At Ame High School, there is a government. School rules never apply, and the principal is only there as a symbol. In a dictatorship not everyone is happy about, the notorious gang Akatsuki reigns. Their only rule? OBEY.

"He really is back…"

"Can you believe it?"

"I heard he got himself arrested…"

"Really? No way, for what?"

"He was doing drugs or something, dogs were all over him…"

"Arson was what I heard…"

"I bet he killed someone…"

"Wouldn't that get you a life sentence?"

Ame High School. A place of untold violence, lusty secrets…and then, there was shit like this. Fucking ridiculous, really. Sasori took long, smooth strides as he carefully worked his way through the hallways. Gossip, gossip, and more gossip. Couldn't these people work on their own lives instead of talking about the ones that other people had?

He turned, bristling inside. His back invited more whispered rumors to be shared, but he heard them all. Every single last one of them. Did they think he was deaf? He headed towards a flight of stairs that led to a dark corridor and began climbing them.

As he reached the end the staircase, he moved to face a second set of stairs and began making his way higher up still. He welcomed the silence that now engulfed him as he traveled the passageway that was pleasantly devoid of nosy busybodies. Very few, very privileged people were the only ones allowed to walk up these stairs, after all.

As he came face to face with a door, Sasori threw it open--and was immediately greeted by light. The light of the outside. Heads turned for their gazes to linger on him as he made his way through the door and plopped himself down onto the ground where he usually sat--a spot that had been vacant for many months now.

There were a few seconds of silence that followed Sasori's entrance, but a head--the one head that did not turn as he threw open the door--slowly turned to him and broke the stillness. "Welcome back, Sasori," Pein said. Coolly, calmly.

The redhead turned squarely to meet Pein's eye, and he nodded briefly to acknowledge the greeting. And all of the remaining gathered people, save for one particular girl, broke out into a quiet buzz of chatter.

Today was a devstatingly humid day--the kind of day where the sunlight seemed to burn your skin after sitting outside for only a few minutes, and the kind of day picnic-goers did not want to be caught in, despite the bright sunshine. But still, this pompous group of people had taken the time to gather on the roof like they did every day, to discuss have-dones, going-ons, and will-comes.

Who were they, exactly?

The Akatsuki. Ten people in all, each as intimidating as the next. A black tie patterned with crimson clouds was their signature.

Pein--more often referred to as "Leader"-- was accordingly the leader of this prominent group. Teachers? To hell with them, he did what he pleased and they didn't dare speak out.

Konan was the second-in-power, if they had ranks to begin with. She was strong and independent and the only female member of the Akatsuki. Oh, and she also happened to be Pein's girlfriend. Mess with her and you're screwed.

Hidan? Everyone knew him. Loud-mouthed, crude, swore every word your mother told you to never use when you were a little toddler. One day, he decided he'd have his own god and religion, and he still had them now. Mind you, it was a sadistic religion.

There was Kakuzu, too--infamous for his sleazy money businesses. Yeah, he grew and sold, but no one actually ever saw him smoking a joint himself. And he did odd jobs. Nothing like mowing the lawn or babysitting his next-door neighbor's cat, that is. More like beating up people that other people didn't like--for a nifty sum.

Itachi--no one ever knew what Itachi was thinking. He kept his thoughts to himself, and dear me, how the girls would fawn over him…

Kisame was the uncanny one of the group. His skin from head to toe was colored a bright blue. Of course, it had been done by those tattoo guys, but drawings fish gills on his face everyday didn't help that fact spread.

Zetsu was like Kisame--eccentric, eerie. One half of his body was a charred black, and the other half bleached a ghostly white. His hair was like an olive mop that sat on his head, and he talked to no one.

Deidara was one of the more popular folks of the gang--he was more social than the others and talked more. Seemed normal enough--until you got to know his love for bombs. He would be a future terrorist one day, everyone knew.

Tobi was the newest member of the Akatsuki. Carefree and naïve, he seemed to be possibly the most unlikely candidate to join the Akatsuki. But he was there, and he had to have a reason.

Then there was Sasori--small and childlike, but also very quiet. He kept to himself, but could often be seen ripping off parts of Barbies or Gundam models and putting them back together. But that had been a sight that hadn't been seen in a while, because he'd been gone. Gone where? No one could say.

"Konan?" Pein cut through the murmurs and mutters as he addressed the girl off to his left. She had kept from the prattling the entire time as she peered over the railing that fenced the roof, but now she looked up. Slowly, almost blankly. But she obviously knew what was coming up, because she immediately reached for her shirt pocket, tugging out something folded into a small square. She unfolded it, smoothing it out carefully before handing it to Pein.

In turn, Pein glanced at it briefly before holding it up for Sasori to see. "Is this you?"

The many members of Akatsuki strained their necks to see the slip of paper--which, would you know it, turned out to be a newspaper clipping. Across the top, the dark bold letters screamed the heading: INTOXICATED DRIVER CRASHES CAR INTO SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD-GIRL.

