went missing.

Maybe it was all a happy coincidence, who knows? Either way, none of that really mattered, not when she’s finally at the exact spot he said to meet, trying to catch her breath after rushing over in the hopes of being exactly on time so he wouldn’t leave again.

…Looking around in the clearing they are at, it doesn’t look like he’s here. Maybe she got the location wrong? Maybe he already left? Maybe she’s too late—

“Ino?”

…Deidara…that’s his voice, his scent, his body emerging from the shadows.

She couldn’t speak at the sight of him despite wanting to blurt out her joy, sadness, and outrage all at once. She finally got him back in her life and he’s here, right in front of her, in the flesh.

He looks a bit deflated but this is gone within a few seconds, “I guess I do look different, un. What, with the cloak and all…I’ve gotten taller, my bangs have gotten longer too, and my hair was long as dads for a while there before I cut it.”

That was when he suddenly shook his head and muttered out a small, ‘whatever, un’ before asking, “Are you happy to see me or not?”

To this, she’s finally able to speak, “I am, it’s just…it’s…I…it’s been so long. I-I’ve really missed you so much over the years and now…you’re here again…” she stops herself short of running over to hug him to instead make him a promise she should have made years ago, “Dei, I don’t know what that stupid Uchiha did to make you leave, but I can help you. I can bring you home, clear your name of any suspicion, and kill Itachi one day myself with my bare hands for being so evil as to force you to mate him. I promise, you’ll be free of him, you’ll be safe from him—I’ll keep you safe. Just…come back home with me…please.”

There were tears threatening to fall from her eyes, but she held it all back to focus on her brother…who…did not appear all too pleased with what he had heard.

No, he seems…annoyed somehow.

But why? He was forced to leave, he was forcibly mated by that evil Uchiha—why isn’t he running over to her arms or at least getting teary eyed like she is? Why is he just standing there, acting as though he’s unmoved by everything she’s just said?

“What the…didn’t he already tell you, un?”

Horror overcomes her while her brother runs his fingers through the ends of his bang, “Ino, I chose to mate Itachi. He didn’t force, coerce, or manipulate me into it, un. I mated him because I wanted to and if you do try to kill my mate, you’ll be dead to me.”

The way the gleam in his eyes became those of a hardened killer matched with the sudden turn of bitterness in his scent had her struggling with a cognitive dissonance she would never come to experience again for as long as she lived, “No, that can’t be right…you hated him! You always told me about how much you hated him, you always bashed his clan, and you’ve tried to kill him more than once in public yourself, how can you say you chose to mate him after all of that? How can you expect me to believe you on it!”

He groans loudly, rolling his eyes as he did so, “Things really aren’t that black and white, un…”

“How can it not get more black and white than you trying to kill him in public?”

“If I was trying to kill him for real, I would’ve at least managed to do some damage to him, don’t you think?”

“Um, no! It was Itachi Uchiha; no one could have done any amount of damage to him!”

Deidara doesn’t move from his spot, but he’s long since stopped playing with the ends of his bangs, instead using one of his free hands to grip the sleeve of his tunic, “Okay, point taken, un! Still…if I was trying to kill him, I would’ve done more than my basic attacks over and over again, don’t you think?”

Ino is not taking this well, her brain is simply not computing the thought of her brother actually choosing to mate Itachi without anyone forcing him into it, “That’s not the point of it all! If you really didn’t hate Itachi this whole time, that means you lied to me for years and the Deidara I know would have never done that!”

She doesn’t hold back on one other aspect of this that makes it so hard for her to reconcile this revelation, “You never believed in mating either, remember? You told me all the time growing up that mating was sexist and backwards, that I was better than to get mated, that we were better than to settle for something like that. Were you lying about that too? Did you lie to me about everything you ever told me? Because if what you’re saying is true, then that means so much of what I’ve come to believe from you is a lie and I don’t know you at all.”

He says nothing at first, his scent souring for a brief moment there before he finally took enough deep breaths to calm himself down, “Like I said earlier, it’s not that black and white, un.”

“Then what is it?”

“Complicated, like life in general.”

Sakura is in the trees, hiding herself from his line of vision, watching the two closely in case if Deidara does anything to endanger Ino.

Is she shocked by any of this so far?

No…but it doesn’t mean she feels good about being right. Instead, she’s more upset because it means Deidara hurt his sister by choice and didn’t give a damn all this time while he was living it up as a hot shot criminal with a mate many would kill to have.

She remembers what Ino said when they got closer to the meeting spot, “Stay here and don’t come out unless if things start to get dangerous, okay? I need to do this by myself; Deidara could come home tonight, and I cannot afford to mess anything up.”

That was all she said to her on the way here. She had been too silent, too focused on Deidara that she didn’t care if she was burning through a bit too much chakra to get here as quickly as she could, and for what? To learn that he was as crappy as Sakura always thought him to be? She couldn’t be angrier with him even if she tried.

“Ino, I don’t have time to get into the politics of it all, un. All I can tell you is I don’t want to come home and I don’t give a damn about this village. I do stand by everything I told you when I lived here with you, mom, and dad, but the mating one…that’s more complicated than you think it is, un.”

“Is it complicated like you saying your wanting to kill him and hating him isn’t black and white?” when he nods, she takes a heavy breath and asks with all of the anxiety building up inside of her, “Did you choose to leave the village with him or were you forced to—or is that one of those not black and white things too?”

He's unfazed at the sight of his sister’s own devastation, he was too collected and composed when answering her, “I wasn’t forced by him, per se…but it wasn’t that black and white either.”

He goes silent for a few minutes, the silence causing her distress to build until he decides to open his mouth to tell her something no one hadn’t really known before except for a select few people: the truth, “I’ll tell you everything right now, but all I want is for you to listen to me when I’m done, un.”

For Deidara, life was not easy.

He may have had a wonderful family and been lucky enough to be born into a progressive clan that would never treat him like property to be sold, but his beauty was more of a curse than a positive attribute.

Yes, it was a good year or two before Ino was born that he was named the most beautiful omega in the village by nearly everyone who happened to meet him, whether they be local or foreign. At first, the attention made him feel good because it was nice to be praised on something instead of being made fun of for the mouths on his palms by the other omegas and betas his age.

However, he quickly learned that this was nothing to feel good about.

Because of his beauty, he was never taken seriously in anything he did with his artwork. Because of his beauty, people tended to not see Deidara the person, but rather Deidara the beautiful image. Because of his beauty, far too many alphas and betas—both old and young—felt far too entitled to grab him, to corner him, to try to force a kiss or more on him, to attempt to kidnap him should he reject them and their advances simply due to the fact that they fetishized his looks so much to the point where they didn’t see him as a person…no, all they saw him as was nothing more than some beautiful doll to own and use as they please.

Yes, it wasn’t uncommon for Deidara to have to deal with alphas and betas trying to force a kiss or more on him. The first time it happened, he was so scared that he froze up and had it not been for Shikaku being there to get the girl off him, he knows more would have happened without his consent. After this, his father learned of it and decided to teach him how to defend himself from such attacks.

With increasing practice over the years, he got good enough to the point where such a thing didn’t really scare him anymore since he knew how to fight back. It helped with the kidnapping attempts as well.

Deidara had been almost kidnapped out of the village more than he’d like to remember by foreign alphas and betas who saw him, wanted him, and decided to take him for themselves without any strain on their conscious. However, as he got older and stronger in his self defense, this stopped happening as often.

Now, anyone would think that his fellow omegas would stand by his side, would want to defend him from such sexist attacks and remarks he heard daily whenever he dared to voice an interest in anything outside of being mated and having pups. This never happened: Deidara never received any support from the omegas his age. Many blamed him for ‘leading’ the alphas and betas on, for being so ‘difficult’ and ‘snobby’ to where they felt the need to talk down to him with their sexist remarks. It didn’t help that they always made cruel comments about his ‘deformity’, his ‘greatest flaw’ in their eyes: the mouths on the palms of his hands.

It was always brought up to him, but he never let it get him down. If of anything, he was glad it was seen as a flaw and deformity because that meant he could one day be left alone by the sexist creeps who wanted to own and use him should they ever really see them in their glory.

Thanks to the attention for his appearance and the mouths on his palms, he preferred to be alone than with anyone at all, choosing instead to focus solely on his art as opposed to attempting to make friends who would only backstab, betray, or bully him anyway.

Though it was thanks to the negative experiences he had gained from being deemed the ‘most beautiful omega’ in the village that he came to slowly despise the alphas, betas, and omegas in the village as a whole with very few exceptions: his clan was an obvious exception since they always stood by his side, Hinata Hyuga was a nice beta girl, Chouji was a good kid, Naruto seemed good enough, Shikamaru was surprisingly insightful for an alpha child, and Ino is his little sister. Naturally, he’d do all that he can to keep his only friend and confidante safe from the sexist creeps, while doing all that he could to be the omega friend support he never had growing up.

Yes, it was his culminative experiences that made him hate Konoha enough to want to leave it behind for good and find himself something better in another village or town that would give him the freedom and equality he desired. Though he wouldn’t learn of such a place until he finally got to do something he always wanted to do.

He got to go to Suna to see his aunt on his mother’s side. To him, it was a dream come true village: the perfect place for his sculptures, his art, and the village itself had far better laws and cultural norms for omega rights than Konoha ever could have. The trip was one of a lifetime, truly his most favorite place to be…

It was also where he first met Itachi Uchiha.

He had heard of him from his father who had always praised him and his skill. He had also heard of him from other omegas his age who openly lusted for the ‘perfect alpha’ that was apparently this Itachi Uchiha.

Deidara didn’t really care enough to get to know anything about the young alpha. He figured being an alpha in Konoha, working to keep the village up and running, meant he was every bit apart of the problem he had with that place and therefore, not worth his time in general.

He wouldn’t have ever spoken to Itachi when he was there if he had his choice in things. He didn’t mind being alone, with his only friend and confidante being his four-year-old sister back at home. Being alone was safe and it gave him a sense of control he couldn’t find being with others.

It wasn’t his choice in the end: Itachi had approached him himself when he was outside, working on a sculpture, and generally enjoying his time in the glow and breeze of the sunset not too far from his aunt’s home.

“That’s a nice sculpture. Who knew someone as small as you could make something so big?”

At this time he had been quite shorter than he is now, and his size was one of the things the many, many creeps commented on in the most disgusting of ways—needless to say, his first encounter with Itachi wasn’t exactly the best.

“I’m not that small, creep. If you’ve got nothing of substance to say, then you can leave, un.”

What was supposed to scare him off didn’t. No, Itachi was unfazed by his open hostility, choosing to instead focus on the artwork itself, “It’s an interesting piece of work…looks like a sparrow that’s excited for its inevitable death.”

Deidara didn’t bother to reply in the hopes he would go away like anyone else would. No, Itachi didn’t leave, choosing to try to talk to him no matter what, “This must have taken you hours to make. Aren’t you tired at all?”

“Go away.”

“Why should I?”

“Because I don’t want you here, un. I want to work alone without some alpha creep breathing down my neck.”

“Very well then. I’ll be sure to see you around before I leave.”

He had ignored him, expecting him to stay around to bother him some more, yet he was able to finish the sculpture without any interruptions from him. Upon finishing with his sculpture in peace, he thought he’d have to deal with this guy hanging around. Imagine his surprise when he saw that his wishes were respected, and the young alpha was gone.

He didn’t know what to make of the young alpha he’d heard so much about to the point where he didn’t have to ask his name to know who he had been speaking to.

He’s a Konoha alpha though and he’ll show his true creepy sexist colors soon enough. That much he had been convinced of…until life played out in a way he hadn’t seen coming.

Chapter Text

Ino had never known that Deidara was the victim of attempted kidnapping and sexual assault in the past, her eyes full of sympathy for him, “I never knew that’s why you never had friends or how you came to be so strong in omega rights… I didn’t know, you never told me—why didn’t you tell me anything?” 

“You were too young back then to get it and I didn’t want to worry you.” he doesn’t hold back when moving on with his recollection, “Anyway, that was how I met Itachi, un, but like I said, things aren’t exactly black and white.” 

She didn’t know where he’d go with this, but braced herself for whatever revelation she may hear next. 

(Sakura is doing much of the same, still uncertain as to what all he will have to say next to explain away his choosing to leave the village and his family in shatters.) 

He didn’t see Itachi again at Suna, but it didn’t stop him from loving that place far more than he should have. He longed to visit Suna multiple times a year, but it seemed it would prove to be impossible with the way things were going: what with the Kazekage’s son being one who killed people he happened to encounter whether it be on purpose or accident, it wasn’t safe in general for anyone outside the village to visit Suna until they got it under control. 

Being back in Konoha, Deidara was isolated, but not lonely. He was saddened at the prospect of being here, in this village, yet he didn’t care much otherwise. As long as he was able to work on his art in peace, he didn’t honestly care about much else. 

After his trip, he’d see Itachi again, but he wasn’t as annoyed as he had been when he first was approached by him, “Why are you here, un?” 

“What, I cannot appreciate an artist working on their craft?” 

“You can’t when I’m working.” 

“Really, not even to catch a glance at your work?” 

He had been annoyed by this guy, though he did notice something off about him: “You’re really here to see my work, un?” 

Itachi hadn’t been anything other than honest, “I am. What would you think I am here for?” 

“What any other alpha and beta would be.” it was a bitter response, but he had come to expect such entitled behavior from the sexist pigs who felt they had a right to take whatever they could from him. 

“You think I’m here for sex, don’t you?” 

“What else would an alpha from this village be here for?” 

When Itachi didn’t fight him on it, he assumed it was for some nefarious reason, but then he did remark so casually, “Fair enough assumption. If I was in your position, I’m positive I’d be the same way.” 

It was weird for Deidara because he never met an alpha who was so…civil…towards him and talked to him like he was a person, as opposed to a doll, “Why would you, un? You’re a Konoha alpha; what reason would you have to not see me as some doll for you to take and do whatever you want with?” 

“Because I’ve had to deal with far too many alphas and betas who spoke of you as though you’re not a person and while I know it’s a completely different thing, I can understand what it’s like to feel objectified.” 

He scoffed and Itachi still remained neutral somehow, “It’s true; omegas and betas only see me as a perfect mate to have pups and share a heat with. They’re never interested in me as a person: to them, I am nothing more than my looks, my body, and capabilities as a Shinobi. If I wasn’t as strong as I am, as supposedly handsome as they claim me to be, and if I didn’t come from a good clan, none of them would want me or glance my way. Even my peers, coworkers, and family see me only for my strength and skills. It seems who I am doesn’t matter to anyone and on that end, I can understand what it’s like to be ‘Deidara Yamanaka, the most beautiful omega in all of Konoha’.”

Back then, he had thought he was only saying this to get in his pants. Looking on this in retrospect, he can say this was one of the first moments (no matter how subconscious it was) where he came to see Itachi in a more humanized light as opposed to the way people spoke of him. 

“…Okay, maybe you can, un.” he sets aside the sculpture he had been halfheartedly working on, facing him without anything to distract, “How did you know it was me?” 

“It’s impossible not to: every alpha, beta, and omega I know speak so much about your appearance with the random bits about your interest in art that I couldn’t not know about it.” Itachi then wondered much of the same, “Did you know who I was without asking my name?” 

“It’s the same thing for me…every beta and omega I overhear talking about their dream alpha always talks about you, un. It’s impossible for me to not hear about Itachi, the sexy prodigy, or Itachi Uchiha, the dream alpha who will give any lucky beta or omega the best pups around.” 

His dark eyes were glued onto him and yet it didn’t make him feel afraid or small. No, it felt like he was being given the attention of a good friend when the alpha looked at him like that, “Don’t feel the need to stop making your art around me. I’m content with watching you in silence if you want me to.” 

“Okay, but I’m not in the mood to work on it for now, un. What do you want to do instead?” 

“Well, we could go on a hike if you’d want.” 

He didn’t see anything wrong with this, but he wound up making a bird of clay for them to ride on in the end, “I’ve been working extra hard on this all summer, un. Do you want to ride it?” 

Itachi didn’t hesitate, “Why not? It’s not like I have anything better to do on my day off.” 

When on the bird, they had a nice time even if they didn’t talk much. It was only when they got off it that Itachi found out the secret to what made his art amazing: it was fleeting, as shown by the explosion that followed when they were off the bird. 

“I don’t understand…why make the bird explode after all the work you put into it?” 

“Because art is supposed to be fleeting, un! It’s supposed to be something that lasts for a flash of time and leaves an impression on the mind.”

“What is the beauty in something so beautiful and well made being nothing more than a fleeting experience that leaves an impact on someone’s memories?” 

“The beauty in it is that the beauty itself is fleeting, allowing the person who appreciates the art to see the actual message behind the art instead focusing on the aesthetic beauty of it, allowing people to take it more seriously, un.” 

He didn’t say much at first, but when he did, it did cut pretty deep to him, “You must take great peace in the claims of beauty being fleeting then to say such a thing.” 

“How could I not?” he didn’t fight him on it because it was true and he needed to vent about this to someone closer to his age, not his sister or parents, for once, “My beauty is a curse, but knowing there’s an end to it brings me hope that one day, I’ll be treated like a person instead of some doll to be taken and used, un. If I ever do miss it, I will at least always have the memories that live on in my mind of it, allowing me to enjoy it without any of the problems I have now.” 

“Makes sense, actually—knowing this does make your art more special for me to experience. Thank you for telling me about this viewpoint, Deidara. I truly did enjoy hearing it.”

“Yeah, whatever, un.” Deidara didn’t know what to think about the alpha back then because he was just so damn hard to read, but over time, he did come to find that he enjoyed his company more than he’d like to admit. In fact, slowly, but surely, Itachi was becoming his closest friend. 

Despite this, they had to keep their friendship private for the main reason of Deidara facing extreme harassment from Itachi’s many fangirls and fanboys who wish to mate him, as well as the possibility of Deidara’s own admirers trying to resort to extremes to make him theirs so Itachi couldn’t have him. 

Thus in public, they’d put up an act that would allow them the chance they needed to avoid such problems: Deidara would act as though he hated Itachi and he’d react in an extremely angry manner whenever he was near him whereas Itachi would make his interest in Deidara known to all, claiming him as his while keeping away the creeps and those who would wish him harm for having his attention. In private, when away from everyone, they’d be able to talk and hang out like normal kids their respective ages do. 

“Wait, you pretended to hate him all of this time?” Ino’s flabbergasted to the revelation with Sakura not faring much better, “That means you’ve always liked that guy? Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” 

“Because you were a little kid and little kids can’t be trusted with big secrets like that, un. I thought you would have grown up enough to understand that one by now.” 

“I have, but…it still feels so wrong. I can’t believe you kept lying about it to me over the years! What about mom and dad? Why couldn’t you tell them any of this?” 

“Them, un?” Deidara scoffed with an eye roll, “Yeah sure, trust gossipy mom and nosy dad with that much information…they would have been worse to trust with that than a little kid.”

…Hearing his reasoning being spoken out loud really allows her to understand why he kept it a secret in the way he did. Then again, he was always so good at formulating such plans and reasonings. 

“Wasn’t attacking and fighting him in public with your jutsus extreme for your plan? What was the point of that?” 

Things were progressing well for the two secret confidantes over the years. Deidara finally had someone close to his age to talk to and Itachi found someone who wasn’t trying to seduce or sabotage him out of jealousy. It was overall very nice, but things changed when Deidara—for the first time in his life—met someone who caught his eye.

He was an alpha artist from Suna, one he had met when at the Suna marketplace with his aunt and Ino as a part of her first ever visit to Suna. He had begged his parents for the longest time to let him go back to that wonderful village, so to get the chance to go there again with Ino for their aunt's birthday left him ecstatic. He doesn’t remember much of him now other than that he was older (as in, he was in his early thirties), he was a painter, he had bright ginger hair, and brown eyes. Deidara hadn’t thought he could have connected with anyone as well as he did with him, yet it happened.

He remembers when he first told Itachi about it, expecting him to be on his side on the matter because he wasn’t like the other alphas who saw him only as a possession to own, a doll to take and play with however they pleased. No, he saw him as a person, an equal—someone he could trust enough to be his first real friend outside of his little sister.

Imagine his surprise when after recounting this amazing chance encounter at a market where this man was selling his art and working on a painting on the spot that Itachi’s main response had been to keep a neutral face while being so distinctly critical, “Isn’t he a bit old for you, Deidara? You aren’t even eighteen—what reason would any alpha that old have to be interested in someone as young you?”

“We’re both intelligent artists, un! What other reason could he need?”

“…He’s too old for you. You should try being interested in someone who’s not as old as your oldest cousin instead. You know, because that way you won’t be as likely to be manipulated by some older alpha.”

He can admit he was in the wrong for reacting the way he did back then. He was being incredibly stupid about it when he growled, “Are you really trying to control me like any other alpha or beta here would? I thought you were better than that, un.”

The Uchiha alpha was (rightfully, he now knows) annoyed by this, “No, I am only trying to stop you from making a decision you’ll regret. You just met this stranger and he lives in another village. If you remember right, Danzo fought for the law requiring unmated omegas to mate an alpha or beta from a foreign village should they get pregnant by them outside of mating.”

Ah yes—Danzo, that sexist jerk who fights for repressive, conservative laws against omega rights to be either passed or maintained. Going off what Itachi told him, he is the reason why progress for omega rights in the village is a near impossibility.

“I won’t be stupid enough to get pregnant.” he realized how cocky and self righteous of a comment this was now that he’s older, but back then he couldn’t see it for what it was, “We’ll only be seeing each other in person three times a month when he comes here to sell his art at the market, un. How could it happen?”

“How could you be interested in him enough to want to write him every day then? Why bother with this alpha if you know you don’t stand much of a chance to have a long term relationship with him?”

“Because he’ll be my one way into Suna, un!” he didn’t know at the time, but his declaration would cause something to shift in their relationship on Itachi’s end, something he wouldn’t learn of until sometime later, “You don’t get it…this is my one chance to get out of this sexist place! Things will never change here, not when the people are as crappy as they are now—if I didn’t have Ino to think about, I would have begged my parents to let me stay in Suna so I’d never have to come back here, un. All I want is to be seen as a person like alphas and betas are all the time: with things being the way they are now, it won’t ever happen here.”

“So you’re the one using him to leave the village?”

At the time, tensions between Konoha and Suna were high which made getting citizenship to Suna for a Konoha omega a much harder process than it had to be.

For an omega from Konoha to become a citizen of Suna, they could get in easily if they had more than three relatives living in the village. However, Deidara only had one so this would not do. The only other options he had was to get in the village by either mating an alpha or beta from Suna or to work in the village as an apprentice for someone with a skill in a field they’re interested in.

“Can you blame me, un? Would you really want to be born as an omega in this village, especially one that’s famous for being the most beautiful omega of Konoha?”

Itachi didn’t respond, yet Deidara could tell he was upset with what he heard by the subtle change in his scent and the way his posture was too stiff. In order to prevent a major fracture in their friendship, he tried to make some sort of amend for what he said, “I know you love this village and you want to protect it like you want to protect your brother, but it’s easy for an alpha or beta to love it here, un. I’m an omega—a very desirable omega—how can I love it here without being mated?”

He didn’t lose the tension in his body, “You’d mate someone you hardly know to leave this place?”

“Mating, me, un? Ha!” if he laughed at the idea, it’s only because he had thought Itachi would have caught on by now, “I don’t believe in mating; mating is an unnecessary sexist trap meant to subjugate omegas to a lifetime of being some alpha or beta’s sex doll. People already see me that way, un. Why give that idea any legitimacy by getting mated?”

He shook his head at the very thought, “I’m planning on getting into Suna through being his apprentice, not his mate, un.”

Somehow, this only seemed to bother the Uchiha further, “You think that lowly of mating? I never would’ve guessed—I suppose I should have going by how hard you laughed just now.”

He didn’t think Itachi would be so disturbed by his views. He’s told him about his stances on omega rights more than once during the time they’ve known each other and he’s never had a problem with it. They have debated about certain things in the past, but they’ve always had a lot of common ground on so many issues that those small disagreements are incredibly minor in comparison.

Which is why his reaction didn’t make any sense to him back then, “Deidara, I don’t view mating that way…if of anything, I’d like to get mated someday to the right person when I can. I know if I were to mate any omega—whether it be one of my many admirers, a complete stranger from another village, or you—I would never treat them or you like a doll. No matter what, the omega in my life will always be seen as a person.”

“…I’ve been through too much to trust any of it, you should know that by now, un.” Deidara was being sincere though his voice was small and weak, “You can believe what you want about mating, but it won’t do much of anything to change my mind.”

“I figure it won’t, but I also figured you should hear an opposing opinion to yours.” Itachi then asks him, “Do your parents or Ino know about this plan?”

He shot him a surprised glance before it turned into a small chuckle, “No, why would I tell any of them about it, un? Ino’s too young to get it and my parents would kill me for using a person like that.”

Itachi then came up with a plan to help his friend, “You know that sneaking around to spend time with a foreign alpha will likely reach your parents if you aren’t careful.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m going to see him in disguise, un.”

“Sure, but you could also see him without one.”

Now he’s looking at him oddly, “What do you mean?”

His alpha friend gives him his plan, having to know he would run with it, “You could use your explosions whenever you see me.”

Deidara scoffs to this, “I already do that and I’ve almost gotten in trouble for it, un.”

Itachi sighed to this, “Those are your small explosions. I’m taking about using your larger ones whenever you see me to better hide your scent when you go see this guy all while preventing people from wanting to follow you.”

“You know I’ll get in really big trouble for that, right?”

“You won’t; I’ll be sure to keep everyone off your back by telling them that you’re playing hard to get and I believe you’re trying to hide your feelings for me.”

He had mistakenly thought that Itachi was being a good friend at the time, “You’d really do all that for me, un?”

Okay, so he had thought he was being so cool, so tough, so on top of it all. He thought he was the one in control, but he was so, so wrong.

His ticket to Suna—the older artist man with the ginger hair—had not been the sort of person he could play for a fool in the end. When they had met, he used some illegal supplement that he slipped into his water bottle when he wasn’t looking. This supplement happened to make him go into a heat for one night only.

It was horrible: he felt incredibly ill immediately afterwards and the man had been far too smug when he said, “You were a good lay, Yamanaka. I hope you don’t mind, but I don’t do the whole apprentice or mating thing—it’s not my style. So please, don’t write me anymore, okay? It’ll be incredibly awkward if I keep having to hide the letters from my mate back at home and kami knows I don’t need the drama.”

He never told anyone about what happened. He simply let himself lay inside that hotel room, the sickest he’d ever felt, until he felt good enough to shower and go home to his tent outside…which he did.

He did his best to pretend that nothing happened. To everyone else, he was just fine, though a lot more bitter and jumpy towards any alpha or beta who dared to get near him with his explosions going off at random ones now whenever he felt the least bit paranoid or uncomfortable.

It got to the point where Itachi, when they were alone, confronted him about it, "Why have you been snapping at random alphas and betas lately?”

He didn’t respond to it, choosing to work on his sculpture while the alpha spoke, “I covered for you; I told them you were telling the truth with whatever version of events it is you gave.”

“Thanks for that, un.”

There was nothing said after this, but it was when he brought up, “Whatever happened with the artist from Suna? I haven’t seen or heard of any such artist coming around for the last month. Did you two stop talking?”

Deidara must have done something to give it away because all Itachi could say then was, “…You two did stop talking, then. Was he trying to pressure you into a mating? Did he take advantage of you in a heat or something?”

The wind had felt as though it was kicked out of him, his whole body frozen stiff while he was barely able to force himself to ask, “What makes you ask that?”

“Something is off with your scent, Deidara… Not many can notice it because of the scent of your explosions lingering on you, but I can: you’re starting to smell like two people now and that only happens when an omega is pregnant. Last I checked, you hated nearly everyone in this village, so what is going on here?”

He bit his tongue, unsure of how to tell him it without his only friend close to his age getting mad at him, “You guessed it right with that last question you asked, un.”

Itachi’s scent didn’t flare with outrage. No, all that happened was he asked Deidara as calm as he always does, “What do you want to do about the pregnancy?”

“Terminate it. No way in hell am I being mated to that jackass, un.”

Terminating pregnancies is a crime in Konoha punishable by death thanks to Danzo and the other conservative elders of the village like him.

Deidara had thought Itachi wouldn’t be on his side for this. He had thought he had pushed his friend’s generosity, patience, and understanding nature too far yet he felt a strong arm wrapping around his waist, “I’ll help you find a medic nin who will do it for you. For now, keep using your explosions at me as often as you can in public to avoid anyone picking up on the scent.”

“What if I do snap at someone and use it on them by accident?”

“I’ll cover it for you like I always do. There’s nothing to worry about, Deidara. I won’t let your future be stolen from you like this.”

It was then that he realized how lucky he was to have Itachi in his life. So many omegas in his position have been forcibly mated and while others who tried to terminate their pregnancies were executed. He thinks of how lucky he is to have escaped such a fate and how lucky he is to be mated to the Uchiha today.

Chapter Text

“I had no clue you were planning on running away with some random person from Suna… I didn’t know you were going through so much—I don’t even remember anything changing in your scent!”

“Why do you think Itachi and I fought more before the massacre, un? I even did that stupid fight over the mating thing with him to hide it. Didn’t you notice that I wasn’t eating anything back then, un? Why do you think I was always in my art studio or out in the tent? Did you really think it was because I was always mad at him, un?”

“I mean, I just assumed you were trying to devise a way to get him to leave you alone for good.”

“I wasn’t trying to do that, Ino. I lied about it because I didn’t want to get in trouble for what happened and I was trying to hide that damn scent from the parasite that jerk forced on me, un.”

He glances at her oddly, wondering out loud in his own awestruck realization of his sister’s ignorance to what was going on with him back then, “You didn’t think it was weird that I started to use more violent, volatile explosions on him that would have killed anyone else? You didn’t think it was strange that my hatred for him intensified before the massacre happened and we left, un? How about the way my scent was practically muddled with the aftermath of my sculptures exploding—you had to know something was up then, right?”

Ino looks away from him then, her voice small in that instant, “I…I didn’t think anything of it. I just thought it was from you training to try to be stronger than him so you wouldn’t have to ever mate him.”

“That wasn’t ever the reason, un. We made that up to justify my using something stronger than my regular explosions or any remedies our clan or I could come up with to hide my changing scent.” he is unwavering in keeping his eyes on her the entire time they speak, though it’s pretty obvious to anyone watching, “I guess there’s really a lot you never knew about me, un.”

Somehow, Sakura can see this being true. Ino tended to look at Deidara with such rose colored glasses that it’s almost as though she either refused to acknowledge his flaws or forced herself to repress any signs of something being amiss with him.

The public fighting between Itachi and himself worsened after the discovery of his unwanted pregnancy. Deidara quit eating as often in order to starve himself into a miscarriage, he’d eat herbs said to be forbidden for pregnant omegas to consume for fears of causing a miscarriage only for it to fail repeatedly, and he was starting to get desperate enough to the point where he had Itachi announce an intention of wanting to mate him so he could try using training as a method to induce a miscarriage.

Ultimately, none of it ever worked and he was getting more desperate to leave by the day as the anxiety of having some parasite he knew he’d hate if he ever birthed it came to make him snappy at people.

There was a time where this unfortunately spilled over during his time alone with Itachi. He remembers this very vividly because Itachi had not been successful in finding him a medic nin to terminate the unwanted pregnancy, “I cannot believe this…stupid Danzo…stupid elders…stupid fucking village preventing me from being a human with full rights, un! This is my body, why the hell should I have to give birth to a parasite I don’t want? I hate this place—I don’t care if it were to get destroyed tomorrow, un!”

“Deidara, you don’t mean that.”

“I do, though! I have a right to!” his stress, anxiety, and outrage over the situation came to a breaking point then, “You told me you could find someone to get rid of this for me and you haven’t, un! The longer this gets put off, the closer I could get to having some parasite I will want to kill on site! I can’t wait forever, Itachi, and don’t you dare try to tell me this hellhole village can change when I know sexist assholes like Danzo and his enabler bitch hokage are the ones who fight to keep things this way, un! Since you can’t get me a medic nin who will help me, I’ll leave this place and get one myself.”

He grabbed him by the shoulders and with a monotone yet strangely firm tone was able to tell him while meeting his eyes, “You don’t think I’m stressed about this as well? I’ve been trying my best to find you a medic nin who will help you, but it’s been impossible to do with the way I’ve been under stricter surveillance lately because of Shisui’s passing and my clan—” he releases him after this much is spoken, eventually looking away, “forget I said anything at all. None of what my clan is plotting to do concerns you, nor should you ever know of it.”

“If your clan is plotting to destroy this hellhole, then count me in, un. I hate this place more than Orochimaru himself.” he was trying to lighten the mood for two reasons: one, he felt shitty for being so caught up in his own problem that he didn’t ever think to ask his friend if anything at all had been bothering him and two, because he felt really bad about snapping at him just now.

“No, I wouldn’t ever get you involved in it. Besides, it’s thanks to Shisui’s death and my clan’s own issues that I haven’t had any opportunity to help you with your problem.” when he does meet his eyes again, it’s when he tries to get a promise out of him, “Promise me that when you do leave this place, it will be around the same time I’m leaving.”

He knew the full truth about Shisui and his death. He had never met the guy, but Itachi told him so much about him that he almost felt as though he knew him in a way. Honestly, learning of what happened between them and how Itachi got his eyes from his own cousin was enough to make him want to take his friend out of this hellhole with him on the spot. He fought him on it, though, insisting that he couldn’t leave and things could improve if he stayed to work things out.

Now Deidara is stunned because Itachi had always been so willing to believe this hellhole could change for the better, yet here he is now showing his intent on leaving, “You’re leaving, un? Since when?”

Itachi clearly didn’t feel comfortable enough to say it where they were at, but he did at least offer him some chance to discover this, “I’m leaving because you’re leaving.”

Deidara was about to call out this obvious lie when he too smelt it: the presence of another person watching them too closely for it to be safe for his friend to tell him everything.

“Ah, I see, un…” he was trying to pinpoint where this person was, as well as who they were, but then Itachi gave him a look of urgency and he decided to abandon all plans, “Whatever. Don’t wait up for me because I’m leaving alone, un.”

“You can believe that if you please. Just know it won’t happen.”

They weren’t able to speak alone again until a good month before the massacre of the clan. Though during that time they did communicate through little pieces of paper that would be hidden in sculptures Deidara would throw at him while Itachi would respond in kind with ones of his own given to Deidara whenever he would get done counterattacking him.

It was from one of these replies Deidara learned the truth behind his surveillance: it wasn’t just his clan keeping a closer eye on him, but it was also that Danzo guy—apparently, he found his constant covering up for Deidara suspicious and now he’s slowly starting to catch on to the truth of their actual relationship. It was also from these little notes he discovered there was more to the story than this alone. This of course made him more curious about the situation at hand, with Itachi’s willingness to tell him everything in person if they met in the woods at a park at midnight only adding fuel to his fire.

He didn’t know the full story of what was going on, yet he was more than willing to help his only confidante, ally, and friend through this.

However, this chance was not given to them.

The night they met up in the woods at the park, there was someone else present. Not wanting to take the chance on it being anyone who could rat them out to Danzo, they got into a fight about Shisui that ended with Deidara talking about leaving the village before taking off on his bird without any messages exchanged between them in secret.

He didn’t know much of what was going on, only that Itachi said he would explain it all to him one day in person like he deserved.

Deidara, being the impatient person he was, didn’t feel as though he had all the time in the world to wait.

He had heard whispers amongst his father and his friends of a medic nin from the mist who was wanted by the authorities in Konoha for terminating unwanted pregnancies. Naturally, he decided to go out of the village to find this person on his own to fix his problem so he could better help Itachi with his.

It was a full moon out the night he had made his way out of the village to get rid of the parasite within him and he was ecstatic to finally, at long last, be free from such a burden when he heard the voice of someone too close to him speak in some sort of way which notions a sense of betrayal, “Deidara…you were really going to leave without me?”

He looked behind him, seeing his friend, with the first thing he noticed being his strong stench of blood, “…I was going to come back to help you out after I got rid of it, un. You smell like blood though so maybe we can go back together after it’s over. Did you kill Danzo, the hokage, and all of the other elders, un? If so, then you’ve stolen my heart, Uchiha—”

“No, I did no such thing and I’m afraid that I can never go back.”

“What happened?”

“Long story short, Danzo caused it to happen.” it was all Itachi was going to say. Deidara could tell by how tense he was that he wasn’t in the right mindset to properly discuss what he had done and why, though he didn’t get long to focus on it, “That doesn’t matter now—where are you going? Why did you choose now to leave?”

“Because I couldn’t wait to get rid of the parasite forever.” he would explain further for his sake since he did appear to be disturbed by whatever it was that did happen, “I’m going to the outskirts of Suna to see a medic nin from the mist village who’s wanted by Konoha for terminating unwanted pregnancies in omegas, un. I was going to come back to help you out, but it seems you don’t need it now.”

It was a tense silence between them, with Itachi’s scent turning dampened—something that only happens when he’s feeling desperate or saddened by something. When it gets to be too much for him to withstand, Itachi speaks, “If you do this, you can’t come back to the village. The scent of a terminated pregnancy is too powerful to hide with any amount of remedies or explosions. If you do leave like this to Suna, there’s a chance you will be returned to Konoha by their authorities for entering their land illegally to get a pregnancy terminated and you will be executed.”

