Yes, I have decided to continue this. I don't know when it'll be updated, but I do have three complete chapters done as a buffer…

Author's Note: Again, a lot of these scenes are drawn from personal experience. I do not claim that anywhere mentioned or visited is always like this.

-.-.-

"And you will be staying just down the hall from us, and you two will be roommates. Your room number is 87; ours is 84. I'll make another copy of your key for you, Deidara, and I'll probably give you a copy of a key to our room once I can. Our first day is the sixteenth of September, so we still have a few weeks before classes start. I'll be your guide to the school and England, so ask me if you have any questions, okay?"

Deidara raised his hand. "Question."

"Yes?" Kabuto asked cheerfully, smiling. It was the morning of their second day in England, and they had successfully found the school and given them a tour the first day. Today would be donated to London and shopping for some clothes they'd need.

"Are you always so damn chipper in the mornings?! At six A.M., no less?!" the blonde growled waspishly. Kakashi may or may not have agreed with that; he was sleeping standing up instead. Sasori snickered from behind his hand.

"You're not used to getting up this early?" Kabuto asked, somewhat unnerved by the outburst. He was more worried about Kakashi's stance on the subject--though from his soft snoring it looked like he probably agreed with Deidara. The blonde elbowed him in the side, jerking him back into consciousness.

"Ehh? Wha?" He looked around, trying to gather his bearings. "…Wha' time is i'?"

"Six in the fucking morning," Deidara responded, stifling a yawn.

"Ohhhh…Kabuto, 'm sorry…but 'member when I told you we were operating on 'bout three hours of sleep?" Now only minimally more awake, Kakashi rubbed his eyes as he tried to stay upright long enough to answer. "We need to catch up on it…sorry…"

"C'est magnifique, vraiment," Sasori said snidely, watching as Deidara swayed on the spot. He didn't seem nearly as amused when the blonde pitched forward onto him again, and he was assigned the job of carrying him back into his room to put him back to bed.

Kabuto feared that Kakashi would perform a similar stunt, but instead the light-haired teen just sagged against the doorway, head drooping forward onto his chest. The English student put him back to bed as well, writing him a quick note for when they woke up, and then retreated back to his own room with Sasori in tow. There were a few things they needed to speak about, anyway…

"Sasori, why did you say that you only speak French? And why haven't you spoken any English since they arrived?" Cheerful pretenses dropped, Kabuto was all business now. It was his job to take care of the exchange students, and the French teenager was just complicating the issue.

Sasori, infuriating as always, just shrugged. "Je ne…I do not know." His accent was as thick as ever. Kabuto hadn't thought that having two new exchange students would impact him this much, even if one of them was unexpected.

"You do know, you just don't want to tell me," he accused dryly, sitting down on his bunk. Maybe getting a few more hours of sleep would do them all some good. London was always stressful, anyway, especially with foreigners.

"Oui," he replied simply, shrugging again. After a few moments, he added, "Zat blonde one is strange."

"I don't know him, so I cannot contribute anything to that. He's Kakashi's friend, though…I assume we'll get the story behind his sudden arrival soon enough." He didn't like the subject suddenly changed, but if he went along with it, maybe he could twist it back around to find out what was wrong with Sasori.

"Kakashi…is nice. You two 'ave been dating for several months?" Sasori asked sweetly, obviously determined to keep the subject away from the no-man's land. Kabuto laid back on the mattress, sighing. Sasori could always be gauged by the strength of his accent. His emotions, on the other hand, were always a whole other story. He would just have to count on judging his accent, then.

"Yes, we have. He didn't just come to England because of me, though--though he is sweet enough to attempt such a thing. He's caring, and kind, and determined…and handsome…"

"Oui, he is," the redhead agreed casually. "You're lucky."

Deciding to try something, Kabuto said, just as casually, "You know he wants to be an ambassador in the future? He has been thinking about being the American ambassador in France."

"That is interesting," Sasori said simply. His accent actually toned down, so Kabuto tried another tactic.

"I wonder what that Deidara wants to be, career-wise."

"I do not care," he replied stiffly.

Kabuto smirked to himself, continuing, "He was most definitely handsome as well, wasn't he?"