The article underneath was short and sweet. No names were mentioned, no pictures. Only a description of the car crash itself, where it had been, and the aftermath. The story couldn't have even taken up a fourth of a page and had probably been positioned far off the to side somewhere. But the last sentence would surely strike someone's attention: Shortly after apprehension, the driver was taken to trial and sentenced to six months in prison.

The date of the article? March 14th. And today happened to be September 16th.

Sasori's eyes briefly skimmed the story over, and the only reaction he managed was a nonchalant shrug. "…Yeah. That was me." Because yes, it was true. He really had been gone for six months. But saying it out loud--six months--it seemed like so much time had passed by.

"Sasori." Konan's voice was soft, but it had a trace of something that compelled the redhead to look at her. "The girl. Did she press the charges?"

Holding her stare through his sleepy eyes, he answered. "No." But oh, she had. She had completely screwed him during the trial, in every single way possible. Only, it wasn't her. It was her father, and that lawyer of theirs. He never actually got the chance to see her; she had been in the hospital the entire time the trial was going on.

But his words were a lie that wasn't actually a lie. They were his response to Konan's real question, the question everyone knew she was asking, because they all knew that of course she had pressed the charges. Who wouldn't? And her question was simple: Do you want to give her hell?

But no, no he didn't. Because he was just sick of it all and wanted to get all this bullshit over with. He had served the sentence. Now he had nothing more to do with The Mistake, as he now called the crash. Sasori was usually a composed person, cool and collected. Drinking wasn't in his nature.

So Konan turned back to the railing now, watching whatever she was watching down below. And another silence now followed as the seconds dribbled by.

Finally, Deidara slapped Sasori on the back, grinning. It was a somewhat forced grin, Sasori saw. "Good to have you back, Sasori-danna, yeah!"

With that cue, similar greetings were mumbled to Sasori from the rest of the members. Some reluctantly, some apathetically. Didn't matter, Sasori ignored them all anyways. He tilted back his head to look at the sky. The blue, blue sky.

A neverending blue canvas.

She switched schools for the rest of the semester. Family issues, she was supposed to say when asked why.

Hugging her knees to her chest, Arini Naruhana retracted her gaze from the sky. That was a lie. It sounded so wrong when she had to say it. But when she had to, she did. Because the truth was she hadn't been at any school at all for the past few months. In fact, just two days ago, she had still been in the hospital, waiting while her father signed the release papers.

The hospital. White walls, the air of death. Sitting around there, waiting. She had missed the rest of her sophmore year like that. She should've been demoted, actually. Should've had to fail a grade to catch up. But no, her father wouldn't let that happen. He pushed the school, bribed them with money, did everything he could to make sure it didn't. And so, when summer ended, and after a few extra days for good measure, she finally came back to start her junior year two days ago.

And she found things had changed. Her friends didn't know how to talk to her anymore, because too many things had happened that she didn't know about. And so, she was alone.

Today, Arini found she didn't have enough willpower to put up with things that went on in Ame, and the people there. The rumors spread rapidly like wildfire, and they were talking about the same thing over and over again: some Akatsuki member had gotten himself arrested, and now he was back. (If only they knew what had happened to her.) It was repetitive, and she couldn't stand it. So she had skipped a class or two and hung out around the campus.

She peered out through the cracks of the trees to the sun instead. The sky was too clear, too unblemished for her to look at today. Too…perfect.

She craned her neck slightly, and a sudden flash of sunlight waved at her through the leaves.

Ba-dump.

Lights.

Ba-dump.

Heart pumping, head pounding, vision spinning.

Ba-dump.

The contact, the collision.

Ba-dump.

It was too much for her to bear, the pain searing through her arm.

Ba-dump.

The ghostly tails of the lights glared at her before everything went dark.

Ba-dump.

And suddenly Arini was back again. She realized she was clutching desperately at her head now, whimpering, even. Angry at herself, she straightened her back and stared defiantly at the sun. This was the dream she kept dreaming every night, reliving every moment over and over again. She remembered constantly, at every turn she made.

It's not fair.

Arini mouthed the words silently to herself.

I just want to forget.

"Hey, wanna take the rest of the day off?" Deidara elbowed Sasori as the bell rang. Swarms of students pushed past them as they filed out of the classroom, blathering excitedly.

Sasori rose from his seat and mulled over the thought quietly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Sure. What do you have in mind?"

"Head over to Kakuzu's, yeah. He's skipping too, he's got some new stuff I wanna try." A boyish smirk slithered onto Deidara's face. "I'd head over to Ino's, but you've just come back and I get to see her everyday, so why not?"

Sasori gave a small, uninterested nod. He didn't really care for the drugs that Deidara swore he wasn't addicted to, but it wasn't like he gave much of a damn for school, either; it was making his head spin.

"So, danna. How was prison?" Deidara grinned as they headed out the door.

"How're things with Ino?"

"Huh? Oh, great, great." Deidara backtracked quickly. Whenever Sasori changed the subject, it meant that he had come across a topic he did not and will not talk about. Anyone who pushed him into it were going to piss him off. And a pissed-off Sasori was brutal. "She's really needy though, y'know?" he chuckled. "Yeah, you know how chicks are."