“That’s more of a ‘worst case scenario’ thing, un.”

“It’s not: Suna has tightened their security on their borders recently. Your chance of getting caught or potentially sold out by this person to the authorities is too high of a risk to take alone.”

Deidara has to ask, “You want to come with me or something?”

Itachi’s silence is the only confirmation he needs in the moment, “Alright, but if you’re not coming back to the village ever again, then neither am I, un. It’s like what you said, there’s no way I can go back without the scent giving away what I did and this is the perfect chance to leave that hellhole. I don’t know what you did, but I don’t care, un. All I care about is getting out of here with the only friend outside of my sister that I’ve got…then again, I’m positive I can go back in there, use some good ol’ Yamanaka sleep remedy, and bring her with us. It'd be better than letting her grow up in that place, un.”

The alpha was relieved to hear this, though he did take issue with one thing, “Taking Ino away from her home, her family, her friend? You realize how selfish that is, don’t you?”

“And it’s somehow better to leave her alone in a sexist place like Konoha? She’s not just my little sister; she’s my friend and if I would never abandon you, then I would never abandon her either, un.”

Itachi sighed, placing his fingertips on his forehead in response, “…It’s tragic really. This is part of what attracts me to you: the fact that you love your sister so much and genuinely want what’s best for her no matter what. I get where you’re coming from; I want nothing more than to head back to the compound and bring Sasuke with us as much as you do with Ino…but we can’t do such a thing.”

“Why not?”

“Because Sasuke loves Naruto too much and even if he did understand why we have to leave, he’d never forgive me if I took him away from his chosen omega…much like how Ino would put on a brave face for you, but deep down, she’d subconsciously resent you for taking her away from Sakura.”

He instantly frowned at the mention of her name and Itachi put up his free hand, “I know you hate her, but she’s not like the one who assaulted you nor is she a thing like the others who have mistreated you—”

“I don’t care, un. Ino can do better than some Konoha alpha. She can find a better alpha or beta in Suna, where they will be raised to respect someone like her, un.”

“Would she really like that, though? From what you’ve said, she likes her—”

“Nope, no way. She can and will do better, un.”

Ultimately what stopped Deidara was the most painful cramp he had ever experienced in his lifetime hitting him then and there. Itachi’s eyes were full of panic as he rushed over to his side while the omega crumpled to his knees, “What’s going on? Did your water break?”

“N-No…it’s just a cramp...I’ve been getting more of them lately, but usually I can work through the pain. I-I guess not today, un.”

“Did you take another one of those miscarriage inducing concoctions?”

He nodded, causing the alpha to groan, “Deidara, you know how risky that is!”

“I had to take it! I didn’t know about the medic nin before I did, un!” he held back a scream and stood on shaken legs, “I-I have to get Ino…I won’t leave her here—”

“No, what you need is to see the medic nin right away! How do I know you haven’t poisoned yourself with this?”

Deidara knew he was right and ultimately, he was afraid of the possibility of the parasite being born too early, “Your forehead is starting to feel too warm…we have to find the medic nin now.”

“I’m not leaving—”

“You can’t bring her along.”

“I know, but…I want to leave her a note, un. I-I want to say goodbye. She deserves that at least, un.”

He had a piece of paper on him, one of normal length that he was going to give to Itachi when he came back, but he supposes that won’t matter now.

With the pencil he has on hand, he writes her a letter with Itachi’s help, allowing him to get a better idea of what happened as he did so. By the time he was done, the cramp was gone, but the warmth on his forehead remained so he made good use of his time and headed back to his home where the letter—now in a moonflower sculpture—was left where she’d find it.

When they did get to the outskirts of Suna, Itachi was able to use his Sharingan to get them past the security to reach the area where the medic nin was located. Of course, they had used the knowledge Itachi had known of about the guy when he was an ANBU, so finding him wasn’t hard.

What was annoying was while the older man with the bald head and wrinkled face was willing to work on him, he did have one archaic condition: “In the mist, only omegas who are mated or about to be mated can have a pregnancy terminated and those are the ethics I abide by. I’m sorry Deidara, but I won’t terminate your pregnancy for you.”

The problem was, the pregnancy was starting to endanger his health—something the medic nin himself had told them when examining him—and he hadn’t been in good health when he got there either: he was in so much pain he felt like he couldn’t move, he lost all appetite, and he was starting to vomit despite not having much of anything to eat—not to mention the fever that had worsened while they were on their way there to see him.

In desperation, he looked to Itachi and with as much strength as he had in him, demanded, “Mate me then, Itachi. No way in hell am I dealing with this any longer, un.”

“No.”

“Why not? Don’t tell me you have all sorts of requirements now, un.”

“No. It’s because I refuse to make you go against your ethics and principles to save your life.”

He then turned to the doctor, his threat clear despite his deceptively neutral demeanor, “Treat him now before I have to force you to.”

The old beta man was stubborn despite the threat, “I refuse.”

“…You only have yourself to blame then.”

Before he knew it, the older man was frozen in his spot, unable to move or speak while the Uchiha worked his magic on him. It didn’t really take too long—he wants to say maybe three minutes at the most—before the man was freed from the Sharingan’s control, trembling all over when nodding quickly, “A-Alright, so, like I-I promised—I’ll save this omega’s life.”

Itachi had a calmer aura to himself…though to Deidara’s eye, there was a bit of smugness there, “I’m glad to see we have come to an understanding.”

He remembers this moment as the one where he first saw himself falling head over heels for Itachi Uchiha. For what could be more romantic than a person tormenting another for the sake of saving their loved one’s life?

Of course, this was his final thought before he was put under so the operation to terminate the pregnancy could proceed. When it was all done and they had left to another location for Deidara to properly recover, Itachi had given him an option, “You can go wherever you please, Deidara. I won’t stop you, but I’m afraid I can’t come with you—I have my own path to take and I need to see it through.”

He didn’t know what all this path was, but he knew one thing for certain: he didn’t want to start over without the one person who got him to the medic nin and helped nurse him back to full health after his operation was over.

“There’s no need to tempt me with this; I’m going with you no matter what.”

“You sure? You could live your life as an artist like you always wanted and maybe find yourself…someone…someone.”

He had to stop a chuckle to this; Itachi had said in the past Uchihas are the jealous type and that’s why Sasuke gets so mad whenever another alpha or beta shows some interest in Naruto no matter how vague it may be. In his eyes, Itachi’s no different or better than his brother; just more subtle and refined about it.

“Someone-someone, huh, un? Looks like you’re just as clingy to me as Sasuke is to Naruto.” before he could fight him on it, Deidara finished his thought, “I don’t mind, un. You really won me over back there when you made that sexist pig save my life and to be honest, I wouldn’t want to start over without you after that. I owe you my life and I’ll repay you it by staying by your side no matter what instead of ending up with ‘someone-someone’, un.”

The stoic alpha didn’t say much of anything, but Deidara could see the shadow of a smile there on his lips, “…We should be heading out now. Wouldn’t want anyone from the village to find us.”

Deidara follows his lead, more than interested to see where this path will lead him; all the same more than willing to stay by Itachi’s side through thick and thin.

Chapter Text

She may have learned everything just now, yet she couldn’t stop herself from trying to better grasp some parts of this, “You mated Itachi because he used his Sharingan on a medic nin who wouldn’t help you right away?”

“No, un! That happened to keep a certain Jashinist pest away from me.”

Which is completely true: Deidara never wanted to mate Itachi, it only happened because stupid Hidan would not stop greeting him with the same damn cocky smirk and openly proud, “Hey blondie, still single? Because if you ever get bored or want to fuck someone during a heat, I’m more than open to being your dildo.” every time he saw him. Let’s not forget the numerous times he’s gone off on him only for that damn bastard to laugh it off and moan like the creep he is, “Fucking hell, you’re sexy—wanna ditch this place and go back to my room?”

It got to the point where no matter how often Itachi and himself threatened him the alpha wouldn’t stop pestering him. As such, they ended up mating to end the constant flirting—that’s what Hidan calls it anyway, but Deidara doesn’t believe that’s how well adjusted human beings flirt.

He won’t get into it with Ino here; it’d be too much to explain and he doubts he has much time left to tell her more without running the risk of getting caught, “I know I was really against mating when I lived in that awful village, but I’m more neutral on it now, un. It doesn’t mean I’ve gotten neutral on everything else I’ve ever told you about omega rights. If anything, I’ve gotten more radical with time, un. I think being in a better place than the shithole I’m from played a big part in it.”

Ino somehow felt a tiny bit better after learning this because it felt as though Deidara wasn’t so different from when he lived in the village, like the person before her wasn’t a complete stranger who lived a double life, “I know the village has some issues—”

“Some, un? Not allowing omega children to be taken out of dangerous homes because of ‘tradition’, forcing omegas to give birth to pups they don’t want, not doing away with arranged matings or auctioning off omegas—that’s not ‘some’ issues. Those are major problems, un. The fact it hasn’t gotten better over the years is all I need to know there’s no hope for any omega in Konoha, especially you.”

She refused to agree with him on this end because she didn’t want to think he meant it earlier when he said he didn’t want to come back, “Things are different this time around! We’ve gotten a hokage, her name’s Tsunade and Naruto told me she will change things for the better for omegas everywhere in the village. If you came back home and gave it a chance, you could see it for yourself, you could help her to make these changes, you could come back home to us after all this time.”

“I’m not coming back home, un. I’d rather get executed than go back there.”

“Why not? What can I do to make you come back?”

She was getting desperate, grasping at straws to come up with something, anything to make him change his mind about coming back home and setting things straight with everyone there.

Except this did not happen like she thought it would, “Do you think I’m dumb enough to believe anything a hokage has to say, un? I know better than to trust any enabler of Danzo and his ilk. As long as he is around, I’m not going to come back ever again, un.”

“But you’re here now! If you just come back with me and explain this all to Tsunade, I know she’ll listen and do something about it—”

“I know better than to trust anyone in that position, Ino. Hokages are garbage humans much like the elders they enable, un. I already told you I don’t care about that hellhole, I already told you I don’t want to come back…what more do I need to do before you get it?”

He decides then since she’s made her intentions as clear as day he may as well do the right thing and make his known to her, “I didn’t go through everything I did to make this happen for nothing, un… Since you’ve made it clear you want to force me to come back there without any concern for what I want to do and how I feel about that hellhole, then I may as well be brutally honest with you.”

Ino had some sliver of hope he would make a simple demand for her to follow and then he’d come back or maybe he was planning on leaving his life as an Akatsuki member behind to live in Suna like he always wanted. She refused to believe her brother would have any ill intention for doing all of this. She wanted to believe the Deidara she had known and idolized all of her life was going to be the same exact person she always remembered.

It was naïve, it was stupid, and she knows this—yet at the same time, her desire to get her brother back and fix the lives of her parents as well as his own clouded all rational and critical thought processes.

“I did not come back here to return to Konoha, un. I hate that place more than anything and if I could, I’d burn it all to the ground.” this part left her in a state of wide eyed shock similar to how one would look after getting cold water dumped over their head, “I hate it so much there I didn’t even enter it to leave the note to you—I had another Akatsuki member do it for me and Itachi was the one who left the sculpture trail for you to find me here, un. Ever since I heard about the snake loser destroying this place, I put the plan I’ve working on ever since I left to action.”

He takes a single step forward, being the first one between them to make any move at all to bridge the gap, “I’m here to save you from this sexist hellhole, to give you a better future and a chance at being seen as a person like I am now, un. I’ve wanted to take you away from here ever since I first left—now is the only chance you’ve got to come with me to a better life than you’d ever get here with sexist shits like Danzo around.”

Ino couldn’t believe it when she heard it.

All this time, she’s been wanting to bring Deidara back…but he not only never wanted to return home to their family, he also wanted to take her with him.

She was speechless. She genuinely had nothing to say to him. The shock was too severe—she’s had to take in so much already, to have this on top of it all didn’t make it easier on her.

“I know you’re shocked and all, but this is better for you, un. I can give you a better life than mom and dad ever could, we can see and speak to each other like we did when we were younger, we can start over and get closer again like we used to be—don’t you want that?”

She hadn’t said anything, her struggle to take all of this in making it almost hard for her to breathe, “I know it’s a lot to take in, but trust me, un, this is the best way! I’ve missed you so much over the years, I’ve wanted to see and speak to you again every day like we used to and now we have a chance to do it all over again, but in a better place! Won’t that be great, un?”

It was this statement that ultimately gave her enough of a snap out of her thoughts to ask him something, “What about mom and dad?”

“What?”

“What about mom and dad, Dei? Haven’t you thought about them once?”

He was oddly apathetic when responding to this, “No, un. They did nothing to protect me when I needed it most and they would’ve been against me terminating the parasite before it killed me—you were too young to know some of their less than perfect stances, Ino. You didn’t hear what I did growing up and you didn’t have the same experience with them I did, un. I have a right to not think about them when they would’ve chosen to punish me back then instead of helping me.”

She can concede this; she’s heard her parents lamenting enough late at nights or when they thought were alone about the many, many ways they felt they had failed Deidara before he left. Though they haven’t made the same mistakes in years with her, which leaves her to believe he’s being too harsh, “They made mistakes in the past, but they’ve changed for the better. I know they have because I was the one stuck at home, dealing with grieving, devastated parents all the time.”

“It’s their fault for not dealing with their emotional issues in a better way, un. They made you deal with it, not me.”

“Yeah, but—you left…by your own choice, you left… I know you left for a good reason, but Deidara, you still left—you had us thinking you could’ve been kidnapped, you had us all so worried that you were being tortured and worse for all these years it was a constant fear in the back of our minds! Mom and dad don’t even stay in the house anymore unless if they need to eat, bathe, or sleep. I fought for the tent in the backyard to be kept up because I was so convinced I could bring you back.”

In the trees, Sakura watches in pride as Ino unloads it all on him like he deserved, “I’ve fought for you, I’ve burnt bridges for you, I hated Sasuke because of you, and I forced myself to try to make my crush on Sakura go away because you didn’t like her and I didn’t want to disappoint you when you came back! I’ve lived years of my life—no, my whole life, putting you first and foremost in everything and for what? For you to tell me to leave my friends behind? To leave my dream of being the first ever omega kunoichi behind? To leave my family, my squad, my achievements, my home behind? I can’t do it; I cannot leave with you no matter how much I miss you because I have my own dreams and goals I want to accomplish that can’t be done anywhere but Konoha.”

“Okay, I get it, I messed up big time—”

“No, you don’t get it because you weren’t here and you didn’t have to deal with it like I did! I’m done putting you first, I’m not giving up everything that makes me happy to give you what you want!”

He groans in response to this, “Alright, I get it, un! I wasn’t here for the damage I caused, but what was I supposed to do? Put in the letter that I terminated a pregnancy and have dad sent out to bring me back for execution, un? Was I supposed to let the parasite kill me?”

“No, I would never want that for you! I understand why you left, and I get it more than you will ever know. I would never want you to not have the right to choose, but I don’t want to leave with you because things here won’t improve if omegas like me keep running away from here.”

He fights her more on this because he fears there is something else to the equation she’s overlooking, “Ino, there’s a lot about Konoha you don’t know… I am trying to save you from this miserable shithole before it gets you killed, un! Come back with me before it does!”

She stood her ground, not wavering on it once, “I won’t. I’m staying here because if you can get yourself a new life and a mate who clearly loves you, then I have a right to stay here and do the same.”

“Why are you so hellbent on defending a place that has a whole legal system and society rigged against omegas, un? Why are you fighting for the right of sexists to oppress us?”

“I’m not fighting for that! I was fighting to bring you home, but now you don’t want to come back, there’s no point in fighting for it anymore. I’m going to fight for the original reason I wanted to become one before you left: to be the one to prove everyone wrong about what an omega can and can’t do.”

Deidara must have done something off because before she knew it, Sakura was getting out of the trees and glaring him down, “She’s not going to leave with you. Drop it already and let her go home.”

There was a frown on his face at the very sight of her, “Ugh, you brought this alpha along, un?”

“Yes, she brought me along because she trusted me enough to help her bring you home.” she didn’t frown yet her anger was very much there in her scent and voice, “I’ll admit I always thought you left on your own, but I didn’t think it was to save your own life. You weren’t even in the wrong to leave the way you did with the way things are in the village, but just because you hate Konoha doesn’t mean Ino has to and just because you have issues with your parents, doesn’t mean you get to disregard their feelings in your plan to bring Ino back with you.”

She took a step closer, standing in front of Ino as she made it clear: “You were always selfish and controlling towards her back when we were little kids. I couldn’t do anything about it then, but I will do something about it now.” a kunai is soon in her hand, her stance changing to a fighting one, “If you get too close to her, if you dare try to take her away by force, I will defeat you for her sake because I know she won’t ever fight you, no matter how wrong she thinks you are.”

He growled, glancing at his sister then, “…Ino, you really couldn’t do better than her? What about Hinata, isn’t she a great beta, un?”

“Sakura and I may have had a rough patch, but we worked past it and we’re better than ever now. I won’t repress my crush for her any longer just because you don’t like her. I don’t want to date or mate Hinata or anyone else—I like Sakura. Dating or mating anyone else feels wrong.”

Sakura raised her hand holding the kunai, “Back. Off. She doesn’t need to put you first forever and she doesn’t need to push people away because of you anymore either. If you can’t respect her wishes while demanding her to respect yours, then I will strike.”

Before he could strike at her, there was another figure coming out of the shadows…no, both of them knew it well: it was none other than Itachi Uchiha himself.

He grabbed Deidara by his shoulder with one hand, immediately causing the omega to stand down with his very touch alone, his presence one of calm in the tense moment, “Deidara, we need to leave. Ino doesn’t want to come back with us and you don’t want to return to Konoha. This whole attempt was a failure.”

“But…I can’t leave her here, not with Danzo, not with—”

“I know, but you have to respect her wishes for now.” he gave the girls a quick look before reminding him of something they hadn’t been told about, “Besides, you always said you wanted Ino to stand up for herself more around you, to be her own person instead of an echo chamber…isn’t she doing that now?”

It took him a good minute, but he let out a heavy exhale while looking at his sister, “Yeah, I did…and I’m proud of her for doing it, though I wish it didn’t have to be now, un.”

“If she’s strong enough to stand up to you, then she’ll be strong enough to handle being in Konoha for a bit longer, don’t you think? We have no more time to be here; it’s best if you leave Ino with a proper goodbye this time around instead of what you did years ago.”

Itachi motioned for Sakura to move out of the way. She threw a quick glance at Ino from her shoulder, only to receive a nod as the omega stepped forward to bridge the gap on her own end.

Being so close to him felt foreign after years of him not being around. There was a moment of silence between them, with Deidara being the one to break it, “I guess…you’ve really grown and become your own person, huh?”

“Yeah, I have.”

She didn’t expect to see him smile again, the sight of it making her almost cry, “…I’m proud of you, un. I know I didn’t handle any of this right. I’m sorry for the mess I left you in, un.”

He was the one who hugged her, with Ino’s arms slowly coming up to hug him back, “Goodbye, Ino; I hope to see you again someday, hopefully with you leaving this place with me.”

“Goodbye, Deidara. I hope to see you again too; when I’m done making this village a good enough place for you to want to come home to.”

Their hug ended after this, with the two siblings and their respective alphas leaving in peace…can it be called ‘peace’ if Ino’s mind is racing with everything she’s been told by him tonight? She’s not sure, but she hopes it will clear up when she gets home.

Chapter Text

Everything with Deidara is over now, but it doesn’t feel resolved. Some part of her wishes she wouldn’t have seen him tonight and gotten the answers to the questions that have been plaguing her mind for years because now she’s stuck with the worst question of all: what does she do with this information? 

Does she tell her family and run the risk of them going to Tsunade, which would lead into the village elders—specifically this Danzo character he kept mentioning—finding out the real reason why Deidara ran away in the first place? 

If she did that, she’d be condemning her brother to a death sentence and she’d never forgive herself for it. 

Okay, but what about her friends? Could she trust Lee and Naruto to keep this a secret like she knows she can with Sakura? 

Lee will be able to keep it a secret, this much she can say. Growing up in the clan he did, she’s positive he’d be more empathetic and willing to keep it a secret for her brother’s sake. 

Naruto, however, is too loyal to Sasuke…which isn’t bad thing, if she’s being honest. However, this could lead into Sasuke doing something stupid and reckless to either get more information from Deidara or push him further down a dark path to kill Itachi one day. Which would lead into Iruka and Kakashi knowing about it, thus leading into Tsunade and the elders discovering the real reason Deidara ran away, ending up with him being wanted for execution.

Due to this, she knows Naruto cannot be trusted…but then…what should she do about it? Just keep her mouth shut and pretend as though she’s still ignorant to the true reasons for her brother’s departure? She’s not sure she could even if she tried, especially not around her parents. 

It wasn’t until they got closer to the village that Sakura cleared her throat, “Ino, are you okay after everything that happened?” 

“Why would you ask me that?” 

“Because you’re giving off a lot of distress pheromones right now and you haven’t said a word since we left Deidara behind.” 

All she can tell her is, “Oh right…sorry about that. It was a lot to take in—I’m still taking it in.” 

Sakura can acknowledge this, “Yeah, I bet it would be very hard to do because he did leave for a good reason and it wasn’t like he helped massacre the clan or did anything bad. I don’t think he would have ever left at all if things in the village weren’t so bad for him…none of it truly was his fault.” 

She can admit to feeling relieved about this, yet on the other hand, she feels nothing but deep guilt for not noticing her brother’s pain before he ran away. She can’t help but to believe she could have done more to prevent him from becoming a criminal in the first place—maybe she could’ve snuck him out to their aunt in Suna, maybe she could’ve gone with him to prevent him from leaving with Itachi to begin with. 

No, there’s nothing she could’ve done. Deidara is as stubborn as she is and if he really did want to leave with Itachi, he would’ve left with him regardless of what she did. 

Still…she should’ve been a better confidante…right? 

Maybe then he wouldn’t be so angry at everything in the village, including their parents. 

“True, but I don’t know… I guess I feel dumb for not noticing there was something off there this whole time.” 

“No one noticed something was off between them this whole time, not even Sasuke. There’s no way you could’ve either.” 

She didn’t have much of anything to say to this because damn, Sasuke… She feels so horrible for how she’s treated him over the years! Here she had thought he was horrible because Deidara said his clan was horrible and now, to discover he had been friends with Itachi long before they were mated, made her realize that she treated him as badly as she did for years over an act their siblings put up to thwart any more negative attention from her brother.

As they got closer to the village, Sakura was blunt about the issue at hand, not sparing her a moment on it, “You will tell your parents about this, won’t you?”

She didn’t have an answer to this. Telling them would bring up the risk of Deidara’s real reason for leaving being made known to everyone and that’s the one thing she wants to avoid, “I don’t know…if they learn the real reason why he left, I’m not sure if they’d be able to keep it a secret. Deidara didn’t trust them for a reason and I know he’s not one to say that to anyone without any real motive to.”

“But you can’t hide this from them! I didn’t know how badly they’ve been handling this until recently; you weren’t the only one missing him this whole time. He’s their son too—how can you keep anything about him a secret from them?”

“I don’t want him to be brought back here to be executed! What else am I supposed to do, tell them everything, have them go to Tsunade, and then have that Danzo wanting his head? Besides, how do I know they’ll be supportive of him when he talked like they weren’t?”

Sakura doesn’t back down on her position regardless as they make their way back to the village, “That doesn’t matter; they’re his parents and they wouldn’t do anything to get him killed.”

“But—”

“You don’t come from a conservative clan, Ino. If he was from Lee’s clan, then yeah, I could see not wanting to tell them anything but he’s from your clan. There’s no reason to not tell them.”

She would have had something to combat this with, but she never got to say it thanks to a little development happening when they were only a few trees away from the village’s gate.

“Ino, what the hell!”

Shikamaru was greeting them and boy, did he look pissed, “Your dad is freaking out because he thinks you ran away to find Deidara! I was woken up from the best sleep I was ever getting to your dad banging on the door of my home and panicking to my dad when he couldn’t find you after feeling a draft in the house and not smelling your scent anywhere!”

Sakura was the one to answer this, “How did you know to look for us here?”

“I followed your scents, how else was I supposed to find you?” he is snarling and clearly, still extremely pissed off at them, “I swear, if this is because of your psycho brother—”

Ino is now the one who’s pissed off, “How dare you talk about him like that! Deidara is not a psycho!” the only reason she didn’t attack him on the spot is because Sakura got to her side and held her back before she could.

“Ugh, spare me the lecture already! We need to get back to the village before they send out a full search team for you.”

Sakura answered for Ino here because she didn’t think she could give a proper answer to this, “We were just coming back, Shikamaru. We weren’t running away, honest.”

He let out a harsh breath and turned his back to them, “Come on, let’s get going.”

The girls followed him back to the village without any small talk being made because Ino still wanted to attack Shikamaru for what he said about Deidara, Shikamaru was still mad at being woken up for this, and Sakura was holding onto her, trying to maintain this fragile balance of calm.

A calm so fragile, it was broken the moment they entered the village and Inoichi was there, being equals part relieved and angered in appearance at the sight of the girls. He had approached them both, with his first reaction being to cross his arms and frown, “What were you doing?”

“It was nothing!” she insisted, only to be cut off by her father, “Nothing? It wasn’t ‘nothing’ when I couldn’t smell your scent in the house, it wasn’t ‘nothing’ when I thought you had deserted the village to go after your brother! I thought you were out there, going to get yourself killed—don’t you know how sick you made me with the stress and worry of your actions? I truly thought you were being as reckless as your brother! How could you do this to me, to your mother, after knowing what Deidara’s leaving did to us as a family?”

Sakura decided to intervene before Ino did or said something in a moment of anger or defensiveness, “She knew what it did to you guys—she knows that better than anyone else! Don’t you think it affects her to have you and your mate gone all the time? Don’t you think losing Deidara—her only friend for years—bothered her just as much as you? Deidara’s disappearance didn’t just affect one or two people; it affected everyone in your household equally. The only difference is, Ino didn’t have the support of a mate like you did over the years.”

While this led into a moment so tense anyone walking near them would turn around and walk away, Shikamaru, his father, and Chouji’s father all left the scene in silence. None of them wanted to be there for whatever would happen next, nor did it feel right to be there. Whatever will be said, whatever is going on, it’s clearly a family affair that should be handled behind closed doors. This much they all knew when leaving the trio behind.

The moment they were alone, Inoichi shot a curious look at Sakura, his first words to her being, “Let me guess, Ino told you about that, huh?”

When she nodded, he shot back with, “Well then, did Ino tell you about why, exactly, she left in the middle of night without shutting her window?”

Ino’s kicking herself for being so dumb like that mentally whereas Sakura doesn’t lie to him, “She did, and I left with her.”

“Why did you two leave, then? What could’ve been so important for you two to do something so reckless at a time when our village’s security is down, and the both of you would’ve been more prone to kidnapping or worse?”

Before she could say it, Ino grasped her hand, “Sakura, don’t say it!”

“He needs to know.” she stated firmly, “Besides, you know if he really wants to find out, he can. There’s no point in lying to him about this.”

It is with a glow of dread on Ino’s face that Sakura makes her request, “Can we go back to your place?”

When they do arrive at the Yamanaka home, they are met with the sight of Ino’s red-eyed mother, wrought with anger and heartbreak when addressing her so harshly it caught all of them off guard when they entered the home, “Didn’t you learn your lesson years ago?”

Ino didn’t get the chance to defend herself here when her mother was shoving the note to Inoichi, “She hid this in her drawer from us! She didn’t tell us Deidara was going to be here, she never said a word to us about it! We could have gotten him home, he could have come back and everything would have gone back to the way it was before!”

Her tear eyes were on her once more—the color appearing so similar to Deidara’s in the light—as she cried out while grabbing her shoulders, “Why didn’t you tell me anything? Why didn’t you tell your father anything? How could you have kept this from us?”

“I didn’t want to make him run away or lose his trust for good! I only brought Sakura along because I figured it’d be better to bring only one person instead of an army that he could smell out.” she sighed, owning up to it then, “He’s still my brother, I will always want him to approve of me… I guess losing his trust scared me because I didn’t want to lose him as a friend.”

“I’ll forgive everything without any punishment for you if you let me look in your memory of this meeting with him.”

Her mother is stunned, “Dear, no! Don’t make such an offer to her! That’s just cruel—”

“I’ll let you look, but only if you promise to never tell the hokage, Danzo, or any of the village elders.” Ino bargains back, shocking everyone in the room.

Her mother thinks it’s because she wants to avoid punishment. Sakura thinks it’s all down to her not wanting to keep the truth a secret from them while doing whatever she can to secure Deidara’s safety in the process.

“I promise I will not tell them anything.”

“Then you may look right now if you want.”

He nods, using his jutsu then as his mate and Sakura watched on. While this was happening, Sakura asks, “Can I stay the night? It’s just…what happened tonight…it was a lot on Ino and since my parents are out of the house, I think it’d be nice to have somewhere with people to stay.”

“Sure, you can go ahead.” she decides to lift the air of tension, “Do you want some tea, Sakura?”

She isn’t hungry or thirsty at the moment. She’s more worn out and tired than anything else, however she won’t deny the olive branch being extended to her, “…I can always go for some tea.”

When alone with the mother of the girl she’d like to mate one day, it doesn’t feel too awkward, though she can tell she is just as worn out from all of this as she is. Her dark circles, bloodshot, puffy eyes from crying, and the tremors in her hands as she makes the tea are enough to hope that something will end the silence between them soon for her sake.

“I’m so sorry…I never knew Ino would talk you into this.”

What?

“No, she didn’t talk me into anything—I chose to come along to keep her safe from a potential threat just like I did when he first went missing.”

She chuckles, though it’s painfully apathetic, “I’m sorry for assuming, it’s just, well, Ino was so dominative back then…she really got that from her brother, didn’t she?”

Sakura would never deny that, “She really did.”

Things fall into a silence between them again, with Sakura wishing she had just gone up to Ino’s room to sleep there instead of dragging this out, but then she pours her the chamomile tea (she can tell what it is by the scent of it alone), “…Thank you for coming along and keeping Ino safe. I know you never liked Deidara and he never liked you back, so I can only imagine how much it had to kill you to do anything to see him again. Still, I think it’s lovely that you were so willing to set aside whatever negative feelings you have towards Deidara to come along with Ino on this mission of hers.”

“I did it for her, not me.”

“You must be in love with her then to do such a thing.” she blushed a bit to this while being handed her tea, to which she started to drink down rather quickly, “I don’t mind it; I have always approved of you for Ino despite Deidara’s objections. All I ask is that you keep a promise to me; can you do that for me, Sakura?”

She agreed with a nod and the woman smiled, “Great—now, I want you to promise me you will never abuse her, cheat on her, mistreat her, play games with her heart, or get her pregnant before you two mate.”

The alpha girl almost choked on what little is left of her tea to this, but she sets down her cup long enough to confirm it, “I promise I will never abuse her, cheat on her, mistreat her, play games with her heart, or get her pregnant before we mate. I would never think to do any of that stuff anyway—”

“I know but it’s nice to have a verbal promise made. I could never think to get such a thing out of Itachi and let’s face it, you’re the only decent alpha that’s ever had anything to do with one of my pups.” she pauses, stopping herself from rambling off on a tangent, “I mean, what I was trying to say is, I just want to be sure that I have your word on this because I know you to be an alpha whose word I can trust.”

She finishes the rest of her tea (the Yamanakas never fill their cups all the way for some reason or another) and with a smile is able to speak without any awkwardness on her end, “You really think I am that trustworthy?”

“Why wouldn’t I? You may have made mistakes in the past with Ino, but you’ve clearly changed to become a better person and I can respect that more than I could a perfect person I hardly know or trust.”

She was about to say something when a yawn escaped her. In response, her (hopefully) future mother-in-law told her to, “Get to bed if you’re that tired, Sakura. I wouldn’t want to keep you awake any longer if you aren’t in the mood to be.”

“Are you sure you can handle for waiting for this alone?”

“I’m positive I can; Ino has handled a lot on her own—it can’t kill me to do the same just this once.”

Sakura’s a bit hesitant…but also very tired now that the adrenaline has worn off from this situation, “If you say so…but where would I sleep then?”

Her laugh put her at ease when she heard it, “You can sleep in Ino’s room! I’m not Deidara; I know you won’t do anything inappropriate. If you want, I can get you something to wear to bed.”

“Okay, sure.”

Ino’s mom wound up getting her a plain white sleepshirt to wear (it was pretty big; the shirt itself went down to her knees) that she claimed was one Ino got for her birthday a year or so ago that she never wore much because it was too big on her. As long as Deidara never wore it and she didn’t have to reek of him, she was fine with anything offered to her.

As she entered Ino’s room, she wished her a, “Goodnight. Thanks for the tea and letting me stay here.”

The gentle smile only left her feeling more confident somehow, “It’s no problem. I’ll tell Ino where you’re at when Inoichi’s done.”

Sakura shuts the door behind her and despite laying down on Ino’s bed, she can’t really sleep so she’s stuck staring at the ceiling. Ino’s mother, on the other hand, is stuck in the same predicament, except she’s at the dining room table waiting for Inoichi to be done soon in anticipation of what would be revealed from their daughter’s memory of whatever it is that happened tonight with Deidara.

It was ten minutes after she got Sakura to bed that Inoichi was done with seeing through Ino’s memory. When he was done, his eyes were full of an unspoken she’d only ever seen before in the Uchiha boy after losing his clan whereas Ino woke up feeling groggy, “I’m really tired, dad—can I go to bed now?”

He responded by hugging her tightly and whispering in her ear, “I’m so sorry…all of this was my fault, but I promise you, I will bring him home no matter what.”

“Dad…you don’t have to do that. Nothing we do will make him want to come home. The village has to change before he will ever want to come back, and I will change it so one day he’ll want to come home to us.”

“…I know you will.” he whispered out one last time when releasing her from the hug and letting her go up to her room to get to sleep.

Sakura saw Ino entering her room and greeted her calmly, “Hey, how did it go?”

“Dad’s really upset…” she said when entering the room, “When he saw my memory, it bothered him to hear Deidara say the things he did about him and mom. Before he left, he was so devastated—I really thought he was going to cry, but he managed to hold it together somehow.”

She didn’t question Sakura’s being here still. If of anything, she wanted her to stay the night to help fill the emptiness in the home now that her parents know the truth of Deidara’s leaving the village.

She got changed in front of her, trusting that she wouldn’t perv on her, and got in bed wearing a pair of pale grey pajama pants and a dark blue cami. Being in bed with her like this made her giggle, “Man, if Deidara was here, he’d so kill me and my parents for allowing us to sleep together like this!”

Sakura didn’t want to think about Deidara and how he acted towards her whenever she did spend the night, but Ino continued, “It’s nice though; who knew having you here now would be all I need to actually relax and get some sleep tonight?”

“Yeah, who knew?”

Upon learning of the reason behind Deidara’s disappearance, all his mate could do was ask, “What will we tell everyone? You know it will only be a matter of time before they find out—Inoichi, we cannot tell them the truth no matter what, please! Deidara is still our son and I want him to come back home to us alive!”

“I know, that’s why I’m going to tell everyone else that Deidara met up with Ino and Sakura at the village border where he admitted to being forced into leaving Konoha by Itachi Uchiha. Years later, he was ultimately manipulated into a mating by the alpha with his Sharingan. The only ones who will know the truth are me, you, Ino, Sakura, Shikaku, and Choza. I know they will never turn on us or Deidara; it’s safe to tell them…but outside of this, no one else will know the truth, I promise.”

He held her hand tightly as she wept, “I failed Deidara as a father: I should have known something wasn’t right with his relationship with Itachi, I should have known he was writing letters to some older man in Suna, I should have known something changed in his scent—I should have done more to make him feel safe in trusting me with his very life and ultimately I didn’t. Clearly, he doesn’t see me as a good father and that’s all my own fault. I owe it to you, Ino, and him to make it right by fixing what went wrong between us in the first place.”

He released her hand, his heart heavy when going on, “Ino has dealt with far too much of this. She’s still a kid and I shouldn’t have let her believe bringing our son back was ever her responsibility. It’s time I step up as a father—it’s time I fix the mess I created by not being good enough to Deidara.”

Chapter Text

When Deidara and Itachi returned to the hideout, Deidara happened to enter it before his mate. This normally wouldn’t matter under any other circumstance, but just his luck, the most obnoxious member of their group happened to see him alone, “Hey blondie, did you lose the stick up his ass alpha of yours? If so, then I’m more than willing to fuck you in every which way you’d dream of being fucked by a real alpha.” 

He was about to send a sculpture his way in the hopes of it killing him, but no, he didn’t get so lucky. 

His mate happened to come in right when Hidan had made such a comment, his scent disgusting as his anger took over, “Pray tell Hidan, how powerful is your death wish? Because it seems to me it must be extremely powerful for you to make such comments about Deidara when I’m obviously still alive and not too far behind him.” 

The Jashinist groaned loudly, his violet eyes rolling, “Ah fucking damn—you’re still alive, huh? That blows; here I was thinking him and I could do some good ol’ kinky fucking, but no, you just had to be fucking breathing, didn’t you?” 

“I’m afraid so, but then, you should know better than to make any untoward moves on my mate.” his voice was low yet there was something darker slowly escaping him the longer he stood by his mate’s side. 

Soon enough, Hidan was backing off, “Okay, fine! Just don’t go using that fucking creepy Sharingan on me, bastard.” 