"Non. Zat is up for debate. I personally do not zink 'e is zat great to look at." The accent was back in full swing, and Sasori suddenly knew he was caught. The silver-haired student sat back up on his bed, smiling deviously. The redhead flushed, instantly denying it but damning himself all the same. "Ce n'est pas vrai, c'est faux, c'est faux! I-I just like ze American style, is all…"

"Oh, I am thinking you like the American style quite well, Sasori."

"Non. 'e is a little American brat. 'is 'air is nice and 'is eyes are quite beaux. Je n'aime pas que Américain."

"I didn't say anything about liking him, but if you are denying it so vehemently, I may have to think that you're hiding something," Kabuto said casually, watching in amusement. But then, he reminded himself that he was supposed to be in charge of these foreigners, not playing matchmaker. If Sasori was getting flustered and uncomfortable around Deidara because of a crush, they would have to work them out themselves. Today, Kabuto's job was to get them outfitted for the next year.

"Fermez la bouche." Sasori crossed his arms haughtily, and more than a bit childishly. He suddenly looked a lot younger. Telling Kabuto to shut up probably didn't help that image.

"I'll be quiet about it, if only for simplicity's sake," he conceded, putting up his hands in a gesture of defeat. "At any rate, I am supposed to take them both to London today to get them clothes and supplies. Would you like to come? You probably need some things as well, anyway…"

"…Oui…" Sasori oh so reluctantly agreed.

"We can let them sleep another two hours, probably. It wouldn't hurt to take a nap." Kabuto laid back down on the bed, still in his clothes. They'd get wrinkled, but who would care? "Oh, and Sasori…if you want to get to know Deidara a bit, try talking to him. In English."

-.-.-

Three hours later than they had originally planned, Kakashi and Deidara were on their way to London. The school was about an hour away, and they were about halfway there. Unless Kabuto was lying to them just to get Deidara to quit asking how long it'd be before they got there. He sighed; the blonde would undoubtedly get them shot before the year was over. Or before the week was over.

Said blonde was currently twitching his fingers, staring out the window. Probably missing his lighter. Not trying to upset Kabuto--or any British officials--Kakashi had gone through Deidara's things earlier, taking out anything relatively flammable. They did not need an international incident due to the student's pyromanic tendencies. That was part of how he ended up with Deidara in this program in the first place.

Kakashi was in the front with Kabuto, who was the only one who had a driving license that would be legal in this country. He felt a bit bad for making him drive, but he knew he'd feel even worse if they got pulled over and got arrested or something. Plus he would probably be driving on the wrong side of the road.

"Are we there yet?" Deidara asked for the umpteenth time.

Kabuto took it all in stride, graciously keeping his patience. Kakashi could have kissed him--if he wasn't driving and if he wasn't too busy throttling Deidara. "We have about ten minutes before we reach the outer limits. Is that fast enough for you, Deidara?"

"Yeah…" he replied sullenly, still fidgeting. The driver had yet to notice, thank God, but judging from the looks in the rearview mirror at Sasori, he had noticed. He didn't seem amused, either.

"Il est très impatient." Kakashi didn't need to know the language to catch the word 'impatient' in that sentence. Deidara didn't, either, and shot Sasori a dirty glare. The French student didn't seem fazed, and instead smiled pleasantly at the blonde. (Which only seemed to infuriate him more, of course.)

As they neared London, the traffic slowed down. Kakashi started counting cars as they crawled by, noting that there were next to no large vehicles, aside from buses. He saw a sparse few vans, but absolutely no pick-ups. "Why are there so many small cars here, Kabuto?" he asked, turning back to look at him.

"When gas is eighty-nine pence a liter, it pays to have smaller cars with better gas mileage," Kabuto replied simply, though Kakashi had no idea how pence equated with dollars.

"Deidara, how many liters are in a gallon?" He turned in his seat, both curious as to how much gas prices were and trying to get the blonde's mind off of burning something.

"I don't know…yeah. Six?"

"Non, environ quatre," Sasori said dryly. Kabuto glanced back at him, an unreadable look in his eyes. Kakashi didn't miss that, but as to what it meant he had no idea.

"He says about four, and I believe he is correct. Pence are like cents to dollars, only ours are to pounds. I believe the current exchange rate for dollars to pounds is…two to one? It's not particularly good for the dollar." He chuckled slightly at the aghast expression on his boyfriend's face.