"Uh-huh." Ino was Deidara's latest fling. Sasori personally didn't like her, but since when did he ever like any of Deidara's girlfriends? "Oh…right." He'd nearly forgotten. "Can we make a stop at Sakura's first?"

Deidara glanced over at him. "…Sure, yeah."

"Great, thanks." Officially, Sakura and him were going out. He had met her at a party throwing her guts out. She couldn't handle alcohol at all, as it turned out. But truth be told, he didn't particularly have any special feelings for her. She had just clung to him, and who was he to shake her off? Still, he thought it'd be best to let her know he was still alive. She probably didn't even know he had been in jail. And her parents usually worked till late at night, it shouldn't be hard to fit a visit in.

"Shitfuck!"

Startled, Sasori turned to Deidara, who was now sprawled out on the floor. Next to him, a long-haired girl was in a similar position. Books were spread out all around the two of them, and Deidara most definitely did not look happy. Glowering as he pulled himself up, he glared at the girl. "Where the fuck are you staring, bitch?" he demanded. "What, do I look invisible to you?"

In front of him, the girl stared at him stupidly. Her expression was blank, as if she couldn't comprehend what had just happened. She's in for it, Sasori thought, glancing away.

"You can't see me, is that it?"

Sasori's eyes sidled back to the scene Deidara was making again. People were starting to gather, and the girl…suddenly, a glimmer leaped to her eyes. She twitched, looking scared.

"Well in that case, I'm going to assume you sure as hell can't see this!" His fist connected with her face evenly. As he pulled back, blood spurted from her nose. "Teach you to watch yourself next time, you little fucker," he spat. Obviously, Deidara wasn't in a good mood. Swiveling on his heel, he walked away from the girl, who was still on the ground.

Dazed. Lost, confused, scared. Always being the closest thing the Akatsuki had to a psychic, Sasori read the emotions on her face clearly as he allowed his gaze to linger. He smirked. Well, she had it coming. He trailed silently after Deidara.

Arini felt the blood trickling down her nose, and her cheeks flushed as she imagined the way she must've looked to everyone right now. As she eyed each spectator, they looked away, whispering of sorts in each other's ears. Then she looked down to the ground again, feeling completely humiliated. What could she say? She hadn't been paying attention. She was distracted, absorbed in her own thoughts. When she had bumped into that blonde Akatsuki member, she hadn't even realized it was someone from Akatsuki. Or that he'd made such a big deal out of things.

She had just thought maybe he'd complain a little and walk away. But when he didn't, and kept on talking, she had torn herself from her thoughts and forced herself to look up. And she saw the tie. Fear had flooded her body, and she had felt herself tremble.

And then there was that redhead who had been beside him. Also from Akatsuki, she saw from the tie. But she couldn't remember his name. He had been staring at her when the blonde had walked away; she saw him through the corner of her eye. Then he had smirked at her with that sleepy, arrogant expression that he wore so naturally.

She couldn't help but feel even more mortified as he turned to follow the blonde. Her face hot with shame, Arini silently collected her books before heading to the nurse's office. Well, at least she had an excuse to skip class this time.

"You okay?" Sasori asked as they strolled down the parking lot.

"Me? Yeah, yeah I'm okay…but girls like that just piss me off, you know? So stupid that they don't even see where they're heading, then when you ask them a question, they think they're too good to answer," Deidara grumbled. "Anyways, come on." They approached a yellow Porsche, and he unlocked the doors with a few swift motions.

"Aside from that, I mean," Sasori elaborated, pulling open the door and sliding inside. "You seem tense today."

"Really, yeah?" Deidara slid into the driver's seat beside him and shut the door with a THUD! "Tobi's been getting on my nerves and all. He's so fucking stupid, I don't even get why he's in Akatsuki."

"Hm." Sasori didn't notice Tobi much. He kept his distance from him, mostly because he didn't particularly favor overly friendly people. "Just ignore him."

"Ha." Deidara snorted, starting up the engine. "Sasori-danna, that's probably something that's easy for you to do, yeah, but you know me. Someone pisses me off, I run my mouth."

"Like the girl."

"Like the girl," Deidara echoed, nodding.

Sasori smiled faintly. "You can actually sound threatening now."

"Yeah, well, watching Hidan a couple of times sure doesn't hurt." A mischievous smile curved Deidara's mouth as he turned the wheel and made several sharp turns out of the parking lot. "So, does Sakura know?"

"What?"

"I mean, does she know where you've been?"

"Oh. No, she probably doesn't. But she can be smart sometimes, she might've figured it out."

"Smart. Really." Deidara laughed. "No offense, danna, but she's a total airhead. Thinking would probably kill her."

That wasn't completely true. She was smart sometimes. Sasori could remember a couple of times he could use to prove that, but he didn't feel like defending her, so he didn't. "Yeah, something like that."

And then they fell silent like that until the moment the yellow Porsche pulled up into the familiar driveway Sasori knew so well. "Welp, here's your stop, yeah. Make it fast, I'm getting jittery."

Glimpsing at the blonde for a moment, Sasori found he couldn't argue with Deidara. He was getting jittery. So he slipped out of the car and headed to the front door.

Knock, knock.