The mated couple didn’t spare him a response. Instead, they walked away from him with their heads held high and Itachi walking closer to Deidara’s side to let the entire group know to not mess with either one of them unless if they have a death wish. 

Being a mated couple meant that they shared a room, which was nice because Deidara could get a bit messy whereas Itachi kept things clean, tidy, and functional. It was also nice because it meant he could plop himself down directly on Itachi when he was laying down and bury his face in his chest whenever he was upset or annoyed by anything. 

Tonight happened to be one of those nights, “I cannot believe her—wanting to stay in the hellhole, actually having a thing for the Haruno, and rejecting the offer to leave when I gave her the chance, un? What the hell is wrong with her?”

“She’s allowed to her own opinion of things, Deidara.” 

“I know that, but why couldn’t she be of the opinion that Konoha is a shitty place that won’t change, un!” everything he’s said thus far is muffled, but then he lifts his head off his mate’s chest to meet his eyes, “I don’t get it; what more could I have done to make her want to leave with me and start over somewhere better than Konoha?” 

Itachi knew the moment they returned here he would have to lay down on their bed and let the blonde omega rant while laying down directly on top of him with his face on his chest. For Deidara, this was a weird way of either addressing an issue or venting when blowing things up doesn’t make him happy. 

He does remind him, “She’s as stubborn as you; of course she wouldn’t be so quick to leave everything behind because you want her to. It’s really your fault for passing that part of yourself onto her.” 

“I guess, un…” 

He rests his head down his chest, his hands gripping his shoulders lightly, while a look of determination sweeps across his face, “I may have failed tonight, but I know I will succeed eventually. I won’t give up on saving Ino from that place; I’ll do whatever it takes to get her to open her eyes and leave that hellhole behind for good.” 

“What if she doesn’t?” 

“…That’s what kidnapping is for, duh, un.” 

He could argue with him on why that’s wrong, but he doesn’t feel like it tonight. No, all he wants to do is relax with his beautiful mate before they’re inevitably separated again for a mission. 

The following day, Inoichi would invite his friends over to his place for some ‘tea and katsudon’ for the unspoken reason of telling them what happened last night. None of them were really prepared for what they heard after entering the Yamanaka home and mentally preparing themselves for whatever would be said at the dining room table—which does feel as though it happened far longer ago than it actually did—without ever expecting what could have been said from their long time friend. 

Inoichi didn’t spare them any small talk, nor did he try to build up to it. There was too much on his mind for him to bother with any of the above—not when he knows the real reason why his son left in the first place. 

So he told them all of it: Itachi and Deidara having faked the one-sidedness of their relationship to keep any negative attention away from Deidara, Deidara’s secret plan to use some stranger to get into Suna, his subsequent pregnancy that he wanted to get rid of, and his ultimate leaving of the village to get rid of the parasite (as he himself frequently called it). Ultimately this story ended with Deidara admitting to having mated Itachi consensually just like the alpha had told Ino he did, with the bit of him trying to get his sister to leave with him only to have his mate talk him out of it, thus ending their meeting with brother and sister getting the farewell they never got years ago when he first left. 

Of course, while this did shock his friends, both of them wore solemn expressions with Choza eventually being the first one to speak after a moment taken to process this information, “…Inoichi, while I understand why Deidara left, I find his hatred of the village, the hokage, and the elders, specifically Danzo, rather disturbing.” 

“He’s got a point there, you know.” Shikaku eyes his friend without any hesitance, “It sounds to me like your boy came to hate this place over time and won’t be satisfied until it’s burned to the ground.” 

“Wouldn’t you be the same way if you were an omega in his position?”

Both men fell silent while their dear friend rants about the issue at hand, “If this village wasn’t so sexist towards omegas, so dead set on doing all that they can to keep them in a second class citizen status, then he wouldn’t have ever had to run away in the first place. He could still be here today if things weren’t so awful for omegas and if I had done more to fight for his rights to the higher ups of the village.” 

A hand covers his eyes then, his shame too great, “I didn’t do enough for Deidara back then—I left him to handle everything on his own, I didn’t stand up for enough when it mattered to him most, I told him the best way to handle Itachi was to not blow up all the time or train harder to one day defeat him in battle! Had I been more involved with him, I could have found signs of anything being amiss and I could have stopped all of this from happening.” 

Choza took a small stance against this notion, “Your son is stubborn—we all knew how quick he was to get defensive over the smallest of things. He may have been a good kid underneath it all, but he wasn’t always reasonable. There’s too much you’re placing on your shoulders here.” 

“He’s got a point. I get why he became that defensive—I bet being mistreated by people of all genders didn’t do anything to help him feel like he didn’t need to be—but he did use his defensiveness to build a wall no one could except get Itachi and Ino could get past. Even if you did go back in time and fix all the mistakes you think you made, he still wouldn’t have let you past his walls.” 

He takes his hand off his face and meets Shikaku’s eyes, “Maybe you’re right, but I didn’t do enough to earn his trust and that’s all on me.” 

Nothing is said after this for at least ten minutes before he announces to them, “I’m done with leaving my kids to deal with everything on their own…Ino shouldn’t be having to revolve her life around bringing Deidara home and she shouldn’t be having to help him through his hurt. I am going to take responsibility as their father and fix this myself.” 

Shikaku scoffs as his eyes narrow in suspicion, “What do you plan to do to bring him home? Tell him that you are better informed on omega pregnancy termination now than you were back then and you now support it no matter what? How would you pull that off?” 

He is ashamed now to admit that back when Deidara still lived with them, he didn’t agree with omegas terminating their pregnancies unless if it was for the health of the omega in question. Otherwise he was against it, but this was mainly due to the fact that little was known of it back then and there was so much misinformation going out about it at the time. It wasn’t until after he spoke to family in Suna—where it is legal in all cases—that he realized how much he had been misled on the issue and how wrong he was. Now he has been all for an omega being able to terminate their pregnancies no matter what the case for years ever since Deidara left. 

Knowing how his old, horrible views were enough to make Deidara go to such extremes, while keeping him in the dark…it upset him deeply. It’s impossible for him to not feel like he is almost fully responsible for him leaving. If he had just let him move out to Suna to stay with his aunt, none of this would have happened, that much he is certain of.

Choza clears his throat, his voice low, “It sounds like Deidara specifically blames the village elders and the hokage for the suffering of omegas everywhere in the village…I’m getting the idea that the only way to bring him back would be to kill the village elders and current hokage. You’re not going to do anything drastic like that are you?”

It's painfully true, isn’t it? If he wants Deidara to come back home, he would essentially have to commit a treason worse than what Orochimaru himself did by using murder to dispose of the ruling elements in Konoha that his son despises enough to wish to burn the village to the ground.

However, it seems as though Itachi may be the only thing holding him back from such a thing, which is horrifying when he considers it. The thought that his son, his child, needed someone to hold him back from destroying his childhood home is enough to make him feel sick to his stomach.

“…It would all depend on why Deidara despises them. I’m positive there was something more there going on that wasn’t being said about Danzo with the way he kept referencing him over and over.” he did pause to comment then, “It’s suspicious, isn’t it? According to Deidara’s own account of things, Itachi was under surveillance by Danzo and his own clan, which he said were having issues…then on the night he left the village, Itachi came up to him, smelling of blood and saying Danzo caused it.”

Choza raises his hand, palm facing forward, “What are you implying, Inoichi?”

“I’m implying that Danzo could’ve played a much greater role in the Uchiha massacre for Itachi to tell my son that he caused it.”

The other two men go near slack jawed to this, yet it’s Shikaku who pulls himself together, “To be making such a large accusation means you have great reason to believe an elder from our own village is not to be trusted.”

He doesn’t bother to deny it either, “If either of you saw the look in Deidara’s eyes whenever he said Danzo’s name, you’d know there was something more than mere sexism making him hate the man. His eyes, his voice whenever he said his name—those were the eyes and voice of a young man about to sadistically murder someone, not my son’s. In case if you forgot, Itachi was the only one who stopped Deidara from trying to force Ino to leave with him. As bad as it may sound to you two, but I owe him the world for being able to reason with Deidara enough to allow Ino and Sakura to come home safely.”

“You’re right there and going by what Deidara himself said, Itachi’s not a bad guy either…hell, he stuck true to his word and didn’t attack Ino even when she used her jutsu on him. That alone shows he’s not as evil as I’ve long believed him to be.”

Hearing Shikaku coming to see his point of view on things made him feel a bit more confident in announcing his plan: “Yes, that’s what I’ve been thinking ever since I learned what happened during that confrontation! I didn’t want to think it, but it was a thought I couldn’t escape from no matter what I did. This current memory I saw last night gave me an idea for a new plan to bring Deidara home.”

“What is that, exactly?” Choza is a bit skeptical and he can’t blame him, since he knows this could be seen as high treason by everyone in the village, “I want to find out more information on the Uchiha massacre, particularly the ‘issues’ Itachi had spoken of, and what made Itachi say he had caused it. I also want to see if there’s any evidence of that man having done anything to molest, sexually harass, or assault Deidara before he left.”

The Akimichi is a bit hesitant still, “What will you do with the information if you do discover he did cause the massacre like Itachi said and if you do find credible evidence that he did any molesting, sexual harassing, or assaulting of Deidara? What should we do about it, to be exact? Go to the hokage and run the chances of being executed for treason? Or do we stage a sort of coupe with other Chunins and Jounins?”

“Or do we kill the elders and run away to join Deidara’s merry crew of criminals?” Shikaku adds in, “Either way you look at it, the only end to this would be a violent confrontation that could escalate to civil war between conservatives who would kiss Danzo’s ass because he embodies their discriminative ideals and sane people who know better than to trust a con man with political power.”

“We will decide on what to do after we obtain more information on the massacre itself as well as any possibility that he could have sexually abused or molested Deidara in any way possible when he was still living here.”

Both men are taken aback by this, Choza more so, “You really think he did something like that to your son?”

He gives him an incredulous look, “For my son to hate the man as much as he did, he had to have done something more to him than enforce sexist laws and cultural ideals. Deidara hated plenty of sexists, but not enough to look as though he’d kill them at any given moment.”

His friends can concede this, but it doesn’t take away from the question on their minds that Shikaku reminds him of: “Okay, we can get it, and I won’t deny that it’s weird that Danzo was mentioned as much by Deidara as he was…but what will we do if we do find out he caused the Uchiha massacre to happen and sexually abused your son without causing a riot or civil war?”

“We will go to some Jounin we can trust to give us a good of what to do to handle this—the Jounin in particular that I know of are pro omega rights and would be the most empathetic to Deidara’s situation: Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, Asuma Sarutobi, and Kurenai Yuhi.”

“How about Shikamaru and Iruka? It’d be wrong to not have the only omega Chunin in the village giving some input on this and my son is a Chunin genius who excels at strategy.”

“Yeah, we can bring them on this too, but no more than that.” upon getting this agreed upon without any objection from Choza, he told them, “Our personal mission begins today to get the information we are looking for. We will meet up every other week at one of your guys’ place to look more natural, with my place being the meeting spot at least once a month to look less suspicious to anyone in the village, especially Danzo. After we get the information we need, we will confront the Jounin and Chunins mentioned with the evidence and devise a plan to deal with the problem at hand. Do we all agree to this?”

“I agree.”

“Count me in.”

Having his friends on his side makes him feel less alone in all of this, though it doesn’t change the fact he’s very afraid right now.

He’s not afraid of war or death; no, he’s afraid of having to resort to either one of the measures and risk losing the rest of his family for the slim possibility of bringing Deidara back.

Then…how could he be so selfish?

Deidara wouldn’t be the only one affected by any truth of the village being as truly awful as he claimed it is. With Deidara and Itachi being mates, Sasuke is his son-in-law thus making him a part of his family now as well. Which makes him someone to consider in all of this along with his son.

If Itachi was right about Danzo causing the Uchiha massacre, it would affect Sasuke the most and could have extremely negative effects on his mental health if he were here to discover the truth when he’s not mentally prepared to handle it.

His family isn’t the only one to worry about. Sasuke is another one to worry over as well; the last thing they need is for a second Uchiha to run away and join the Akatsuki.

Looks like he will have to do everything he can to keep everyone in his family safe then…

Chapter Text

Shikamaru was told by his father of what happened the night Ino and Sakura left the village: they went to the border to see Deidara, who had confessed he was forced to leave the village with Itachi after being baited into a fight against him where he lost against the alpha’s Sharingan, ultimately forcing him to leave. Years later, he was manipulated into a mating with the alpha by the usage of his Sharingan again during a moment of vulnerability.

When pressed as to why he didn’t just leave with Ino and Sakura, he was told that Deidara couldn’t leave because he was there with his partner in the Akatsuki.

While he is taken aback to have learned that he was wrong about Deidara—of all people—this entire time, he’s not sure if he can fully believe it or not. He would have asked Ino about it, but he had been told to not do such a thing since she was devastated to lose him again and well…she certainly seemed that way the night he saw her. A few days later, it seems as though something in her changed and her eyes are always filled to the brim with a sort of sadness he’s not seen in her since her reckless brother first left.

He won’t comment on it to her. Whatever happened, it had to be rather drastic for her to have dropped all claims of bringing Deidara back as well as dedicating herself to her training more than she did in the past. She doesn’t make small talk with her teammates much anymore, gone is the vulgarity that Asuma had gotten on her about, and she’s almost always with Sakura in her free time.

For now, he’ll leave her be and wait for her to speak to him and Chouji again. It’s the least he can do after he did insult her brother right to her face without any form of concern for whether or not she or Sakura were all right.

Ino doesn’t mind it, really. She’d rather not have to try too hard to keep up a lie; it’s too soon to do that with a straight face after seeing her brother again in person years later. For now, she will focus on one day getting this village to the point where it becomes a place her brother will love enough to come back home.

She may not know what exactly her dad is planning to do to ‘step up as a father’, but whatever it is, she’s sure she will be proud of him.

Sakura had asked her the following morning after everything that happened with Deidara, “Are you okay?” and she told her, “Yeah, I think so”.

Except, ‘yeah I think so’ wasn’t exactly a ‘yes’ or a noncommittal ‘yeah’. It was a blank slate sort of answer that explained what she felt in her state of residual shock after everything that passed.

Now that the shock has fully worn off, she’s not okay.

She wonders what all she can do to make the village a place Deidara would want to live in, what all she can do to get him to see this place can evolve into something better than it ever was, but she’s been stuck drawing a blank instead.

Her whole goal in life has changed; it’s gone from saving Deidara from Itachi and bringing him home to clear his name to something so vague, she’s not honestly sure what she could do. All she knows is her brother hates this Danzo character, the elders, and the hokage with a burning passion. Going off the way he acted and what he said, she thinks he would want her to kill them all in order to bring him home—which is the last thing she’d ever want to do! She’s not going to become Orochimaru bad for anyone, not even him! She knows of the devastation the hokage’s loss has caused for the village and the last thing she wants is to make it worse.

Trying to come up with something, anything to bring him back home is causing her to draw a blank because what can she do to make the sort of changes he would need in order to come home? She’s not sure if she could make the political changes he wants to happen, happen. She’s not sure if she could bring about the sort of revolutionary upheaval he would delight in. She’s just a kid still and hasn’t had her first heat yet. She’s not going to be taken seriously by anyone here since she’s not some genius like Shikamaru or a special talent like Sasuke or Neji. To top it all off, she’s an omega Genin—they definitely won’t listen to her because she is all of the above. If she had been a Chunin, maybe they would have given her some consideration—as in, the smallest amount—but she’s not, so there’s no reason to believe she could make anything special happen on the political side of things.

Societal? Well, what else can she do there other than to keep fighting the sexist stereotypes set against and proving them wrong like she has been for years? What more can she actually do that hasn’t been done?

How much will she have to…how far will she have to go before Deidara can look at their village not in hate, but in adoration? She’s not sure and the answer honestly scares her deep down because she only sees a path of bloodshed awaiting her.

She stays by Sakura after the meeting because she’s the only one she can really talk to about this. She doesn’t want to bother her dad and her mom is already stressing herself out enough by trying to be inside their home as often as she does. The last thing she needs is to add one more stressor that could make them breakdown.

One day, Sakura calls her out on this and she’s not sure she wants to hear it, “I don’t mind spending time with you going to hot springs, training, or spending the night at your place or you spending the night at mine…but you haven’t spoken to Naruto lately. Have you seen Lee at all?”

“Just because I’m an omega doesn’t I have to hang out with omegas only.”

“I know that, but they’re your closest friends and Naruto is starting to get worried over you because you haven’t spoken to him ever since we saw Deidara.”

Ino looks away in guilt, Sakura knows this, yet she pushes the needle on the topic, “Why aren’t you talking to them? Did they do or say something to make you angry? We aren’t even dating—what’s the point in spending so much time with me?”

“Sakura, I don’t know what to do anymore.”

This took the alpha girl back, “Anymore with what?”

She met her gaze with watery blue eyes and a certain frustration she hadn’t seen since the night they saw Deidara, “I don’t know what to do anymore to bring Deidara back! I know the only way to make him want to come home is to improve the village, but the way he would want me to do it…you overheard him talking to me about it! You know he’d want blood spilled and I can’t do that for him!”

“Then don’t do that for him.”

“What can I do then to make this place good enough for him?”

“Why do you need to do that? Deidara is the one with a problem with this place; if he wants you to change anything about it, then he should have told you when he had the chance.”

Sakura groans then as it hits her like a ton of bricks, “…You’re still putting him first, aren’t you? You’re making yourself upset and doubting yourself and your goals all because of him.”

Ino fights this not because she’s mad but because she’s desperate for a real answer, “Of course I am! He was the only one who encouraged me into becoming the first ever omega kunoichi in the first place and he always put me first no matter what! I know I shouldn’t always put him first, but it’s a habit that’s not easy for me to kick, especially since so much of my own resolve into being a kunoichi was to bring him home…what will I do now that I know the only way to do it is a way I can’t?”

“Change your resolve then. Quit revolving everything around Deidara.”

She sighs when seeing the shock on her face, “I’m not saying this to be a jerk. I’m saying this to be honest with you in the way you would with me if I was in your shoes. You’ve spent far too much of your life putting Deidara first and revolving everything around him—I know it’s not something you can snap out of overnight. All I want is for you to have a goal in life that doesn’t center on putting someone else above yourself because that’s not how I want to see you live your life. I love you too much to let you do that, especially over someone like him.”

Immediately after saying this, a bright pink blush appears on her face before she clears her throat, “Anyway…you have other things in life you’re passionate about. Why not focus on one of those things instead of your brother? Why not make that your new resolve in being the first ever omega kunoichi if the title alone isn’t enough anymore?”

For Sakura’s sake, she doesn’t focus on the accidental confession. Instead, she thinks over what else it is that she is passionate about, something that could become her new resolve in becoming the first omega kunoichi now that bringing her brother home feels more like an impossible fever dream as opposed to anything grounded in reality.

Which when she thinks about it for a brief minute, is incredibly obvious.

“…Yeah… I could focus on becoming first ever omega kunoichi to give omega girls hope that they can be more than what they’re told they can be.”

“Huh, at first I thought you’d focus more on the whole ‘fighting against sexist stereotypes to make the village a better place for Deidara to return home to’ thing. Why didn’t you think of that right away?”

“Because you’re right; I can’t live my whole life putting him first and foremost in everything. I have to have my own goals outside of him, I have to have my own life outside of him, and the first step to doing that is to stop bringing him home when there’s nothing I can do to convince him to come back.” from her spot on Sakura’s bed, she leans against the alpha’s shoulder when going on, “Deidara will always have something to complain about with this village. The only way he’d be happy is if the hokage and elders are dead, which is something I refuse to do because I do think Tsunade can change things for the better if given the chance…but that won’t ever matter to him. I’ve been seeing that more when I think about our conversation. So there’s no point in bothering with him anymore, not when he won’t ever come back anyway.”

Sakura wonders then, “What about making the village a better place for omegas at societal wise? Don’t you care about that?”

“I will be making it a better place societal wise by proving myself to be a strong, capable kunoichi who’s not defined by her secondary gender alone. I just won’t be doing it for Deidara’s sake anymore. I’ve done enough for him; it’s time I really start living for me.”

She thinks this is where the conversation will end only to be met with Ino sitting up from her previous position and saying something she’d never thought she’d hear, “A part of living my life for me means stopping to care about what Deidara thinks about my dates or potential mates.”

“Is this going where I think it’s going?” forgive Sakura for sounding nervously excited, but it’s just—she never thought she’d actually see this day.

“If you think it’s going to end with me saying I want to date you, then yeah, it’s going there.” frozen in her spot from pure delight that is building up inside her, trying to get out yet trapped somehow, inner Sakura is shrieking in joy, ‘YES, cha! Ha, take that Deidara! You can’t stop this from happening now!’

She must have been too frozen or something for Ino to notice it, “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah, totally okay!”

…Her voice was at least three octaves too high and she’s positive she’s getting jittery all over.

She’s only lucky that it’s Ino who makes the first move: she gets off the edge of the bed she had been sitting next to her on and she moves in front of her, “Sakura, I have been spending a lot of time with you lately…mainly because you’re the only one I can talk to about things concerning Deidara, but it wasn’t for that reason alone: I also like being by you. It’s something I had forgotten after years of not getting along, but I like being by you and being by you makes me happy despite what Deidara said about it all being in my head. I don’t want to go without you much longer, so do you want to go out on a date with me one of these days?”

Her response was to be as cringey as possible, “Y-Yeah! I mean, that’s cool as ice with me—ah! No, what I mean is—”

Ino chuckled a bit before kissing her, making sparks fly throughout her body in ways she never fantasized were possible, with the effect having to be the same to Ino as well since she did nothing to stop it when Sakura took control.

When it ended, she cleared her throat, “Sorry about that…what I mean is, yes I’d love to go out on a date with you.”

“Great, though I figured you would, what with the love confession and all.”

“Y-Yeah…well…things slip out at times, I’m only human, you know!”

“I know, I know…” she has an idea that she hopes she will like, “Do you want to go to a tea shop with me? I promise it will be really good and I heard on Thursdays they serve new flavors of tea.”

“Sounds good…what time and day do you want to go?”

“I was thinking Thursday at twelve. I have to do more work at the flower shop for a while, so lunch breaks would be the best time for us to go out on a date.”

“I can work with that; I’ll stop by the flower shop and walk with you there.”

“Great!” while Sakura loves to see Ino giving her a happy smile, she does feel the need to tell her this before she forgets and Naruto chews her out for it, “By the way…you really need to see Naruto and Lee today.”

“What for? Are they mad at me?”

“No, it’s not that! I told them the lie your dad said to tell people about our meeting with Deidara and they understand why you need your space now…they just wish you’d speak to them more about what’s bothering you.”

Ino immediately looked downtrodden after hearing this, but Sakura wasn’t going to let this ruin their moment, “I didn’t want to tell you this now because I knew it’d ruin the moment, but I keep forgetting to and Naruto will have my head if I don’t tell you now.”

She raises a brow to this, her curiosity piqued, “What do you need to tell me?”

Sakura sighs deeply, her eyes full of concern when speaking, “Tsunade tried to change the laws in the village concerning adoption and protection for omegas in abusive clans, but it failed miserably with the elders so nothing was done. Because of that, Lee is going back home to his mother tomorrow.”

Ino’s breath hitched in her throat and Sakura didn’t stop her when she gave her a quick ‘goodbye, see you on Thursday’ as she rushed out of the room and soon, out of the Haruno home she had been in alone only moments before with Sakura.

Lee…of course…how could she have forgotten Lee!

Her dear, sweet friend who’s going back to a horrible home all because of those damned village elders who refuse to change their conservative ways!

She has to find Might Guy—she has to see Lee and check in on him to be sure everything’s okay.

To find Might Guy, she has to go find Asuma sensei; she knows to find him she has to go to where he is training Shikamaru and Chouji. She would have gone to the training session, but there was too much on her mind concerning Deidara and what to do now that things have changed so much since seeing him again.

…She was being stupid. She shouldn’t have ever let her brother come before her friends like this, especially when he’s not here!

It was by pure dumb fate that she was stopped by the one person she didn’t give a fair chance to for years because of Deidara, “Ino, we need to talk.”

She groaned in response, “Not now, Sasuke! I need to find Lee, I can’t do that if I’m stuck talking to you!”

“No, we need to talk right now.” he insists when grabbing her by the arm, “There’s something important you need to see.”

“I don’t have the time—”

“Seeing Lee can wait. Besides, Naruto is waiting for us and I don’t want to keep him waiting.”

She was about to fight him on it when he told her something he should have said right from the start, “He’s going to be meeting up with Lee today. If you want to find Lee, you’re better off coming with me to see Naruto yourself and talk to him about it in person.”

Giving in due to the convenience of it all, she tries her best to be civil with him, “Alright, I’ll go with you.”

“Good. Follow my lead; I’m not carrying any other omega in my arms or on my back other than Naruto.”

…Not like she would ever want him to if he can talk like he’s so desirable! Maybe her dislike of Sasuke wasn’t completely because of her brother after all…

No matter, it’s not what she’s focusing on.

She doesn’t know what he wants to talk to her about, but she doesn’t care about that. What she cares about is seeing Lee and talking to him in person about what is going on with him.

Chapter Text

When at the Uchiha compound, she didn’t know why she was there or what all Sasuke wanted to talk about until she saw an open book there…one that made her pause when she saw it at the shrine she had been taken to.

“…What’s this all about, Sasuke?” she asks him at long last because she is done with him giving her the silent treatment. 

“Ino, was your meeting with Deidara really only about him telling you being manipulated and kidnapped by my brother or was there something more to it?” 

“How did you hear about that? My dad said we weren’t supposed to talk about it with anyone.” 

“Naruto overheard Sakura talking about it to Kakashi sensei after he had learned of it from overhearing Shikaku and Choza speak on the matter when they were out training together. Now, tell me what really went on.” 

She scoffs to this in response, “What makes you think I am lying about anything that happened?” 

He points to the book while explaining to her with fury in his eyes, “I know you know about Uchiha mating tradition, so there’s no need to explain how arrangement works. What I do want to know is how the hell this happened.” 

She flipped at the record and found Itachi’s name…with Deidara’s and her parents’ names there as well. It was an almost well done forgery…almost.

How this happened…she has a good idea as to how this could have gone down. 

“Wait, why did you look in here?” 

“Because I got Iruka sensei to sign his name right alongside Naruto’s name today. That was when I saw this and came to get you.” Sasuke is glaring her and had she been any other omega, she’d be cowering in fear from it, “How did this happen? Your brother hated mine way too much to ever do something like this.” 

She decides then that a little bit of truth couldn’t hurt to tell Sasuke because she doesn’t believe he will drop this subject otherwise, “He told me he hadn’t been in the village ever since he left…he said that the only way I got his letter telling me to meet up with him that night was because of another Akatsuki member bringing it to my room on his request.”

The younger Uchiha loses all edge to himself then as he frowns, thinking it over, “Do you think this person could have written this down for him?” 

“Yes, because that’s not how my brother writes his name.” 

It’s something that is painfully true about her brother’s handwriting. She remembers as a kid that he always hand wrote notes on the bouquets that the customer would request to be put on it as a way to make people say something about him wasn’t beautiful. 

(He had told her as much back then; looking back at it now, she realizes in hindsight this was one of the many signs of Deidara hating his beauty and desirability for the problems it gave him.) 

His handwriting is truly ugly, she won’t ever deny it for his sake. It’s messy, big, and somehow barely legible despite being as big as it is. Forging his handwriting is not something completely impossible. 

Though the only thing that makes her able to spot out when it’s genuinely something written by him is when he signs his name with little sparks around it. It’s how she could tell the letter she received was written by him. 

Considering this, it was incredibly easy to tell this was a good forgery, but not quite good enough to catch the little quirks in his writing. 

“It really is a forgery then?” 

“Yeah. Even Sakura could have told you that.” 

She could have—Sakura knew Deidara’s handwriting just as well as she did. Why he didn’t go to Sakura for this…well, she may as well, ask, “Why didn’t you ask Sakura about this? She could have told you everything without getting me involved.” 

He huffs, muttering, “I only brought you here to get you to talk to Naruto again…he has been worried over Lee lately and he’s been wanting to talk to you, but you haven’t been around for him to do that.” 

She winces internally, but doesn’t let it does show, “Where is he now then? I’m more than willing to talk to him now, but I guess…you know what? I don’t need to tell you this—I need to tell Naruto and Lee before whatever it is going on with him gets worse.” 

“He should be around here somewhere, I told him where we going to be—” 

They both heard it the moment it was exclaimed, “Ino, you actually came!” and into the shrine Naruto bolted at the sight of his friend, “It’s been forever! Is everything okay? What happened with your brother?” 

By the time he got up to where they were at, he was hugging her tight, “You know what, never mind, you don’t have to tell me about that now! You can tell me later if you want.” 

She sighs while hugging him back, “I’m okay, Naruto. It was just a lot to take in, that’s all. I needed some time to process it, but I feel better now.” she frowns when ending the hug, “Something’s going on with Lee, isn’t it?”

He releases her back and looks at her with a glow of dread in her eyes, “You heard, huh?” 

She nods and he in turn has a certain despair that she’s not used to seeing in her friend, “Well…I talked to granny Tsunade: she did do everything she could to try to change the laws so Lee could be taken out of his home, but the elders refused to change anything about them, saying that ‘tradition needs to respected no matter what’ and ‘changing the law would violate the rights of the clan to practice their tradition’. It’s total crap! Tradition should never come before someone’s safety, but they don’t care!” 

This is making her flashback to what Deidara had told her about the village elders, specifically this Danzo fellow…she’s positive he’s the one who pushed for this the most, “It really pisses me off because Lee deserves so much better and I’m really afraid for him.” 

Ino won’t deny the same thing; she may have never met his mother, but anyone from his clan having any sort of custody over him is enough to make her skin crawl, “That’s terrible! Poor Lee, he shouldn’t have to go back to her if he doesn’t want to!” 

“Right! Ah but those idiots actually want to take him out of Guy sensei’s home and put him back with his mother right away now that she has a place of her own to live in! It’s such bullshit, Ino, I swear!” 

Naruto then pulls out something from his pocket, “I saw this here at the compound when I was waiting for you and Sasuke to come back. I thought of Lee right away—I think he’d really like it.” 

She looks at it and finds a blank envelope with a blank piece of paper, “Why do you think he’d like it?” 

Can anyone blame her for thinking this was a strange gift to give to a fellow omega going home to his horrible mother? 

“Because I know he likes Gaara and as much as I don’t like the guy, I think it’d make him happy to write at least one letter to him before he gets sent back.” 

“You think he wants to write to Gaara? Are you sure about that? Did he say anything to you about it?” 

Naruto shrugs, grinning slyly at his own sleuthing skills, “No, but I caught onto it pretty quickly when you were dealing with the brother drama: when I went to Guy sensei’s place one time, I overheard him asking about the damn bastard and when he said ‘why don’t you write to him if you’re feeling that glum over him’, Lee changed the subject right on the spot in the most awkward, Lee way possible. I talked to him about it, and he seemed a bit jumpy on the subject, a bit too blushy too…so even though I really don’t like the guy for him, I may as well do one thing to make him happy before he has to go back to his mom’s place.” 

Hearing this makes her smile, allowing her the freedom to say without feeling any of the weight on her shoulders ever since she saw Deidara when replying to him with a smile, “That’s actually a great gift for him then…I think I’ll get him one too before we go to see him. I think that will make him really happy.” 

“…It would!” Naruto cheers with wide joyful eyes and a pep to his little jump, “Let’s get going then! We have a friend to see!” 

Before she could reply, Naruto went over to his boyfriend and kissed him, “Goodbye, Sasuke…don’t forget about our date tonight!” 

“I won’t.” he seemed so confident yet Ino got an aura of insecurity within the alpha, making her wonder what could be going on with him…along with the question of what exactly was this date Naruto had planned for them, “You two go and see him already; the poor guy needs you two more than anyone else now.”

“We will!” he grabbed Ino’s hand, grinning all the while, “See you tonight!” 

When they’re away from him and past the gates of the compound, Naruto lets go of her hand and Ino feels the need to pry a bit, “Naruto…what kind of date are you planning for Sasuke tonight?” 

“Oh it’s nothing big,” he starts, which has Ino thinking he’s going to take him out to eat ramen, only to be disproven when he continues, “He’s going to be spending the night at my place with Iruka and Kakashi sensei tonight.” 

“Are you two going to share a bed?” 

“Eh, Kakashi sensei and Iruka weren’t really okay with that because we’re dating, but he will be able to sleep in my room, on a mattress on the floor though!” 

This is shocking to Ino because she didn’t take Iruka or Kakashi sensei to be the types to allow Sasuke to spend the night at their place in Naruto’s room. 

“That’s cool, but I didn’t think they were that open to that sort of thing.” 

“They aren’t, but that’s what the power of my convincing skills are for!” 

Now she wants to know what all he did to convince them of this, but then he went on to tell her without any prompting.

Naruto was bouncing off the walls with excitement at the idea of it and who could blame him, really? 

Sasuke had asked him the most romantic thing ever, something that really proved they were a serious couple meant to be taken seriously by everyone around them, “Naruto, do you want to spend the night at my place tonight? You can sleep with me in my bed and I’ll cook anything you ask me to.”

“Really? You want me to spend the night at your place?” he had paused when taking it all in a bit more, wondering afterwards, “Why though? Is this some Uchiha alpha and beta thing I’m not getting?” 

“It is, actually.” he pushed himself off from the tree he had been leaning against to meet his eyes with a certain intensity he hadn’t seen in him for a long time, “An Uchiha alpha or beta shows their intent on mating an omega or beta by spending a month living with them, sleeping in the same bed as them, all while avoiding having sex with them to prove that they intend to have a mating relationship built on seeing their mate as their equal, someone they love and respect dearly to not become a mush of base instinct desires around.” 

“Whoa—wait, do you want me to stay with you for a month?” 

“…I was hoping you would, but I figured I’d try to break it to you easier by asking you to spend the night at my place. I promise, I will prove to you how good of a mate I will be and how worthy I am of you if you let me.” 

Naturally, Naruto reacted by impulse, “Of course I’ll live with you for a month! It’ll be like a fun practice run of us being mated together, what could be better than that!” 

“Great; I’ll be sure to pick you up from your place at seven. See you then, Naruto.” 

“See ya, Sasuke!” Naruto immediately rushed home and went to his place to go pack up the essentials he’d need for a month of living with Sasuke, not knowing that he had drawn the attention of his adoptive father and sensei with his dead set focus on packing up his things.

While he was packing, he had been interrupted by Iruka’s wary commentary, “Naruto, what are you packing for? Are you needed for something with Jiraiya?”

He shook his head while trying to choose between two shirts, “No! I’m going to be staying at Sasuke’s place for a month and I’m having trouble deciding between which one of these shirts I’d like to bring.”

Iruka immediately enters the room fully, leaving the doorway to face his son as he tries to make a decision, “A month? You can’t stay with Sasuke alone for a month!”

“Why not?” Naruto frowned, setting down the shirts in a bit of anger, “We already spent the night with each other numerous times on missions and the Chunin exams. What’s so wrong about it now?”

“You weren’t alone with him there! You had Kakashi, Sakura, and other people at times. It wasn’t like you two were living two like a couple planning on mating soon—”

Iruka pauses, his eyes full of realization then, “Are you planning on mating him, Naruto?”

“I mean…it’s not like I want to be with anyone else.”

“But you’re twelve! You’re too young to know that!”

Naruto growled in response, not liking what he was hearing from his usually understanding parent, “You don’t know that!”

“I do,” he isn’t backing down on this or trying to be diplomatic about it, which is a shock for him to see, “I get it—it’s easy to think about mating and fantasize about a future together when you’re young, but it’s not realistic. People change as they grow up and go through certain milestones and experiences in life. How do you know you’ll want to be mated to Sasuke five years from now? How about ten or twenty? How do you know things between you and Sasuke will always be as stable as they are now?”

“I don’t care if things change over time or if things aren’t always stable! I wouldn’t mind mating Sasuke someday after everything we’ve been through together and will be through together in the future. You’re acting like I’m going to mate him now or something when I’m not!”

“Are you sure about that?”

“I am. Sasuke’s only doing this to show how good of a mate he will be to me. It’s more like something to look forward to in the future.”

He didn’t know why he thought that would work, but it didn’t. No, Iruka didn’t budge from his initial position, “I don’t care what his intentions are—you’re too young to be living alone, with your alpha boyfriend, for a month. You’re both too young to be talking about mating or thinking about it; you two should be more focused on being kids on your time off from missions than trying to enter adulthood as soon as possible.”

Of course, Naruto being Naruto, didn’t take this well either, “What the—you gotta be kidding me! Kinda hard to focus on the whole being a kid thing with the sort of life I’m entering. Besides, I don’t complain whenever you got out on dates, so why are you complaining about this?”

“Because those are two completely different things—I am an adult going out on a date and coming home to you. You are talking about leaving this home for a month to live with your boyfriend without even bothering to ask me if I’d be okay with it or not.”

He blinked and decided on the spot, “Too bad, I’m gonna live with Sasuke for a month!”

“Naruto—”

“Is there something going on here?” he had been wary when Kakashi sensei inserted himself into their argument and for good reason too, “I keep hearing something about Naruto spending a month with Sasuke—is this right, Iruka?”