"Two to one? You mean for every two dollars we have we only get one pound? That means that we only have…five hundred pounds to buy everything we need?" he asked incredulously. "And that means gas is…over seven dollars a gallon."

Deidara's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "And we thought gas in the U.S. was bad. Jeez, yeah."

"How much is fuel in America?" Kabuto asked, visibly perplexed by their reaction.

"Only about three dollars a gallon. Which would be…uh…" Working backwards, Kakashi wasn't quite sure how to make that back into liters and pence. Divide by eight?

"Trente-huit," Sasori replied calmly. The silver-haired American was somewhat amazed by his math prowess, and for the first time wondered what grade the shorter boy was in. He had taken him to be younger than him, but if he could figure math out that quickly, maybe he was in their grade.

"Thirty-eight pence. Wow." Kabuto whistled lowly, nodding to himself. "I wouldn't complain about those prices, but then again, this is England. Just wait until you see London prices."

For the first real time, Kakashi appreciated that he was in a totally new country.

-.-.-

London's sidewalks were possibly even more crowded than the streets. True, it was the weekend, and nearing the end of summer. Still, Kabuto felt nervous in the crowd with three people who would very easily get lost. "Come on, this way, we don't want to get separated!" he called, ignoring the jostling of the crowd. This would most likely end up badly.

Kakashi appeared through the sea of people, dragging Deidara by the end of the scarf, who was followed by Sasori. With a smile, he took Kabuto's hand in his own, saying, "It'll be easier if we hold hands so we don't get lost. I wouldn't want to lose you, now would I?"

"Mm, true…" Kabuto was too busy trying to avoid people and cars to care extraordinarily that he was holding Kakashi's hand in a very public place. He still had his grasp on Deidara's scarf, though Sasori was merely following them at his own pace. The British student immediately called him over, worried that he would get lost or separated. Even though he'd been living here a year, he had only been to London a few sparse times. Plus, anyone could get lost in that city. "Stay together, stay together, please. If we get separated, Sasori and Kakashi, you have my cell number. Deidara, uh, you just stick like glue to one or both of them. We won't get lost, I know exactly where we are…just don't let go!"

"Tu agisse comme ma mère," Sasori remarked dryly.

"Well if you would stop acting like a child I wouldn't have to act like your mother!" Kabuto snapped back without turning. Kakashi was visibly trying not to laugh at their antics, but yet again, the guide was too busy to particularly care.

"While we're complaining as a group, yeah, I would like to interject that Kakashi is strangling me with my scarf," Deidara deadpanned, still playing tug-of-war with the striped fabric. Sasori reached up and tugged the scarf effortlessly out of Kakashi's grasp, letting it drop between them. The blonde was surprised by the gesture, blinking in surprise.

He halted after a moment to adjust his scarf, and the redheaded student turned back to watch him, almost looking like he was waiting. Deidara blushed at him, narrowing his eyes in a glare. He ignored Sasori as he stomped past, catching up to Kakashi and Kabuto, the other exchange student following him like a puppy.

The crowd was as bad as ever, but the four managed to cram into a clothing store without too much hassle. Kakashi and Deidara both had one thousand dollars--five hundred pounds--to spend on enough clothes (minus their school uniforms) to last them a year. Well, clothes and whatever else they wanted. After that, they would get a monthly allowance, but it would be next to nothing compared to this big spree.

Unfortunately, Kabuto hadn't been kidding about the prices in London. The shirt was nice, but it wasn't worth thirty-four dollars. Kakashi continued browsing through shirts, hoping to find something relatively nice that was under ten pounds. It seemed like an impossible feat. Every was so expensive here! Or maybe it was just the store. Either way, Kakashi didn't quite feel comfortable spending so much on clothing.

Dejectedly he made his way back to stand next to his boyfriend (whom he still couldn't get enough of), empty-handed. Kabuto gave him a questioning look. "It's all so expensive."

"Check the clearance rack." He pointed over toward the other side of the store.

Kakashi, though, as not only an American but a New Yorker, didn't feel comfortable shopping on clearance. "I don't shop like that."

"You know, in London, you have to shop clearance if you want to buy anything," Kabuto said sympathetically, giving him a lopsided smile. "We'll have you thinking like a proper Brit in no time, Kakashi."