And he waited, but there was nothing. He tried again.

Knock, knock.

Nothing still. She probably wasn't home. Oh well…just to be sure, he tried the knob. The fact that he easily turned the knob a full circle and the way the door succumbed to his force by creaking open surprised him momentarily. Then without further hesitation, he stepped inside.

It was silent, very silent. He spun on his heel, ready to leave. But suddenly, he heard noises. They were faint, probably in some room nearby. They were coming from a television of some sort.

Should he?

He advanced steadily, ascending the stairs and following the sounds from the television. The sound of his footsteps echoed clearly in the empty hallways. And then, he found himself staring at the door of Sakura's bedroom.

So she had been home--watching the T.V., turning it up so loudly that she probably hadn't even heard someone knocking outside. That sounded like Sakura. He swung the door open.

Sakura.

Yes, there was the pink-haired girl sitting on her bed alright…but she wasn't alone.

Glancing to the dark figure next to her, he saw there there was another person in the room. On the bed with her, his mouth pressed hungrily on top of hers, and--…oh. Well, as luck would have it, those noises weren't coming from a television after all. The one in the room was turned off. No, it had been the moans of pleasure from Sakura herself. His gaze trailed down slowly…and yes, Sakura most certainly didn't disappoint.

Articles of clothing pooling at their bodies, too hot to wear with the friction between their two bodies, and so they had been discarded. His eyes traveled up to Sakura again, and he saw her clearly again. Faint rose-pink blushes tinted the pigment of her skin around her neck, the parts of her he had seen some while back exposed again now for him to see, though not really for him. In fact, she and that dark-haired guy seemed so wrapped up in their lust that they hardly seemed to notice him. Until he crossed the room without warning, examining Sakura's desk throroughly as he gathered up various CDs.

"Ohmigod." The moans stopped abruptly, and Sasori felt the room fall absolutely silent. "S-Sasori?"

"Continue." His voice was quiet and unruffled. "I'm just getting my things."

"Sasori." Sakura's voice, in turn, was shocked. "Sasori, what are you doing here…?"

Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot…and where was System of a Down? He picked up the CDs slowly. And behind him, he could feel something in the atmosphere changing, changing to something desperate.

"Sasori, no." She trembled. "Sasori, Sasori, Sasori." She chanted his name over and over again like a spell. "No, Sasori…"

He didn't say a thing. Oh yes, and then there was the letterman jacket he had let her wear after hours of her complaining how cold it was on one date, but she had never given it back. Where was it? He glanced around, his eyes falling on a chair. There it was…

The guy grunted and fell back on the bed. As if he was used to this kind of scene. But Sakura was frenzied. Begging, pleading. "I'm so sorry, Sasori…you, you never called…I couldn't find you! No one knew where you were, your grandmother wouldn't tell me anything…"

That was a lie. His grandmother loved to prove she was right. She would've gladly told anyone who was looking for answers what had happened to her delinquent grandson.

"Oh, Sasori, Sasori! Please…" Big tears welled up in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. "Sasori, please. I'm so, so, so sorry…"

Having gotten all his things together, he finally looked at her. His expression wasn't angry or masked with attempted control. It just seemed lethargic, uninterested. "Do you really think you're the first one? Don't kid yourself into being special." Then, looking down at the CDs, he glanced up again. "I couldn't find the MCR album though. Where did you put it?"

Stifling a sob, she pointed a shaky finger to a wooden drawer in the room. He followed the direction she was pointing to. On the very top of the drawers, under a lamp. He added that, too, to the stack he now held. Then wordlessly, he exited the room.

Behind him, he could hear the hysterical sobs sounding somewhat muffled. "Sasuke, oh Sasuke…" And those sobs at the end were what actually irked him. They sounded torn, but the redhead could very clearly detect the melodrama in her blubbering.

Returning to the Porsche, he dropped his belongings, all of which now exuded a heavy perfume, into the space around his seat. The he pulled the door shut.

"Again?" Beside him, Deidara chuckled. "You don't give them enough attention, Sasori-danna. They're very demanding, yeah." He started up the engine again. "Don't call them, they think you're mad. Talk to another person at a party, they think you forgot they were there. And so on." They drove away.

"Deidara, my only real problem is how I can get rid of this smell." Sasori held up his letterman jacket in disgust as the lavender aroma came wafting his way.

"Oh, let me guess." Deidara smirked. "'Sasori, I feel like we're never even really going out!' Something like that?" He batted his eyelashes for good measure.

"Nope." He sorted out his CDs to make sure they were all there. Well, he guessed what had happened was that maybe she really had been genuinely worried at first. Then, when he never called, she dropped him entirely and started having some fun with other guys. She always had been awfully flirtatious at parties.

Oh well. One more rock in his life pushed off the cliff.

Another day, another morning, more agonizing hours she had to endure.

Blink. Breathe. Wait. Step out. Walk onwards.

That was what Arini told herself as the sleek black limousine pulled into the school campus. She saw the usual glances, the usual scoffs ("Rich kids, they have everything!" they'd say) out of the corner of her eye, and waited motionlessly as the car slowed. She heard footsteps approaching, and the door clicked open. She stepped out without looking at the driver, onwards into the sea of students.

