Standard disclaimer applies.

Sakura's school was large.

So large, in fact, that there was an overflow of freshman every year, another thousand or so than the previous year, and the school representatives both loved this and hated it. Loved, because this, of course, meant a larger flow of parental money and student loans. Hated it because this also meant there were never enough housing or available seats in classrooms, thus resulting in angry phone calls by too involved parents who never got the memo that Little Johnny or Missy May was an adult now, so, no, the school couldn't talk to them about these things without their child's consent. No, they could not give them the password of their child's login to view their grades and then give a little call to the professor about how they saw on that billboard for the advertisement for the university that it was a one-to-thirty professor-to-student ratio and didn't they just understand how fucking special their little baby was? Didn't they?

And so Sakura had a hate/love relationship with it. Love, because it was her top pick when she was in high school and she ending up getting nearly a full ride to it. Hated it because it was some of the most intense and painful shit she'd ever experienced.

Sakura found that no one properly warned her – or anyone else for that matter – just how difficult and hair-pulling worthy university was. Sure, high school teachers talked about it and pushed it and gave re-tellings of their own drunken exploits, but no one ever actually warned her that the most difficult part would be after the many, many college applications and recommendation letters and scholarship interviews.

Sakura liked to think that it was because everyone who had gone through it promptly chose to forget it all the second after grabbing their diploma on a fancy stage that covered the amount of tears shed in the last four years (or more) by the graduates siting in the premises.

So there she was, in the middle of her fall semester, a little over halfway done, strapping on her bag with too-heavy textbooks that would most likely give her back problems in the process of getting a degree just to study the human body (a sick twist in life, if Sakura was asked. Like, oh, study all the vertebrae in your body and now look at a diagram of what your back is supposed to look like. You know, how it looked before you came here and how now your back resembles something of an elderly man with arthritis).

Sakura's scholarship never covered living expenses, oddly enough, but she did get a small sum of money to herself. So she never had to play the fun game of trying to get a housing spot the spring before the school year started. Instead, she found a nice, little, cheap apartment not too far away from campus that had nice management and a little lamp she studied under that didn't give her a headache. She was content and happy with it. It was her little bubble of space where she could study and cry about the next four exams she had in one day and watch back-to-back Netflix sprees when she really should have been studying every muscle in the human body or writing that lab report.

And then it was flooded by a she-devil who enjoyed giggling far too much.

Sakura walked through an arch leading to a large green space in the middle of campus. It was middle afternoon, past lunch, and Sakura was early. But she was always early to her classes, so it didn't seem to really matter.

Even though she tried to take her time in walking there, her feet moved swiftly and quickly, a habit she had gotten over the years when she was petrified of ever being late to anything and a way to exit spaces with people quicker.

So when she sat down in the large, slanted lecture hall, a few rows back from a small group of people who were also extremely early or were straying behind after whatever class was held here before, Sakura took out her cell phone.

Which had three missed calls.

Oops.

She clicked on the MISSED CALL button and pressed REDIAL.

"HN."

Sakura's lips twitched. "So I take it you didn't burn down the club?"

"Hn. I said twenty minutes, Sakura. It's been an hour. I called. Three. Times." If Sasuke was like Naruto, he'd be screaming right now, she was sure. But he wasn't the dobe, so therefore he didn't so much as raise his voice.

Sakura winced. "I know. Sorry."

"Hn." And just like that, he was over it.

Somewhere in the background, Sakura heard, "TEME! I GOT THE LIGHTER FLUID JUST LIKE YOU SAID."

Sakura felt like laying her head down on the pull-out desk on her red cushioned chair. "Don't burn down the club, please. Then your family and the Akatsuki will never leave us alone." She shivered and lowered her voice. "And Kakuzu, Sasuke. Think of what Kakuzu would do to us for making him lose all that profit."

Silence. And then: "Hn," much quieter, and Sakura knew she'd gotten him.

She heard a whacking sound and a high-pitched whine. "Teme! What you do that for!?"

"Hn."

Sakura smiled. "I'll bring home dinner." She said the name of one of their favorite restaurants by the university, a little take-out place designed for college students.

A pause. "Can you bring home that tomato dish?" Sasuke asked quietly, grumbling.

Gotcha. "Yep," Sakura chirped.

