Chapter 2

"I'm back yeah," called Deidara as he slammed the door connecting the garage to the sitting area.

"Took you enough time. Hidan was getting antsy and you know I don't have the patience to wait for brats," shot Sasori from a worn loveseat. His unruly red hair framed his youthful face and set off his honey colored eyes. All the girls fell for him until they found out who he was, and by then it was too late. He never let them live and not a single one had gotten away. Sasori never made mistakes.

"Oh come on Danna yeah. It took me a while to shake them off," whined Deidara, "besides I got what I wanted."

"I don't care and it made me wait. Pein wants to see us. We have a-,"

"When in the shitty hell did you get back?" interrupted a new voice.

Deidara sighed. Hidan.

"About five minutes ago yeah. Why?"

"It's about time you fuckin' time you hand over the 125 bucks. I'm starving and I'm fuckin' broke as hell."

Deidara's eyebrow disappeared into his hairline. "And you still had the balls to bet with me yeah?"

"Fuck yeah. I'm sure your pansy ass couldn't handle it. Now hand the shitty money over so I can eat."

Deidara's smirk widened slowly and Sasori chuckled darkly.

"I think you're wrong Hidan," Sasori remarked with a tint of amusement in his voice.

"You wanna bet doll boy?"

"I think you're in no position to bet. You're already broke and owe Deidara $125. I doubt I would gain anything even if I won."

"Listen here you gay ass puppet boy-,"

"Look at Deidara's feet." Hidan's eyes slowly roved over to where Deidara was standing. He finally saw the jugs filled with valuable gas and a vein slowly appeared on his forehead.

"Shit…" Deidara's smirk widened even more and he stuck a calloused hand out.

"Where's my money yeah?"

"Fuckin' hell. I'll get it to you later. I'm fuckin' broke, you know that. Give me some time."

"No," Deidara smiled dangerously as his eyes flashed, "I want you to steal the 125 bucks from Kakuzu."

Kakuzu, the treasurer. A notorious miser who valued money over his life. Hidan blanched at the thought of stealing from his partner. He'd received beatings before; even those were for miniscule things. But stealing his money? That was taking it over the top.

"Or do you not have the balls to do it?" finished Deidara smugly. Hidan's eyes hardened.

"Fuck no you gay Barbie. I'm going to do it, just you watch. I'll have it in no time."

"I'll give you until Friday. Today's Monday. You have five days including today."

"Asshole."

Deidara just grinned.

"You know Pein doesn't like to wait," rasped a voice from behind the group. Hidan and Deidara jumped while Sasori passively swiveled his head to gaze at Zetsu.

"Holy shit Zetsu, you need to learn to join a conversation like a normal human like these assholes over here."

"I'm no normal human, you know that.Pein requested that Deidara and Sasori hurry up," said Zetsu irately, "Oh and Hidan, I can't wait to see Kakuzu sever your head." Zetsu then slowly slid away from the trio and back into the murky depths of the warehouse.

"That two-colored freak gives off shitty vibes."

Sasori's half lidded eyes made their way to Deidara's figure. "Brat let's go if you want to keep all your limbs."

"Lead the way Danna. I'm dying to get a new mission yeah."

Sakura heaved a sigh into the phone. She had just finished a long sheet of physic problems. The tedious formulas and tiny cramped numbers hurt her eyes and was the cause of her dull headache. Her mother gave her permission to take a little break.

"Ino I'm so sick and tired of studying. I feel so… so…," struggled Sakura.

"Useless? Honestly honey you need learn to let loose," babbled Ino.

"You have no idea how much I want to, but my parents won't let me. They only allow the Konoha 11 to be my friends and that's stretching things a bit."

"Gurl, you need to talk to them."

"I've done enough of that and no thanks to you I've gotten nowhere. I honestly think they really hate you Ino. It's a wonder they still even let me talk to you."