“Yes, it is.” he answered with ease despite the tension that still lingered between them, “He didn’t talk to me about it when he got home, he just started packing instead and if I didn’t come in here to ask him about it, I probably wouldn’t have ever heard about it from him.”

“Yeah, that does match with what I’ve been hearing for the last few minutes from this room.” Kakashi sensei meets Naruto’s gaze then and asks him in all seriousness, “What were you planning on doing after you packed your bags?”

“Heading out to Sasuke’s place with my stuff so he wouldn’t have to get me at seven.”

“I see…what you do think would have happened during this month long stay together?”

Naruto paused and thought it over some, “I don’t know. I know we’d be sharing the same bed and he’d be cooking anything I wanted him to.”

Kakashi sensei hums to this in response, “Ah, so you don’t know what living together for a month would actually entail, huh?”

When he didn’t have anything to say to this, his sensei shrugged, “I may as well fill you in then: it would mean having to live with Sasuke through the day to day life activities that affect every young couple. He would do things differently from you, you would do things differently from him, it could lead to some tension between you after a while that ends up in a small quarrel in a best case scenario or a major fight in the worst case scenario.”

He hadn’t thought about that, “What you found to be a cute quirk could turn into something irritating when living together without the buffer of having someone else there, you could find there are issues in the relationship that you didn’t notice when in the stages of puppy love, or you could discover that you don’t want a mating or to be with him anymore. Without the saving grace of coming back to a separate home at the end of the day, all of the above could happen and you could come to resent Sasuke, thus leading the end of your relationship with him.”

Naruto immediately hissed to this, “Who’re you to say that stuff, sensei! You’ve never even dated before; I highly doubt any omega would be dumb or self loathing enough to let you touch them!”

(He didn’t this, but Iruka was dying from embarrassment on the inside after hearing his son say this.)

“Now, Naruto, let’s not insult any omega here. People cannot help what they like or don’t like. What can be helped is not letting you destroy what you have with Sasuke now by doing something as stupid as living together when you’re both still very immature and haven’t even had a heat or a rut yet.”

Kakashi was prepared for it when he did snap, “I am not immature!”

“If you weren’t, then you have told Iruka right away about your plan instead of trying to run off. Tell me, did you ever think about telling him anything of this when you said ‘yes’ to Sasuke’s proposal? Did you carefully weigh the pros and cons of living together? Did you think about whether or not your relationship with him could handle such a situation or did you agree without thinking everything through first?”

The young omega admits with a bit of a shameful flush to his cheeks, “No, not really—I just agreed without thinking.”

His sensei put it down brutally to him then, “Then you aren’t mature enough to last a month living together with him. In my experience, the less mature a person was when living together with their partner, the more likely it was their relationship ended on very bad terms. So try to keep this in mind when thinking about doing such a thing again in the future.”

Naruto sighed in defeat then, knowing his sensei was right and not wanting to lose what he has with Sasuke, “Alright, I’ll wait to live with him…but what should I tell Sasuke when he comes over tonight to get me?”

“Tell him you thought it over more when discussing this with us and came to the conclusion that you’re too impulsive and immature to live together with him for a month. Knowing Sasuke, he’ll be upset, but that’s alright; you can make it up to him by having him spend the night in your room, on a mattress on the floor for a whole weekend.”

“You mean it?” his eyes brightened to the news and he thinks his sensei smiled then, “I do, it’s only fair—right, Iruka?”

Iruka didn’t see too much wrong with this compromise, “He has a point, it is only fair.”

That and he knows Sasuke isn’t some sneaky perv who would try to lay a hand on Naruto in his sleep.

“Great, I’ll be sure to tell him when he comes over!” he cheers, but then Kakashi suggests something to him, “Naruto, have you heard from Rock Lee lately?”

“No…why? Did granny Tsunade manage to change the laws so he can stay with Guy sensei?”

Kakashi is silent, leaving Iruka to break it to him gently, “You should go see her yourself. A lot has happened and she really tried her best, but I’m afraid she couldn’t change anything for Lee’s sake.”

Naruto is seething, his fists clenched tightly while he coolly announces to the adults in the room, “I have to go see the old lady. I’ll be back before seven, but if I’m not, please explain everything to Sasuke for me.”

“I will, Naruto, there’s no need to worry.” Iruka said while watching his son exit the home in a determined rush he hasn’t seen in a long time.

Chapter Text

Unbeknownst to Naruto, the moment he was gone, Kakashi had cleared his throat and said to Iruka, “So, I see you didn’t have much of a problem with Sasuke spending the weekend with us.”

“Were you expecting me to?”

“I won’t deny that I was.”

Iruka headed out of the room then, his anywhere but that of the alpha with him, “I couldn’t tell him Sasuke couldn’t stay here on those terms. It’d be very hypocritical of me to do that since here I am, an unmated omega, staying with an unmated alpha I have somewhat of a past with.”

“You ever told him of our past together?”

“No, but he would bring up the fact that we’re living here with you despite you having an obvious thing for me.”

Kakashi is actually pretty impressed with Naruto right about now, “You mean, he actually figured it out on his own?”

Iruka nodded when heading over to the kitchen to grab himself something to drink, “He put two and two together when he saw you getting all pissy when that one alpha hit on me the last time we went out to get some ramen.”

It’s amazing it took Naruto seeing such a thing to see it for himself, but he supposes it’s amazing he ever discovered the obvious for himself at all, “I see…well, good for him for noticing it then.”

He does comment then, “The home still reeks a bit of your heat and my rut. Should we try to get rid of the scent more before Sasuke comes? The last thing we need is Naruto knowing we had wild, crazy, amazing sex when he was gone.”

If Iruka’s glare could kill…Kakashi would be vaporized to nothingness, “That was a moment of weakness on my end—nothing more, nothing less.”

“Really? Is that why you asked me to spend your heat with you the week before, when Naruto wasn’t home?”

He pauses then as his face reddens in horror at what was brought up. It’s only so horrific because Kakashi wasn’t lying; he was being completely honest.

Iruka had asked him to spend his heat with him. Mainly because he remembers they had amazing sex in the past and he knows his omega wouldn’t be satisfied with anyone other than Kakashi himself now that they’ve lived together for so long, with the alpha proving he wasn’t a complete pervert or nuisance in his day to day life…

Wait, why is he trying to justify this to himself?

He should be able to have sex with Kakashi and not suffer any shame or pressure to be with him. He deserves to have a heat go by smoothly for the first time in a year or two instead of having to needlessly suffer through it.

“…Okay, you got me there. It wasn’t a moment of weakness and I did ask you beforehand to be with me during my heat. It’s not a big deal, Kakashi—I should be able to have sex with you when I want to without having to justify it.”

“I’m telling you to; all I’m asking is for you to be honest about it.” Kakashi does not stop from pushing this issue further, “Why would you try to lie about it to me when we’re alone? Are you ashamed of what happened?”

When Iruka has nothing to say in response other than, “No, I’m not.” Kakashi moves a bit closer, smirking underneath his mask, “Why deny it to me then?”

He was a bit cocky when moving in closer to the Chunin omega, “Ah, you’re embarrassed because deep down, you know there will never be another alpha or beta who could ever be as compatible sexually with you like me.”

Iruka didn’t bother responding to this because Kakashi doesn’t need to know of this recent fear that popped up after their shared heat/rut.

For Iruka, sexual compatibility is a big deal when it comes down to mating. He cannot mate someone he’s not sexually compatible with; being an omega who enjoys sex, the idea of having a mate he’s not sexually compatible with is enough to make his skin crawl. It would not only be miserable for himself, but for the poor unfortunate person as well.

He won’t deny that he hasn’t found anyone who matches up with the sexual compatibility he has with Kakashi. In his misadventures of dating, he has yet to find anyone who he has chemistry and a connection with who is also sexually compatible with him.

(Naturally, this could’ve been partly due to Kakashi sabotaging his dates, but he won’t chalk everything to that alone. The way he figures it, if any of the people he’s dated in the past were serious about him or felt anything at all for him, they wouldn’t have let Kakashi interfering stop them from seeing him again.)

“That’s none of your business.” he unsuccessfully retorted while turning his back to him in an attempt to hide how unnerved he is at the moment, whereas Kakashi hums and, in his cockiness, states too assuredly, “You would be right if I wasn’t interested in having you as my mate…but alas, I am. I know you too well to know you wouldn’t be acting so strangely over sex alone. You are one of the most sex positive people I’ve ever come across, far more than some alphas I’ve met in the past—are you ashamed or embarrassed about the truth of this because you wouldn’t mind giving me a chance?”

He sighs to this and heads over to the door, more than ready to leave the apartment and find somewhere to go to get away from the Jounin alpha, “Like I could give you one…I don’t want Naruto thinking I’m dumb and self loathing.” before he exited his temporary home, he tells him, “I’ll be heading out now, but I’ll be back soon. I have some things to get from the market; if Naruto gets home before me, tell him where I went.”

Kakashi merely agreed with a certain nonchalance that suggested a bit too much confidence in what he said, “Will do. Have fun at the market.”

When Naruto did arrive at Lady Tsunade’s office, he was beyond pissed off.

She had promised him—promised on her life, to be exact—that she would change the laws in the village for Lee’s sake. To know she had broken her word was enough to make him seethe and want to scream his heart out at her the moment he laid eyes on her, “What the hell, granny! You promised on your life that you’d do all that you could to change the laws for Lee, so why didn’t you do it, huh!”

“Naruto—”

“No, don’t you ‘Naruto’ me! I don’t care that you’re a beta and none of these laws will ever harm or affect you in any way, but omegas are people too, not just betas and alphas!” he was having a near impossible time controlling his scent, his fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles were white, and his voice was little more than a growl as he spoke, “Lee deserves better than what he’s been given in life! He deserves better than a clan who treats him like he’s property to be sold off to the highest bidder! He deserves a loving home like the one I have—I thought you saw that, I thought you saw omegas as people too, but I was wrong about you, you’re just like everyone else in power here.”

“Just listen to me, okay, I know I—”

“No, don’t.” he cut her off, this time his eyes were filled a fear she hadn’t seen when the incident he recalled happened, and it hit her then that this could be part of where the intense anger is coming from, “I had to fight against that Orochimaru guy and Kabuto. Don’t you remember how they looked at me? Don’t you remember what they said about me in battle?”

She does, all too well actually:

Orochimaru, upon seeing Naruto, eyed him like a lion does a gazelle and he purred at the omega openly, “My, how lovely you are indeed—it’s no wonder Sasuke wants to mate you… If I were to take you with me, I know I could get Sasuke to come with me willingly…though I cannot guarantee I’d ever let him have you.”

Kabuto hadn’t been much better during their fight: he smirked when glancing at his neck a bit too long, “Sasuke hasn’t mated you yet, huh? That’s too bad for him, but good for you in this incident.” he began to speak in that scary alpha voice Itachi’s Akatsuki partner had used on him, the one that made him whimper upon hearing it from his former ally, “I’ve wanted to have you as a concubine for a while. Partially for my own pleasure and partially for a certain breeding experiment I wanted to try with a particularly fertile omega…and you have the right body for it. If you submit now, Sasuke won’t be pursued, Tsunade’s life will be spared, and I will give you a life of luxury you could never know.”

Naruto had whimpered back then, but he did his best to stand tall, “No way…no way in hell am I leaving with you sexist jerks! Sasuke is my boyfriend and I wouldn’t—couldn’t leave him for anyone else!”

Tsunade had vowed at one point in the battle to him when Kabuto had gotten a bit too close to him, “Don’t worry, Naruto. I swear on my life that you won’t be taken here to be used by these men and no omega will ever be seen as less than human when I am hokage.”

“…Do you really mean that?”

He didn’t like to be wary of betas, but after the whole Neji thing…he’s wary of anyone that isn’t an omega.

“I mean it, and to show serious I am about this, I will swear on my life to change the sexist laws in Konoha and give all omegas the same legal freedoms as anyone else for the sake of your friend Lee.”

He had decided then to put his trust in her since she had seemed so genuine in her resolve.

Now he is upset at himself for ever doing that in the first place, “I put my trust in you after struggling with completely trusting anyone who’s not an omega thanks to the way Neji treated Lee. I wanted to trust you so badly, I really thought you were different, but you’re not! I went through all of that and…for what? For my friend to still have to go back to his home? What was the point in ever going to find you then if you never had any intention of changing things?”

She set her pen down and met his eyes, calm in her demeanor as she spoke, “I know of the discomfort you experienced in battle, I know how scared you had to have been to be so openly sexualized by your own opponents, but I did try my best to change things. Just because I’m the new hokage doesn’t mean I can start writing new laws to get rid of the old ones; I have to go through the elders and they are the ones who decide which laws get to my desk to be passed and which ones don’t. Ultimately, all the laws I tried to change for the better didn’t sit well any of them, especially Danzo.”

“Why not, though? Don’t they have omega kids or grandkids or mates they should want to have rights?”

“Most of them do, but most of them are not too far off from the Lee clan in terms of conservativeness. In their eyes, tradition needs to be respected no matter what, even if it does mean an omega gets abused. They also took offense to the changes I suggested because they said that doing so would violate the rights of these conservative clans to practice their traditions as they see fit—even though abuse should never be tolerated in any way, shape, or form no matter what the tradition, they didn’t see it that way because they don’t see omegas as people.”

She appeared genuinely guilty when glancing down at her desk, “I’m so sorry, Naruto…I really tried my best to change things for your poor friend, but nothing I did, nothing I said could make them budge. They’re too old and stuck in their ways to change. I fear the only way they will change is when they take their last breath or if something drastic happens to this village to make them reconsider the laws in place.”

He calmed down to this, currently feeling incredibly stupid for snapping at her so harshly, “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that without hearing your side of the story. My dad would be very disappointed in me if he ever found out and I know he won’t be happy to know I told you off. I highly doubt Lee will be either when he hears of this.”

“Maybe not, but that kid seems to be the optimistic, loving type. I wouldn’t worry too much over that.”

Naruto turns his gaze to the floor for a moment before raising his head and going towards the door, “You’re right that he would; if he can forgive Neji after everything, then forgiving me will be a piece of cake. Besides, I need to go see him anyway. I know he’s going to be needing me and I’m not the type to let my friends deal with anything this heavy alone.”

He didn’t see it, but she smiled as he exited her office, leaving her with a somewhat upbeat, “See ya, granny! I have a friend to go see.”

She did protest this, but it wasn’t with any bite as usual. She couldn’t do such a thing, not when she realized that Naruto was indeed more shaken from what happened on the battlefield than what he’s let on. Though she supposes she cannot blame him. Anyone would be terrified if they were in his shoes: not only does Orochimaru want to use him as a bargaining chip to get Sasuke to join him, but Kabuto wants to use him as a personal concubine and breeding experiment. Anyone in that situation would be shaken, even the ever confident Naruto.

She wonders if she should tell his parents about this, if she should go against Jiraiya’s advice and tell not only them, but Sasuke as well.

When their battle ended and they were on their way home to Konoha, Jiraiya had said to Tsunade as she watched over the sleeping omega with a certain protectiveness one would have over their pup (though who could blame her for this after hearing what was said to him out in the open by her own enemies), “You were worried about the kid, huh?”

“Anyone would be if they heard what Kabuto and Orochimaru said to his face.”

“Yeah, I hear ya on that one.” her fellow Sanin frowned while looking at Naruto’s peaceful form, “Maybe I’m being a bit of a dick here, but I don’t think Kakashi, Iruka, or Sasuke should know of what was said here.”

“Why not?” she was flabbergasted to hear him say such a thing, “Those men are like his parents from what you’ve said and Sasuke is his boyfriend…shouldn’t he know about this?”

“If he knows there’s a chance he could go to Orochimaru’s place and betray the village as a whole for the sake of keeping Naruto safe. If Iruka and Kakashi know, they could wind up saying something at the wrong time where Sasuke could overhear what was being said about this, with the end result being the same as it would be if Naruto did tell him. For now, it’s for the best if this remains a secret between us.”

She had understood where he was coming from with this, even if she didn’t really want to. The risk of Sasuke leaving to join Orochimaru to keep Naruto safe was too great to take with this information.

They had gotten Naruto to keep this a secret as well with the fear that if Sasuke knew, then he could do something reckless to stop Orochimaru from wanting to take him or to get revenge on the man for the way he spoke to him in battle.

(They never went too deep in detail as to what that something reckless could be on Jiraiya’s advice; he said Naruto would get angry and fight them on it if they told him the real reasoning. She didn’t think that was true until she saw for herself how loyal and intense their relationship could get in person. Now she’s grateful they didn’t do that.)

As much as she understands the reasoning behind why they can’t tell anyone…she also thinks on some end or another, it’d be better if Sasuke and his family knew everything. Then maybe Naruto could get some real support for it instead of having to handle this trauma on his own.

Maybe she and Jiraiya should try talking to him about it more, to be some form of comfort and support. After how miserably she failed him, she figured it’s all she can do to make things right for the omega she made such big promises to in the heat of a battle where he fought so hard to save her life.

She sits up straight in her chair, gets out a piece of paper, and starts writing in the hopes that man will get this soon.

Naruto’s trauma from that battle needs to be addressed now so it doesn’t cause him to make a dire mistake in another battle in the future.

Chapter Text

Upon arriving at Lee’s place after seeing Tsunade, he didn’t know what to say to his friend. His fellow omega who he knew would be going back to a place he didn’t want to be in no matter how much of a brave face he’d put on for anyone and everyone to see. 

He knocked on Guy sensei’s door, hoping Lee would answer soon, and just his luck the one who answered the door is the one he needed to see right now, “Naruto, hi! How are you doing today? Did you come over to see Guy sensei or did you hear anything about Ino? Is she willing to see us now?” 

“No, I’m here to see you.” he paused, taking in his friend’s too happy expression, “I heard about you going back to live with your mom. I’m sorry, Lee…I failed to get you real help. Granny Tsunade couldn’t do anything because of those stupid, sexist village elders and now…now…you’re going back to the terrible family you have.” 

Lee didn’t seem the least bit phased, if he’s being honest, “I know, but I wasn’t ever expecting anything to change! I know you and Lady Tsunade meant well, I really do, but this place isn’t going to change unless if something really terrible happens.” 

He frowned to this and before he could speak, he was hearing a calm call of, “Lee, do you prefer your tea with honey or do you like it plain?” 

“Plain, please!” he called out to the last alpha he wished to see at his friend’s place, “Sorry about that, Neji came over to see Guy sensei—” 

“And you better not be dating that guy.” Naruto is firm on this because he really does not want Lee to date Neji no matter how strongly he stands by his statements of the Hyuuga having changed his ways for the better.

Lee was frozen in his spot before chuckling and wringing his hands, “I’m not dating Neji; even though he’s changed and become a good guy, I’m not interested in him. He doesn’t really catch my eye, ya know?” 

“Yeah, I figured he wouldn’t.” 

It wasn’t so much as guessing, assuming, or figuring, it was more of, he knew he wouldn’t.

Naruto had come here two days before hearing the news of Lee being sent back to his mother. What he had overheard back then was enough to make him want to scream at the top of his lungs, grab Lee by his shoulders, and shake some sense into him because his taste in alphas is truly abysmal. 

He cannot get Guy sensei out of his head asking him right before he dared to knock on his door, “Why are you looking down? Is there something from the attack you can’t get out of your mind?” 

“No…okay, there is one thing.” 

“Go on, lay it on me! You know I can handle anything and everything you’ve got to say!” 

Lee’s voice had this strange mixture of joy and melancholy to it, sounding to Naruto as though he’d break into tears with a smile on his face all the while, “Well…I guess…I know it’s a lot to take in, because I should hate him, shouldn’t I? He did play a role in the attack on our village and I shouldn’t miss him, I shouldn’t be thinking about him, or how nice he was to me…but I miss Gaara.” 

“I figured you do—whether I approve of it or not, he did make you happy and from what others have said, he was nice to you.” 

“He really was, Guy sensei! If I could mate someone, if I absolutely had to, I would—” he stopped himself short and gave the saddest sounding laugh he had ever heard from the young omega, “It doesn’t matter anyway. I know things won’t change in this village and I know that means I’ll have to mate Neji or some other rich alpha eventually. I also know I’ll never see Gaara again and I’ll never get to tell him goodbye, so there’s no point in thinking about it so much…but why do I think about it so much? Why can’t I let this go?” 

…Lee has horrid taste in alphas, that much Naruto could never fix, and as much as he wants to scream at him that Gaara never apologized for anything, never did anything to contact him at all, and there’s a bigger, better world out there with better alphas than him—he knows he wouldn’t listen. Lee is too forgiving. He will always excuse away Gaara’s actions no matter what. 

“You’re right in thinking that you may not see him again and there’s no point in putting your life on hold for someone who can’t be here to live it with you—at least, that’s what I think anyway.” Guy sensei then moved somewhere in the home—probably closer to the door from the sounds of it—and told him, “I may be neutral on the guy, but it sounds like you really liked him a lot when he was here to be missing him so much now. If you want, I can at least help you get the proper goodbye to him that you’ve always deserved.” 

“How?” 

“Lady Tsunade would know how to contact him. If you’re really up to it, I could go to her, ask for the information we’d need to write him a letter, and have her send it off for you. After all, you really like this alpha a lot, you seem to have some sort of crush on him—why don’t you write to him if you’re feeling that glum over him?” 

As much as Naruto wanted to stop this from happening—again, he’s still angry at Gaara for leaving Lee without an apology or at the very least a proper farewell—he couldn’t deny that it would probably brighten Lee’s spirits to speak to him again in some way. If the awkward denial of feelings talk from Lee was any indication, he knew he had to have it really bad for the damn alpha. As such, he took mercy on his friend and knocked on the door then to see him. 

For however much he doesn’t like Gaara, he can admit—begrudgingly that is—he’d be better than Neji, who got him into the mess he’s in. 

“Well, we were going to go get something to eat since Guy sensei’s not here to train with us and we just got done doing some training together. Do you want to come with us, Naruto?” 

And willingly spend time with Neji? 

Nope. Naruto would rather sever his own arm than ever willingly spend time with the guy who made his friend’s life a living hell during the Chunin exams. 

“…No thanks.” 

“Are you sure? We’re eating at his place and he promised me it’d be really good!” 

“No, I’m good.” he insisted, not wanting to be with Neji at his home if he can avoid it, though he cannot help to think of this as being some sort of date between them, “You sure you’re not interested in him? Because this sort of sounds like a date to me.” 

Lee shrugged this off with ease, “No, I’m not. It’s just a dinner between two friends—why would I date Neji? He’s a teammate and friend, but not someone I’d like to date.” 

Naruto wasn’t sure how to feel about this. For starters, he doesn’t trust Neji with Lee as far as he can throw him. Secondly, the idea of him taking Lee to his home doesn’t sit right with him. Thirdly, how can he be sure he won’t use this as some opportunity to try to pressure Lee into a mating he doesn’t want or is prepared for? 

Exactly—Lee can be as forgiving and naïve as he wants to be. Doesn’t mean Naruto will fall down the same path with Neji Hyuuga after everything he did. 

“Uh-huh…sure…” he asks him then because he is curious, “What about Gaara? Have you heard anything from him?”

He would think the damned bastard would have sent at least one letter apologizing to him and giving him the proper send off his friend deserved. According to Lee, he is a good person—so why wouldn’t he have done the bare minimum with this? 

“No,” and Naruto’s back to seething against him, “Damn bastard! Why couldn’t he have done at least that for you! The freaking prick…if I ever see him again, I’ll wring his neck so hard!” 

“No, Naruto, don’t!” Lee grabbed his shoulder then, “I’m fine with it. Gaara probably has a lot going on right now. His village lost their leader and he lost his father. I’m positive he’s got a lot to think about, a lot to deal with like I do. I can understand why he hasn’t yet and if he never does, then I’m fine with it. Besides, I’m going back to live with my mom anyway: eventually, I’ll be mated off and I know it would never be to him, no matter what I want for myself. It’s no big deal; it’s the price of being an omega born into my clan, there’s nothing I can do to escape that.”

As much as Naruto wants to argue otherwise, he decided to drop it for the time being to better focus on the alpha who approaches the door, “If Lee doesn’t wish for you to harm Gaara, then the least you could do is respect his wishes, Naruto. I know that’s a rather novel idea, but it couldn’t kill you to try.”

“You shut up!” he’s gritting his teeth, his scent flaring while his hands ball into tight fists, “You don’t have any nerve to talk down to me after what you did to him… I don’t care what Lee tells me; I don’t trust you being alone with my friend.”

“Why—”

“I know and you have no reason to rationally trust me after what you’ve seen.” Neji speaks up for himself, gently stepping ahead of Lee to speak to Naruto, “I was no better than his clan was to him. I know this and I understand just how wrong I was to strip him of his freedom, to hold the idea that it was okay for me to do the same to him after what my own clan did to my father and I.”

Now the young omega is watching the Hyuuga carefully, trying to find any indication in Lee’s face or body to see if he is anxious or scared around Neji. When he finds none, he allows his fists to loosen enough to where his hands were in a natural position and the trembling within them was gone.

“I was angry over what happened to my father and myself. I took that out on Lee when I never should have; for that I will do whatever it takes to prove myself as a better alpha to him.”

He does wonder just how serious this supposedly improved Neji is, which is why he tests this out, “…So, what’s your stance on omegas? Do you think they should be allowed to be ninjas? Do you think their safety and happiness should come before tradition or not?”

Neji doesn’t hesitate on what he says, “I do believe they should be allowed to be ninjas. I also no longer believe they are only meant to be mated and pregnant any longer, with an alpha or beta to take care of them. If they can take care of themselves, then they should, no questions asked. Independence is attractive in an omega, this much I can admit after spending some more time with Lee.”

“Would you be okay with having an omega mate who doesn’t want to be barefoot and pregnant, stay at home omega with a few pups of their own?”

This is the moment of truth for Neji, the damned bastard who ruined Lee’s chances at being a Chunin. What he says next will really show what sort of person this guy has become since the events of the Chunin exams.

“I would, but I do want pups someday. Mating someone who doesn’t want the same thing as me is not something I would ever do, though if they do want it and they don’t want to be a stay at home parent, then I will accept their wishes as is.”

He jumps on this a sort of ‘gotcha’ moment because while Neji is sounding like he’s changed quite considerably on his views regarding omegas, “Okay, so you’ve gotten better about that stuff—but what about the whole tradition thing? You haven’t touched that yet! Tell me, do you think tradition should come before the rights of an omega to decide their own fate and live as they please like any beta or alpha can in this village?”

When he glanced at him with a certain level of disbelief in his eyes, Naruto had thought he would catch him slipping up. Instead, what he got was, “I don’t believe tradition should be sidelined completely for the happiness of the individual. Making some minor adjustments to it is fine but wanting to throw it out completely to make someone happy is wrong.”

The crestfallen expression on Lee’s face is enough for Naruto to know Neji isn’t a completely good guy now to actually say something like that with someone who comes from such a severely conservative clan, “But—what if the traditions are bad? What if they treat the omegas like they are not people? What about the clans out there who use tradition as an excuse to treat their omegas like shit and get away with it?”

“Who are you to say a tradition is bad? Who are you to take an omega out of their home just because you don’t like the tradition? Clans should be allowed to raise their omega children as they please.”

“Even if it means the omega is beaten or forced to mate someone they don’t know or like?”

“Yes, even through that—but what would count as being beaten anyway? Not all corporal punishment is a bad thing, Naruto, despite whatever it is you may believe.”

He was about to punch him so hard when Lee himself intervened on his teammate’s behalf, “Neji, I don’t think I’m gonna go with you to dinner tonight.”

“Why not?” Neji turned to face him yet he didn’t catch onto the obvious, “I thought you wanted to go with me. What made you change your mind?”

“It’s just…I’m feeling kinda hormonal and I’d rather have Naruto by me now than you or anyone in your clan.”

Neji didn’t fight on it like Naruto had been prepared for him to do, but he did respect his wishes nonetheless, “That’s fine, you can be by him for now if you wish. I’ll see you tomorrow for training with Guy sensei, alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you then.” the moment Neji turned his back to him and left, Lee’s disappointment and hurt was written all over his face while his scent became muted in the pleasant notes, leaving only the harsher ones present in a slightly less intense fashion than when he is angered or grieving.

Naruto followed him in his home when the other omega motioned for him to and when the door was closed, he couldn’t contain it any longer, “I really thought Neji had changed on that—I thought he was going to be better…I guess I got my hopes up over nothing, huh?”

“You may have, but that guy’s always gonna be jerk. It’s not your fault for thinking he’d be better by now after everything he said to you after my fight with him.” he does try to change the subject to cheer up his friend, “Are you actually okay with going back to live with your mom?”

“I mean,” Lee doesn’t meet his eyes but he is staring at this annoyingly mundane spot on the floor, “I don’t want to go back to live with her, but I have no choice—if I don’t go willingly, I will be forced out of here by the ANBU and I don’t want that. If I could choose for myself, I’d stay with Guy sensei for good, not her. I know I won’t ever be able to, not at this rate…oh well. At least I got to stay here with him for a while before being sent back.”

Seeing someone as usually upbeat and optimistic as Lee being so beaten down by what’s happened to him has his friend wanting to do something, anything at all to make this better. Ultimately he could only come up with one thing, “Alright, screw this! We gotta get outta this place with this bad energy and go somewhere more positive we can talk about fun stuff with each other. Also, I’m hungry and I know you’d love the ramen at Ichirakus!”

Had this been Sasuke there would’ve been a protest. Luckily for him, this was Lee and Lee’s response was to smile weakly and say, “I’d like to have some ramen. Guy sensei and I usually don’t eat it because he thinks it’s a bit too salty.”

He won’t fight his sensei on this comment here, but he will when they get there, “Pfft, be prepared to be proven wrong! C’mon Lee, let’s go! You deserve to have one nice thing coming out of this.”

The entire time he spent with Lee, he couldn’t help but to wonder if he was more upset over: Neji’s ignorant views or the fact he’ll be living with his mom again. He would never figure out which one it was; Lee never brought it up to him when they ate. All they did was talk about training, Naruto’s time with Jiraiya (minus the gross things said to him in battle against Orochimaru and Kabuto), and their thoughts on Shikamaru being made a Chunin.

Ino is seething after learning all this information, “That stupid jerk! He hasn’t changed one bit to say something so wrong to Lee!”

“He so hasn’t! I can’t believe Lee actually feels okay with training with that guy: I know I never could if I had to hear him say I deserved to be treated like crap if tradition called for it!”

“Does Neji still want to mate him someday? If so, then it’s beyond gross and Lee needs to know he can do better.”

“Ah, well, Lee did tell me Neji does want to court him someday with the intention of mating.”

“Like I’m ever letting that one happen!” Ino isn’t calming down, then again, Naruto’s not doing any better since he does agree with everything she has to say, “Neji is not going to mate my friend, not when he can do way better than him!”

Of course…this would have been much better if she hadn’t said it right when they arrived where Lee is located…at the same time Neji himself was in front of them.

It’s not the worst thing to ever happen to anyone, Naruto can admit, though he won’t deny he is looking forward to seeing Ino rip this guy a new one for what he said to Lee.

Chapter Text

When Ino took full notice of Neji's presence, her first reaction was to say, “What are you doing here?”

Neji’s response to this was to pause in his movements and raise a brow, “I’m here to train with Guy sensei and hopefully see Lee if I can. Of course, I am not here to mate Lee, but if I was then I’d like to think you’d accept it and see me as the best option I am for him if he consented to it.”

“Neji, you’re just on time!” Guy begins when opening the door, “I thought I heard you out here—” he stops midsentence to change the subject abruptly when glancing at the new visitors, “Ino, Naruto, what are you two doing here?”

“We’re here to see Lee.” Ino answers simply, “I haven’t seen him in a while and I want to be sure he’s okay.”

The alpha man doesn’t object to this, moving aside to let them into his home, “Go ahead then! Kami knows the poor kid needs his friends now more than ever…”

“Sensei, I was thinking I could train with him today.” Neji began only for his sensei to shoot it down, “You can train with him any other time! Let him have this time with his friends.”

The Hyuuga doesn’t fight his sensei on this, yet it does nothing to stop him from mentally cursing the omegas for showing up right when he was going to finally make a move to try to court Lee properly.

On their end, Ino and Naruto were happy to see Lee when they made it to the kitchen. However, this happiness faded when they realized he wasn’t eating and he had aura of resignation neither of them had seen to such an extent before, “Hi, Lee…sorry I didn’t come to see you, it’s just—everything with Deidara…it’s been a lot harder to take in than I thought and being right about his disappearance hasn’t made things easier for me.”

She would love to tell them all the truth, but the possibility of this getting back to Danzo if too many people know is high. The last thing she wants is to endanger Deidara by having their homeland send ninjas out to bring him back for the sake of execution; as such, she has to lie to her friends no matter how badly it kills her on the inside to do so.

“Ino, you’re here!” he suddenly beams with excitement, leaving his friends deep in shock as they realized he had been too deep in whatever it was on his mind to actually notice their presence, “What happened with your brother? I’ve heard it wasn’t good, but Guy sensei said you should be the one to tell me.”

“Well, turns out I was right: he was forced to leave the village, become an Akatsuki, and mate Itachi thanks to that stupid Sharingan of his. He wanted to come back, but he couldn’t—not when he knew the risk of him coming back with a vengeance would be too great.” she frowns, not because of the scenario she spoke of, but because she’s still upset over what happened to Deidara to make him leave, “It’s been a lot on me and Sakura’s been the only one I could really turn to since she knew Deidara almost as well as I did…I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have ever left you alone to deal with the whole ‘being sent back to your mom’ situation by yourself. I promise I’ll—”

“No, it’s alright! I don’t mind, I think anyone would need some time away after learning all of that.” Lee stops her from apologizing, seeing it as pointless. As long as Ino got some comfort that helped her through a traumatic time, then that’s all that matters to him, “I bet it will really be a great motivator in your shinobi journey! You’ve always wanted to bring him back home and prove his innocence—now you have more fighting spirit to make it happen.”

She doesn’t know how to tell them about her motivations changing without giving away the truth. All she can do is nod, her smile forced at that point, “You’re right, it really does… I will bring him back home no matter what and he will be found innocent of everything, just like I know he is!”

Saying it now feels so wrong because Deidara is innocent in her eyes, but she doesn’t want to live her whole life putting him first anymore. Before she spoke to him, she wouldn’t have minded this, but after everything she’s learned? Declaring such a thing felt wrong—not only to her brother who doesn’t want to come back, but wrong to herself as well since there’s no need to put him first anymore when she has her own life to live outside of him.

A life that includes being by her friends’ side through thick and thin, such as now with Lee, who still is acting oddly in the sense that he’s trying too hard to be unaffected by what is going to happen to him soon, “Awesome! Now, Naruto, what’s new with you? Anything going on with you and Sasuke? How about—”

“Why are you acting weird?”

Leave it to Naruto to cut to the chase, “I think what he means is, it feels like you’re forcing yourself to be your typical self around us and it feels weird. Are you okay?”

“I am, really—oh, is there something you guys want to do? How about—”

“Lee,” Naruto cuts him off firmly with a no-nonsense glow in his eyes, “aren’t you worried about going back to your mom? Aren’t you afraid she’s going to force you to mate Neji or something? Aren’t you afraid of anything at all?”

Lee stops in his act, his shoulders slowly slumping while a tired expression came over him, “I don’t want to go home…no one from my sort of clan would if they were me right now. I love being here with Guy sensei: here, I am free to do as I please like any alpha or beta in my clan could without any fears of being punished and I am a true equal here too. I don’t get told how ugly I am compared to Deidara, I don’t have all these expectations to act or look a certain way, and I can do things for myself I could never do at my old home.”

There are a few tears there when he goes on to say it, “Yeah, I don’t want to go home. I want to stay here with Guy sensei because he makes me feel like a normal person for once. Here, there’s nothing to be afraid of or dread—with my mom, I have everything to fear and dread. I don’t want to go home, I want to stay, but…I…I can’t.”

Ino goes over to his side to hug him tightly, releasing calming pheromones all the while, “Oh, Lee…I always knew it was bad, but that bad? I’m so sorry I never looked into it more, I’m sorry I never asked, I’m sorry—”

“Don’t apologize. I never would have said anything about it to you or Naruto had you asked.” he hugs her back, finding comfort in the familiar pheromones of his dear friend, “I don’t like people knowing too much about my clan. It makes me feel ashamed and embarrassed, like I can’t be taken seriously as a ninja because of where I come from. I would love to come from a clan like yours or Iruka sensei’s because then I’d be seen as more respectable than what I am now.”

Sadly enough, Ino and Naruto both know exactly what Lee is saying and understand all too clearly what he means by it. What makes it sadder yet is knowing they cannot deny any of what has been said by him just now because it’s too true: no one in the village does take him seriously as a ninja ever since the whole incident with the Chunin exams being postponed happened.

With this incident, everyone learned of Lee’s being an omega and the talk about his clan spread amongst the people once the truth of the matter was revealed to far too many after the attack on their village happened. Many started to blame him for Gaara’s role in the attack on their homeland, saying that if he had done more as omega from a poor conservative clan should to subdue and seduce him into a mating, then this whole thing could’ve been prevented somehow.

(Far too many believe that he could have changed Gaara and gotten him to tell the truth about their plans before they went through with it had he mated him. No one involved the situation believes this, but far too many in the village love to lay blame on the omega even when there is no logical way to.)