The moment the limousine sped away, a voice called out to her: "Arini, hey!" She glanced up and saw a brown-haired girl waving to her, a forced smile on her lips. Arini didn't bother to smile herself, but felt her footsteps moving to walk over to the girl. There were other girls behind her too, tittering to themselves.

"'Morning, Arini!" the brown-haired girl chirped cheerfully.

"'Morning, Natsu," Arini mumbled quietly, careful to keep her gaze lowered to the ground.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something," Natsu said, all smiles. "Why don't you join the swim team again?"

Jolting suddenly at the suggestion, Arini whipped her head to meet the brunette's gaze. But Natsu continued talking, barely noticing. "I mean, you were one of the best on the team. We could definitely use a girl like you--"

"No thank you." Arini's response was clipped, polite. Stopping abruptly at the sound of her voice, Natsu stared at her. Then her eyes, very slightly, narrowed. "I see." And then she turned back to her friends, speaking in an excessively loud voice as she babbled on about certain happenings. Happenings that Arini knew nothing about, happenings that Arini knew she would be excluded from. And that was the cue for her to leave, she knew, because the talk of social events was a way of shunning her. So she swiveled on her heel and left.

Too good to hang around them. That was what Natsu thought, probably. That was the rumor that had been going around about her, anyways. The reason why she left was because she had been too good to hang around commoners, so she had transferred. Though the story had been drastically ruined in many ways when she came back, Arini knew there were other people who still believed it. Natsu was one of them. When she had turned down the invitation the way she did, she had probably only confirmed the story to Natsu, but no. No, that was never--never would be--the reason.

She glumly stared down, clutching at her bags tightly. No, she wasn't in the mood for first period today…perhaps she would skip again. Lugging her things at her side, she swiftly circled her way around the campus until she found a bench. She had actually just been looking for something like a stump, but this was nice, too. Dropping her belongings onto the ground, she collapsed onto the wooden bench and stretched.

Today was nicer than yesterday, she decided. She could feel the warmth of the golden sunlight bathing her skin, and it wasn't as hot as it was yesterday. She tilted her head to look at the sky, but the sun's intimidating glare immediately caught her eye, and her hand flew up to shield her face. Gazing upwards through the cracks of her fingers, she suddenly remembered the dream she had had again. One hundred fifty-three nights now. When would this stop?

She sighed, sitting up. Her head was starting to feel dizzy again. She wished she had a bottle of Tylenol with her, she'd feel so much better now if she did. She stayed unmoving for a few moments more. Then she felt her body relax, slumping down onto the bench. "Why don't you join the swim team again?" The question echoed in her head for the umpeenth time since she had walked away from Natsu, the tone of Natsu's voice becoming more jeering each time she heard it. Moving her lips to silently repeat the question to herself, Arini felt her skin prickle uncomfortably. Well, why couldn't she?

"I wonder," she said aloud. A waterfall of dark locks cascaded down her shoulders as she thrusted her nose up into the air again. Oh yes, she remembered swimming--back such a long time ago. She remembered the crowds that cheered her on during competitions, the lights, the lovely feeling of water as she swam. The feeling of freedom, like she was floating, like...like she was flying.

Water lapping against her arms as she moved in even strokes...

Slowly, she rose.

Encircling her, engulfing her, promising her wings...

Step, step, step.

The water bending to her will, rearranging to wrap around her wherever she moved...

She walked onwards.

She was the authority, she had the control. Wherever she went, the water had no choice but to obey...

The sound of her own heart beating softly filled her ears.

Unlike her own life, where she was never the control, where she was never the power, where she was the submissive one, forced to obey...

A surge of fury crept its way into her chest, and it quickly snapped Arini from her trance. She blinked, taking in her surroundings. The place where her own two feet had taken her subconsciously.

Ame High's swimming pool.

A flood of emotions filled her all at once, sweeping away her attempt at apathy for so many weeks now. There was the smell of chemicals, so sweet, the water gently rippling as a light breeze danced by, the blue, blue color that the water seemed to be because of the color of the bottom of the swimming pool...baby blue, so inviting, the sun blazing brightly, ushering her in...

But no, she could never.

Not anymore.

Instead, she sat down comfortably at the edge of the swimming pool and peered in to see her reflection. A familiar girl stared back at her. She knew that nose, that mouth, that chin--and then her chestnut-colored hair and heart-shaped face. It was all so familiar, even though she no longer quite felt like herself. She recognized herself perfectly--...

But no. No, never mind. Not the eyes. The eyes of someone who looked broken. Her eyes never used to look like that. Arini smiled widely, trying to look cheerful.

The girl in the water smiled too, but her sad eyes never left her face.

It's cold, Arini thought suddenly, shivering.

The sun shone down on her back.

The boy in front of Deidara snapped his head back and forth quickly, his eyes darting rapidly to catch any possible signs of human movement. His eyes were large like saucers, untrusting.

Deidara clenched his teeth irritably. This dickhead was new at this. He would've gladly taken his old hookup any day, but unfortunately, it had been ratted out on and it was gone now. He held out his hand, twitching impatiently. "Hurry up!" he hissed.