"That hurts Sakura. I'm not quite sure what to say then," Ino said as she trailed off, "Oh what about this? We can head over to The Rogue Sandpit to hang out. Just the Konoha 11. I'm sure it'll be great. Temari owns the place with her brothers and one of them is really good friends with Naruto. We can go clubbing all night."

"I remember Temari… She's got a temper and a little stand offish at first but she's like a big sister to me," Sakura smiled as she reminisced about the memories she shared with the tough girl. "But honestly Ino? You know that my parents would never let me go out at night, much less to party it away with my friends."

"Oh come on Sakura. We never do anything fun together anymore. I want to see you more often and school doesn't count," whined Ino, "you can tell them it's a study date or something. A sleepover."

"That's not happening anytime soon."

"Give it a shot. Call me later once you've asked them. Tell em' something. I want to see you tomorrow night. No exceptions."

"Alright I'll see what I can do but don't go and tell everyone until I've confirmed it with you. You know how I hate that mouth of yours."

"Ooo kitty has claws. I gotta go, my dad looks like he's ready to bust a vein."

"Bye Pig."

"See ya Forehead."

Sakura hung up and couldn't resist a smile. Ino always had that effect on her no matter how downcast she felt. They had been friends since they were little but then drifted apart after a young looker name Sasuke stepped into the scene. Years of fighting threw a wrench into their once tight relationship. It was Ino who finally reconciled after Sasuke had dumped her at a school dance, and both girls finally agreed that their friendship was not worth some boy that had the emotional capacity of a brick. Now the girls had a friendship unlike any other albeit the name calling and stingy sarcasm.

Sakura sighed and slithered out of her bed. The sun was still up but ready to disappear into the fringes of the earth. Sakura looked at the clock. 5:35. Still time to go downstairs and talk to mother about my "sleepover" with Ino before dinner. Sakura's toned body was taut with worry as she gracefully made her way down the steps into the wide kitchen to talk to about that. Ino had nearly ruined things one year ago when she came over to study and started ranting about a boy and how he was an asshole, all with the explicit language. Sakura's parents nearly kicked Ino onto the street before dessert. She doubted her parents would let her go to a sleepover at Ino's house out of all places.

Sakura was finally in the kitchen. Taking a deep breath she walked over to her mother who was sitting at the kitchen table sipping a cup of iced tea and reading the newspaper. Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat and opened her mouth. She didn't have a chance to utter a word when her mother glanced up at her and started talking.

"Hey honey. Your father and I have been talking…" A pause. Some hesitation. Sakura wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign. "And we agreed that we need to let you relax a tiny bit this summer. I've decided to let you take a day off tomorrow and after tomorrow its back to work."

It took all of Sakura's willpower to not let her jaw drop. Since when did her mother let her "take a day off"? But it was all that Sakura needed to put her request through.

"Then I suppose you would be ok with me going over to Ino's house for a day and having a sleepover?"

Sakura's mother's face darkened slightly and the edges of her lips turned down somewhat .

"Oh Ino? I guess that would be ok. But no staying up late and doing reckless things that you teens do nowadays. Remember that you have to get right back to work after tomorrow."

Sakura was nearly jumping for joy when her mother finished her sentence and she was ready to sprint upstairs to pack. Sakura dropped down to her mother and gave a quick hug that radiated gratitude. Surprised, it took her mother a moment to register what happened and wrap her arms around Sakura. Seconds later they were wrapped in a warm embrace that Sakura hadn't felt in long time.

"Thanks mother. You have no idea how much this means to and by the way you have a weird way of showing affection."

"You're welcome dear. Now go pack and remember no foolish antics." The words were barely out of her mouth when Sakura raced towards the staircase and flew up. "That girl is going to get what's coming to her if she isn't careful," mumbled the woman as she resumed to the inky story on the newspaper. Upstairs Sakura was furiously dialing numbers into her touch phone.

"Pig we're on for tomorrow. I get to be at your place all day and you know what that means."

All that could be heard from the other end was Ino's squealing of happiness and fortune. "Forehead make sure to pack some dead sexy clothes. We're going clubbing tomorrow!"