Please put into mind that Deidara and the other Akatsuki are around Naruto and his friends' age, except that they're about 1 or 2 years older than them.

FLASHBACK

A group sat on the cold floor of their house. They all formed some kind of circle, and a board game was placed in the center.

The blonde of the tiny group of teens scratched his head crazily, sweated a lot and made whining sounds as he looked at the amount of money he had.

"… I… I only have one bill left, un… and it's labeled one, hmm… and I'm on Itachi's property… AAAAH!"

Kisame and Hidan began snickering, and both Pein and Konan smiled widely. Never did HE lose in the game of monopoly. The first person to be bankrupt was usually Hidan or Tobi, who had zero knowledge of handling money.

But this time, it was different.

"Sempai… Tobi gots more money than you! Tobi is a good boy!" cried the masked man, as he raised his hands up in the air like he won some kind of prize. He then mocked Deidara by showing him his 2 bills… also labeled one.

"Hah… eveb the b**** easily kicked butt at the game, a******!" exclaimed Hidan. He smiled evilly as he waved back and forth his bills… he had three on his hand, and each was also labeled one.

Kakuzu merely looked at worried teen with no emotion. He began counting the large amounts of money on his hand. "That's what you get when you take money for granted. If this was in real life, you are as good as dead. People lose value when they lose money."

"This is impossible, un!" complained the clay user. He crossed his arms like a toddler, and pouted his lips. "Someone must have cheated! I'm sure of it, hmm!"

The only female giggled at her friend. "Deidara," she said in a soft voice, "just accept the fact that you lost the game. You will now have to face the consequences."

"Exactly," said Sasori. The redhead also began counting his money. "Take it like a man, brat."

The aura around him just got tenser after he heard his partner's words. While the blonde silently complained in his thoughts, the other teens kept on thinking what his punishment would be.

"We need to consider his idea…," said Itachi. He seemed to be the rotting log of the group. That guy was just too silent and emotionless sometimes. Even Tobi thinks so. He usually continuously pokes the Uchiha, and received no reaction. Tobi thinks that he's some kind of dead person, ready to be put inside his coffin anytime.

Itachi's partner scratched his head, confused. "Uh… what did he say again? I forgot."

"Tobi remember exactly," said Tobi. He placed his bills on the floor, and stood up.

Then, the goofy teen impersonated his beloved sempai.

"The loser of the game will have to suffer big time, un! He or she must receive a consequence that's so embarrassing, or even more dangerous than an explosion, YEAH!"

The group laughed and applauded at the innocent boy, who bowed for effect. Unfortunately, he bowed right in front of Deidara. The 'loser' punched him on the head, leaving the masked teen whimpering.

"Sempai hit Tobi! Sempai's a bad boy!"

"Shut up, Tobi hmm!"

"Anyway," said Pein, "has anyone thought of a good punishment yet?"

Kisame raised his hand, waiting for someone to call him. The leader nodded at the shark dude, and he happily stated his idea. "What about letting him swim across the pacific ocean?"

"Heh, I'll just make a clay bird and fly across it!" thought Deidara. His lips formed a small, satisfied smile.

"No… he'll just make a clay bird and fly across it. Think of something harder…," said Sasori. He smiled inwardly as a big frown replaced his partner's grin. "Think of something that would be even more difficult for the brat."

Deidara shot an 'I'm going to kill you later, danna' look at the redhead. Sasori faced him, emotionless, giving him an 'I'm going to kill you first' look.

While the two stared evilly at each other, the rotting log moved, and raised his hands.

"Wow, that's unexpecting," thought Konan. The female then wondered if Itachi was really going to give a suggestion. If he did give one… it would probably be the best kind of suggestion one would ever hear. After all, he's a born genius.

Pein faced the Uchiha. "Yes, Itachi?"

"I was able to think of something…," he stated, "but I wonder if the loser's man enough to take it."

Deidara quickly cut his staring contest with Sasori, and angrily faced the Uchiha. "I can take anything, hmm! Bring it on, yeah!"

Itachi glared at him, with his scary red eyes. "Are you sure that you're ready to take this challenge?"

"You can't scare me, hmm!"

"Are you sure?"

"I'll agree to do any kind of punishment you say, and do it with no complaints or problems, yeah!"