Those that did not blame him saw his being a ninja in a different light. Hell, even those who did blame him wound up seeing his being a ninja in the same light as those who didn’t.

Lee’s clan was notorious for being poor and Lee himself has had to prove he’s as intelligent, skilled, and worthy of being a ninja as anyone else from a better off clan long before anything Chunin exam or Gaara related happened. Simply put, far too many believe him to be ignorant, having no skills, and being allowed to be a ninja simply out of pity by far too many senseis with too soft of hearts.

This was before his being an omega was as widely known. Back then, he could at least fall back on people thinking he’s a beta because of his scent and not have to face as much flack.

Now they know he’s an omega and this has made it far worse than it ever was in the past.

They firmly believe that being a poor omega means he is only trying to become a ninja to land himself a wealthy mate (a great example of this is the far too many jealous omegas and betas who believe he only became a ninja to mate with Neji Hyuuga). There’s also the prevailing belief that such a poor omega shouldn’t be thinking about becoming ninja in the first place: no, he should be focusing on getting mated to Neji or another wealthy alpha or beta to provide for him since that’s all a greedy, poor omega would ever need to be happy. Then there’s the whispers that he only got the chance to become a ninja out of pity by the senseis who want to see him mate his way out of poverty; that Lee himself definitely could never be as skilled, intelligent, or worthy of being a ninja like anyone else from a better off clan because he’s a poor omega and poor omegas only exist to mate rich since they have no other skills otherwise.

Guy sensei has defended him so much and honestly, seeing his passionate defense made any insecurities he had vanish into thin air knowing he had someone in his corner—an alpha, at that—who saw such worth, value, and talent in him to be so intense about it.

His mother would never defend him in such a manner. Neither would his father, or any of his other alpha and beta relatives. All they would’ve done is used the mutterings of those in the village to insult him further yet when they got the chance. He’s never had any alpha in his life to be in his corner, on his side before he got Guy sensei as the captain of his squad.  

“None of that matters, though…not much does when I know things will never change or improve no matter where I live, what clan I am from, or who’s care am I under. I will always be an omega first and that means my life will always be terrible in some way or another no matter what I or anyone else does to try to change it.”

Naruto joins the hug then, his own tears starting to burn in his eyes as Lee goes on, “I know when I go back to my mom, things won’t get better—and I know when I do, I’ll probably never get to write Gaara like I wanted to and I’ll never get the chance to have my own future with her in my life. I want to stop it, but I can’t, not without Guy sensei getting in trouble…and I can’t do that to the only alpha who ever believed in me enough to defend me no matter what.”

“Dammit Lee, let’s runaway together!” Naruto blurted out, “I’ll get that damn sage to go along with it and we’ll leave right before you have to go back to your mom’s place!”

Ino, despite being devastated over Lee’s predicament, has to stop him there before he does something that could get the both of them in deep trouble with the village elders, “Naruto, if you do that then Lee will only get in more trouble—and besides, you of all people cannot run away! Sasuke would find you in five minutes, Sakura and Kakashi sensei would have your head, and what about poor Iruka sensei? Could you really break his heart like that?”

“I could if it meant saving Lee from his awful fate!”

Now she’s annoyed with him, “I get wanting to help him, but what about the people who care about you? Aren’t you thinking of them?”

When he has nothing to say, she presses further with the topic, giving them some insight she had never shared with them before, “Deidara leaving tore my family apart—my parents couldn’t be in the house for years after he left for anything other than eating, sleeping, showering, and getting a change of clothing. My dad and mom’s mating was pushed to the brink, I was left to deal with everything bothering me on my own to keep my family together—how can you be that selfish to hurt everyone who cares about you?”

She knows the intention is good, but it doesn’t stop her from being any less frustrated with Naruto for wanting to make such a plan in the first place! To make it worse, it would only set omegas in the village back farther thanks to good ol’ sexism kicking in and saying the omegas need to be taught a lesson as opposed to looking at what, exactly, is wrong with their society that it makes omegas runaway in the first place.

“…Ino, I never knew that. Why didn’t you say anything to us?” her friend’s blue eyes are now wide with understanding and shame, to which she gives the best answer she’s got, “Because I didn’t want to talk about it too much and let it distract me from my goal. Also, I was afraid that if anyone overheard me telling you guys, they’d be attacking my family with their rumors and taunts more than they did when he first left us. I couldn’t put my family through that again, not after what happened the first time around.”

“I wouldn’t want to runaway anyway, Naruto. It wouldn’t solve anything; all they’d do is send ANBU or ROOT on us to bring us back by force. Then some new law restricting omega rights would get passed and more people would suffer…I would never want to be responsible for that, not for one moment in my life.”

Ino soon released Lee, with Naruto doing the same and the taller omega following suite. When the hug was ended between all three of them, Lee wiped at his eyes, and a small, genuine grin overcame him, “Oh well, I cannot change my fate, but that doesn’t mean today cannot be a good day spent with my friends! What do you say we stay here and let me give you guys a full tour. Oh, then we can brew some tea and head out to the backyard to catch up with each other! Then after that, I can cook this really good dish for us Guy sensei taught me to make—well, if you want to, that is.”

Ino doesn’t object to it, seeing it all too well that Lee wanted to spend his last day here before being inevitably sent back to his horrible home with his equally horrible mother, “I think that sounds great. What about you, Naruto?”

Naturally, this escaped him, “I dunno…are you sure we can’t go out and get some desserts while we’re at it?”

Her eyes are as cold as ice, sending a shiver down his spine and making him cave with one look, “But that can always wait until after we’re done with everything else, right? Let’s do what you want, Lee!”

He is beaming with pure joy at his friends’ decision to do something he wants to do at least once before he is sent off to the end of his future, “I’ll start the tour then! Trust me, Guy sensei’s place is very fun: I think you’ll like the indoor training room, Naruto, and Ino, the garden may not be one of flowers but there are plenty of wonderful foods growing there you’d like!”

Naruto is now the one who is beaming, “No way…Iruka sensei told me it isn’t real…he has a real life, indoor training room? Where is it? Can I see it right now?”

“Sure thing! Let me lead the way; I think it’d be fun to use the training room with you guys.”

Ino is happy to see her friend in a better mood—well, not completely better; more like improved. Still, an improved mood is better than nothing, “I wanna this training room too! Training with fellow omegas is a dream come true of mine and getting to train with you two is one of the best things to happen to me in a long time!”

It's not what she had imagined would happen, but as long as Lee is happy and Naruto isn’t trying to make haphazard, poorly thought out plans on the spot, then all is fine with her.

Chapter Text

Training with Naruto and Lee was something else, she can admit. It was…not the sort of peaceful event she had envisioned. In fact, it made her grateful to train with Shikamaru and Chouji.

Turns out, Guy sensei’s ‘training room’ was nothing more than an empty room with training materials meant for those who only use taijutsu. It wasn’t miserable by any means nor any more difficult than working with a sexist alpha, though she does wish it wasn’t so hectic yet draining all the same. By the time they were done doing Lee’s usual training routine—Naruto’s suggestion, by the way; though he turned it into a never ending competition between himself and Lee that ended up in the two of them almost going through their chakra reserves—they were too tired to want to go elsewhere, but they carried on with the tour of the home anyway and wound up eating the meal Guy sensei taught him to make (it was chankonabe, but it was the best they ever had).

It has her wondering, “Does Guy sensei ever get lonely when he’s here by himself?”

Lee hums in response, being careful with his wording when informing them, “I think he does, but he doesn’t bring it up. My sensei doesn’t really like to date—too many people want to spend a rut with him and get angry when he’s not…you know…”

“Horny?”

Lee turns bright pink to this and he stammers, “N-Naruto!”

Ino was about to nudge Naruto hard, but the other omega didn’t care. There’s no point in sugar coating it in his eyes: him and Iruka are very open about sex, heats, and ruts at home. Living with Kakashi sensei hasn’t changed this either; if of anything, he’s been as equally brutally honest about sex, heats, and ruts as Iruka has.

Why tip toe around this? Why pretend it’s not something that comes into far too many people’s minds whenever they first meet him?

“What? We’re all omegas coming close to the age of our first heats; why not call it what it is?”

Naruto doesn’t understand Lee’s horror to it, but then he finally speaks when the shock escapes him, “Y-You’re comfortable talking about this stuff, huh?”

“Yeah,” he raises a brow when asking, “Aren’t you?”

“No…my clan didn’t talk about this stuff. They thought it was something I should find out during my first heat with my mate.”

To them, this is beyond the pale of ridiculousness and for good reason, “That’s beyond messed up—in my clan, we had those talks early on so we knew what to say to my parents if anyone ever tried to molest Deidara or I.”

“Yeah, Iruka was always open with me for that reason too…and he also thought I should know what’s going on when my heat does hit me.” Naruto shivers at the idea of not knowing anything about it until the first mating, “You really never spoke about it with your clan?”

Lee shook his head, “I didn’t know anything about that stuff until Guy sensei and Iruka sensei had a talk with me about it.”

To take his mind off the horror of the ‘what if’ situation that could have been had he not ever had a talk with anyone at all about this stuff, he does have to wonder, “Scary…did you ever…you know, like anyone enough to want to mate?”

His immediate answer is to laugh this off, “No, I never have!”

To which, Ino shoots this down with a mischievous grin, “Huh, that’s not what my dad said.”

His breath is caught in his throat as she asks, “What about Gaara? Wouldn’t you want to be mated to him?”

Lee doesn’t know how to answer this because, well…if he ever were to have a choice in who he would want to mate, it would be Gaara. Gaara may have his flaws, but he’s the nicest alpha he’s ever met. So many others in his position would have abused that position to take more from him than he’d feel comfortable giving and yet, as Guy sensei said, he never did. He always remained respectful towards him when many others wouldn’t have—something he deeply respects Gaara for.

It was a combination of things that have made him realize this very simple fact. For starters, without the stress of living with his mother on the table for so long, he was able to calmly assess his own feelings and talk them out with someone he trusts (Guy sensei). Before the events with Ino happened, he was free to take part in the calm of the village while doing whatever he could to help rebuild it (which wasn’t anything, since the village elders had deemed that only alpha and betas could ‘properly’ rebuild their home), thus allowing him to examine his own reactions more deeply than he could’ve otherwise. Lastly, ever since he’s been damned to go back to his mom’s place, he has been forced to think about his future and what he would want for himself should she try to force him into anything he doesn’t want to—which is a grim yet very real possible outcome that could happen to him when he goes in through the door of her new home.

Thanks to this added time of introspection, he can admit that if he could, he really had a chance to have a choice to mate anyone…he’d mate Gaara. Even if he’s not good enough for him, even if he doesn’t come from the same village as him, even if he’d have to leave everything behind to be with him—he’d be with Gaara if he could.

However, he knows this is nothing more than a fantasy with no hopes of ever becoming reality.

Gaara is an attractive, powerful alpha with a pleasant scent (if one can overlook the blood tinged to it): any omega or beta would be throwing themselves at him regardless of his reputation. Lee, on the other hand, is nowhere near his league and he knows it.

Why would Gaara want someone like him when he can get himself a thousand Deidaras?

There’s no point in thinking on it for too long. With the way Ino’s looking at him, he knows he has to answer now before he gets too lost in his thoughts, “I would—”

“Even though the jerk never apologized to you for what he did? Has he ever tried to contact you?”

He knows Naruto doesn’t care for Gaara—he’s said as much in the past—but he really wishes he’d try to understand, “No, he never did, but how was he supposed to contact me when he didn’t know where I lived before our village was attacked? How could he have gotten in contact with me when I went to live with Guy sensei after the invasion on our homeland?”

Naruto huffs whereas Ino glares at him, “Naruto, back off! My dad firmly believes Gaara likes Lee as much as Lee likes him and he wouldn’t be saying that if he didn’t think it was true. If Lee wants to like Gaara, then let him. Don’t try to control who he can and cannot like; that’s something only the most sexist of pigs would do.”

“Ugh, but Ino, he—”

Her sharp stare silenced him to submission, allowing Lee the chance to feel incredibly grateful for her in this moment as he remembers how bad it was to not have her there to keep him from fighting him too much on this.

“Don’t. Try. To. Tell. Him. Who. To. Like.” she seethes in the calmest manner possible, though it’s gone when asking Lee, “Why not try to write to Gaara? I’m positive he’d write you back if you wrote to him first. Don’t you think he feels bad about what he did, or at least very stupid for it? He and everyone in his entourage were deceived by Orochimaru—he did lose his dad in all of this because of him, like how you lost your clan. He’d probably love to have someone to talk to about it.”

Lee doesn’t meet her eyes when giving her his reason, “Because I know it’s pointless. Gaara probably moved on by now to someone better for him than I would ever be…he could be mated now for all I know…and I have to accept that. I was never going to be good enough for someone like him.”

“That’s not true!” she tried to fight him on it, but Lee shrugged it all off with a sad smile on his face that somehow managed to appear so confident all the same, “No, it is true and I’ve accepted this a long time ago. I will never be good enough for him; who would want me anyway? I’m too tall for my age, too lean, and I’m not as attractive as you, Naruto, Iruka sensei, or Deidara. Why would any alpha like him want to settle for someone like me when they could get a million Deidaras instead? No one in their right mind would do such a thing…and I’m okay with it.”

She was about to say more when he stood up from the dining room table they had been at, “If I never get to see him again or speak to him one last time, I’ll be okay. As long as Gaara is happy, I’ll be at peace knowing he’s out there, recovered from whatever bad things happened to drive him to the point he was at during the attack, and living his best life.”

Naruto doesn’t react much to this for a solid three minutes before ultimately placing on the table what he came to give him in the first place, “Lee…I want to give you this.”

“A blank piece of paper and an envelope?”

“Yeah, to write to Gaara…I got the granny to give me a way to make sure your letter would get to him.” before he can ask, Naruto sighs, “I don’t think he’d be a good guy for you, but I shouldn’t have been such a jerk about your choices. You deserve a chance to tell him goodbye properly and he deserves a chance to prove me wrong by making it up to you.”

While the omegas were together, Guy sensei had been training Neji, who was more than a bit miffed to not have Lee there. He tried to hide it, but his attempts were shoddy at best and Guy sensei could tell his passive aggression was directly caused by not having the omega present.

He ultimately did get sick of it, though he didn’t confront him about it until after they were done since he didn’t want to waste his entire day with an angsty Neji when he could be with Lee instead, “Why are you so distracted by Lee?”

He tried to act as though he wasn’t, though Guy sensei always knew, “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t try to hide it from me; I’m asexual, not an idiot.” he scolds his student with his hands on his hips and his annoyance showing through, “Ever since Lee got to spend time with his friends, you’ve been acting all hissy. I want to know why you’re being this way when there’s no reason for you to be.”

When Neji didn’t answer, Guy rolled his eyes, “It doesn’t matter what the reason was for—you shouldn’t have let it distract you as severely as it did. You were messy and slow to react; your attacks weren’t landing, and your form was off in all your jutsus. Next time, try to work out your issues before allowing them to cloud your mind like this.”

It was only when he was fed up and ready to head home to be with Lee before he got sent away to his mother’s home that he heard Neji admit in a gentler, almost too quiet voice, “I want to court Lee.”

Guy paused in his steps, uncertain of how to respond.

Truthfully, he believes Neji has grown exponentially ever since the whole fiasco at the exams. However, he is too cautious to let the young alpha anywhere near after what happened there. He knows he should give him good advice regardless of how he views him, but his protectiveness over Lee leaves him reluctant to do so.

“…You want to court him? That’s why you wanted him here today?”

He can practically hear the nod in the air, his voice still incredibly quiet in an already quiet setting, “Yes. I was going to ask him to go with me to his mother’s place to arrange a courting according to the traditions of his clan. It was the only way I could see a mating blossoming between us; though to be honest, it felt like the only correct way to do things after all I’ve done to him.”

This is where his confliction lies.

He wants to protect Lee, but at the same time, Neji has shown growth and not recognizing this growth could lead him back into bad habits he’d rather not have happen again if he could prevent it.

He wants to reward his growth, however, he does bring up something he believes Neji should know about Lee’s clan in an attempt to hopefully stave off any chances of courting anytime soon, “Going to her with him by your side won’t help your case. You may be rich, you may be a Hyuuga, but that’s not enough if you wish to court by her traditions.”

“How should I do it then?”

“Simple: go to her place alone and ask for her permission to court Lee before making any move. If she approves, then you can try, but remember to respect his rejection if he gives you it. Though if he agrees, keep in mind that should he ever be harmed, I will ensure your destruction for hurting him.”

Neji is silent for a brief period of time until he gives his agreement to the terms, “I understand…thank you for the help, sensei.”

“Don’t mention it.” he says before heading home, not wanting to assist him any more than he already has in courting Lee.

He knows his mother will approve of it. Neji comes from a wealthy, prestigious clan; that’s all he has to do to be approved by her.

When he does return home, he sees Lee’s friends are still there. Now, he could have kicked them out, but they seemed to be deep in conversation about something and he didn’t want to disturb them, not when Lee looked so carefree, relaxed, happy…like a normal kid his age should be.

He goes back to his room, flipping through his book he tries to think of what all he can do to help Lee when he is out of his care…though this thought is ruined when his student knocks on his bedroom door, “Sensei, Naruto and Ino want to go to this café to have cakes and other pastries. Do you want to come with us? I’d like to spend time with you.”

Right…he can think about how to protect Lee tomorrow.

Now, he should be doing all that he can to keep the smile he saw earlier on his face, “Sounds great to me! Let’s get going then, Lee!”

“You’re the best, sensei!”

Neji was a bit miffed when he didn’t get the location of Lee’s new home with his mother from his sensei, but he didn’t complain too much. He had been able to find it out rather easily from someone in the main branch of his clan who had worked on rebuilding Lee’s mother’s new home.

Approaching her door, he was beyond confident in his being able to get an approval for courting. She had practically made her desire for Lee to mate him known to him in no uncertain terms the last time he saw her; why would he have to believe he would be given anything other than acceptance by her?

With a swift knock on it, he waits for a few moments before she opens it, seeing him standing there and immediately hearing him greet her with a too assured, “Hello, I am here to gain your permission to court your son, Rock Lee, with the intentions of courting him completely in the traditions of your clan.”

Her face blank and her voice showcased her apathy perfectly, “Ah, I see… Sorry, but I will have to decline your offer.”

“What?”

Who could blame him for being surprised? After all she did to show her approval of him, from the first time he met her to the Chunin exams where she had Lee asking him to mate him, and now she’s suddenly rejecting him?

Anyone in his shoes would be upset with the turn of events, “You heard me, I’m rejecting your offer your courtship.”

“Why? After everything you’ve done to show me you approve of me, why are you taking this all back now?”

“Because I’ve lost interest in you as a potential mate for my son.” her words are short and sharp with him, leaving the young alpha to feel as though he’d been stabbed when he hadn’t so much as been touched by the woman in front of him, “In our clan, trying to court an omega without our permission is a grave violation of our traditions. If you so much as try to court him, I will inform the head of your clan about this and I will see he punishes you to the fullest extent for such a violation of my traditions.”

When Lee’s friends are gone and they’re home alone, Guy has to ask, “What were you two doing when I came back?”

“What do you—” he stopped when he saw the look on his sensei’s face and comes clean, “okay. I was writing a letter to Gaara with Naruto and Ino’s help. Naruto is going to take it to Lady Tsunade’s place right now so she can send it off to him.”

“That’s great, Lee! You know I’ve always said you should be more assertive with that young man—I think once he sees your letter, he’ll be interested enough to keep talking to you.”

“I guess, maybe.” he mutters while a small blush colors his cheeks, “I hope he replies, but if he doesn’t, that’s fine too. I said what I wanted; now I can go back to my mom’s place without feeling the burden of leaving something unfinished.”

Guy doesn’t like to hear about the monster he calls a mother, yet he does want to be positive of at least one thing, “…You promise you will tell me everything that’s going on there, right? Even the bad stuff?”

“I promise I will, sensei!” he vows with all the resolve he can muster, though Guy can see the fear in his eyes, “I know she won’t like me doing it, but I know you’d hate it if I didn’t and I could never live with myself if I ever let you down. So don’t worry over me when I’m gone with her; I’ll tell you everything!”

He knows he will and he trusts him too. Lee and him have a wonderful father-son relationship full of trust and respect he can honestly say he is the most important relationship in his life. Though he won’t deny that it’d be nice to find someone out there who doesn’t want to get with him for the sole sake of laying claim to ‘being the first one to crack Guy’s shell’…but that can wait for another time.

For now, what matter most is Lee and making sure he’s safe and healthy, “I’ll hold you to it then! A man is only as good as his word—remember that.” he then grins teasingly at the young student, “Speaking of which…what exactly did you write to Gaara? Was it a love confession?”

Lee laughs to this and shakes his head, “No, it was nothing like that! I told him how grateful I was to have met him, that I’m not mad at him for what happened to the village, and I wish him nothing but the best in life.”

“You really are a good kid…” he says while heading over to the living room, “Do you wanna play a game? I have some cards or a board game if you want.”

“Yeah, how about a card game?”

“I think I know which one you will pick…” he said with a knowing smile while getting the cards set up for Lee’s favorite game to hide his own pain at what Lee told him was in the letter.

Somehow, knowing what was written makes Guy’s heart break worse than anything else he’s gone through with Lee.

Chapter Text

Gaara hadn’t been expecting a letter from Lee. In the time after the whole incident at the Chunin exams, he’s been having a lot responsibilities on his plate and as such, hasn’t much time for anyone…well, anyone except for the spy he sent out to keep an eye on any mention of Lee being on an omega auction. So far, there’s been no word of Lee being eligible to be sold at an auction, which is enough to give the alpha all the peace of mind he needs on the issue.

This is why receiving a letter from him has him off guard. Though this being said, he does read it, wondering what all Lee could’ve written him:

Gaara, how have you been doing? I hope you are fine after everything that happened. Before you ask, no, I’m not mad at you. I’ve told you before that I don’t hold grudges and I don’t hold any against you now. You were just as much a victim of Orochimaru’s deceit as anyone else in my eyes at least.

It is so painfully like Lee to not blame him for any of what happened, but he’s somehow relieved to know he’s not mad at him despite everything that’s happened.

We both lost members of families—I lost everyone in my clan except for my mom and you lost your dad, that had to be a lot to take in. Or maybe it wasn’t. I know it wasn’t when I lost my clan.

Yeah, he doesn’t feel bad about that. From what he could figure out about them, they were not good people and if Lee could not be all too bothered by their loss then he supposes they aren’t all that different. (He wasn’t sad about losing his dad; for him, it was more of a ‘whatever’ thing with all his most intense emotions going to being deceived by Orochimaru and those pesky feelings he had when he got home after the attack.)

Either way, I’m writing you this because I don’t know if I will ever see you again in person or not. If I don’t get to see you again, then I want you to know that I’m sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye to you in the way I wanted to and despite everyone being against it, I cheered for you when you fought against Sasuke.

Again, it’s Lee: he would be the type to cheer for him. He has a feeling it’s just what he does whenever someone does the bare minimum in being a decent person to him.

He may not be the best human being around…nor is he the kindest or most considerate…or the safest to be by…but he supposes he was better to him than the one Konoha alpha was, which he assumes was good enough to endear Lee to himself.

He's not complaining, of course. He finds it to be yet another Lee trait he believes to be something that’s simply a core part of his truest, innermost nature somehow.

I know it probably won’t mean much, but I hope it does because no matter what, my memories of you will always be positive. Even though we’ll never see each other again, all I want is to let you know I wish you nothing but the best in life. Find the happiness you deserve, that’s all that matters to me.

To this, something in Gaara freezes as his breath hitches in the subtlest manner possible, his eyes glued the paper in front of him when he reads this.

He can envision Lee saying this exact sentence to him, with all the sincerity in the world that he would actually wish the best for someone like himself—someone who has killed without remorse in the past, someone who is feared and seen as an abomination by far too many…

Lee, wishing him nothing but the best in life, when he should be hating him, cursing his name, and blaming him for everything, is enough to render him frozen as he keeps on reading the letter, his heartbeat increasing in speed with every word read from here on out.

Though you will never be in my life again and you will find someone else to be your mate in due time, I want you to know that if I could ever choose to be mated to someone, it would be to you. I know it won’t ever happen, but it’s nice for me to think of at times when I’m alone and have to deal with the reality of my clan’s traditions. I will miss you and I will always think highly of you, I can only hope you do the same when you do find a good mate for yourself. Have a wonderful life, Gaara. It’s the only thing I could ever ask of you.

…To distract himself from the heavy feeling in his chest, he focuses instead on Lee’s wording.

If he didn’t know any better, this is nothing more than a letter someone writes when they’re about to say goodbye to a person without actually saying goodbye. It’s subtle, though he believes there are deeper implications here.

He keeps talking about never seeing him again without any evidence of such a thing happening—had he been paying closer attention to his village’s politics, he would know Tsunade gets along just fine with himself and his family; so much so to where they’re talking about doing trade in the future—which has him wondering if Lee is about to be auctioned off.

Though if he was, his spy would’ve said something about it. If not told him to his face, there would’ve been a written report on the subject.

If Lee is not on the auction scene, then was he sold off to an alpha or beta without being put up for auction?

Maybe he should have his spy change his modus operandi and focus more on the rumors of a poor omega from a conservative clan being sold to someone without being put on the auction circuit. Such events do elicit much chatter in the auctioning scene because the auctioneers cannot live with the reality of having lost a profit on a potentially valuable omega.

Yes, he’ll have his spy change course then and look into such a possibility.

When Lee did come home to his mother, he had expected anger, punishments, to walk on eggshells the entire time he’s with her. What he never expected was for his mother to not look in his eyes and to neglect him entirely during his time with her.

She doesn’t cook for him, she doesn’t clean anything of his, she doesn’t look him in the eyes, nor does she ever speak to him. Whenever he enters the home, she leaves it and is gone for all hours of the night until he has to leave to work on a mission with Guy sensei and his team.

It's a much smoother experience with her than he had thought—all in a much nicer home than he grew up in on top of it all—and he finds himself wishing she had been like this to him instead of what she was when he was growing up.

Being neglected by her is nowhere near as bad as what he had gone through growing up with her. There’s no physical violence, no constant criticisms or verbal abuse thrown his way, and certainly no sexist rules being enforced on him. No, it’s as though she’s acting like he doesn’t exist and he can live with this far easier than what he can anything else.

His teammates, sensei, and friends are pleased to hear things are going so well, though his sensei is a bit suspicious about it.

“Are you positive there’s nothing fishy going on there?”

“No, sensei! I promise there isn’t—if there was, I would have known right away. Besides, I’m not home enough to deal with her now that we’re doing missions again. If there was something fishy going on, I probably missed it by now anyway.”

Guy sensei tells him to be vigilant and he is, though Neji does have to ask when he’s alone with him, “Lee, are you arranged to be mated to someone else?”

“No, not that I know of.”

“Are you sure about that? Because when I asked your mom to court you, she rejected my offer—something we know she wouldn’t do unless if she found someone better for you by her standards.”

“If she did, I would’ve been mated off two days after I got sent back to her. There’s no way she did; she probably said that because she’s looking for someone else and failing at finding someone.”

“Then why reject me after all her praises?”

“Probably because you rejected me after your fight with Naruto. I did tell her about that and she wasn’t happy about it. She had to have turned you down as a way to get back at me for not mating you when she wanted me to—at least, that’s why I think she did it anyway.”

Which would not have been uncharacteristic for her to do since she had done things in the past to spite him whenever she felt he wronged her or the clan somehow.

“Okay, fine, I get it, but…” Neji sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder, “promise me you’ll be careful around her and tell me right away if anything strange is going on.”

“Ah, Neji, there’s no need to worry that much,” he stopped then and said rather carefully, “but if it helps you feel better about all this, then I promise you I will be careful around her and tell you right away if anything strange is going on.”

It was enough to calm Neji down then, though he would ask him this every time they spoke about his life at home and honestly, he had nothing of note to really say.

No, it wasn’t until he went back home to his empty house after a particularly long and hard mission that he felt something was off.

He ventured further into his home, turning on the lights all the way, and eventually found his mother’s corpse on the floor, blood flowing from where she had been stabbed right through the heart.

Sasuke was in a state of shock and blood thirsty rage that Kakashi sensei and Sakura couldn’t calm him down from.

“Sasuke, breathe and do your best to calm your nerves. Approaching this from a position of blind rage won’t help anyone, let alone Naruto.” Kakashi had said.

“He’s right; you have to be calm and rational right now for Naruto’s sake. If you want to find him, you can’t just go rushing after them without a plan.” Sakura chided him, though it did nothing to make him take pause.

It was Iruka sensei (naturally, he had come with Kakashi sensei when he heard this involved Naruto) who got him to calm down with his no-nonsense yet devastated, “You have to be strong for Naruto, Sasuke, and that doesn’t always mean playing the hero right away. Take your time to be calm and strategize a way to save him; then you can be the hero he will forever admire.” he said to him with all the resolve in his person, “We will find Naruto and bring him home, I promise you we will—but you have to approach this with a calm, level head. Can you do this for Naruto?”

He agreed with a nod, not trusting his voice to not sound terrifying.

Their village had been invaded once more, but this time, it was from four of Orochimaru’s goons—the Sound Four they called themselves—who had come with the intention of trying to force Sasuke to leave with them back to their village. When Sasuke refused, they had revealed they had kidnapped Naruto, with Sakon and Udon taunting him by trying to lay their dirty hands on his Naruto.

“You know, you could make this easy for yourself and the pretty omega you’re dating.” Sakon sneered while holding him too close, “If you come with us, then we promise Lord Orochimaru will go easy on him…though I wouldn’t say he’d be too easy on someone as pretty this thing.”

Naturally, this made something primal in him snap and before he knew it, he was drawing too much attention to them all, leading the group to retreat while taking Naruto with them.

Now the news had spread on how the group had killed other shinobi on their way in and out of the village, with their massacre ultimately ending when they reached the home of Rock Lee and his mother, her body on the floor and the scent of shock in the air leading the ANBU and ROOT ninjas to assume this had been a deliberate attack to steal the village’s omegas.

For what reason, they were not certain yet, but Sasuke didn’t care about reasoning, nor did he care to wait around and find out.

What he cared most about now was getting Naruto back no matter what, questions and oppositions be damned!

Gaara hadn’t heard of the attack on the village when it happened, but he had learned something from his spy regarding the rumors being spread by the auctioneers in Konoha.

Apparently, there’s a rumor circulating of Lee’s mother having sold him off to someone from Orochimaru’s village only to want to get Lee on the auction circuit before the time to turn him over to the man was up. The rumor states that she wanted to get him on the auction circuit because the man hadn’t paid her on the time they agreed upon and as such, she was willing to resort to dirty measures to get her money while getting rid of the son she despised so.

However, no auctioneer wants an angry Orochimaru breathing down their necks, neither does any potential buyer for that matter, so her attempts were all in vain.

Learning she was going to give Lee away to someone so horrendous only made Gaara see red.

Lee never deserved someone so horrible to be his mother. The omega was too kind, too good for someone like her to be in his life!

He wrote up a letter and had it sent to Lady Tsunade, hoping she’d intervene.

A few days later, he had learned that she had gotten to his letter a day too late.

The village had been invaded by Orochimaru’s men; they had stolen both Naruto and Lee, killing his mother in the process.

She asks him for his help since she has a feeling whoever Lee was meant to be given to was not anyone to take lightly.

Guy sensei is still reeling from the loss.

Lee—his sweet student who had been like a son to him—had been taken away from his home, most certainly alive if the new information Lady Tsunade obtained from Gaara meant anything.

The idea of poor, sweet Lee being forced to mate someone he’s never met or seen before has him horrified, heartbroken, and enraged to the point where he believes it is for the best he is not going along on this one. He knew he would snap and kill them in a manner unbecoming of a Jounin from his village, something he’d rather not live with if he doesn’t have to.

Normally, protocol would demand that only Jounins take on such a mission, but many of the Jounin were busy with other missions—Kakashi couldn’t get out of his, neither could Guy, Asuma, or Kurenai thanks to how much work had gotten backed up during the reconstruction of the village. As she had said, “your missions are just as important and cannot be put off for a day longer”. He could tell it killed Kakashi to not be able to save Naruto, but he knew it had to be done: kami knows how blood thirsty he has to be…

Due to this rather unique situation, Shikamaru was instead chosen to lead this rescue mission thanks to his genius intellect and strategic prowess. His team consisted of Sasuke, Neji, Chouji, and Kiba; people he had deemed to be the best for the job.

Of course, Tenten and Ino had wanted to join as well, but thanks to Sakura reminding her girlfriend, “you’re an omega; whatever they did to knock out Naruto and Lee is serious stuff you shouldn’t be getting involved in—it’d be better for your friends if you stayed here for now where it’s safe” Ino backed down from the idea, which made all the Jounin release a sigh of relief to the news.

Though what made this easier for Guy to not get too worked up about was the fact Gaara and his siblings are going to be involved in this mission as well. From what he had seen and heard of their abilities, they were formidable foes to not mess with which could only mean they’d be able to save the omegas without any real issues on their end.

It also helps to know Gaara had agreed right away and shared information that helped shed some light on a possible motive as to why Lee had been taken away all while confirming the location they were heading to with the omegas. This made him really see the young alpha in a much better light than he ever did, allowing him to understand why Lee had been drawn to him.

He may not ever get the chance to thank him in person, but should he ever manage to do so, he will be certain to make his gratitude loud and clear to him; if there’s anyone who deserves his respect, it’s the redhead alpha who cared enough about Lee to want to do anything to save him.

Chapter Text

Getting Naruto back was always going to be the first—if not only—priority for Sasuke. He understands why this is a horrible thing to admit out loud, but why lie about his incredibly obvious intentions in going along with this group of people he’d normally have nothing to do with otherwise? Lee is Naruto’s friend, not his. 

Does he feel bad for the guy? Of course he does; anyone from a clan like his will always his empathy. This does not mean he is anywhere close to being as high on his priority list as Naruto is. Lee is more of someone his boyfriend is friends with—in other words, he’s basically a stranger to him outside of what all Naruto tells him about the omega. 

As such, his focus is not truly on saving Lee. It’s about getting Naruto back before that horrible Orochimaru gets his disgusting hands on him. 

It’s part of the reason why he was able to calmly and carefully work with the group he was in. Because of his nonexistent confidence in their abilities (of course, this mainly applied to Chouji and Kiba; he was fully confident in Neji and Shikamaru’s abilities), he felt okay in leaving certain ones behind. 

However, it did not stop him from doing all that he could to pursue the one who had taken Naruto away from him in the first place—the one guy with the two heads. 

(Sasuke will never dignify anyone who steals Naruto from him by learning their name well enough to have it memorized.) 

Battling against him was tough, but then, his future mate did not make holding him captive easy. Naruto was as he expected him to be in this situation: angry, kicking, fighting, and doing all that he could to escape. Hell, it’s only because of his mate constantly annoying the guy that Sasuke got the opening he did to get Naruto out of his grasp. 

Of course, this did not pan out the way he thought it would. Here he had thought that when he released Naruto from his binds that he would simply be able to defeat the guy with his omega’s help. 

In the end, he proved to be a bit too strong for them to take on together. It took Kankuro’s assistance for the duo to defeat the young man, but it wasn’t done out of victory. 

Naruto was immediately upset when this was all over, “C’mon we have to go after the girl Shikamaru chased after!” 

“No, we don’t,” Sasuke is firm on this for a good reason, “we need to get you home, Naruto. That guy said a special sedative meant for omega shinobi was used on you; we need you to see Lady Tsunade for treatment—” 

“But the sick bastards have Lee still!” he argued, “I cannot leave him, he’s my friend! I have to save him no matter what, not after what I heard those jerks say!” 

“How would you know where to look for him? We didn’t see him the entire time we were chasing after those guys.” 

“Because they stuck him inside that large wooden circle coffin thing!” 

Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji, Chouji, and Kiba had all thought the same thing, though it doesn’t quite answer a bothersome question on his mind, “Why was he placed in that thing, but you were out in the open, tied up and hanging off that alpha’s shoulder?” 

“Because I wasn’t that important to them.” Naruto admits so quickly while Kankuro keeps his ear trained to the conversation at hand, “Yeah, they wanted to use me to make you join Orochimaru’s village, but they were mainly there for Lee.” 

Kankuro interrupts then, “How were you kidnapped anyway, Naruto? I thought a strong omega like you wouldn’t go down so easily.” 

He growls at the memory of it all in shame because he should’ve been stronger and smarter than to fall for such cheap tricks. 

Naruto had been heading over to see Lee when he was kidnapped. 

It wasn’t anything unusual he had done before either—dropping off food for Lee became Iruka and his unofficial way of making sure he was safe with his mother—so it wasn’t like he had any real motivation to be extra careful or vigilant. 

He was just visiting a friend to ease his fears, that’s all. 

Which is why he had no reason to suspect he’d be arriving to the home to find the door open. 

He had been cautious, mind you—he did enter the building quietly instead of making a lot of noise. It’s because of this that he managed to overhear the group of alphas to a woman he could only assume was Lee’s mother, “Look,” he heard as he got deeper in the home, “I’m sorry but my son cannot be mated to your master unless if he pays the dowry amount in full before mating him.” 

“Lord Orochimaru has already sent you plenty of payments and yet you constantly demand for more while not giving your son as per your agreement.” the girl with the red hair spoke, “Either give us the omega or else we’ll take back everything he’s ever given you.” 