Deidara walked over to them, evidently in a very good mood, if the pile of clothes in his arms was anything to go by. Sasori trotted up behind him, hands empty, but wearing a price-tagged hat on his head. Kabuto glanced at him, noting how much the redhead seemed to be following his new American interest, and smiled cheerfully at them both. "I see you're not having any problems finding clothes, Deidara."

"Nope. I like shopping," Deidara chirped in reply. He wandered off to find the dressing rooms, Sasori still following him silently. Kabuto could only hope that the redhead didn't do anything too French.

"Come on, I'll go help you pick out a few things." Instead he turned back to Kakashi, grabbing his wrist and leading him over to the other side of the store. Maybe it was just now beginning to sink in that his boyfriend was here, in front of him, but Kabuto wanted to see him in some different clothes, not the oversized hoodie he was currently in.

-.-.-

Deidara was somewhat unnerved by Sasori following him, especially when he didn't say a single word to him. It was beginning to get awkward. Even random French words would be better than silence. He was almost starting to think that Sasori would follow him into the dressing room.

Luckily, the stoic redhead did no such thing. But he did wait outside, still playing with the tassels on his hat. Deidara thought he looked rather childish like that, and wondered just how old the kid was. He was pretty short, so probably a year or two younger than them. Plus he just looked so cute and young and innocent.

He examined himself in the mirror, checking out the pants he'd tried on. A bit too tight for his tastes. He didn't want to dress gay, damn it. These foreign sizes were all off, anyway. The blonde went through his pile relatively quickly, mostly because after trying the clothes on, he decided he didn't like them quite as much as when they'd been on the shelf. Then again, that type of thing usually happened with him.

"Huh." He picked up one of the other shirt he'd gotten, holding it up against himself. It was much bigger than he thought it was (damn those sizes), but he still liked it. Trying it on, though, the bottom hem came down halfway to his knees; this shirt was a lot bigger than he'd originally thought. Still, it was nice, and warm. London was cold. The blonde stepped out of the changing room, looking for his redheaded escort. "Hey, Sasori, I know you don't speak any English or anything but just nod or shake your head. How does this look, yeah?"

Sasori looked up from his hat (which he'd pulled off and messed up his hair even more than it usually was), cocking his head to the side. "…Elle ressemble à une robe."

Deidara had no idea what he said, especially since the infuriating little French student basically deadpanned the remark.

Unfortunately, Kabuto had heard it. "What? Deidara's in drag?" He peeked around the corner, arms full of clothes. Kakashi, wearing a nice, black dress shirt, was likewise interested in the statement and came over to look.

"What?!" the blonde squawked indignantly, feeling his face heat up. "What the hell did he just say?!" Sasori looked pleased with himself, smirking as Deidara glared at him.

"He said that the shirt looks like a dress." Kabuto was visibly trying to hold back laughter, though more for the unlucky blonde's expression than the actual shirt. Kakashi wasn't even bothering to hold his chuckles back.

"I hate you all, yeah," Deidara snapped, stalking back into the dressing room. Glancing at himself in the mirror, he was blushing madly. Still, he did like the shirt. And he could always just use it as a sleep shirt or something--or perhaps as a dress some day to bug the hell out of them. (And it was on sale.)

He dumped the rest of the clothes he wasn't buying in the return bin, folding the three shirts and one pair of pants he was buying over his arm. When he came back out, Kabuto and Kakashi were no where in sight--but Sasori was still there, wearing his hat again. Deidara pointedly ignored him, snorting slightly as he turned to pass him.

There was a tug on his sleeve, though, and he turned to glance back at the redhead. Sasori looked up at him, hands still pulling on Deidara's sleeve. "Désolé. Tu es beau, vraiment." The blonde had no idea what he was just told, but the tone sounded almost…apologetic.

"Okay…whatever, yeah. I'm gonna go pay for these." He gestured to the clothes in his arms, nodding towards the nearest check-out. Sasori bobbed his head, still holding onto Deidara's sleeve.

"Oui. Zat shirt looked good on you, anyway."

"Oh, well, thanks--wait." He turned on him in disbelief. Not only had the guy just complimented him, but he did it in English! Kabuto had said that he didn't speak any--so who was lying? "You speak English…?!"

"…Non." Sasori immediately reddened, ducking his head to avoid eye contact. Obviously his remark had been accidental.