"IS THAT SAKURA-CHAN ON THE PHONE!?"

Sounds of a tussle ensued in the background. Sakura waited patiently.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Sakura had to pull the phone away from her ear. The group of students below her gave her odd glances. She ignored them. "ARE YOU BRINGING HOME FOOD?"

Sakura put the phone back to her ear, tensely. "Yeah, Naruto. I'm bring home dinner. I know your favorite."

Happy sounds ensued.

"Hey, don't touch the lighter fluid, okay?" she said (more like ordered) gently. "The last thing we need is arson charges."

Now the group of students was all out gaping at her. She continued to ignore them and pretended that talking casually about setting fire to buildings was a normal, sane conversation. Yes. Indeed. She had great friends.

"Sure, Sakura-chan! Whatever you say!"

Sakura made a pleased sound. "Okay. I'm in class, so I gotta go."

Naruto bellowed something that sounded like a form of goodbye and hung up. Sakura kept the phone to her ear a moment longer in the hopes the kids in front of her would find something else to gap openly at. She really didn't want to have to explain why she was talking about arson before her advanced anatomy class started.

More students began to trickle in and the students' attentions in front of her were diverted. Sakura slowly pulled the phone away from her ear and let go of a sigh.

Another ten minutes passed. The class was nearly full now, but Sakura had so far gotten away with not having someone sit next to her.

Sakura wasn't necessarily against someone sitting next to her – she wasn't that against being in the presence of other human beings – it was just that there was that one kid, Lee, who just wouldn't take a hint. No, she did not want to go on a date with him. No, that did not mean she was challenging his demented ideals of "youth" and no, he would not listen to her when she attempted to explain to him that his exclamations and . . . flattery . . . of her "youthful appearance" and "power of youth" could be taken as . . . well, as derogatory and somewhat disturbing.

"Sakura-chan, my youthful blossom! The power of youth fits you kindly at this hour!"

Sakura pasted a shaky smile on as Rock Lee stumbled over the people already sitting in her row as they gave him evil looks. Lee practically bounced over to her and plopped down in the open seat next to hers, turning his body as much as he could in her direction. "How has my youth-filled blossom been doing, hmm? I have not seen you in class recently and that's not like you at all!"

She sighed. "I got sick–"

Lee gave a very dramatic gasp and took hold of her hand, his face suddenly much closer to hers. "Oh, no! My blossom has fallen prey to the sickness of the body!?" He put a hand to his forehead, very dramatic and tilted his head back. "But the power of your youth will prevail!"

Sakura blinked at him, very slowly. She gave him the kind of look she'd seen Ino give Shikamaru on numerous occasions when he refused to move from wherever he'd decided to suddenly nap – even when it was somewhere in public, like a park bench. It was the look only a girl could give a guy when she just wondered if it would be better to play dumb or grab them by the ear to whack some sense into them.

Sakura found she was adorning this look more than usual lately.

"And before that," Sakura continued, nonplussed, "I was stuck at a friend's family house during the storm. But I stayed with Ino when I was sick." She decided to leave the flooding of her apartment out of the conversation right then – it was still a sore subject.

Lee nodded sagely. "Yes, that storm was full of youth, was it not? I, myself, stayed at a friend's during this time."

Sakura bit back the smirk at this, knowing he most likely meant Neji, the cousin of her friend Hinata, and knew that this most likely meant the ever sage and stoic Neji had to lock himself in a different part of his house so as not to continuously hit the pressure point on Lee's neck to keep him passed out–

"Though I cannot remember much during this time," Lee continued, holding a hand to his chin in thought. "I must have been more tired than I had thought from my training session with the ever youthful Guy-sensei; I fell asleep moments after drinking Neji's youthful tea and slept through the whole storm."

–or drugged his tea. Really, it was a 50/50 shot either way.

"Ah," Sakura said, sagely.

They waited a few more minutes before Sakura scowled at the empty front of the classroom and checked her phone for the time. It was two minutes past the starting time.

"She's late," Sakura muttered to Lee.