“I’m afraid I cannot do that right now—” was all she got to say before her throat was sliced open by the man with the spiky ponytail’s kunai. 

It was a repulsive sight to witness and yet, even though the victim was as horrible as Lee’s mom, he couldn’t help but to be angry over their nonchalance over not only killing someone, but openly speaking about another omega as though they were an object as opposed to a person.

He was about to say something to the horrific scene he had witnessed when one of the alphas—a girl with red hair—had seen him and acted without hesitation: out of her pocket came a small, hollow reed that she blew into. Before he knew it, he was hit with a dart that made him collapse on the spot, his vision slowly starting to go black as the other alphas turned around to find him there.

The girl grinned, “Looks like it works like Kabuto said it would—who knew omegas who hadn’t had their first heat yet could be taken out with any heat inducing remedy?”

He was suddenly feeling sick to his stomach as he heard this. He had learned all about heat inducing remedies in the academy: herbs and other ingredients mixed with water to make a liquid that could induce a fully grown omega into heat. It’s something he had been told he’d be immune to until his first heat happened, but he didn’t think he’d be taken out with this—he didn’t believe it to be possible.

“W-What d-did you d-do to me?” he barely managed to get out of himself the group came to surround him, with the omega wondering if this is how he would die.

“Nothing much, just used a new treatment to make you more cooperative.” the one alpha with the multiple arms said, “Looks like it worked—you really can’t move and you’re unable to make a proper sentence. Which means it won’t be a total waste when we use a greater strength of it on that Rock Lee guy.”

He was growling at the mention of his dear friend’s name, yet it seemed today he would not die, “Wait—blonde hair, blue eyes, pleasant scent, tacky orange jumpsuit…” he pauses while taking in Naruto more, his excitement growing the longer everyone in the group takes in the sight of him, “you’re Naruto Uzumaki, aren’t you?”

When he nodded, he thought they would be prepared to kill him.

What happened was the exact opposite.

The one with the two heads appeared to be a bit too over the moon at getting the confirmation, “Well what do you know? Tonight is our lucky night: we got Naruto Uzumaki like our master ordered us to and we will be getting this Rock Lee soon enough!”

He crouched down and ran a hand through his hair, “You’re a pretty omega, you know that? Just my type too—feisty and pretty…” he purred when removing his hand from his hair, only to move it elsewhere he’d rather not think of, “I’ll have fun breaking you in should our master reward our excellent work with a shot at you.”

Naruto couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, and was left to watch on as one of them closed the door he came in. He was left to wishing they’d torture him or kill him—anything but the unwanted touching he was receiving from a group of alphas viewing him as though he were a piece of meat.

Suddenly, he saw the larger one of them move to the window and he heard the call of, “Hey, there’s a kid with a bowl cut and green jumpsuit coming up here!”

“Take cover and hide the blonde one—we should be able to get him if we go far enough inside the house.”

“I was only able to fight against the guy so well because the stupid remedy quit working on me outta nowhere.” Naruto would never say it was because of the demon within himself trying to protect him, but that’s a whole other issue he’ll have to talk about with Sasuke, Iruka, and his friends someday, “But that doesn’t matter now! Lee is gone and we have to save him!”

“Naruto, do you know if they plan to meet up with anyone? What about the name of the alpha Lee is supposed to be mated to?”

Waking up so far from his village was a bit off-putting since it meant everything that happened to him was not a dream like he had hoped it would be. What didn’t make it better was overhearing what they were saying, “Sasuke should be on his way here.”

“Please, if he was committed to coming to get the omega he would’ve been here by now!”

“Don’t underestimate those Uchihas—his brother did murder his whole clan and kidnapped Deidara.”

“You’ve heard of him?”

“The one said to be the most beautiful omega ever by everyone, including our master? Yes, I have. Who hasn’t at this point? He’s what made that backwards village famous.”

“…You’re the type to go for any omega, though.”

There was a huff as Naruto kept pretending to be asleep so they wouldn’t notice or do anything to him, “Whatever. All that matters is we got the one Lord Orochimaru thinks will be the key to getting Sasuke to join us.”

“What about the most important part? You know, the one where we give the ugly omega away to an alpha of Lord Orochimaru’s choosing.”

“Well, if Kabuto doesn’t want the omega—”

“Wait, was it supposed to go to Kabuto? I thought it was supposed to go to someone else.”

“No way, it was supposed to go to Kabuto! Master said—”

“When and where did you hear him say that specifically?”

There was a growl from the one carrying him, one that made both the girl and one of the guys stop their bickering, “Will you both shut up already! All that matters is getting them back to our village!”

To this, they did shut up but it didn’t stop Naruto from noticing how lowly they thought of not only Lee, but omegas in general to talk about him as though he were something to be given away to someone without his consent.

“Then when Sasuke came around with the others, I started to act up more because I realized it was the perfect time to strike. I only got lucky nobody really argued or anything, otherwise I’m pretty sure I’d be a goner.”

“So you didn’t get the name of the alpha then?”

“No, but I wouldn’t doubt if he is supposed to be mated to Kabuto.” he growls then and insists one more time, “I need to get to Shikamaru before those sexist bastards do anything to him! I don’t have time to waste!”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Kankuro’s dismissiveness is enough to make Naruto want to wring his neck, “How can you say that! Are you just as horrible as your brother who couldn’t bother to apologize or give him a proper goodbye like he deserved? You have to be to say that!”

“No, I’m not.” he’s unaffected by everything going on and being said, which serves to create a desire to go out and find Lee for himself, “Gaara is here and trust me when I say it: he will find Lee and he will save him.”

Naruto is not buying it for good reason, “He left him without a proper goodbye the last time he was here; he didn’t care that he hurt him or betrayed him with everything he did! Why should I believe he’ll do the right thing for Lee now when he couldn’t do it when it mattered?”

Kankuro’s eyes narrow slightly yet it’s enough to make Sasuke take a step forward to stand by Naruto’s side in case things should spiral out of control, “Gaara does not show things the way normal people do. I had to learn this when we got back home and I saw for myself what all he had been doing for your friend.”

“What has he been doing anyway? Because talking to him sure as hell wasn’t one of those things!”

“Naruto!” Sasuke hissed, but Kankuro didn’t mind defending his brother on this end, “He didn’t know where he lived, so how could he have written to him? Writing to Tsunade and having her deliver the letters would have taken too long for a proper conversation to carry on while taking time away from Gaara’s duties at home in our village. Believe it or not, but he couldn’t exactly drop everything going on in our lives and revolve it around your friend.”

Naruto calms down somewhat as he goes on, “We’re the kids of the Kazekage—the one Orochimaru killed like it was nothing, remember? We can’t exactly abandon our responsibilities to the village to appease some random omega friend of the one omega Gaara ever had a crush on.”

Now they’re both slack jawed to the news, Sasuke for his own reason, “That guy can get a crush on someone? Why did I always think he’d be asexual like Guy sensei…”

Naruto for his own, “No way…Inoichi was right about him having a crush on Lee all this time! There’s just…there’s no way that’s possible!”

“It is, though,” Kankuro then tells them, “he shows it in weird ways though. Like, he won’t say he has a crush on him, but he will do things that clearly show it.”

He then tells them something he hadn’t told anyone else before since he was convinced his brother would kill him, but he didn’t really care since he was being painfully obvious in his weird, off-beat Gaara way, “After he returned home, he couldn’t stop worrying over your friend…he had a spy sent out to keep an eye out on the auction scene to be sure he wasn’t going to be auctioned off anywhere, but thanks to the letter he received from him recently, he had the spy focus his attention to the rumors of him being sold off without being auctioned. It’s only because of that he was able to find out a majority of the truth of what happened there.”

Naruto could not believe what he was hearing.

Inoichi was right all along…Gaara, he actually has a crush on Lee and a rather strong one too to do all that he did for him after going home.

Perhaps he was wrong about Gaara? Maybe he wasn’t so bad…maybe he’s actually a good guy somehow.

“I know you have a hard time trusting him with your friend and I don’t blame you. To be honest, I’d have a hard time trusting Gaara with my friend if he did have a crush on them. I can assure you though that Gaara has changed ever since leaving Konoha; trust me when I say this, his intentions—whatever they may be—are not founded in hatred and rage.”

That’s good enough for Naruto to hear, but still…

“I wanna go find Lee anyway.” he announced to the unsurprised duo with him, “I want to be sure Gaara won’t hurt Lee. I need to know and see for myself that he is going to be good to him no matter what.”

Kankuro agrees, though it is a begrudging agreement, “Fine, but don’t get too close—Gaara would probably take it the wrong way and get hostile.”

“Sounds good to me!” he faces Sasuke then, grinning ear to ear, “Let’s go, Sasuke!”

When Sasuke was fighting the one who had Naruto, Shikamaru was feeling a bit relieved knowing Lee had woken up and was out of that wooden coffin thing (he thinks it was one, anyway) thanks to using his own taijutsu and kunai to break out of it.

Except, when Lee was out of it and he saw his fellow shinobi, their relief was short lived, “Shikamaru, Kiba! Are you guys okay? Where are we even? Why am I here?”

“…We’re fine, Lee, but we have to get you home. These people are from Orochimaru’s place; they came here to take you back with them.”

Lee didn’t get the chance to react before a new guy appeared out of what felt like nowhere.

He was tall, pale, with silvery white hair and jade green eyes rimmed with red markings around them. The man exuded alpha so obnoxiously his scent gave it away enough for no one to ask questions about it. Shikamaru readied himself, knowing him and Kiba are the only ones left who can save Lee.

Kiba had a hard time keeping Akamaru in line at the sight of this alpha, his first instinct being to whisper to Shikamaru, “I don’t like the looks of that guy…you sure we can take them both on?”

He’s not sure they can. The other guy is clearly unfazed by their presence for good reason and the girl seems to be intimidated by him—which only means this guy is not someone they can take on if he does fight with the girl.

Even with Lee on their side, something tells him they’d be in a bad position if they tried to fight these two together, this is with the best case scenario of if they did work perfectly in sync with each other in mind.

“I don’t know, let’s see how this plays out. If he leaves with Lee, you go after him: you’re the one with the best sense of smell, you will be least likely to lose him. I’ll stay here and fight her so you can go and save him, okay?”

(Kiba wishes he had been able to save Naruto instead since he figures it wouldn’t have been as difficult, but oh well…beggars cannot be choosers, after all.)

“Got it.”

He addresses Lee then, his eyes never once leaving his person, “Are you this Rock Lee I’ve heard so much about?”

“…You heard about me? Where did you hear about me from? I’m not Deidara famous, so there’s no way you should know about me.”

“I do, though: you are the mate my master promised me, the one he said would bear me a child.”

The Konoha alphas—including the girl, who is in the same state of shock as them—were taken aback by this as he went on in a manner that seemed to be a bit too…happy, but almost in a way one would be if a prophecy they had long believed in was true, “Yes, you’re him—master said I’d get to see you soon if I got well enough, he said we’d be able to be together and you would bear me a child. I know he wouldn’t lie to me; you have the same bowl cut black hair and green jumpsuit too! You really are him…Rock Lee, the one I’ve been promised as a mate to reward my loyalty to him.”

“Wait, how could this be possible? My mom was supposed to either arrange me or sell me off at an auction…there’s no way—”

“Kabuto said Lord Orochimaru bought you from your mother when he was in Konoha during the Chunin exams on the day before the attack on the village. He said he got you for me, but she kept trying to get money out of him while trying to get you back on the auction scene before he found out she never had any intention of giving you to him.”

Lee’s blood ran cold to this and he realizes then this is not a situation he can get out of so easily, “…My mom is dead, is this not good enough to get me out of this?”

“A deal is a deal. You are coming home to me, just like master intended, and you will bear me the child I was promised.”

Underneath such an intense stare with an equally powerful scent, most omegas from strict, conservative clans would have caved and submitted if they were in Lee’s shoes.

Lee—upon learning what his mother did, connecting the dots mentally of why she acted so cold towards him at the end, and coming to a depressing conclusion—fought against his indoctrination and did something he had never done before: reject his clan’s tradition, “No, I’m not going back with you!”

“…What?” he asks with a flabbergasted glow to his eyes, his shock slowly making itself known in his scent as the atmosphere becomes so tense, it feels as though a pin could drop and all would hear it.

“I’m not going back with you! I’m done with my clan and their traditions. All it has done is brought me nothing but heartbreak and pain! My mom isn’t around anymore, my clan isn’t around anymore—I don’t have to abide by this stuff, endanger my life as well as others, and leave my friends when I don’t want to. I am going home to be with my friends and sensei. If you don’t like it, then you can get over it and find someone else to mate!”

The idea of bringing a pup into the world in Orochimaru’s land, raising them somewhere where they would be endangered, all while having a potential madman as a father is what makes Lee stand firm in his convictions. He knows he has things to work out from being raised the way he was, but he won’t let it stop him from keeping any potential pup safe and sound, especially if they’re his own.

“…Looks like I will have to take you back then.”

He made a move to grab Lee, but the omega was swift in dodging him, leading him to order the girl, “Tayuya, handle the alphas. I’ll bring my mate back myself.”

“Y-Yes, Kimimaro.” she stammers slightly at his clearly contained rage seeping out bit by bit in his scent.

Shikamaru then makes an order of his own: “Lee, run! Do whatever you can to get away from this guy! I can handle the girl on my own!”

He turns to Kiba and orders him, “Go after Lee, make sure he gets away from him and brought home safely.”

Kiba nods and heads their direction with Akamaru feeling slightly braver than he did earlier.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, hopes Gaara shows up soon because he’s not certain Lee and Kiba can defeat that guy on their own.

Chapter Text

Lee didn’t really remember much of what happened and to wake up the way he did had him instantly coming to the conclusion that no, none of this was a dream no matter how badly he wanted it to be. 

Now, running from this guy his mom sold him to, has him wondering just what else she could’ve done to screw him over one last time before meeting her end. 

With Kiba having caught up to him successfully, he is able to somewhat catch up to what is going on, “Lee, are you alright? Did they do anything to you at all?” 

He shook his head while maneuvering his way through the forest in some hopes of losing the alpha behind them, “I’m fine; they did nothing to me—why would you think that? I highly doubt they were allowed to touch me.” 

“Just, well…you do smell like a heat inducing remedy and a tranquilizer. I know you’re probably closer to having a first heat than your omega friends…” he stops himself from going further, which Lee is grateful for. The last thing he wants to talk about is his heat with an alpha he doesn’t really know all too well, “Anyway, you’re positive they did nothing to you?” 

“Yeah, I’m positive.” Lee has to wonder, “Do I smell that different?” 

“You do; Akamaru and I didn’t have to work that hard to keep track of your scent when trying to keep up with your captors.” Kiba does lighten the mood by giving him some good news, “Sasuke went after Naruto a bit ago. I don’t know how it’s going since the dumb jerk wouldn’t let me come along to help him, but if he’s involved then Naruto will definitely be brought back safe and sound.”

“Wait—Naruto’s here! When did that happen!” 

“No clue, we’ll have to wait until we get back home to the village.” 

With Kimimaro not too far behind them, Lee is worried because—well—he’s not in the best of shape. 

None of his bones are broken, but his muscles feel rather stiff and he has this piercing headache that is making it a bit too difficult to properly give all his energy and focus to the task at hand. 

Perhaps it’s a leftover side effect from whatever was used on him or from being trapped in the wooden contraption for so long—he knows it’s one of the two or both (or the very horrifying idea of possibly hitting his first heat), yet he cannot focus on it no matter what he does. 

He is lucky that Kiba seems to pick up on this as well, if his moment of concern could be any indicator of such a skill, “You go on ahead and try to find a way home. I’ll stay behind and handle this guy.” 

“Kiba, I cannot leave you, not when you’ve risked so much for me!” 

“No, Lee—you’re not in good shape to be fighting!” Kiba insists, “He’s already gaining on us and you’re not moving as quickly as you need to right now. Let me handle this; I can take him for you.” 

He couldn’t stop Kiba from staying behind and fighting this man as much as he wanted…then again, he had no time to properly comprehend his decision. 

Kimimaro is certainly not one to be messed with: even with his advantages, Kiba still wound up severely wounded by the bone protruding from the young man with Akamaru faring no matter as they both crashed to the ground.

He wonders briefly if his mother knew of this alpha’s strength when she sold him…if she chose to sell him to this man because she had a feeling he could beat him into submission or find him with ease should he have ever tried to run away. It would be like her to completely underestimate his strengths and capabilities as a ninja solely because of his gender, though he does have to ask himself why she ever did back out of a good deal. 

She wasn’t the type to play games with anyone—this applied a hundred times more when it came down to money. So why was she lying now? What made her change her mind all of a sudden when he knew she hated him too much to ever possess any true drive to find him a good mate? 

He knows she has no reason to fear the law. After all, the laws in Konoha are set up in her favor: all she’d have to do is claim she did what she did was done out of tradition and she’d be free from any consequences of her actions. This cancels out the chance of it being due to legal reasons. 

Is the alpha infertile? That would be a very validated reason for her to do what she did, but even this feels wrong somehow. 

As Kiba and Akamaru struggle to fight back, Lee runs for his life, not liking his chance against the alpha in his current condition—or in that of his own. 

Ino will chew him out for this later, but he knows Naruto will get it. 

He would be the one to best understand what Iruka sensei always taught the omegas at the academy: it’s only safe and sane to run from any alpha nearing their rut when one is a single omega on the battlefield. 

Out in the field he arrived at (thinking he’d be far away enough from the alpha he’s said to be arranged to), he feels a bit safer and tries to come up with some plan to get back home without getting the alpha on his back. 

What he didn’t expect was for the alpha to be able to match him in speed well enough to where he would be present at the very same field he’s at in a very short period of time after whatever battle it is he had with Kiba.

It filled him with horror yet he did not allow the other to see it anywhere on his person as he stood tall, defying the very advice he had been given and instincts within him shrieking at him to run for his life. This, for some reason, managed to intrigue alpha even more, “…You truly are ignorant of everything about me to be so fearless.”

“You’re right, I am ignorant on everything about you,” he does all that he can to silence his instincts further, “and that does not matter to me. I will not mate anyone who has no issue with harming my friends or killing people to get me as a mate.”

“Ah, so you are ignorant on your own clan’s traditions then.” he is being too casual about this when speaking to him, which only makes Lee’s instincts flare up in a much worse manner than before, “Last I checked, you have no say in who your mate is, and you cannot deny any mate chosen for you. Make this easier on yourself, on your friends, and come back with me to my home to live as my mate.”

Lee finds himself starting to get angry at the powerful alpha, acting a bit too much like Naruto when reacting without thinking anything through, “I am not going to mate anyone who threatens my friends…I will not mate you, not now or ever. My clan is gone and their traditions are gone with them. I don’t have to obey them anymore—much like how I don’t have to mate you if I don’t want to.”

He can already hear Ino’s cheer and see the smile on Naruto’s face when he gets home to get to tell them of this moment.

Right—when, not if.

He doesn’t care what his instincts are telling him, nor does he care about the piercing headache he is still dealing with at the moment. He only cares about defeating this young man, going home, and living his life free from the confines of his clan’s traditions.

This rush of confidence in such a decision is not normal for him, but then, he’s allowed to have such a rush of confidence when he’s deeply hurt and angered over what his mother did not only to him, but also Naruto as well!

He may not know where Naruto is or why he got caught up in this, but he cannot casually shrug off her actions this time. In the past, when her actions caused him harm he didn’t bother to be bothered by it since he saw it as being a fact of his life. Omegas are treated poorly in conservative clans and he knows he’s not the only one being treated in a similar manner in the village. He got dealt a bad hand in life; all he could do was make the best of it.

It's all simple fact he has since long come to accept.

Now that her actions have either directly or indirectly led to Naruto, one of his best friends, being dragged into this…hell, not only Naruto but Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Kiba as well…he’s angry at a dead woman for her decisions.

He can excuse what his clan has done to him in the past. He can even excuse her selling him off to Kimimaro. What he cannot and will never be able to excuse is getting other people—especially one of his closest friends—endangered in the process.

The alpha is nearing his rut and while he’s feeling the urge to flee, he cannot bring himself to when he hears him say, “So you’d rather fight an alpha nearing their rut than accept defeat and allow me to take you back with me?”

“I would.” he is firm in his choice because…it was always easy back in Konoha when he was mentally preparing himself for the day he’d be sold off to or arranged to his mate. It was easier when he was mentally preparing himself for a situation he knew the ins and outs of, a situation he had seen happen to omega relatives in his clan.

Being thrown into a situation he had no control over when he knows there’s nothing binding him to the traditions of his clan now has him desperately wanting to do anything to remain in Konoha with his friends and sensei.

Even in this situation, he cannot bring himself to follow the clan traditions. He had always told Guy sensei the only way out of his traditions would be for every remaining alpha and beta in the clan to die so there’d be nothing legal to keep him bound to such traditions. Now that he has this way out, he has a fair shot at obtaining his freedom from the one fate he never wanted in the first place: a fate where he’d have to leave everyone he ever cared about behind to be with some stranger who will never be Gaara.

Gaara…that’s right, this isn’t just to remain in Konoha. It’s also to follow his own desires for himself for the first time ever now he’s perfectly free to do so, just like he promised Guy sensei he would when he first became his student.

He didn’t make much movement for an alpha nearing a rut; though he will admit he’s being far too rational and coherent for a non-asexual alpha nearing a rut in general. He closes his eyes, exhaling a small sigh, and is plain in his response, “I see…well, if you wish to fight me for your freedom, then so be it. Just know I will return for you at your village should you manage to win.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.” he does make this comment in the hopes of getting some answer to his question, “I am not going to mate someone my own mother didn’t want as a mate for me.”

“Your mother only tried to weasel out of the deal made with my master because she wanted you mated with him, not myself. I am only grateful he had no desire to mate you and he deemed me worthy enough to have a mate bought for myself,” somehow Lee can believe this; it would be like her to try to get him mated to someone with some sort of power or status even if they are from an enemy village, “None of this matters now—what matters is I am here, ready to claim you as mine.”

He gave it his all despite his piercing headache and instincts trying to force him to submit for the sake of survival. In the end, it wasn’t enough and Kimimaro is hovering over him, his eyes cold when giving him the most piercing gaze he’d ever faced from anyone on the battlefield, “Looks as though you’ve lost…” he leaned over slightly, making the omega tense on the spot, “what was the point of fighting for your freedom if you were damned to lose it anyway?”

“You have never lived a life where you grew up knowing because of your gender, you would never have a say in anything in your life,” he almost wants to laugh at the man for being so brazen in displaying his privileges as an alpha in such a manner, yet he holds it in to fill him in on this in the hopes of giving himself enough time to find the right moment to regain his footing, “All my life, I’ve been held up to a beauty standard to appeal to alphas and betas in my village, I’ve been raised on how to be submissive and proper to them to the point where I have no voice for myself anymore, and to know I would live my whole life without ever having any true say in it.”

“Still, I dreamed, and I did all that I could to become a shinobi. I did everything I could to one day to be the best taijutsu only shinobi around, but even this couldn’t guarantee me freedom from my clan’s traditions. I was still something to be sold, something to given away to someone else—I was a thing, not a person in their eyes, something I knew I never would be because omegas simply don’t matter as much as alphas and betas did in this world. Now that they’re gone, I have a shot at living my life as I see fit: this alone is enough reason for me to fight for my freedom even if I know I will lose.”

None of this was truly making much impact on the alpha if his unwavering apathy was anything to go by, “I’d rather die fighting for my freedom than to give it up without a fight.”

All Kimimaro could say to this was, “How petty; to have lived amongst a clan that taught you the harsh realities of the world we live in while giving you a roof over your head and a chance to become a shinobi. Your ‘freedom’ is nothing more than the cries of a cornered animal who cannot accept their fate. For an omega, you put up a great fight…but your tantrum is done.”

He was about to grab him by the arm, his scent somehow growing stronger as something more feral began to slowly take over him, “Your fate is mine now.”

Lee knew his fate was sealed and his mother—his clan’s traditions—had won. This alpha will not let him go unmarked, not when he is in the state he’s in. An alpha so dangerously close to his rut, whose rut seems to have made him stronger in battle, chasing after him in the woods should he manage to land a hit strong enough to distract him and escape is not going to end well for him…or Kiba or Shikamaru or anyone else who interferes.

He's going to be mated and taken away from his home, just like his other omega relatives were. Except he won’t get a chance to have a final day with them, nor will he get the chance to give them the proper sendoff they deserve from him. Naruto, Ino, Tenten, Guy sensei…Gaara…he’ll never see or speak to them again.

He's going to lose them forever and it’s all his own fault for being too weak to win against this young man.

At least…he was supposed to lose them forever.

Had it not been for the sand wrapping around his waist and taking him away at a speed the alpha couldn’t keep up with, he would have been marked by Kimimaro.

When he’s finally standing up—thanks to the sand choosing to place him on his feet as opposed to dropping him without care—he turns to see the Suna ninja he’s been thinking about this whole time they’ve been separated, “Gaara? You’re here?”

“Upon learning of your situation, I decided to step in and aid with the rescue efforts.” he gives him a side glance, eying him closely for a good minute there before appearing to lose the tension in his shoulders, “Is this the one your mother is said to have sold you off to?”

“Yes, he is,” he does warn him, “He’s nearing a rut and he’s very powerful—he can make bones come out of his body to use in battle. I want you to be careful around him.”

Lee gets in the proper fighting position, offering his dear friend, “I’ll fight alongside you—”

“No. I am going to handle him on my own.”

Before he could protest this decision, Gaara raised his hand to silence him enough to listen to what he has to say, “He’s an alpha nearing a rut, one who would have marked you had I not shown up in time. If you fight him, you’re risking the chance of him marking you and should such a thing happen…”

Gaara goes quiet to this, yet his scent deepens to something truly revolting, “I may or may not lose complete control of myself, which is the last thing any sane person should ever want to encounter.”

“But—”

“No. Now stay back and let me handle this.”

Lee’s not going to fight him, though he knows he wouldn’t want to with how strongly Gaara defended his decision.

“Okay…just be careful.”

“I don’t need to be.”

Something about Gaara wanting to fight for him in this battle makes him feel a bit more special than it should.

Chapter Text

Gaara won’t deny it to anyone: fighting an alpha nearing a rut who doesn’t succumb to instincts and become more feral than rational is a lot more difficult than he imagined it would be. 

He could tell this foe was not one to be overran by instincts alone when instead of trying to rip his throat out in a mad frenzy for ‘stealing his omega away’, he simply stood there and evened out his breathing to regain whatever control he had over himself. 

He didn’t say much at first, only choosing to focus on the other alpha who had shown up so unexpectedly, “Another one, huh? As if it were not irritating enough to deal with inferior alphas on the way here, I now have to deal with yet another.”

Gaara is unfazed by this due to his own confidence in his capabilities and the demon within him. As such, he doesn’t dignify this with a response, yet the other alpha doesn’t hesitate to warn him, “Leave now and you may survive for committing the sin of trying to steal my omega from me. Stay and I assure you, you will die.” 

He doesn’t bother with a scoff or smart remark. All he does at most is uncross his arms in front of his chest, his eyes not even narrowed at the young man he deems to not be worth any sign of displeasure, “I will not die, but you will have wasted your time on your own instincts when you do.” 

Thus led into a fight that was, admittedly, more difficult than he had thought it would be. While his scent was all over the place and his ramblings about his devotion to Lord Orochimaru were nauseating to listen to after a minute, he can admit he has put up a better fight than most alphas nearing a rut ever have against him. In fact, most usually lose themselves to their instincts about now. The fact he’s still going, with attacks that are consistent in strength and accuracy, is enough for him to have earned the smallest shred of respect for him on the battlefield. 

Respect that was lost the moment his eyes gleamed too manically when he saw an opening to get to Lee, who from what Gaara could see was not at full fighting strength from how slow his movements were to dodge the attack. 

(To him, the movements were slower than what he had thought to be possible from Lee. Though he could be wrong—something does seem to be up with his scent and he wonders what all happened to make such a change possible.) 

“Why are you so hellbent on fighting your fate? Don’t you know that your fate has been mine ever since your mother sold you to my master?” 

“Because I don’t want you controlling it now that I have the chance to have a say in it.” Lee countered, to which Gaara can admit he had gained more respect for him over this. Despite his obvious discomfort and whatever else is preventing him from being more efficient in this fight against the alpha, he was still holding his own and staying firm to what he had made clear earlier without any fear or hesitation within him.

“Then prepare to lose all say over it when you do become mine.” he growled and Gaara saw enough of the manic need for dominance in that momentary slip up to know well enough to land another hit on him with his sand when he had the chance to with the other alpha’s guard down. 

He has to do all that he can to win. He cannot let this creep defeat him; it’d be an insult he could never live down. 

“Why are you fighting for an omega that’s not your own? Do you wish to mate him?” he growls and it sounds terrifying with how deep it is yet it does nothing to so much as move Gaara (or Lee for that matter; he wonders if he was exposed to such manipulative ploys by alphas in the past to be so passive towards such actions), “You’re interfering with a proper mating process; why be here if you have no interest in this omega?” 

“I don’t owe you my reasons.” he is firm on this with him, refusing to buy into the baiting and choosing instead to focus on the battle at hand. 

He knows why he is here and any alpha who can show such disrespect towards Lee is not someone he will ever have any respect for. 

In the end, Gaara won and yet for Lee…while he is in a state of shock, he is still confused by a few things about this situation. 

“Gaara, I’ll be honest, I never thought I’d see you again.” he starts when finally being able to meet his eyes in a moment of peace, “I thought I’d be sold off or mated against my will to someone else…I thought you’d be mated by now too or seeing some other omega or beta.” 

He stops himself from his rambling, trying to collect his thoughts as well as he can when he’s underneath the intense gaze of Gaara’s lovely green eyes, “I guess what I’m trying to get at is, why are you here? Did you come here to save Naruto?”

The sand nin looks at him as though he had grown a third head, his gaze still as intense as it was before, “No, I am not here for Naruto. I am here for you.” 

While this makes any insecurities melt away from Lee’s heart, he is left to hear something he didn’t think he’d ever have to face, “Why would you believe I’d be mated to someone else or seeing some other person? I am not considered a desirable person back in Suna or elsewhere. What makes you think someone like me could be desirable to anyone else?” 

“Because you are desirable!” Lee tries to explain it to him, not being careful with his wording, “You’re handsome, strong, you have a pleasant scent, and you’re a good person underneath your rough exterior. Who wouldn’t want someone like you as a mate? Anyone would have to be crazy to deny you as a mate.” 

“Even after I destroyed your village, killed your clan, and left you homeless?” 

“Yes, even after that!” 

“Why?” 

“Because you were being used by Orochimaru—none of it was your fault. Besides,” Lee admits without a trace of shame within him, “I am not sad about losing my clan and being made homeless allowed me to live with Guy sensei in what had to be the best home I’ve ever lived in. You lost your dad in all of this too—there was no perfect victim or perpetrator here. Only many people who had been hurt by one cruel man looking to destroy my village.” 

When Gaara has nothing to say from his spot underneath the tree right beside Lee, he continues on to say, “I know it sounds bad and I’m a bad person for saying this, but losing them doesn’t sadden me. All it did after the shock of everything went away was leave me feeling free from their traditions. Then my mom survived the attack and I felt like I was trapped all over again, like I could never get any freedom from them no matter what. Now that I’m fully free from my clan, I don’t miss any of them. I don’t think I ever will; having the chance to have a say in my life is too precious of a gift to have to really miss anyone who took it away from me, even if they are family.” 

Gaara looks away from him then, understanding all too well where Lee was coming from, “You’re not a bad person for not missing them now that they’re gone. A clan like yours would make anyone in your position want freedom more than anything else to the point of loving the idea of it more than them. Losing my father did not upset me, nor did it do anything to make me cry. All it did was give me some chance to move on into a part of my life uninhibited by anything that could be done to hold me back. After all this time, I can look back on his loss and shrug; it’s strangely comforting to have found some peace in all this.” 

He asks him out of nowhere, “Do you believe I am a bad person for this?” 

“No, not at all!” 

“Then you’re not one either for not missing your clan.” 

Lee does have to wonder, “Did you think of me when you were gone? Because, well, I thought of you probably too much after you left.” 

Gaara doesn’t have much of a filter regarding such topics and as such, he is able to say, “I have thought of you when I left…too much, actually. I had a spy sent out to keep an eye on the auction scene to be sure you weren’t being auctioned off and when you I received your letter, I had my spy keep an eye out for any rumors regarding her. It’s how I found out about her selling you off to Orochimaru and then trying to get you auctioned off when she didn’t get the money she wanted on the date she demanded it to be received.” 

“I can believe she’d do something like that.” Lee admits with his vision now glued to the grass beneath him, “She always was so greedy…” he then glances up at Gaara, putting the pieces of what was said together then, “Wait—you were looking out for me this whole time we’ve been apart?” 

“…If you want to call it that, then yes, I was.” 

“Why would you do all of this for me?” 

Gaara doesn’t answer, not sure if now is the right time to say such a thing and not wanting to confront himself on the topic. However, leave it to that damned Shukaku to force it out of him, “Because you’re important to me.” 

Watching Lee’s eyes widen and a blush take over his cheeks before he quickly turned away made him think he may have messed this up, leaving him to curse the damn beast.

Then he hears Lee stammer, “I’m as important to you as you are to me then? I had no idea, I didn’t think I could ever matter to anyone.” 

“Well, you do so don’t think otherwise anymore.” 

He doesn’t have anything to say to this, more than willing to settle for what he’s heard since no one has ever said he’s mattered to them before…and hearing it from Gaara makes it better yet. 

“I never got to say this to you when I left and being away from you has made me realize that your friend was right when he said I should have it the day of the attack.” he faces Lee and tells him in pure honesty, “I’m sorry for the attack and leaving without giving you a chance to see me one last time. After everything you did for me, I should have given you at least that.”

“Don’t apologize,” Lee is quick to say, taking his hand as he does so, “I never needed an apology. All I wanted was for the chance to see you again and I’m happy to have it now that you’re here with me.”

Gaara is not too sold on the idea of loving anyone else but himself just yet. Having seen how radical the alpha he defeated in battle got, he wouldn’t ever want to lose himself like that. Though the idea of getting close to the omega beside him didn’t scare him; it was the idea of having him mated off to someone else that made his skin crawl. 

Having Lee view him so highly in light of all he knows about him and all he has done draws a painful bout of some strange feeling from his chest that he had never experienced in his lifetime from anyone; the feeling of being accepted for who he is, flaws and all, by someone he can respect. 

Gaara brought him back to the village, though it wasn’t pretty.

Kiba, Chouji, and Neji were in critical condition at the hospital whereas Sasuke, Naruto, and himself were tended to for milder wounds. Naruto and himself are, specifically, being kept under constant watch by the medical staff to ensure that whatever drug/remedy was used on them was not dangerous. 

Ino, Sakura, Tenten, Gaara, Temari, and Iruka sensei were all present for those injured in the battle. Ino was there mainly for Naruto and Lee whereas Sakura was present for Naruto and Sasuke. Lee was happy to have Tenten and Gaara there for him, though he is a bit confused as to why Iruka sensei is staying by his side.

He can understand why Ino and Sakura are currently with Naruto and Sasuke: they’re both Sakura’s teammates and Ino is friends with Naruto—though he’s positive she could be doing this to be there for Sakura during this tough time like she was there for her in her rough patch.

It's enough to make him wonder, “Iruka sensei, why are you here? Where’s Guy sensei?”

“He’s coming back from a mission. I’ve heard he’ll be here in a few hours—apparently he really rushed it to get back to your side when he learned you were brought home.” Iruka sensei then goes solemn, “I’m so sorry about your loss. If there’s anything Naruto and I can do for you, please let us know.”

“No, I’m fine. If of anything, my mom being gone is a good thing—now I’m free from all the traditions that have stopped me from living as freely as Naruto and Ino do. What can be better than to have the freedom to choose my own fate?”

Tenten clears her throat to this, her eyes full of sorrow for her friend, “Lee…that’s not how the laws in our village work.”

“What do you mean?”

She handed him over the scroll, her motions too forced with the tremor in her hands hardly hidden when Lee takes it from her, his own anxiety starting to build as he opens the scroll and reads what is written on it.

To the omega this concerns (Rock Lee):

As an orphaned omega, you will not be eligible for adoption under current Konoha law. According to the law, you will have to fulfill the requirements laid bare for you by your mother after the attack on our village. Her requirements were for you to be mated to Neji Hyuuga should you not mate the one she had chosen for you. Should you fail to do this, you will be stripped of your ninja title and mated to someone by the Hokage’s choosing as per the tradition of your clan.

I am terribly sorry for this, but I cannot change the laws overnight. All I can do is try to find you a better option should you not care for the one given to you by your mother.

-Lady Tsunade

He set down the scroll, a somber look on his face when realizing that his freedom was truly never his to own. As long as he is an omega in Konoha, he will never be free from his clan’s traditions even when they are all gone.

Gaara had taken the scroll, read it over for himself, and spoke up in a sharp, snippy tone, “Why does he have to follow tradition even when they are long gone?”

“Because Konoha law is all about respecting clan tradition. The law does not allow any escape from tradition even in death; those survivors are forced by law to carry out the traditions that should have died with the clan.” Iruka sensei explains, his own voice empty in emotion when speaking on the issue, “This is going to kill Guy to read it, but I know he knows the law just as well as I do. Be grateful that Lady Tsunade is one to follow through on her word on trying to find some sort of loophole here in these laws.”