Eyes dropping down to the crumpled bills the blonde had handed him, the greasy-haired boy slowly counted out the money. Then he reached into his pocket and came up with a small carefully wrapped package, which he dropped into Deidara's outstretched hand. Deidara snapped up the package quickly, stuffing it in his pocket. "Took you long enough," he snarled.

"You never know," the kid shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. As if the time he had taken handing over the shit was necessary. Deidara felt like punching him, but he needed him, so he held back.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered instead, waving a hand in dismissal. The kid, as if suddenly realizing who he had been talking to, jumped slightly and scurried away. Deidara's arm trembled with eagerness to tear through the package right away, but he refrained firmly. No, it'd be bad if he was caught. Really bad. Personally, he'd rather not have his ass kicked behind bars like his danna. Still, the temptation was burning him from the inside out. He stumbled, trying to tear his attention away from his want--his need--and focused on the swimming pool a few yards away from him. (Yeah, somehow all the dealings happened in washrooms, the band room, or behind the swimming pool.) He was suddenly vaguely aware of a dark figure moving slowly on one side of the pool, and snapped on guard immediately. So the careful lookout the stupid kid had been on was fucking pointless after all. There had been someone nearby, and he hadn't even seen them. He crept closer to the pool, trying to make out whoever it was.

Long dark brown hair. That was the first thing he saw. So it was a girl. Well, hell. Just his luck, he had been hoping to stir some shit up--...then she turned slightly to look at something in the water, and he saw her clearly.

It was that dumbass girl from yesterday. Well. Since things had turned out this way, why the hell not? She looked just as out of it as she did the other day, so maybe a good scare wouldn't hurt. Besides, it was her own screwed up luck she had happened to be here. He inched closer to the edge of the pool, some nasty remark ready at the tip of his tongue. But then, as he turned slightly to have a better angle--…

...well, hell.

He hadn't exactly planned to push her in the pool, but…well, he didn't even really push her. His bag did. His bag. How did he forget his bag? He didn't think about his bag, the heavy black strap slung casually over his right shoulder.

But whether it was the bag's fault or his, the fact remained that she still went pummeling into the water. Shit.

He drummed his fingers on the floor as he waited for her to come bobbing up. He could laugh at her then; oh, the sight would be so pathetic, her utterly drenched from head to toe…

A minute passed by. Two. By the third minute, he realized that she wasn't coming up. Leaning over the edge, he peered in. He saw wisps of brown hair in the rippling water, and then it hit him. She was drowning. …Fuck.

…Well, she probably wasn't going to die from this, right? Someone would see her and pull her out. Eventually. Shrugging, Deidara walked off.

What? He sure as hell wasn't going to be found anywhere near her when she was found. What did he look like, an idiot?

Arini couldn't breathe. She was losing air, fast. What had happened, exactly? She had no clue.

All she knew was that some enormous force had hit her back and pushed her into the water. And now she was sinking, sinking like a rock in water. She had instinctively tried moving her arms at first, to try to swim her way back to the surface. But the disobedience of her body had reminded her, and she cried out in frustration. But the only thing that had done for her was force her to swallow more water than she already had when she first fell in the pool, and now the lack of air was making her body go limp. Her arms fell back.

Do I want to die?

Arini wondered this absentmindedly as she hovered in the water near the pool's floor.

Maybe...maybe I do...

Her eyes closed drowsily, and she felt herself grow cold. Yes, dying wouldn't be so bad. It'd be nice, actually. And this water that surrounded her, enveloping her, cradling her and telling her everything was alright, it was...

Realization hit her, and a sudden will to survive jolted through her veins. This was the water that had once obeyed her loyally without question, and now it was raging, working against her. She was drowning in it. No, she couldn't let that happen. Not here. She would never die in water. Never. The piece of knowledge she had been racking her brain for earlier suddenly presented itself to her, and she opened her eyes defiantly.

Her movement was weak, but she could do it. She darted towards the surface clumsily, waving around only her right arm while her left arm remained limp by her side. Her legs kicked furiously, guiding her toward the bright sunlight shining through the water that was growing closer and closer. Just a little more, she told herself, scolding herself, angry at herself for being exhausted by what were considered the most basic warmups. She pushed herself relentlessly, and then her head tore through the water.

She was out.

Gasping for air, water spewed from her lips as she climbed out of the pool. She was coughing violently, keeling over for breath. Oh, she was out, and the warm sunshine felt so good...

After hacking and wheezing for several minutes, Arini finally felt her lungs functioning properly again. She sat down on the floor, combing her fingers through her wet dripping hair and flipping it back out of her eyes. As her hand unconsciously brushed over her cheek on its way down to return to her side, Arini felt something sticky on her fingers. Blinking water droplets from her eyelashes, she pulled her hand up to her face for examnation, and found a paste of some sort roughly the color of her skin on her fingertips. Dread swelled in her stomach as she recognized the sticky substance, and she shot up, scrambling back to the bench where she had left her things.

She would have to reapply her makeup.

To hell with first period.