"Oh!" Lee exclaimed, turned to look at her with his unblinking eyes. "I forgot to tell you! When you were out recuperating at the youthful Ino's last week, Professor Anko had some issue with the veterinarian's caged snakes and . . . well, she's not here anymore. So we have a new youthful professor." Lee's eyes suddenly gleamed, and suddenly he was no longer sitting still next to her, but standing on his seat with one leg braced on the top of the empty seat in front of him, holding fists up to the heavens. Sakura looked away and pretended to be engrossed in her notes. "The ever youthful Guy-sensei prepared me for this! But I am man enough to admit that he is not what I was expecting . . . however, the flames of youth burn brightly in his–"

It was around that point Sakura stopped listening, as did most of the class, used to this kind of thing. She looked down at her phone again, seeing that it was now almost ten minutes past the class start time. Sakura tried to remember if it was after ten or fifteen minutes when the professor didn't show up that students could freely leave without worrying about missing attendance – if the professor bothering to take it, which Professor Anko usually did. By the looks of the other anatomy students, they were also thinking along the same lines, throwing pained expressions at the door. Some kids even had a foot braced, as if ready to sprint away the second the fifteen minute mark passed.

Lee was still ranting next to her; Sakura checked her phone. Three more minutes and she was leaving. She was going to be so pissed if the damn professor never showed up after she went to the wolf's den that was Red Dawn just to retrieve her school ID so she could come to campus today.

She was watching the door – the only entry/exit point in the classroom – so she almost jumped in her seat when suddenly she heard a masculine voice say "Yo," from the front of the classroom.

Sakura checked her phone. It was exactly fifteen minutes past the start time. Bastard.

What was stranger was that she had been all-out glaring at the doorway, so she knew she hadn't missed him coming in. And even if she had, another student would have noticed, and Sakura knew by how everyone had jumped when he spoke that they hadn't.

That was when she looked around and saw the open window on the other side of the room. It was open when Sakura was almost positive it hadn't been when she'd first entered the room.

They were on the third story.

When she saw the new professor, Sakura had the thought that she was being punked. That Sasuke and Naruto were somehow behind this and were laughing at her right now, because there was no way in hell that this . . . shady ass looking man was a certified professor.

White hair was splayed out atop his head, leaning to one side like gravity simply didn't apply to him, and Sakura idly wondered if there was a deeper reason why he wasn't teaching physics, and if he, also, knew Madara, whose hair was equally gravity defying. She also considered how much hair gel it took for him to get that specific look, but decided she simply did not have enough brain cells to consider any of this on top of dealing with the impossibilities that were the Uchihas and the Akatsuki.

But the oddest thing about him was the black scarf. Now, Sakura loved a good scarf just as much as the next gal – more so, even – and was currently even wearing one of her own. It was just cold enough to get away with it and keep it on when inside a classroom, so it wasn't the fact that he was wearing it that was strange, but the fact that it was not only covering his neck, but was all the way up over his chin and mouth, stopping just a little over his nose but still leaving his eyes uncovered. His eye crinkle was the only indication that he was grinning at them all. He was wearing all black – soft looking black jeans, black sweater halfway tucked into it, thin black metal belt visible on one hip. His black loafers just completed his look. (Which look that exactly was was still to be determined. Currently, Sakura was thinking something along the lines of half-mad, possible serial killer kind of look. Professor Anko had already been insane enough. There had been that one time she came into the classroom late with a very long, very yellow snake coiled around her neck like it was the newest fashion trend in France. Sakura wasn't completely sure if it was better or worse that the snake was dead, and had been given to the university for dissection purposes, but Anko had a perverse issue with cutting into a reptile like a snake and ended up stealing it from the lab before the dissection-course students could get their hands into it. Whatever happened to that snake was still debatable and several myths and rumors surrounded the whereabouts, that of which included that the snake was revived and slithering about campus. To that day Sakura refused to sit near any large bushes on campus.)

The new professor was leaning back while standing there in front of the classroom, almost like he was really leaning against a wall that none of them could see. Sakura wasn't sitting all that far from the front of the classroom (her personality denied her from sitting in the back and looking like she didn't care about her class all the while staying away from other human beings, but her insecurities also denied her from sitting in the front of the classroom due to being in the direct line of sight of a professor and having other students' eyes boring into her back. Therefore, she sat in the middle, usually closer to the front), so she could see that one eye was black and the other was . . . red?

Sakura felt her throat close up. Oh, Kami, please, no. No. Nuno.