Tenten does ask Lee then in the hopes of finding a way out of an unhappy mating for him, “If you had to choose who you want as a mate, who would it be?”

Lee glances over to the alpha by his left and that’s all it takes for Tenten to know the answer, “I guess…if I really had to choose…I don’t know,” he turns to Gaara with a question of his own, “Do you ever want to be mated to anyone?”

He would never want to burden Gaara with a mating he doesn’t want to be a part of. If Gaara would be happiest being single forever or being with someone else, then he’ll accept this and mate Neji. He refuses to treat someone as good as Gaara as horribly as his family have treated him.

Gaara hasn’t ever thought about being mated since it was a concept that seemed to apply to normal humans, not people like himself.

Though…the idea of Lee being mated to Neji…it made him sick. He couldn’t really place why since he’s experienced this emotion only recently, but the fact that his clan could ruin his life by making him mate that alpha from their place beyond the grave has him almost seeing red.

Konoha is a cruel village for omegas trapped in conservative clans. He refuses to leave Lee behind to live in the never ending cruelty of this hellish place, “I wouldn’t mind mating you to get you out of this place if that’s what you’re really asking.”

Lee doesn’t want to be in a pity mating devoid of any chance of some mutual feelings of attraction and respect that could build into love. As such, he does his best to convey this to him, “I don’t want to be mated out of pity or convenience. I want to be mated to someone who respects me and is as attracted to me as much as person can be towards someone like myself.”

To which, Gaara decides to go with a different approach, “I do respect you and you are important to me. I do not know if I can ever love anyone as much as I love myself, but I know I can give you a better life than what you have here.”

“But…still…I don’t want to be mated out of pity or convenience, even if it is for myself.”

“I don’t want to mate you for those reasons. I want to mate you because I don’t want anyone else to.”

Something catches in Lee’s throat as Iruka sensei exits the room to give them some space…Tenten refuses. She keeps a close eye on Gaara, wanting to see how he will act now that the lone adult is out of the room.

Lee, on the other hand, is hoping this means something good in his favor, “What’s the reason behind that? Why do you not want me to mate anyone else?”

“You being mated to the Hyuuga or the alpha your mother chose is enough to make me sick. It’s revolting to me to see someone as good as yourself being trapped with such miserable people. I’d rather see you mated to someone who will treat you right than someone who won’t.”

That’s all Lee needs to hear for him to say, “I’ve never had anyone speak so highly of me before.” he pauses to gather his thoughts a bit better and then says, “Please, don’t agree to this out of pity or convenience—I want you to mate me because you want to.”

“You want to mate me? Why?”

“Because I like you for who you are, and I’d love to have someone I can trust to treat me better than I was at home.”

To this, he asks him with all of the sincerity in his heart, “Would you mind being the one I want to mate instead of Neji?”

Gaara—whose response doesn’t shock either Tenten or Lee—agrees without so much a protest, “I wouldn’t mind at all.”

It’s an answer that gives Lee hope in this period of his life, whereas Tenten is watching on, uncertain if she should feel happy her friend and teammate is getting to mate someone he likes or if she should be upset over their village’s law stripping him of his one chance at freedom.

She leaves them alone because of this confliction, knowing she wouldn’t be able to handle it if she were with them for another moment.

Chapter Text

When Guy came to see Lee in the hospital, he was so deeply worried about whether he was okay or not, if he was seriously injured, that he almost forgot about the laws surrounding what would happen to him now that his mother is gone.

If it were not for seeing a nurse on the way there, he would have burst into his room, ready to ask every question racing through his mind and on the tip of his tongue.

“Hey, can you tell me how Rock Lee is doing?”

He got lucky with her answer, “I have just left his room. Are you his sensei?”

“Yes, I am.” he admits with a grin, “Can you tell me if he’s hurt or sick with anything? What happened to him when he was gone?”

“According to him, he was simply locked up in this wooden case the whole time. He’s strained his muscles when trying to run from and fight this alpha his mother sold him to, but other than this, he’s not sick with anything—as far as we know, anyway. We’re still keeping an eye on him and Naruto to be sure what was used on them won’t make them sick or kill them.” she did confirm when he appeared to be scared still, “He’s not hurt and so far he doesn’t appear to be sick with anything. Physically speaking, he’s fine.”

To this, Guy allows himself some room to breathe and try to calm his racing heart down, “Good.”

“I’m sure you know of the laws surrounding what will happen to him now that his mother has passed.”

This hits him like a bucket of cold water crashing over him.

How could he have forgotten this? He always knew death wouldn’t be the way for him to get custody of Lee, not with the way the laws in this village are!

Of course he’d be forced to follow through on whatever his mother could come up with under the guise of tradition! What else would a boy like Lee be trapped with otherwise.

He supposes he must have done something to give this away because now she’s telling him, “I’m sure it will be a bit odd to have your students mating each other in such a circumstance…I’m so sorry, Guy. I would never wish this situation on anyone.”

He knows she means it more from him than Lee and somehow, this makes it worse, “Don’t be sorry for me; be sorry for the kid who never got a chance to have any say in his life. Now, where’s his room at?”

“It’s down the hall, third door on the left; room number 404.” she does tell him, “We are having only three people per visits with each patient from this mission. Please be respectful of this rule and wait your turn to speak to him if the limit is already passed with your presence.”

“I will.”

After their agreement to mate each other, Gaara left Lee’s room to check on his sister since she had wanted to come to see this Shikamaru person (who Lee insisted to him was an incredibly kind person despite his laziness).

Of course, this meant he finally got to see Sakura and Ino—who appeared too heartbroken somehow over something, “Ino, Sakura! You both came!”

“Lee, are you alright?” Ino immediately asked, though her heartbroken appearance was too powerful to be hidden by concern, “They didn’t do anything bad to you, did they?”

“No, all I did was sleep in a wooden box and wake up when they were starting to get close to the border.” he does add, “I did fight the alpha my mother got me arranged to me, but thanks to Gaara, I’m not mated to him!”

At the mention of mating she seemed to grow more distraught, “I heard your mom wanted you to mate Neji if you failed to mate that guy…is it that true? Are you really going to give up everything to be with him to avoid prison?”

“I am not doing that.” he does his best to ease her worries while she’s here, “There was a loophole I used to get out of mating Neji—all I have to do is have Lady Tsunade approve of Gaara being my mate instead and I will be mated to him.”

Ino tries her best to put on a smile, though she does wonder, “You really want to mate him, huh?”

He nods, smiling when declaring, “More than anyone else, actually.”

“Even if it means in the eyes of the law you’d no longer be able to be a ninja of our village?”

“Yes, I am more than okay with that. As long as I get to have some say in this, then I’m fine with leaving everything to be with Gaara.”

When Ino and Sakura had come over to see Lee, Tenten was already gone and one of the nurses overseeing Lee and Naruto’s care had told them all the truth when they were together.

For Ino, this was all a cruel reminder of everything Deidara told her about his departure from the village and it only served to make everything he said so much more real than hearing it from him did the first time around. She fully understands why Deidara hates this village so much to the point where he believes it cannot be changed—the legal failures to keep omegas like Lee safe from a lifetime of abuse, neglect, and general misery were a glaring stain on a village too bigoted to change its ways.

Now Lee is going to lose everything in order to avoid either going to prison or being mated to someone he doesn’t like.

Sure, he may want to mate Gaara and he does seem happy at the talk of it, but it does nothing to stop her from thinking of everything Deidara said to her when they last saw each other.

“…If you are, then I can be for you too.” she musters, though in all reality all she wants to do is cry for her friend.

Sakura takes her hand and gives it a small squeeze, changing the subject to lighten the mood, “Well…on a better note, Naruto and Sasuke are doing good.”

“Oh, right! I wanted to know what happened with Naruto!” he exclaims then, “Why was he taken? He wasn’t hurt or forcibly mated was he?”

“No, he wasn’t; he did get some injuries during his battle, but he had Sasuke there to help him.” Sakura tells him in Ino’s place, not trusting her voice to not crack at any moment and a sob to be released from her throat, “He said he was taken when he went over to visit your place; they took him to try to use him to lure Sasuke out to Orochimaru’s place. According to him, they were as much there in our village for you as they were for him. Sasuke joined up with Chouji, Kiba, Neji, and Shikamaru to get you guys back safely.”

Lee now feels incredible guilt to know that his clan’s traditions endangered more lives than he had originally thought, “No one died, right?”

Sakura shook her head, “A few Chunin did when trying to stop him on their way back from a mission. From what Sasuke and Naruto said, they were very powerful ninjas who had the same curse mark from Orochimaru does. They tried to use their power and Naruto’s presence to goad Sasuke into joining them, but all it did was make him angrier at them for thinking he’d be so foolish as to join someone who would weaponize his future mate against him.”

“What about Chouji, Neji, Kiba, and Shikamaru? Are they okay?”

“Chouji, Neji, and Kiba are in the ICU right now. Shikamaru is fine, but they are currently getting all the medical help they need.”

His mother and his clan’s traditions got people killed and seriously injured.

All of this is mostly to blame on her and his clan’s traditions. If she hadn’t sold him off to someone from Orochimaru’s village, then none of this would have happened!

Okay, maybe they would have still gone for Naruto, but there wouldn’t have been as much carnage or urgency if that Kimimaro guy hadn’t shown up to attack Kiba and try to take him back by force.

“Lee, everything will be alright.” Sakura tries to soothe his racing mind yet it doesn’t do much good, “Lady Tsunade knows what she is doing, I promise. I know she can heal them and when they are healed, you’ll be able to speak to her and mate Gaara like you want to.”

“Yeah…” he pauses to glance at his omega friend who seems to be closer yet to crying than she was when she first entered his room, causing him to be distressed at the very sight of her, “Ino, are you sure you’re okay? You aren’t mad at me for wanting to mate Gaara, are you?”

“N-No, not at all!” she’s crying now and he never thought he’d have to see the day where she’d cry over him, “I just—I’m going to miss you so much when you’re gone and it’s…all of this…everything that’s making you do this…it’s upsetting to me because it feels like things will never change here for the better for omegas.”

Sakura is hugging her now and Lee is immensely grateful to her for it, yet he does tell her, “There’s no need to be so upset over me. I’ll do all that I can to visit you as much as possible and write you every day—I’ll even have you come out to Suna to do missions where we’ll be together! Though…if it really does upset you, I could mate Neji and remain here.”

“I wouldn’t want you to do that!” she says while breaking out of Sakura’s hug, “Mate Gaara and be happy—that’s what I want for you, is for you to be happy, and if mating him will do that for you then I’m fine with it. Just promise to do all those things, okay?”

Knowing his happiness matters so much to his dear friend to where she would be willing to let him go to be with Gaara has him realizing then that while he may have meant nothing to his family, he did mean something to others in his life who will always be more of his family than anyone else, “I promise I will! Don’t worry—you’ll get sick of me soon enough.”

“I bet I won’t.” she gives a choked chuckle to this, allowing him to feel a bit better about all this.

He is the one to change the subject, wondering, “How have things gone for you guys lately? Anything new going on in your lives or no?”

While Lee did have a pleasant conversation with them—learning that they are dating is something he did not ever expect, given how Ino was for the longest time, but he’s happy they worked out their differences enough to come that point—he was still confused as to why Iruka sensei was there when he woke up.

Unfortunately, after the girls left, Tenten didn’t return and Gaara’s still gone (though he’s positive he will return at some point or another) which left him alone with his thoughts.

He wasn’t alone with them for long; Guy sensei was already bursting through his door with a kick of it, his smile bright and shining as ever before, “Lee, you’re okay!”

“Sensei!” he cheered, every bit of his tired body screaming at him to lay down so severely to where he couldn’t get out of his bed, “I am so happy to see you, how have you been? Where’s Iruka sensei, is he still around? How about Tenten?”

His sensei is blunt with him, which he prefers in a situation such as his, “I actually ran into him when he was leaving Naruto and Sasuke’s room. He said that he was here to fill you in on the situation regarding your mother’s final orders for you when you woke up. Tenten was supposed to be there for moral support, but it seemed she left at some point after Gaara showed some interest in being your mate and hasn’t come back since.”

“Oh…” he instantly deflates to this, his eyes now glued to the sheet covering his body, “I must have made her very upset then…”

“No, I’m positive that wasn’t it!” Guy sensei assures him with his hand raised in the air, “I will talk to her about it tomorrow when we train together. I’m positive she’s not mad at you; she’s not the type to be mad over something like this.”

While it does make Lee feel better to know his sensei will speak to her tomorrow about this, he is met with him giving him all of his sadness at the news, “You’re going to mate Gaara, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

It breaks Guy’s heart to know it has to come to this. If the laws were not so stacked against omegas in this village, Lee’s clan’s traditions would have never superseded his right to have any say or autonomy over his life. He could have been taken into his home, where he would have been the father he should have had all his life instead of what he got in the end.

He cannot blame Lee for making the decision he is: after what happened between him and Neji, he’d be very hesitant about allowing him to mate the young alpha no matter how much Lee has insisted he’s changed to him and Tenten.

“Do you actually want to mate him or is this to get out of mating Neji?”

“No, sensei, I do want to mate Gaara!” Lee eyes snap back up to meet his own, his conviction shining through as he speaks, “I have always, always known that if I had to chance to choose who my mate would be, it’d always be Gaara. I didn’t want to trap him into a mating with me out of pity or convenience so I talked him about it and he made it clear he’d want to mate me for genuine reasons.”

Lee is not the type to lie to him on such topics and Guy knows better than to doubt him when he’s like this. Hearing what he did next only had him realizing how much of a good person his student really is, “I agreed to the mating because it’s something we both want with each other; if Gaara had said he never wanted to be mated, I wouldn’t have ever asked him to be my mate. I would have mated Neji to avoid forcing him into a life he didn’t want for himself.”

He knows what he means with this: he didn’t want to treat Gaara like his clan treated him. He wanted Gaara to choose to be with him on his volition, not out of pity, convenience, or manipulation.

It’s moments like these where he remembers why he has much greater respect for Lee than he does most Jounin: the young omega is a good person who tries to do better despite the life he’s been given, “You really are something special, you know that?”

When all he does is chuckle, Guy takes a seat next to him in the room and says, “You know you’re leaving everything behind…are you fine with that?”

“I am, if it means I get to be with someone of my choosing.”

That’s all Guy needs to hear to know Lee is making the right choice for himself.

Though it doesn’t stop the sadness at losing his favorite student ever from erupting out of him, “…Then that’s how you know you made the right choice in life…” he stops himself before he can cry, instead choosing to make this lighter for him, “You know that mating someone from another village won’t be an excuse to not write me or keep up with your training, right?”

“Yes, I do!”

“Good, then be prepared because I will see you every month and I will write you every day and I will want to know how you’re doing on your training because you’ll always be my student no matter who you’ve mated or where you live!”

Lee smiles in response, tears slipping from his eyes, “I would not have it any other way, sensei!”

He hugs him tightly, holding his favorite student for a moment as it starts to dawn on him that soon, Lee will be leaving with his mate to live in another village and he won’t be in his squad anymore…

“Well,” he clears his throat when ending the hug, “let’s go over some training exercises you can do when in Suna!”

“Awesome, I cannot wait to see what you have in store for me!”

“Trust me, it will blow your mind!”

A few days later, Naruto, Kiba, Sasuke, and Lee are released from the hospital. Chouji and Neji remained there to further recover from their extremely severe injuries.

Naruto was…oddly accepting of his decision to mate Gaara, to say the least. In general, Lee was expecting him he could do better, but what he got was so extremely opposite of what he had been predicting mentally it actually left him speechless.

“I heard you have to mate Neji, go to prison if you don’t mate him, or have granny Tsunade approve of a new mate for you if you don’t want to mate Neji. Is that true?”

“Yeah, it is…” Lee then decided to go through with it now instead of putting it off any longer, “I am going to ask Lady Tsunade for the approval of Gaara to be my mate.”

Instead of getting angry or ranting, all Naruto did was blink and say, “Oh, well, if you want to mate him that badly then go for it.”

This left Lee unable to respond at all. Given Naruto’s own dislike of Gaara, he had thought there’d be much more drama than there actually was, but all he got was, “Anyone is better than Neji if you ask me and you seem to really like him, so why not mate him? If you want, I’ll tell granny about your huge crush on him to get her to agree to the idea easier.”

Nope, he couldn’t respond even to this, “Well, I’ll see you around then! Be sure to stop by my place when you’re done talking to her about it, okay? I wanna have a sleepover, just us omegas!”

All he could manage after that was a nod as his friend left with Sasuke to go somewhere together (he thinks it was a date, but he couldn’t really focus on their conversation when he was steeped too deeply in his own extreme shock at Naruto’s acceptance of his decision to mate Gaara).

Now that he is free to do this and Tsunade is available, he is currently waiting outside her office to speak to her about mating Gaara.

Though, he wound up not waiting for long when Shizune opened the door and out came the alpha he was going to ask about mating instead of Neji, “Gaara, what are you doing here?”

“I was here to speak to your hokage about mating you. What else would I be here for?”

He does have a point there…

Shizune’s attention is now on Lee, with her first question being, “Are you here to ask about mating Gaara instead of Neji?”

He nodded and she sighed, “Well, Lady Tsunade does have only one question to ask you about that… Come on in, she’ll see you now.”

He does enter her office and from what he can tell, it looks as though Gaara will be there when he’s done with this.

“You’re here to ask about mating Gaara, right?”

He faces the woman who has sent down her pen and is staring at him from her desk, her gaze having an air of scrutiny to it, “I am, ma’am.”

She hums and asks the question Shizune had told him of, “Tell me…if you came from a clan like the Yamanaka or Nara, who would you want to mate?”

“Gaara. My answer will always be Gaara no matter what scenario you give me. He’s the only alpha I will ever like enough to want to mate and be with for as long as I live. Anyone else would simply not do; I could never be happy with anyone but Gaara.”

Her eyes rake him over, as if trying to detect any lie or uncertainty in his words, and ultimately she comes back with, “So you really are telling the truth then.”

He nods and she gains a glow of regret to her features as she informs him of something important, “Unfortunately, I am not the one who can call off the mating according to your clan tradition. All I can do is enforce prison time or approve of a backup mate should you have one. If you want to mate Gaara, then Neji has to be the one to end the mating.”

…Lee figured there’d be one more hoop for him to jump through and now, he knows what he has to do.

“Thank you for telling me this. I’ll go talk to Neji and see if he wants to mate me or not.”

“Good luck on that one, kid.”

He exits her office and is met with Gaara waiting for him, his gaze stuck on the wall across from him, “Let me guess, she told you about Neji having the final say in this.”

“She did, but I know Neji has changed. I know if I talk to him, he will listen to me and he will let me mate you.”

“…You’re too confident in the worst people.”

“I’m confident in myself, so you’re not wrong there!” Lee laughs it off as he makes his way to the exit with Gaara in tow, who comebacks with, “You’re not part of that category, you know.”

“Maybe not in your eyes, but I am in mine and that’s something I can’t really get rid of no matter what I do.”

Gaara makes it his own personal mission to get him to understand what he does after they’re mated. It may take time, but he’s patient when he really wants something.

Neji, on the other hand, never expected to have Lee show up in his hospital room after everything that happened between them in the past.

He would have fully understood if Lee didn’t feel much empathy for him after what he did to him, but he won’t lie to himself and say he doesn’t feel the slightest bit overjoyed at seeing Lee here in his room, “Lee, what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to tell you something pretty important.” oh…right, who was he to ever expect that Lee would see him for any other reason outside of something important to talk about? He can’t bring himself to be hurt or shocked when he remembers his previous actions towards him, no matter how much he’s changed since then, “What is it?”

“Even though my mom has passed, I still have to abide by clan tradition in the case should they all pass.” of course he does; how can he be shocked by that at a time like this?

“The tradition states that should I fail to mate the alpha or beta who was originally meant to me before my clan’s passing, then I have to either mate you, go to prison for not mating you, or mate someone with Lady Tsunade’s approval to avoid the other options. The thing is, I can only mate someone else with her approval if you choose to not mate me.”

To the news he’s hearing, Neji has to ask because the weight in his heart is too great at the very first thought popping in his head, “You’re here to talk to me about mating someone else then.”

Lee tenses yet he nods regardless. The pain of knowing Lee would find him so repulsive that he’d want to mate anyone else but him is enough to hurt no matter what the reasoning he will give him may be, “Is being mated to me such an awful idea to you that you would rather mate a stranger than be with me? Am I truly that irredeemable in your eyes? What more do I have to do to prove that I’ve changed?”

“No, you’re not irredeemable Neji!” he tries to convince him yet it does nothing to ease the pain within him, “I’ve already forgiven you for everything—don’t you know me well enough to know I don’t hold grudges by now? I am not one to hold someone’s past against them, you know that about me—”

“Then why mate a stranger instead of me? Why act as though mating me is the worst case scenario for you?”

It’s what he said next that caught him off guard completely, “Because I don’t want to be forced to mate anyone.”

He allows Lee to speak, hoping this will led into some satisfactory answer that could give his ailing heart a bit of reprieve from what he’s hearing, “Growing up in a clan like mine, I’ve always been trapped in a cage made by traditions. I was never allowed to be myself, to accept who I am, or be happy with how I look. I always had to fit the mold of a perfect omega in every single area of my life, from my looks, to my mannerisms, my etiquette, and how I talk. I wasn’t ever good enough and I was always mistreated for it.”

Neji never knew of this; he only knew Lee’s clan was poor and incredibly conservative. He didn’t know he was being mistreated far longer than the mere slap he saw his mother give him at his place—he wrote that off as her being mad at him for violating tradition, not a case where he was being mistreated at home all the time.

“Surely it wasn’t in your clan’s traditions to mistreat you if you didn’t fit the mold exactly as you were mandated to.”

“It actually is in their traditions to do just that. The traditions of my clan are to give the alphas and betas the best treatment around while omegas are nothing more than birthing machines and slaves to their mates.” he then tells him, “I don’t think you really get it—I never had a say in who my mate was going to be, who I wanted to court, or who I could be interested in. Everything was always decided by my clan…I never had freedom like an alpha or beta does. I was always an object for them to abuse as they pleased before selling me off to some rich alpha or beta for personal gain.”

He had no idea…he didn’t believe it was ever that awful…

“The laws in this village allowed them to get away with it without any consequences for their actions because tradition matters more than my freedom to choose a future I want for myself. All I want is to have at least one moment in my life where I get to decide what I want for myself. Is that really too much to ask of you, Neji?”

Neji pauses in this, asking him then, “Do you think you could have wanted to mate me if I had been nicer to you when you first told me you were an omega, if I had asked to court you, if I had courted you—would you have wanted to mate me then?”

Lee is honest and it hurts him to hear it, “No, I wouldn’t have. I don’t have those feelings for you.”

“Ah…I see…so mating me would be no different from trapping you in a cage set up by your clan.”

“Yes, it would be.”

He’s not mincing his words here and while it does hurt, he’d rather have the honesty than Lee sugarcoating things to spare his feelings.

Had this been said during the Chunin exams, he wouldn’t have considered his own hypocrisy in pursuing Lee in the manner he did when he made it clear he was not interested in him as a mate. He should have seen it when he approached him after his battle with Naruto, yet he chose to ignore reality to focus on trying to find the perfect moment to court him and win him over.

Lee was never meant to be his mate. The only way it could have happened then and now was if he was forced into it by his clan.

Like how his branch of the clan was forced into servitude to the main branch…oh.

When he adds this into the mix, he fully sees how shitty of a person he has been to Lee. Because really, how he treated Lee was not any better than how the main branch of his clan treated him and his family. Like what his clan had done to him, he was going to strip away Lee’s rights and freedoms from him—all because he was an omega and Neji couldn’t let go of the sexist views he had about them.

Now that he has grown more as a person, he sees that Lee is an equal human being to him: a bird trapped in a cage by clan tradition, with Lee’s only being made more severe due to his gender and how it affects him legally, societally, and at home.

They are the same side of the same coin. He only wishes he would have realized this sooner before doing what he did because now, all he has are regrets for the way he treated Lee as well as a healthy dose of disgust at himself for stooping as low as those in the main branch did to him.

He will redeem himself in at least one way, “I will end the mating then.”

“You mean it?” when he nods, Lee is rightfully curious, “But why?”

“Because I don’t want to become the cage that traps a bird in it.”

He’s only lucky Lee understood so well. Hell, he’s happy that the young omega gave him a hug with a kiss on the cheek, “Thank you, Neji…you will never know how much this really means to me.”

He may not know Lee’s mate, but he’d rather have him mate a stranger than have him trapped with him in a loveless mating, “Don’t thank me for it, Lee.” he does have to ask, “All I want to know is if there’s any way we could have gotten mated out of this requirement.”

“The only way that would have happened is if Gaara didn’t agree to mate me.”

…Of course…

“I would never want to strip Gaara’s freedom from him like my clan did to me. If he never wanted to be mated, I wouldn’t have asked him, and I would be your mate by now.”

…it’s Gaara. It was never a stranger; it was always going to be Gaara no matter what.

Lee was never his and he would never be even if they were mated. He would always be Gaara’s to the very end.

He doesn’t say anything to this, but he does tell him to, “Get me a pen and some paper. I need to give you the evidence to give Lady Tsunade of my forfeiting you as a mate.”

“Oh, right, I’ll be sure to do that right now!” Lee said this with too much enthusiasm as he headed out the door to ask anyone working in the hospital for those items.

When Lady Tsunade got the paper written by Neji renouncing Lee as his mate, she was a bit surprised to see it happen so soon. Here she had thought he would put up a fight or make it incredibly difficult…or, worst case scenario, force Lee to mate him by refusing to let him go.

No, he gave him up after only one talk they had. It was enough to make her wonder, “What did he say when he gave you this?”

“He said to find the freedom a bird freed from a cage would with my new life.” Lee recalls with a smile on his lips whereas Gaara remained stoic.

“Looks like he grew up then,” she muses when addressing the two, Gaara specifically in this instance, “You have only two days to mark him as your mate. If you do not, then I will have to find him another mate.”

“Fine.” the redhead responded a bit too nonchalantly given what he had been told to do.

Now, she had thought he’d try to be a bit romantic about this like any other person would be in this situation.

Nope.

Gaara—standing close enough to Lee to do this without any struggle—rolled down the collar of his jumpsuit and bit his scent gland there, officially marking him as his own.

She was flabbergasted to say the least, “…Didn’t you want to do that somewhere special? Like, the beach or something?”

“It doesn’t need to be special.”

Well…that’s one way of looking at it…

Then again, Lee did appear to be giddy nonetheless, “It’s not the area that makes it special; it’s who I’m with that does.”

…They deserve each other. That’s all she can say about this.

“Get out of my office, please.”

“Will do, ma’am!” Lee cheered, his excitement overflowing from him as he began to talk about dates, ask questions about Suna, and what to look forward to from here on out while they were exiting her office.

Little did she know that Lee meant every word of what he said.

For him, it really was not the location that made his marking special.

It was having the person he wanted to mate marking him that did.

For the first time in his life, Lee got to have a say over something he never thought he would—he got to mate somebody he likes and who likes him back. Someone who never tried to buy him or impress his clan…someone who liked and respected him enough to mate him because of it.

So what if it happened in an office? All that matters is he got what he wanted for himself in his life. Everything can only get better from here on out now that he’s finally, at long last, freed from the cage of his clan’s traditions.

Chapter Text

“Hi Iruka sensei, is Naruto here?” Lee asks when the omega Chunin answers the door, “Yeah, he is—” he pauses when asking, “did something happen? You smell very different.” 

“Oh, Gaara marked me after Neji chose to renounce me as a mate.” Lee is shockingly happy for a kid who’s just gone through a very adult process, though he guesses it’s better than prison or being mated to Neji, “…Congratulations?”

“Yeah, it’s been the best day of my life so far!” he cheers before Naruto makes his way to the door, “Oh, hey Lee! I’m really happy you could make it!” 

He takes a whiff of his scent, instantly crinkling his nose, “You and Gaara are mates now, huh?”

“We are and today could not get any better!” 

“Come on in then and lemme prove you wrong!” Naruto grinned, “Don’t worry about Ino, she’s already here since I did plan it with her when she saw me at the hospital.”

As Lee gets dragged further in the home, Naruto is happily chattering away, “We’re going to have so much fun with all the ramen and snacks to eat—oh, and Kakashi sensei is letting us have his room to have our sleepover in! It’s super big and luxurious too, like being in a fancy suite or something.”

“Sounds amazing! I’m actually amazed that you don’t have a problem with me being mated to Gaara. At first I thought you’d be really against it.” 

“I mean, I would’ve been if it weren’t for his brother telling us about his crush on you after helping Sasuke and I in our battle. Besides, he seems like he’s really changed from what Iruka sensei and Ino told me so you know, who am I to complain? Anyone is better than Neji, am I right?” Naruto then asks him, “Are you prepared for this? Because Ino and I do have a lot planned.” 

“I’m ready for anything after what I’ve gone through.” Lee said with a wide grin as Naruto led him over to the room where they’d be staying. 

Iruka watches them go behind the door, the smile on his face fading as he remembers what is to come next for his son. 

Given the state of the village and the persistence of the group, Naruto will have to leave Konoha with Jiraiya in another few days. He knows his son has to go for his own safety, yet he won’t deny it will be incredibly lonely without him around. He will miss that boy every day he’s gone and to be honest, he’s not mentally prepared for him to leave for a long time like this. 

“Everything okay?” Kakashi’s voice rings him out of his thoughts and it makes him sigh in response, “Not really…I’m not ready for my son to leave me for so long. I know our village is not capable of handling another Akatsuki invasion, but I just wish I could leave with him.” 

“I get the feeling all too well.” the silver haired man admits, “I want to keep him here too; I know I may not have raised him like you have, but he is the closest thing to a son that I’ve had. Not having him here will be like losing a part of myself in a way.” 

Iruka feels the same way and because he knows it will make him cry to think about it for too long, he faces the man and tells him what he should have a few days ago, “Thanks for agreeing to have the kids here, in your room like Naruto wanted. I know this will make him feel very special before he leaves.” 

“I couldn’t say ‘no’ to him, not after all him and his friends have gone through. They’re good kids; they deserve to have some fun every once in a while.” 

Iruka feels himself melt a little at Kakashi’s genuine care for the kids. It makes him believe there’s an extremely miniscule chance this man could change and become the sort of person he wouldn’t mind being mated to someday.

(He’s not sure if it could happen, but who knows? If Neji could let Lee mate Gaara without any hesitation, then maybe Kakashi could change into the sort of person he’d want as a mate.) 

They got another knock on their door and at first, they both mentally thought it would be Sasuke or Gaara behind it. 

Imagine their surprise when they saw Jiraiya there, his usual playfulness gone from him as he spoke, “We need to talk.” 

“I’ll leave you be then, Kakashi—” 

“No, you’re needed for this too. It’s something you two need to be involved in together.” 

They’re not certain what is going on, but they know better than to question a Sanin about such a thing. Though Kakashi does wonder, “Who will watch the kids when we’re gone?” 

Iruka and Kakashi did not know a thing about this meeting going into it.

All they knew was they were needed immediately and Jiraiya wasn’t saying much of anything of it, leaving them completely in the dark about the issue at hand. Kakashi is mildly annoyed whereas Iruka is trying to fight off the unease about the situation building up in his chest.

He is about to ask Jiraiya about the issue again when they find themselves being led to an area where outside of the village, closer to the border without being as far away as Shikamaru’s group to save Lee had been.

“Wait, why are we going out here?”

“Because what we are going to tell you cannot be said in the village.”

Iruka’s now growing increasingly antsy over what is going to be said here whereas Kakashi is still more annoyed than anything else, “You do know that you’re taking us away from some much needed time with Naruto, right? Why couldn’t this have waited for a later date?”

“Because I plan to leave with Naruto at the end of the week and a later date would mean having this discussion when I’m long gone from Konoha.”

Kakashi rolls his visible eye, not really liking how long this is taking them and wishing more than anything he’d get a chance to be back at his place with the omega kids and Iruka, enjoying their time with them before everything changes for the three of them.

What, with Naruto leaving soon, Lee undoubtedly going next with his mate (the idea of someone so young being in a mated relationship makes him feel ill no matter how well intentioned it is), and Ino being left alone…he’s not sure how well they will cope with being away from each other.

Him and Iruka have already discussed doing all that they can to be supportive to Ino in the aftermath of losing her omega friends, though it’s still undecided how to go about this. He thinks they ought to speak to Inoichi about this no matter how odd it may seem for them to do so. Iruka did agree on that end, though it didn’t stop him from worrying how Ino would handle being the only omega Genin in her age group after her friends leave. He’s afraid of the villager’s discrimination worsening and Kakashi cannot blame him for this since he’s lived through it alone when he was her age.

Iruka doesn’t want to see Ino quit due to rampant bigotry. Who wouldn’t be worried of that as she gets closer to the age of her first heat and puberty? Kakashi knows he’s worried for this. Ino may be strong, but without an omega Genin support system her age, it could be too much to handle alone.

Oh well, they can always talk about this to her parents tomorrow. For now, they need to focus on the situation at hand.

Which, of course, when they do arrive at the meeting place, it is with shock that Inoichi, Shikaku, Choza, Guy, Kurenai, and Asuma were there waiting for them.

Iruka is the first to say it, “Why are you guys all out here this late?”

Inoichi begins this with a distant look in his eyes as he leans down to the ground and runs his hand over the grass, “Believe it or not, but this is the exact same spot where Ino and Sakura met up with Deidara and Itachi the night she ran away from our home.”

To Kakashi, Iruka, Guy, Kurenai, and Asuma this was stunning to hear, leading to Kakashi’s calmly worded, “There’s more to the meeting that what Naruto was told and we were led to believe, isn’t there?”

“There is…in fact, there’s a lot more to it.” Inoichi stands then, his eyes no longer distant though they possessed a gleam to them that gave away how lost he felt, “Ino received a letter from Deidara that was delivered to her room by an unnamed Akatsuki member telling her to meet up with him. What she learned was not what she or I told you guys.”

Iruka feels his stomach churn as Inoichi recalls everything he had seen in her memories of the event…mainly because he himself had been in a similar situation.

He had an unwanted pregnancy once when he was young—not as young Deidara had been, but young enough to where it would have ruined his Chunin career—and he was considering terminating it when he learned from a medic nin that the child would be born with too many defects to have a long, happy life. In his case, he was lucky to have miscarried, but if he hadn’t…well…he would have gone to Suna like Deidara did.

His reasoning would have been obviously different—he didn’t want to birth someone for the sake of them dying a miserable death too soon after—but then, his whole situation had been different with a consensual night of sex as opposed to Deidara’s assault. The differences don’t matter in his eyes, though: Deidara was not in the wrong for wanting to end his pregnancy no matter how different the reasoning and situation may have been between them.

(Though, he won’t deny that Deidara was incredibly lucky to have Itachi there to be his support; Iruka didn’t have anyone he felt safe enough to tell about his pregnancy and he would have killed to have someone like Itachi to be there for him through thick and thin.)

He realizes then just how horrible the poor omega has always had it in their village. His beauty was not a prize or gift; it was a curse that isolated him from his fellow omegas, left him prone to assault and harassment, caused him to have no social life or friends, and led him to ultimately hate the place he had come from.

He couldn’t blame him for wanting to leave this place. Learning everything he did only made him have nothing but all the empathy in his being for the young artist turned criminal, “What about the mating with Itachi? Was it really consensual?”

“It was according to him.” Inoichi answers with a slight frown, “We brought you guys here because of Itachi, actually.”

“Why him?” Guy pipes up, “Going by what we’ve heard so far, Itachi wasn’t a bad guy to your son; he was a good person by all accounts to him. If anything, you should be happy he mated him—any beautiful omega like your son being around a bunch of powerful criminals is damned to be endangered at one point or another.”

Sadly enough, what Guy said was not a lie: beautiful omegas like Deidara are always targeted because of their beauty by criminals of all ranks. There’s no saying what would have happened to him in the Akatsuki if Itachi hadn’t mated him.

“It has nothing to do with that.” Inoichi refutes, the lost look never leaving his gaze once, “Ino’s memory of her visit with Deidara was filled with him trying to convince to leave Konoha and one point he frequently brought up was Danzo—according to the memory, we were led to believe there was more to the Uchiha massacre, something that Danzo or the other elders would know.”

Jiraiya takes his turn to speak, all joviality gone from him when he does so, his expression grim, “I caught Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza trying to investigate the massacre and naturally, I joined in when I learned more of why they were doing such a thing. Working together, we were able to determine that Itachi Uchiha had not acted alone and was forced into committing it against his will by the village elders.”

To this, all fell silent with Asuma being particularly grim in expression as it all settled on them, “I knew something was wrong with Ino’s explanation for the meeting with Deidara…it was too perfect, too much of what she had always wanted and yet she was too distraught over it. I never knew it was so completely opposite of what we are hearing now.”

“Then what are we to do about it?” Iruka chimes in, “Sasuke…he’s been led on to believe his brother is a monster…how are we supposed to fix this?”

Jiraiya then tells them of his solution, one that the original Ino-Shika-Cho trio seemed to be okay with it if the looks of gratitude in their expressions were anything to go by, “Sasuke cannot be here for what I believe we should do next… He will have to come with Naruto and I to avoid another Deidara situation happening.”