That was what Sasori had thought when he decided to skip first period, lounging around lazily in an empty classroom instead as he took apart a Gundam model. He had seated himself comfortably next to a window and was putting the model back together, when he caught sudden movements in the corner of his eye. The redhead glanced out the window, and he saw Deidara immediately. The blonde was inching closer and closer to a pool a few yards away from him in a particularly suspicious way. Sasori quickly took in the situation. There, sitting on the edge of one side of the pool, was a girl. She was absorbed with something in the water, so she didn't seem to notice Deidara. She seemed familiar to Sasori in some way, though he didn't know why. And then Deidara whirled around suddenly, and the bag at his side toppled her over the edge of the pool. She disappeared into the water in an instant. First, Deidara looked surprised. Then he looked mildly aggravated with himself.

Sasori clucked his tongue in annoyance. Deidara probably hadn't meant to push her over. But he hadn't been thinking, again. Sasori snapped the arm into his model carefully, and then returned his gaze to the scene outside. The seconds were dribbling by, but the girl still hadn't come up. She was drowning.

Deidara seemed to have realized it too, because now he took a step back. Then paused, as if contemplating the situation. Then he turned and walked away. Sasori clacked away at the parts of his Gundam model for a while, and then he looked up again. A brown head was bobbing up and down in the water, and then an entire body surfaced as the girl threw herself over the edge of the pool and dragged herself out. As she sat, coughing and sputtering, Sasori suddenly recognized her. She had been the girl from yesterday, the one who had knocked into Deidara. She was certainly an unfortunate soul. Click. He attached the clip to the wing, then looked outside the window again. Strange. One of her arms seemed to be unsually immobile. She was supporting herself with her right arm, brushing away her hair with her right arm, and coughing into her right hand. Her left arm just looked...unusuable. Click. She had flipped her hair from her face, and there were some strange shadows on one side of her face. Click. But now she had turned her head away, so he couldn't make out what they were. Click. Click. Click. In went more parts of the model before he glanced up out the window again. She was gone.

Well. What a show. His first period was certainly more interesting than it could've been. Click. Click. Click. He finished putting together the model and set it down to the side.

BRIIIIIIING!

And just in time, too. Sasori stuffed the Gundam model in his bag and headed off to second period.

In the girls' bathroom, Arini was scrubbing away at her face furiously so she could have a clean, fresh face for a new coat of foundation. As she concentrated on removing every trace of the smudged substance, her mind wandered to linger on the question of what had happened in the first place. Why had she fallen over? Someone had pushed her, she knew. But who?

Natsu, maybe. Or someone else like that. She sighed. Too many people disliked her for her to really be able to narrow it down. Rinsing away the last of her makeup, Arini gazed hatefully at her reflection in the mirror.

Ugly.

Shutting her eyes, she reached into her purse for her jar of foundation. Her own reflection was too ugly to even look at. Her eyelids lifted slightly so that she only had slivers of vision, and she unscrewed the cap on the jar. She swept up some of the sticky wet stuff and patted it on her face. Slowly, her eyes opened completely, and she shivered, taking in the entirety of her appearance. She was so ugly. Her face scared even herself.

For a few moments, her fingers were frozen stiff, and she stared with a burning loathing of her own face. Her face really did seem normal enough--until she turned, and there on the left side of her face was an ugly, twisted scar. Bright red, with the places where the veins were were popping out. Ugly, ugly, ugly.

She glopped on more foundation, scooping up the stuff and patting it down. Next, the powder. Reaching into her purse and pulling out a small jar of powder, she opened that, too, and smeared it on her face. She did it very carefully, making sure that she only applied small amounts to her face to make it look completely natural.

And then, there. She was done. She stuffed the makeup back into her purse and washed her hands. Then, grabbing her things, she stepped out of the bathroom. The first thing she did was look for a clock. What time was it, anyways? ...Well. Second period had already started.

Still, she didn't feel like skipping anymore. She would go on and head to class.

Human Anatomy was a class taught by a woman in her mid-forties. She was tall and skinny, wore glasses, and had wavy dirty blonde hair. She loved floral clothing, and she was wacky. Sort of. Her name was Karasumi Fuu--or Karasumi-sensei, as everyone called her.

It was a class that Sasori breezed through, so it was one of the few classes he usually didn't skip. If he was good at it, why not get the credit for it, right?

"So over the last few days, we've had a little bit of review over our cells. Today though, we're going to be moving on to...the cardiovascular system! That's right, kiddies," Karasumi-sensei said cheerfully, tapping at the board with a pointing stick. "We're going to be talking about all our vessels and blood, down to the very last detail!"

Groans erupted from the class, and rustling of papers could be heard as everyone took out their notebooks. Sasori uninterestedly copied the gesture, but he probably wasn't going to actually take notes.

"Now, who can tell me..."

And that was all about the redhead heard before he tuned her out completely. Really, she was annoying. His eyes dropped down to his notebook. Lines and lines and lines filled the page, and then there were the blank spaces in between. Too blank. He picked up his pencil and began to scribble in the spaces, coloring them in entirely. There. That would kill time.