The raven haired teen seemed to be satisfied, and he smiled faintly at the blonde.

"Well… since school's about to start… I was thinking that you'd pass off as a girl… for the whole school year…"

"WHAAAAT?"

"Hey… that's actually a good idea, b****! Besides, the brat can pass off as a chick anytime!" cried Hidan. He began to mock Deidara by giving him flirty expressions.

But he was just plain disgusted.

"Eeeew, Hidan! Anyway…," he looked at Itachi, "what kind of punishment IS THAT, HMM?"

"The best kind," said Pein. He nodded his head for effect.

"Oh! Oh! I got another f****** idea! Let's make our own group of boys this school year!" said the Jashinist. "It would be so f****** fun to have them b****** drool all over us!"

"You're making me girl and you guys get to become some hot group, hmm? I could not allow that, yeah!"

Zetsu, another person in their group, began to join their conversation. "But you said earlier that you'd take any challenge… and there's no going back!"

The blonde felt like he was pushed off a huge cliff, and was currently crashing to his doom. "B-b-but…"

"No buts," said Kakuzu. Even though he only interested in the money, he couldn't help but torture Deidara too.

"So it's final," said Pein. "You're going to pass off as a girl for the whole school year, Deidara. Any objections?"

It was only the blonde who raised both his hands. The group giggled as he put them down, dumbfounded and upset.

"Tch… well, could I at least state one condition?" asked Deidara.

"Go ahead."

"I WANT YOU ALL TO STAY AWAY FROM ME IN SCHOOL, HMM! Oh, and DON'T EVER TEASE ME OR NOTICE ME OR TALK TO ME… EVER!"

"And that's why I'm never going to play monopoly ever again…," he thought to himself. The blonde boy… currently a girl, doodled a lot on his piece of paper, and most of them were drawings of either strangling Itachi, or cooking Sasori in hot oil.

Deidara tried so badly to listen to his teacher's blabbing, but he just can't stop thinking about his experience a month ago. It was too life scarring.

And to think, he has to pass of as some girl for a whole school year.

A whole SCHOOL YEAR.

"Great, just great, hmm! This is practically going to be the worst year ever, un… hmm?"

The pink haired girl beside him seemed to be very distracted, like him. She kept on looking at her paper, then after a while, she'd stare at some guy… look at paper, stare at guy, look at paper, stare at guy… and when staring at some guy, she blushes.

"What's wrong with her, hmm?"

He glanced at the guy Pink hair was looking at. And he seemed really familiar…

"I swear I've seen that guy before, un… Oh! He's the one who but into my fight earlier!" he thought.

Indeed, the guy had black hair and a yellow shirt. He was scribbling down some notes, while listening intently to the teacher.

"So if this girl keeps staring at him, blushing… ooh, this is love at first sight, hmm!"

Deidara grinned to himself. He scribbled down a message on a paper, and threw it on top of Pink's desk.

The girl noticed, looked at him with confused, yet angry eyes, and read the note. It said:

Hi! My name's Deidara, un. What's yours, hmm?

She then wrote her own note, and threw it to Deidara.

I'm Sakura. And why do you care anyway? Can't you see I'm busy?

The blonde wrote back.

Busy spying on that guy with the yellow shirt, un? I see… anyway, do you want to be friends, un?

I WASN'T SPYING! I was just glancing… Anyway, sure, let's be friends! I barely know anyone here anyway, so I'll need someone to talk to… and what's up with those "un's" and "hmm's"?

He was about to write down his message, when the school bell rang.

RIIIIIIIING!

"Goodbye class, and don't forget that homework I gave you."

No one paid much attention to the teacher, for they were busy trying to make friends with their seatmate. The same was going on for both Deidara and Sakura.

She stood up, grabbed her bag, and stood in front of Deidara, giving him a wide smile.

"Hi! I'll officially introduce myself to you. The name's Sakura."

"I know. Anyway, my name's Deidara," he said, using his girl voice. He's pretty good though, for Sakura didn't seem to notice.

"Cool name. Why don't you hang around with me for a while? Do we have he same classes for the next period?"

The blonde boy tried to remember what his next subject was. "Uhm… wait a minute… my next subject's history…"

"Hey! That's mine too!"

The girl smiled at him, and he smiled back. "Well, so far so good… no one seems to notice."