Kakashi has to add his two cents in because this is still so much to take in, “What are you suggesting we do then? Kill the elders and cause a riot with the wealthy conservative clans they come from along with the many other wealthy conservative clans they are friends with? Because that could lead to the destruction of our village as we know it.”

“For starters, Iruka,” he says while glancing at the omega behind him, “you need to take Sasuke and Naruto out of the village tomorrow at the earliest, the next day at the latest. Neither one of those boys should be here for the plan I have in mind.”

“Where should I take them? You already said the Akatsuki are after Naruto—where can I successfully hide them that will be safe?”

“I’ll give you the name of the hotel and village you are to go to. When this is done, I will be there, and you will be able to return home.”

Iruka nods, though he too is grim about the plan ahead.

Jiraiya continues on then, “I will get Tsunade involved in this, and with her help, we will come up with a plan that will eventually involve Inoichi going through Danzo’s memories since he is the one Deidara kept referencing the most in Ino’s memory of her meeting with him. If it is true that he is as guilty as Deidara made him out to be, then we will have no choice but to kill not only him but anyone else involved in the massacre with the only excepting being Itachi himself.”

Asuma then asks Inoichi the only question on his mind about this plan, “Are you truly ready to make yourself a greater enemy to wealthy conservative clans in the village than you are now, knowing it could result in you being assassinated?”

“I am.” he answers with no qualms or reluctance, leading him to wonder, “What if this does not bring Deidara back? Will it have been worth it to you?”

“It will be because at least the Uchiha will get justice and hopefully, with the old elders gone, we’ll get better ones who will change the laws for the better in this village for omegas like Rock Lee, Ino, Naruto, and Deidara.”

He has a determined glow to himself as his fists clench tightly against his side, “I know it’s a long shot, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make things right with Deidara. If I have to spill blood to show him I’ve changed, then I will even if it doesn’t bring him back.”

To such resolve, none of them could argue and none could deny a father trying to make things right with his son, “I’ve wronged him and he’s hurting now because of me. It’s my job as a parent to end his pain and make it all better for him.”

Before anyone else could break the long silence after what was said, Iruka spoke up, “Tell me, what is the name of the hotel and village I am to take the boys to?”

All glance at him out of a mixture of respect and shock, “I need to know if I am to get them somewhere safe.”

Jiraiya hands him a piece of paper, “Take them to the location and hotel written here either tomorrow or the day after, but no later than that. I’ll arrive when I’m done here.”

Iruka nods, still unsure of what to make of the plan as Jiraiya announces to them all, “I am going to head back to the village to meet up with Tsunade at her place. In at least three hours, I want those of us who will be involved in a potential battle to meet at the location I have written here.”

He hands them all a piece of paper with a location written on it—one that Iruka doesn’t get, and he understands the reasoning behind this well enough since he won’t technically be involved in any actual combat.

“Great, then I’ll see you guys later.” Jiraiya announces, being the first to leave with Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza following suite.

Kakashi has been awfully quiet, as has Guy and Kurenai, leaving Iruka to ask the copy nin, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. If anything, I am upset for Inoichi about the whole Deidara situation. Knowing our own village would be the cause of him leaving and a clan being massacred…it’s as enraging as it is heartbreaking.”

Guy nods in response, “I may not be a parent, but I get where his determination is coming from. I did all that I could to make becoming a shinobi as smooth of a process as I could for Lee and I’ve done all that I was able to do to protect him from his mother in the past…I can’t help to think I failed him by not doing more to keep him safe.”

“You couldn’t have done more to keep him safe,” Kurenai reminds them all then, “The laws are stacked heavily against omega’s rights in this village. You did all that you could do for him, Guy.”

“My only fear is that Inoichi is only so for this idea because he thinks it will bring Deidara back when it won’t.” Asuma remarked while lighting his cigarette, “Deidara was not in the wrong for what he did, neither was Itachi, but he’s had years to tell his family his side of the story and he didn’t. Maybe there’s a good reason for that, I’m not sure, but it doesn’t excuse his lack of respect for his family’s wants and needs.”

When Jiraiya did arrive at Tsunade’s home, she appeared to be somehow both stressed and relaxed at the same time, “What is it, perv?”

He chuckles in response, knowing damn well he did deserve that one, “I have that one coming…but I’m here to talk to you about something serious—”

“That’s interesting, because I have something serious to tell you as well.”

As he blinks, she moves aside to let him in and the moment the door is closed she takes a breath to steady her racing heart at the news she has to share, “The investigation into Rock Lee’s kidnapping has shown some results that coincide with what I have been told by Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara on the subject of omega auctions and trafficking.”

“Oh? What were the results of that investigation?”

She let it all out then to someone else outside of a select few, “The investigation revealed a contract that she had sign on the day he bought her son; it very clearly stated the exact amount of money he needed to pay her as well as the date it was due, otherwise the mating would not go through. The letters between them revealed an entirely different scenario, though.”

“How so? It seems pretty cut and dry to me: sounds like she wasn’t gonna give him up because she got greedy and demanded more than she should’ve asked for.”

“It wasn’t this reason. That was what he told his cronies, but it’s not the full truth.”

Now Jiraiya’s really interested in what all she has to say, “She did keep trying to get more money out of him, but it wasn’t solely out of greed; it was because he broke the contract by being dishonest about who was intended to mate him. He clearly wrote down that he would be the one to mate her son, only to try to weasel out of it by telling the one to pick him up would be the one to mate him as per the agreement. Unfortunately, he was going to send in Kimimaro instead of himself, leading to a disagreement between the two that consumed the final letters exchanged between them. This led into her turning to all the omega auctioneers she knew, begging them to put him on their auctions, only for them all to turn her down.”

Jiraiya is stunned to learn of this, but then she continues on, “Suna is known to keep a strict eye on omega auctions and explicitly forbids selling or auctioning an omega off by law with intense punishments for those who do. This investigation led into us speaking to the Suna kids about omega auctions and those who sell their omegas off, which they told us all they knew about it. Apparently, it’s not uncommon for omegas of all clans regardless of wealth or political beliefs to be sold or auctioned off from this village at higher rates than omegas from any other villages around.”

Now that was shocking to learn—as well as terrifying because it makes him think of Naruto and how this could be his fate if he stays here too long, “Is this by a clan tradition thing only or something else?”

“For the poor clans, it’s a clan tradition thing to bring in money. The wealthy arrange their omegas to mate other wealthy or higher status alphas or betas; they are the least likely to sell or auction off their omegas. However, they wind up being sold and auctioned off more than omegas from poor clans in this village.”

He's starting to wonder if she’s going to get to the point soon about all this, “Tsunade—what does this have to do with anything?”

She glares at him and it makes him freeze in his spot, though it doesn’t show on his person for one moment, “I know about Inoichi and your’s investigations into the Uchiha massacre. You’d be a complete fool to think I would never notice. You’re only lucky the elders themselves are too cocky to be as observant as I am.”

“What would that have to do with any of what you’re telling me now?”

“It has a lot to do with it, actually.” Tsunade sighs, her eyes losing their intensity when she says it, “Whatever you’re trying to plan…end all planning right now.”

He’s shocked into silence as she continues, “I know you’re plotting something, and whatever it is, I can assure you it’s not needed. My investigations have shown that the elders obtained their wealth by allowing criminals to sneak into the homes of their wealthy friends and kidnap their omegas to be sold on auctions for a decent cut of the amount on the sale, or they will hire someone to kidnap the omega for them to sell themselves to any wealthy person who wants to buy one.”

“How did you learn that information?” Jiraiya knew they were awful, but that bad? Who knew! “Tsunade, that’s heavy accusation to make without proof.”

“My proof comes from a criminal who had been caught trying to break into the home of wealthy clan to try to steal their daughter three nights ago.” she glances at him oddly, “Inoichi was the one who led the interrogation of that man—didn’t he tell you about it?”

“He said he interrogated some criminal, but he didn’t go into detail about it.”

“Good; if he had, he would have lost his job and faced possible prison time for talking about an active case.”

To which, Jiraiya is annoyed by despite understanding why he didn’t tell him everything, “That doesn’t matter now, Jiraiya. The wealthy conservative clans already know of this issue, and they are enraged with the elders. They were so enraged that they said if I were to have someone kill them and their families at a party hosted by the one whose omega child was almost kidnapped, then they would do nothing to stop progressive elders from taking their place.”

His breath is lost to this as the implications become too real to him, “…They want to kill their families, even if they are innocent?”

She nods and it leaves him staring at her in horror, “You…you did not agree to this, did you? Tell me there’s no way you’d actually say ‘yeah sure, let’s go kill some innocent people’, right?”

Her silence is deafening, leaving him to try to goad an answer out of her in his own desperation, “There’s no way—you wouldn’t do that. That’s not who you are.”

“…I made a promise to Naruto,” she begins with her eyes starting to water slightly, “that I would change this village for the better for omegas like Rock Lee. I failed to do that and look at what happened; he was almost mated by force to some alpha in an enemy village and did the elders care? No, their solution was to do nothing and call off the rescue mission when it was ongoing. To be that cold and cruel to an innocent omega is something I will never forgive them for; they left him to be mistreated and sold off like he were an object, all because of his gender.”

He is somewhat starting to lose whatever horror was in him the longer she speaks, “That sweet kid didn’t deserve to be left there…he didn’t deserve to be treated like he wasn’t a human being with rights of his own. He deserved all the freedom and rights you and I have—something they will never see if they are allowed to remain in power.”

She takes a step towards him and as a tear falls from her eye, she makes it clear to him, “I do feel guilty for agreeing to this, but I cannot care—not when I finally have a chance to make this place better for all the omegas in this village. If I didn’t agree to their terms, they would have hired assassins to do the job for them and used their wealth and influence to enforce stricter conservative laws stripping omegas of whatever rights they have here. So tell me, what was the better option: Naruto, Ino, and many more omegas like them not having any rights in this village in the future or omegas having more rights than they did in the past?”

It's a hard question to ask because really, there are no winners here.

Either the wealthy conservative clans got what they wanted out of Tsunade, or they would have taken matters into their own hands and made life worse for the omegas in the village.

Ultimately, she did what she could to keep her promise to Naruto and as much as it deeply disturbs him, he cannot hate her for making the decision she did under the pressure she had to have been in.

“…Tsunade, if you would have let me kill them for what they did to the Uchiha clan, this wouldn’t have had to happen.”

“Except the wealthy conversative clans in this village do not give a damn about the massacre or obtaining justice for it. They only care about something when it affects them personally. If you were to have killed them and spared their families, those clans would have turned against you and there would have been a civil war here in the village because you did not give them exactly what they wanted. This is all I could have done in the circumstances I was given.”

Right—he forgot. They have a lot of say in this village due to their wealth and the influence they have in the conservative community in Konoha. If he were to have made his move in the manner he wanted for the reasons he desired, they most certainly would have used their influence in their community to spread lies about the hokage trying to eradicate conservatives and their wealth would have worked to buy them all the rogue/criminal ninjas they desired to take down the village should no Jounin, Chunin, or anyone in ANBU or ROOT choose to side with them.

All he can do at this point is ask, “Who did you have do it?”

“For such a mission, I asked Gaara to dispose of the elders when they get too drunk to defend themselves. As for the families, I’m not sure if he will do it or if I will have to have the assassin I sent to pose as a servant to finish that job for him.” she does clarify for him, “When he heard about how the elders reacted to Lee’s kidnapping and how they got their wealth, he agreed to it without any hesitation.”

Her hands cover her eyes when releasing a strained exhale, “I didn’t want omega rights to happen like this—I wanted change to come from their hearts, not their deaths.”

Jiraiya—not being able to handle such a heavy atmosphere—is about to hug her when Shizune beat him to it.

With a firm stare in his direction, he opens the door to her home and lets her know, “Don’t worry about anything else; I’ll tell my guys my plan won’t be needed.”

Three hours later, he is meeting up with Guy, Asuma, Kurenai, Kakashi, Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza at the same spot where Deidara and Itachi were said to have met up together in private.

There, he tells them everything he heard from Tsunade and how their plan was not needed any longer.

Kurenai was visibly relieved and left without another word being said. Guy was too angry over what he learned about Lee’s kidnapping and the elder’s reaction to it, so he left before he could explode that rage in an inappropriate manner. Asuma could only ask Inoichi, “Do you think Deidara will see this and at least be a little bit happy at the progress being made?”

“I don’t know, it depends on what sort of progress could be made after tonight.” Inoichi tells him in response as Shikaku and Choza both head back home without him, clearly conflicted over what was said yet not knowing of any better option, “I hope he will be…but I don’t know if he will ever have faith in this village again if he doesn’t have faith in me in the first place.”

Kakashi inserts himself here, telling him what he believes he should hear, “You cannot blame yourself for everything that went wrong for Deidara.”

“Kakashi!” Asuma hissed, yet the copy nin did not stop there, “Your son left for many reasons and the majority of them had nothing to do with you. It’s time you stop beating yourself up over every single little thing and accept that he’s gone now for reasons that were not in your control.”

Asuma does remind him, “It’s some pretty bold stuff you’re saying here considering you don’t have kids.”

“I may not be a parent, but I do know what it’s like to lose someone and live with the burden of blaming myself for everything that happened despite it not being in my control.” Kakashi is blunt when telling him, “I may not know what it’s like to be a parent or lose a child or face anything you have ever since he left, but I do know enough about loss to know that you cannot keep this up forever without it becoming more about yourself and your self pity than actually bettering yourself. You want to do better by Deidara? Then quit wallowing in your what-ifs and do something to accept what happened for his sake if you ever want to do that for him.”

The man laughs, though it is short and strangled in sound, “You really do know the best thing to say in your own weird way…but I guess you’re right. If Ino could strive to get him back for years without becoming a wreck I was, then I can try harder to be as strong her.”

“Good.” Kakashi then informs them, “If you excuse me, I have a home full of omegas to get back to. I’ll see you all tomorrow or whenever I feel like it.”

As he leaves, Asuma checks in on the man to make sure, “You okay with him talking to you like that?”

“Yeah, he meant no ill will about it.” Inoichi said as the man put out his current cigarette and sighed, “Well, that’s your choice then… I should get going though—I have things to do, people to see.”

“Right, I’ll see you around then.”

“See ya.”

Inoichi then says to him, “Thanks for everything, Jiraiya. I do appreciate all that you’ve done to help me and my friends in our search for the truth about the massacre.”

He tells the older man in no uncertain terms, “If you’re still going to be leaving with Sasuke, then come to my place early in the morning and I will hand you everything I have written down about Ino’s meeting with Deidara, along with what we had found out in our research of the massacre and a note about why I didn’t have her tell him the truth about her meeting with him.”

“You don’t have to do that—”

“Except I do, because as long as Deidara is mated to Itachi, Sasuke is a part of my family and he, more than anyone, deserves to know what I know.”

Jiraiya nods, though there is no happiness or joy in any of his motions, “I will be sure to give it to him when he is ready, that much I do promise you, Inoichi.”

“Again, thank you for everything,” he smiles then when thinking about it, “I have to go home now. My mate is waiting for me.”

“Right, go to her then.”

As he leaves, Jiraiya is left alone with the forest, the moon, and his own haunted thoughts over what was done to obtain the rights omegas have always deserved in this village.

Chapter Text

While all this was going on, Naruto and Lee were greeting Ino in Kakashi’s room, “Hey Ino, Lee finally came!” 

“Lee,” she immediately got a whiff of his scent, her first reaction being, “you mated Neji, huh?” 

“No, I mated Gaara.” 

She couldn’t believe it and he knows it’s for good reason. She hasn’t spoken to or been by Neji ever since the Chunin exams happened. Ino, compared to Naruto, would be less privy to Neji’s change, “He didn’t do a thing to stop you? I thought he was supposed to be the one to end the mating, not anyone else.” 

“He was, but he chose to let me be with Gaara instead.” Lee grinned when showing her the mark on his neck, “See? I got mated to him today!”

Neither one of them were shocked at Ino’s genuine happiness for Lee; she had never really objected to him liking Gaara like Naruto had been and she was with Naruto in the idea of ‘anyone’s better than Neji’, “That’s great! How did he mate you?” 

“He mated me in Lady Tsunade’s office when she gave him her blessing to.” 

Her and Naruto both stare long and hard at him in disbelief because surely that is not what happened…right? 

Naruto is the one to speak up when the silence becomes too much for him to handle, “He didn’t actually mate you in front of her, did he?” 

“Yes, he did.” Lee answers so easily and happily it’s honestly off putting to them, “He did it so quickly, like he knew he wanted to mate me and didn’t have any doubts or second thoughts! I never thought I’d get that lucky in my lifetime!” 

Ino clears her throat, trying to be positive for him, “How…wonderful.”

“Wonderful? The guy couldn’t mate you somewhere more romantic, huh?” 

She nudges him hard in the ribs and Naruto doesn’t stop regardless, “I would kill Sasuke if he mated me that way! Either do it right at a ramen shop or when there’s a festival with fireworks going off or don’t do it at all!” 

“What’s romantic about a ramen shop?” 

“Everything!” 

“Please, if I were to be mated by Sakura, I wouldn’t want it done in a ramen shop, in front of a bunch of a strangers! That’d be just as bad as having it done in front of my parents!” 

Now it’s Lee and Naruto’s turn to be left speechless by this statement. 

She glances at them oddly, finding their reaction to be a bit much, “What?” 

“Sorry Ino, it’s just…I never thought I’d hear of you talking about mating in a way that isn’t ranting about how awful it is.” 

“Yeah, Lee’s right; you never had any interest in mating before—when I think about it, I cannot name one time you had anything good to say about mating. All you’ve ever done was ranted about how sexist it is. What changed?” 

Her response is thoughtful in a way that seems confident without being defensive, guarded, or brash; like a more natural confidence that would come to person at peace with themselves as opposed to ‘faking it until making it’, “I realized I don’t have to blindly follow everything Deidara believed to make him happy or proud of me. He wants me to be my own person and I’m going to live up to that wish from now on.” 

“Things have really improved between you and Sakura then, huh?” Naruto begins with a raised brow, clearly too amazed at what he’s heard to properly process this information, “I never thought I’d hear you talking about mating her. Are you two dating or something?” 

“Yeah, we’ve been going on dates recently.” she says it so easily, like there’s nothing to be shocked about here, “I don’t get why it’s a big deal. Sakura changed a lot as a person and became the sort of person I want to date and possibly mate someday.” 

“Didn’t your brother hate her? I remember her ranting about that before.” 

Ino winces at the memory of that particular detail of her childhood, “He did…but he’ll have to come around to it because I’m not breaking up with her to make him happy.” 

Now that he’s heard all this, Lee is the first one to smile so widely and hug his friend tightly, “I’m proud of you, Ino!” 

“For what?” 

“For doing all that you can to live your life for yourself instead of your brother.” 

When she appears to be taken aback by what was said, he explains it a bit further, “I know you love your brother, but I always thought it was a bit unhealthy to base so many of your views on what he believed and devote your life to him when he has always lived for himself. It’s great that you’re starting to live and believe what you want instead of what he would.” 

She’s glad to see they are being better about this than her team was; Shikamaru had gotten too skeptical and invasive with his questioning whereas Chouji got on her for ‘abandoning Deidara in a way’.

(He has a crush on him though so she saw that one coming. Shikamaru’s questioning was not something she foresaw.) 

“As long as you’re happy that’s all that matters!” Naruto grins before asking her, “What’s Sakura like on dates anyway? Is she more strict or laid back? What does she do for fun and romance?” 

Ino blinks to this, but answers him regardless, “She’s laid back…we usually do outdoorsy stuff like camping, hiking, and swimming for dates. She likes to take me out to fun places we both enjoy going or doing together—she hasn’t done anything surprising yet, but we haven’t been together as long as you and Sasuke have.” 

Speaking of which, she does ask him, “What is Sasuke like on dates? Is he always brooding?” 

Naruto scoffs, “Sasuke is not always brooding! On our dates, he’s awesome!” 

Lee and Ino both seem to struggle with the idea if their shared looks are anything to go by, “He is capable of smiling you know—he does it around me when we date and I’ve gotten more action from him than Kakashi sensei has with Iruka so there’s that.” 

(Oh if only they all knew the truth…) 

“What action did you get?” Ino is wary when asking, not sure of what Naruto’s idea of ‘action’ could be. 

“Um, duh!” he states with all the pride in his person, “We’ve only made out like, a million times by now.” 

Now the omega girl cannot believe it, “Yeah right, there’s no way that happened!” 

“It did too—here, I’ll count down all the times we made out!” 

As Naruto does this, Lee sees a book on Kakashi sensei’s night stand and clears his throat loud enough to get their attention, “Hey guys, looks like Kakashi sensei is trying to learn more about omegas.” 

At the news, they stopped in their tracks, unable to conceive of the idea that Kakashi sensei could, genuinely, be trying to get better at winning over Iruka. 

“No way…” they say in perfect unison yet when they see the book Lee is holding isn’t one of his smut books, it’s mind blowing for them. 

They instantly rummage through the book, each one left speechless at the stunning revelations of the man trying to actually improve himself well enough to get Iruka to want him.

“Whoa…I never thought this would happen in my lifetime.” 

“It’s as shocking as it is disturbing…” 

“I think it’s sweet.” Lee coos, “He’s really trying to make a real effort to be better for Iruka sensei! What could be more romantic than that?” 

Naruto is the one to say it, “We need to redefine romance here cause your definition doesn’t sound like anything I’d want for myself.” 

Ino shrugs, not being as stiff on this as Naruto is, “I think romance varies by the person…not everyone wants to make out as much as you and Sasuke do. I’m sure Lee has his reasons for finding this to be romantic.” 

He nods, filling them in on it, “Well, yeah it is sweet to me! I always thought romance was supposed to be letting an alpha or beta do whatever it is they want to my body…but what makes me ‘swoon’ as Tenten says is seeing alphas and betas trying to be good to omegas and doing all that they can to be good to them because that’s honestly all I wanted my mate to do for me.” 

They don’t know whether to find this aspiring or downright depressing, but they won’t say such things out loud. Ino does say, “I’m not sure what romance is, but I think Lee’s definition could be close to it.” 

“Maybe…for me, romance is someone who is willing to come for me when I’ve been kidnapped, fight by my side no matter what…” something in his voice changes when he speaks, “and someone who will understand and wait for me when I have to leave.”

Naruto then looks his friends in the eye and tells them something he didn’t want to have to do so soon, “Ino, Lee, I didn’t get this idea outta nowhere. I actually did this to have one last night of fun with you two—but I have to tell you this before it gets to be too much.”

He exhales gets it off his chest in one fell swoop, “I am going to be leaving with the damn Pervy Sage very soon and I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

“What?” Ino pales to this, realizing she will be alone when Lee and Naruto both leave her, “We’ll be able to write to you, right?”

“I dunno…he made it sound like we would be traveling a lot.” Naruto sighs when going over to Kakashi’s bed and face planting on it, “Ugh, this sucks! I wanted to train and get stronger, but I didn’t think I’d have to leave you, Ino. I’m sorry, I really am, I tried to get him to let me take you along, but he said I can’t because he said the Akatsuki are after me and that would put you in too much danger.”

She’s not mad about not being able to go along since she’s not certain what she would do if she had to fight her brother, but she can tell something more is bothering him. Luckily for her, Lee seemed to catch onto it right away, “You’re worried about Sasuke, huh?”

“Of course I am!” Naruto half shouts when pulling himself off from the bed, “What if he loses interest in me and starts dating another omega or beta? What if he thinks I’m ugly when I come back? What will I do then, huh? Date Kiba? I’d like to think I have a shred more self-respect for myself than that, but I don’t know if I would if Sasuke didn’t want me anymore.”

Lee hums to this, taking a seat beside Naruto on the bed, “I get it—the whole time Gaara was here, I tried to not get too interested in him because I knew he’d leave and I knew if he found someone else, it’d ruin me. I was so afraid he wouldn’t want a thing to do with me that I shied out of writing to him until you brought me what I needed to do it.”

“Lee—”

“No, I could have asked Guy sensei to send a letter to Gaara for me and have the hokage mail it to him. I didn’t want to do it though because I was scared of hearing him say he found someone else or he got himself a mate that I didn’t do it. I owe you everything for the gift you gave me because it allowed me to get everything off my chest to him.”

He does wrap an arm around his friend and do his best to comfort him in light of this, “But you know what? I never had any reason to worry; from what Gaara’s siblings told me today, he thought of me too much when he was gone, and he never looked at anyone else the entire time he was home. Now if this can be true for Gaara and I, then I think you definitely have no reason to worry about you and Sasuke.”

“You think?”

“I do! Sasuke and you have a great relationship and he seems to really love you in his own way. There’s nothing which will guarantee success more than that.”

Ino takes a seat on the other side of Naruto, grinning with a devious glint in her eyes, “He’s right about that one—but if he doesn’t stay loyal, I will kill him for you and make him regret it.”

Naruto chuckles and hugs them both, “You guys are the best.”

“You know we are,” Ino, though feeling upset at the idea of being without them, does her best to keep things light for the both of them, “but let’s not make this all mopey, okay? Let’s make this the most fun night of our lives!”

“Hell yeah, let the fun begin!”

As the omegas set about this, they never noticed Ino’s mom was the one watching them since they were having too much fun causing general chaos in Kakashi sensei’s room. When Iruka did come back and she left, they didn’t notice since she was gone when they exited the room to get some snacks from the kitchen.

He would have asked them what happened, but he figured it was best to save that for tomorrow when they were all gone.

For now, he is going to ask them in an attempt to appear normal and not as though he got out of a serious meeting with a bunch of Jounin, “Ino, Lee, Naruto—you guys want any ramen?”

“When would we not want ramen?” Naruto pipes up, his excitement barely contained, “Get us the ramen, Iruka!”

“Sure thing!”

Iruka discovered the truth later on from Kakashi about what happened and he was deeply relieved to hear it. This allowed him to sleep good that night in his room while Kakashi took the couch.

However, it did not stop the alpha from looking at his room in pure horror when the omegas were eating breakfast together, “Naruto…what did you and your friends do to my room?”

“To be fair, you let me have them all in there knowing what three omegas could do when put together in a room.” he calls back to him while eating his breakfast of miso soup and rice.

“My room is a wreck! Why are my books and things from my personal drawer all over the place and—” he stopped to call out to him, “what were you guys doing with my shampoo!”

“Washing out the food in Ino’s and Lee’s hair when we got some in it during a battle for the snacks!”

Iruka raises his hand, ordering the omegas to, “Stay here; I have to talk to Kakashi for you guys…looks like he’s trying to pretend that I did not warn him about how chaotic omega sleepovers can get.”

When he’s gone, Ino is wondering, “Where’s Gaara? I’m amazed he let you spend the night with us. Most alphas are usually very clingy when they first mark their mate.”

“Ah, well, when Gaara and I got back to the place he was staying at, he got this message about being needed for a meeting with Lady Tsunade and I didn’t really hear from him after that, so I got ready for the sleepover while he was gone.”

Naruto does want to be sure before he starts freaking out, “Does he know you’re here?”

“He does! I left him a note saying I went here to be with you guys.” Lee informs them, allowing the duo some peace of mind, “I should get going after this: I want to check on Gaara and then I need to see Tenten before I leave.”

“Why her?” Ino is curious because last she checked, Tenten did visit him at the hospital when he got back, “Didn’t you two talk at the hospital?”

“We did, but it was only once and I don’t know if she’s mad at me or not for getting mated to Gaara.” Lee is a bit down when picking at the last bit of rice he has to eat, “I don’t want Tenten to hate me or be mad at me…Guy sensei said I should to talk to her, so I’m going to do that today because I don’t know when Gaara wants to leave.”

Right…Lee could be leaving today…

Naruto clears his throat, asking him, “You will tell us when you’re going to leave, right?”

“Yeah, we do deserve the chance to tell you goodbye in person.” Ino reminds him and he does all that he can to reassure his friends, “Don’t worry, I’ll let you all know right away, I promise!”

“You better keep that promise or else I’ll march over to Suna and rip your mate a new one!” Naruto warns and it makes Lee laugh because it’s just so Naruto to threaten such a thing, “I’ll definitely be sure to let you guys know! How about we meet up at the gates at noon? I’m thinking that if Gaara wants to leave today it will be then.”

“That sounds like a great idea!” Ino agrees to it simply because, “I have today off from the flower shop and training, so I can meet you guys there at noon. Just don’t be shocked if Sakura comes; I’m sure she has the same day off too.”

“I can make that work—oh, then Sasuke and I can go to the hot spring together! I never got to do that with him before…hopefully we don’t get in too much trouble over that. Iruka isn’t for it and Kakashi sensei is completely against it because we’re dating, but I think that’s just being dumb about things.”

“Or you know, he could have a point—” Ino was about to say when there was a knock on the door.

Naruto was the one to answer it, his confidence wavering at the sight of him, “Gaara…hi…what’re you doing here?”

“I’m here to see my mate,” he answers with ease, “we do have to get going soon—my siblings and I are supposed to head out at noon. If he wants to see his teammate and sensei, we should leave now.”

“He’s right, I should get going,” Lee got out of his chair, grabbing the bag he brought with him for the sleepover, and waved his friends off, “I’ll see you guys later at the gate! Goodbye for now.”

Before they could him one of their final farewells, there was someone behind Gaara clearing his throat, “Hey kid, mind if I speak to Naruto about something important?”

The blonde omega knew that voice right away, “Pervy Sage? What the hell are you doing here so early?”

“I’m here because we’re heading out at noon as well. Whatever you need to do, you only have a few hours to get it done before we have to go.”

Jiraiya actually wanted to leave earlier, but he could smell the sadness from Naruto’s scent at the news of his friend leaving so soon. He decided it was best to give him some time to say his goodbyes and spend time with those he wanted before leaving, especially since his mated friend was getting the chance to do the same.

Which reminds him, “You oughtta use some of this time to find Sasuke.”

“Why? So he can breakup with me and move on faster?” Naruto moped as the idea of Sasuke doing just that entered his mind, breaking his heart at the very imagination of it.

“No, Sasuke is coming with us.”

Not for the reasons of keeping Naruto happy, but for the reason of wanting to avoid any unnecessary drama that could happen from the village elders being killed last night. The last thing they need is for Sasuke to stay too long in Konoha, find out what Ino’s meeting with Deidara was actually about, and then go down the route of possibly becoming an Akatsuki member just like Deidara himself.

Sasuke is too young to really handle what all was discovered about his clan’s massacre. As such, he should be kept away from the village to ensure they won’t inadvertently create another Deidara.

“You mean it? He’s coming with us?” Naruto is suddenly full of life, bouncing from his spot in the doorway, “I can really bring him along?”

“I said you could, didn’t I? Now go, get him and let him know we’ll be heading out at noon!”

“Yes, perv!” he cheers before shoving Gaara, Lee, and Jiraiya aside to find his boyfriend.

Gaara only blinked to this and turned his attention back to Lee, “…Let’s get going before anything else odd happens.”

“That’s fine with me. I shouldn’t keep my sensei and Tenten waiting.”

As they all left, it started to dawn on Ino that she wouldn’t have her omega friends in the village anymore…she’s going to be alone without them…

She may have her teammates, but that’s no real replacement for the sort of camaraderie she has with her fellow omegas.

After leaving Iruka’s place, she is heading to Sakura’s to let her know of what’s going on though it’s painfully obvious to anyone who knows her that there’s something troubling her.

It was at this time that she heard the gentle call of, “Ino, hi!” that caused her to turn around.

There she sees Hinata jogging up to her with a pep in her step, “It’s been so long since we’ve last spoken! How have you been?”

“Good, how about you?”

“I’m doing great; if I keep up my training, I can one day become strong enough to bring Deidara back and hopefully win over his heart.”

…She has no idea how she would ever begin to tell the painful truth of her brother’s mating situation to Hinata.

Oh well. That can wait for another time, “Wow, that’s awesome! I’m really happy for you, Hinata.”

She glances at her oddly then, immediately picking it up, “Is there something wrong? You look like you’re about to cry.”

“It’s just…” she stifles her tears to properly say it, “Naruto and Lee are leaving the village today at noon. The last time I ever had an omega friend was my brother and when he left, it really hurt me because I never saw him again. I know I’ll get to see Lee and Naruto will come back someday, but I don’t know what I’ll do without them. It’s not like I can talk to my teammates or Sakura about omega stuff; they wouldn’t get it the same way an omega friend does…and I guess I’m not really ready for them to leave.”

Hinata takes her hand and gives it a gentle squeeze, “I may not know what it’s like to go through that, but you’re a lot stronger than you think. I know you can handle them leaving even if you think you can’t. I’ve always admired you for how strong you were to keep on wanting to be a shinobi even when facing so much hate and bigotry while dealing with a loss of your own. If you can handle that, then you can handle this as well.”

When she says nothing in response, Hinata does let her know with a firm eye contact she’s never really held with many people in the past, “If you ever feel lonely or overwhelmed with anything, come get me and I’ll be the friend you need to be there for you no matter what, okay? And if you want an omega to speak to, I’ll find one for you and—”

Ino giggles then, suddenly feeling a little bit more confident in being left in Konoha, “Thank you for that, Hinata. You really are the best.”

“Um…thanks.” she quickly says with a small blush on her cheeks, “I’m sorry if that was much.”

“No, it’s fine! I needed to hear it from someone and I’m glad it was from you; you’re one of my good friends and I will always be grateful to have you here at least.”

It makes Hinata smile and the heavy feeling in her chest lighten to know she will always have the beta girl by her side even when she doesn’t have her other friends in person.

They would speak for a little longer with each other, with Hinata leaving her to go back to her home to train more and Ino arriving at Sakura’s place in a better mood than before…only to find out from her mother that she had gone to ask Lady Tsunade about being trained by her.

Naruto, on the other hand, had given Sasuke the surprise of his lifetime by running into his arms, in his pajamas nonetheless, and jumping into his arms the moment he found him, “Thank kami I finally found you, Sasuke!”

His legs were wrapped tightly around his waist and while Sasuke wishes he could enjoy this, he couldn’t—not with all the alphas and betas around staring at his mate now that he’s not in his jumpsuit, “Naruto, why are you in your pajamas?”

“Because I had to find you as soon as I could!” he begins excitedly, “Sasuke, you and I are going with the Pervy Sage to go train and travel together!”

“Wait—why do we need to leave?”

“Um, isn’t it obvious?” and when Sasuke doesn’t get it, Naruto groans and fills in the blanks for him, “I need to leave because the Akatsuki are still after me and it’s obvious you’re coming along to keep me safe from your creepy brother who clearly wants a pretty blonde omega harem if he can come after me when he already has Deidara.”

“Pretty blonde omega?”

“Hey, I may not be Deidara but that doesn’t mean I’m not pretty.”

Sasuke rolls his dark eyes and kisses him, gently setting down on his feet afterwards, “You’re not pretty, Naruto. You’re more beautiful to me than Deidara could have ever been.”

Naruto gasped, never having heard anyone say such a thing to their mate or romantic partner before in this village, “You really mean that?”

“I really do; I have always thought you were the most beautiful omega in the village, and I stand by it.” he growls out of nowhere to anyone near them but to Naruto, he’s impressed it didn’t come out earlier, “I won’t let him have you, not when you’re finally mine, and even if I wasn’t asked to come, I would have anyway to keep you safe.”

Naruto kisses him back, his happiness making him appear radiant at that moment, “That’s why you’re the only one I’d ever want to mate! You clearly love me to do stuff like that for me. I don’t know why I was worried you’d wanna break up with me, think I was ugly when I came back, or find someone new when I was gone—I guess I let my nerves get to me—”

He is cut off by Sasuke gripping his hand firmly, his Sharingan almost coming out due to his rage at the statement, “I would never do that, even if you left without me. I would be waiting for you if I couldn’t track you down to keep you safe from my brother, and when you got back, I wouldn’t have found you ugly—I would have asked you to be my mate so I’d never have to worry about losing you to anyone ever again.”

“Aww, that’s my teme!” Naruto nearly cries, but then he remembers, “Oh, you should get packed! We’re gonna meet the perv at the gates at noon!”

Naturally, this left Sasuke to groan, “You couldn’t tell me that when you were dressed, and I wasn’t on the way back to my place from getting groceries for a meal I was going to make you tonight?”

“I forgot I wasn’t properly dressed and I was too excited to have you coming with me that I forgot! You can’t blame me for any of this! Blame the damn sage for not telling me in the hospital when he spoke to me alone.”

(This is actually how Naruto had found out he was going to be leaving the village: he had a final follow up with the doctor on his last day in the hospital, but by the time he was done, Jiraiya had entered the office to speak to him about leaving the village. At first, he wasn’t happy about it, but he knew he had to leave—he couldn’t risk everybody else’s safety by being here anymore and he had to get stronger to protect everyone he loves. This is what led into him planning the sleepover with Ino and feeling down about leaving without Sasuke.)

“Okay, I get that, but you need to go get dressed and pack and I need to pack too if I want to leave on time. I’ll come by your place to take you to the gates when I’m done.”

Sasuke kisses him on the cheek, giving him a quick, “I’ll see you at your place, Naruto! Don’t come for me, wait for me to come for you!” before he makes a run to get to his place.

“I will, Sasuke!” Naruto shouts back as his boyfriend’s figure soon disappears down the street, making him feel like he’s walking on air now that he’s heard all that he has from Sasuke.

He has something no other omega in this village got: his future mate telling him he’s more beautiful than Deidara and meaning it.

What could be better than to know he matters so much to him?