He had reached the fourth line when the door to the classroom suddenly slid open with a very loud, sweeping motion. He could feels heads snapping up to see the source of the disturbance, but Sasori himself made sure he finished the fourth line before looking up.

"Naruhana-san." Karasumi-sensei addressed the brown-haired girl standing at the doorway with a big smile. "So glad you could join us today!"

The girl only stared at her with big, round eyes, as if unsure about the attention she was getting. Then, hesitantly, her gaze wandered to the sea of faces in the room, searching for something.

"Searching for your seat?" the teacher stood, tapping her stick impatiently.

She shuffled uncomfortably in place, as if unwilling to admit it. Then she nodded awkwardly. Sasori returned to his scribbling.

"You've only shown up for this class once this entire semester, isn't that right? Well now, if only you'd join us more often...your seat's right over there."

Sasori was almost finished with the fifth line when he heard the chair next to him screeching. He glanced up, and...well, hell. So that was whose empty seat it was. He had thought he had been lucky for having an entire table to himself, but apparently that wasn't exactly the case. He studied the girl carefully as she fumblingly settled herself down and rearranged her books in front of her. The first thing he noticed about her was...she was wet. She was soaked very thoroughly from head to toe. And as he glanced down the aisle, he saw that she had left a trail of water making her way to her desk.

But Karasumi-sensei did a very good job trying to ignore this, he realized. So did the other students. When students turned up to class looking as ruffled as she did, it usually meant bad shit. And bad shit, like all the violence and crap, were overlooked at Ame High. The counselor? He was there for show.

Then he looked at her face for the first time, and his eyes widened slightly. Oh. Well, she was the girl from first period. ...Not technically first period, but...well, yeah. As the realization dawned on him, a smirk slowly crept its way onto his lips. Yeah, Deidara would get a kick out of this one. Laughing quietly to himself, he returned to scribbling nonsense in his notebook.

It was the boy from yesterday. The red-haired one, that is.

Arini sat disconcertedly at her desk, tapping her pen against the table. He was from Akatsuki, too. When she had first made her appearance in the classroom, there had been a quiet buzz, and she realized they were talking about how wet she was. Actually, she hadn't even noticed that. All she had been focused on doing in the bathroom was fixing her makeup. But when Karasumi-sensei had pointed out her seat, the buzz had grown even louder, and she had looked up to see why.

She wished she hadn't. Akatsuki members were like celebrities; their very presences were very intimidating, but she had to sit next to one for an entire semester now. She would probably try skipping this class as often as she could. Oh, she still remembered the smirk this redhead had had when he saw her the other day...

And he was smirking again now, too. That slow, lethargic, unbelievably boyish smirk on his face that made her flush with humiliation. Yes, he probably remembered her, too.

The entire period, she made sure her gaze stayed away from him. She concentrated ridiculously hard on Karasumi-sensei and copied down every single one of her notes, though the cardiovascular system really was just a review subject fo her. And her attempts paid off--only once did her eyes betray her, straying over to the unnamed redhead subconsciously, and she caught sight of the oddest thing: instead of notes filling his page, lines and lines of scribbles filled the spaces. She looked away quickly after that.

When the bell rang, she scrambled clumsily for her things and filed out of the classroom with the rest of the class.

Sasori was one of the ones who stayed behind and took his time getting up. He snapped his notebook shut and threw his hands up in the air, stretching. That girl--that Naruhana girl--she was scared of him, he guessed. Deidara really knew how to scare the shit out of people now. She seemed wary of the entire Akatsuki now.

He finally sauntered out of the classroom himself after a while, and jumped into the huge crowds of people as they swarmed around the atrium, getting ready to head to their next class. But he wouldn't be joining those bustling people hurrying off to third period, he knew. Third period was when the Akatuki had their little gathering on the roof.

He headed up the staircase and emerged into the radiant glow of the outside. Pein, Konan, Itachi, Kisame, and Zetsu had already made their way here before him, and he sat down now to join them.

For a while, it was quiet like this. The louder members of Akatsuki hadn't arrived yet. Sasori took out a redhaired Barbie doll and began taking her apart.

And then Deidara burst in, punching walls and swearing and saying lovely things about Jesus Christ Sasori was absolutely sure priests would go red with anger at. "Aw, fuck," he complained. "It's been a while, so I thought she drowned. That girl from yesterday, you know? The stupid brunette. But it turns out she's not. I...pool...over...thought..." he mumbled more incoherent things softly under his breath.

"...Deidara, what the fuck are you talking about?" Kisame asked finally.

"I saw her in the hallways! The girl from yesterday!"

"...do you want me to knock you in the head?"

"No! Yesterday, some stupidass girl just charged into me like a bull, yeah. I saw her today and went up to push her around a bit, but I knocked her into the pool instead. Then it didn't look like she was coming up, so I walked away. Then I thought maybe she drowned, but now she's back!" the blonde sputtered.

"...That's nice." Kisame returned to whatever the hell he was doing with something in his hand.

"Danna, you get me, right?" Deidara demanded, plopping himself down beside Sasori.

"Sure," Sasori shrugged.

Deidara hung his head and sighed.