"Liar, yes you do! Come on, say something else in English! Yeah!" Deidara demanded, putting his free hand on his hip.

"Autre chose en Anglais. Oui." Sasori stated. His voice was smug, but his face was still a big red from his slip.

The blonde didn't know exactly what that meant, but he could grasp the basic idea. "…You're an infuriating little kid, yeah." Deidara snickered as he pulled on the sides of the hat, pulling it down over the redhead's eyes. "I'll just go ask Kabuto."

He was halted by a tug on his scarf, a none-too-friendly tug. Losing his patience, he turned and saw Sasori glaring up at him from under the bottom of his hat, frowning. "Non."

"Let go."

Another yank on the scarf. "Non."

"Let go, yeah."

"Non."

Deidara turned to grab the scarf, trying to tug it out of his grasp. Sasori wouldn't let go, stubbornly wrapping it around his wrist, pulling the blonde towards him in the process.

Kakashi chose that moment to pop up. "Hey, you two, Kabuto said to--oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"Non."

"Is that a leash?" he asked in interest, grinning. "Man, Deidara, have you been whipped already?"

The blonde turned on him, nearly choking himself in the process. "No--"

"Kakashi, could you come here for a moment? I want to see if this shirt would fit you." Kabuto called from across the store, holding a top in the air.

Kakashi perked up at the summons, immediately smiling. "Coming!" he practically sang.

"'e was…contradicting 'imself a bit, wasn't 'e?" Sasori asked, perplexed by the scene. Deidara could sense the irony in not only that, but also in the fact that Sasori had spoken again in English.

"Why are you talking in English now?" Deidara asked, craning his head back to look at where the redhead still had a grip on his scarf.

"Je suis facilement embarrassé, et il est plus facile de parler en Français." he said in rapid French, ducking his head. "Excusez moi, désolé." With that last unintelligible statement, Sasori let go of his scarf, disappearing in Kabuto's direction.

Deidara scratched his head, frowning. "Okay…now what the fuck did he just say?"

-.-.-

Kabuto was just glad that the day was passing quickly and with relative ease. He was beginning to relax in the massive city, and Kakashi and Deidara were definitely enjoying themselves. It was probably just because they didn't have to haul around their shopping bags, instead leaving them in the car. But whereas the two new exchange students were having fun, Sasori seemed withdrawn and skittish. Kabuto had a sneaking suspicion Deidara had said something to him, but it seemed rude to ask.

But usually he was too busy with Kakashi to worry about his roommate much. The American boy seemed to be wanting to make up for lost time, and they had been dating for several months. At every red light, or every time they had to wait for either of the other two, Kakashi would nearly jump him, push him against the nearest wall, and start kissing him. Usually it caught Kabuto off guard, but he was beginning to read his boyfriend better and better, and could start sensing when he was going to get ambushed.

Not to say the kissing was bad--it definitely wasn't. But at the same time, Kakashi hadn't been joking that Americans 'loved to rush into love'. The British were generally more reserved about dating and kissing, saving it for more serious relationships, and the whole thing so far just seemed more than a bit rushed. Still, the kissing was definitely nice.

It was on one of those pauses when the light suddenly turned green. Kabuto pushed his boyfriend away, gasping out, "The light--green." Kakashi frowned innocently, leaning in to try to steal another kiss. Kabuto laughed at him, adjusting his glasses. "Come on, we can cross and then I'm sure you'll find another reason to jump me in a few minutes."

"Probably. I won't deny the charges," he replied cheerfully, letting himself be led across the street. Several of the girls who had been watching them make out were keeping very carefully within earshot, though seemed disappointed when they turned on the corner to go a different way. Kakashi put his arm around the shorter student's shoulders, ignoring the squeals from the disappearing girls behind them.

"Are there any more clothes you want? Or do you want to go shopping for something else?" Kabuto asked, giving him another lopsided smile.

"Actually, I would like to hear some British music. There isn't a lot of it in America, unless you count the Beatles."

"The Beatles are thoroughly British," he replied primly with a sniff. Kakashi shrugged, chuckling. "Say, Sasori, how would that sound? Want to go shopping for music?" He ducked out from under Kakashi's arm, turning around to face the other two.

The only problem was, they weren't there.