She knew a Uchiha's eyes very well, and that was definitely a Uchiha eye.

Sakura didn't avert her gaze from her teacher's as she reached an arm up and unceremoniously grabbed Rock Lee's shirt and roughly tugged him back down into the seat next to her. He let out a small yelp, and Sakura leaned in to fiercely whisper into his ear, "What is his name?"

Lee gazed at her in shock, his already wide eyes going even wider. Any more growth and they may just pop right out of his head. "Professor Kakashi."

"No," Sakura growled low in her throat. "His last name. What is his last name?"

"Oh," Lee muttered, looking at her in shock and curiosity. "It's–"

"Hatake-san!" a voice suddenly yelled from the doorway, and Sakura almost gave herself whiplash at how quickly she turned her head.

In the doorway was a youngish man with owlish brown eyes, one hand braced against the doorframe and one foot halfway into the classroom. His eyes darted around to the students looking at him. One of the boys who had been about to run out the door after the fifteen minute mark after class was about to start took a discrete step backwards.

"Hatake-san!" he said again, and Kakashi Hatake just blinked at him and raised a hand. He waved at him.

"Yamato-senpai," Professor Kakashi drawled, like Yamato wasn't still standing in the doorway, gaping like a fish out of water. "It's not like you to be late."

Sakura truly thought for a moment that Yamato was going to lunge at Professor Kakashi and smack him. She would have cheered for him if he had. "Me? You're the one who's never on time! I've been looking everywhere for you–"

"Maa, maa, Yamato-senpai. Let bygones be bygones."

"It's not a bygone, because it happens every day–!"

Professor Kakashi turned back to the class, ignoring him, hands pushed back into his pockets like Yamato wasn't still gaping at him and looking like he was ready to start tearing out his brown hair. Professor Yamato ran a tired hand down his face, and Sakura suddenly sympathized with him greatly, thinking about her own relationship with the morons. Maybe she'd slip him one of Sasuke's death manuals one of these days . . .

"That's Professor Yamato," Lee muttered into her ear when she threw a curious glance his way. "He's the other professor, and kind of like Professor Kakashi's helper."

As she watched Professor Yamato stumble into the classroom as Professor Kakashi looked towards the open window like he was going to jump out of it any second, Sakura idly thought that instead of helper, he was actually his babysitter.

"Why do we have two new professors?" she asked, but even as she said it, Sakura suddenly knew it was because if Professor Yamato wasn't there to rein in Professor Kakashi and make sure he actually went to his own classes, they would have no teacher. Ever.

Rock Lee beamed at her. Sakura tried to inch back in her seat. "Professor Kakashi is a longtime friend of the youthful Guy-sensei, and I was told that he's never on time. He's always exactly fifteen minutes late, so some of the other youthful students have made it one of their many youthful challenges to be able to run out the door before he gets here."

Of course they did, Sakura thought as she watched the student who had had one foot out the door at the fifteen minute mark casually twirl his pinky in his ear, removing it and looking at it curiously before flicking it. It was wonders that he was smart enough to be pre-med.

"How does Guy-sensei know Professor Kakashi?" she asked.

Rock Lee fisted his hand and looked to be about to stand up in his seat again, if not for Sakura grabbing him by the scruff of his neck to keep him in place. "They are eternal rivals, my youthful sensei and Professor Kakashi! So far, Professor Kakashi's youthfulness has kept him ahead of my sensei, but not for long! I have made it my sole purpose in life to youthfully watch over Professor Kakashi and wait stealth-fully for his weaknesses! Guy-sensei will be the most youthful beast of Konoha University!"

Guy-sensei – Professor Guy to Sakura and almost everyone else, though he had asked Sakura several times to refer to him as either Guy-sensei or "the green beast" or "the youthful beast" – was another professor at the university, though he taught some self-defense courses that Rock Lee was involved in. Sakura had taken one of his beginner courses her freshman year for some variety, but quickly discovered that while she was in shape and had a healthy love of sparring and self-defense, her enthusiasm was nothing compared to Professor Guy's, and he somewhat creeped her out. Either way, he was one hell of a fighter, and therefore he had her respect.

Class continued. But for the hour she sat there, it became abundantly clear that Professor Yamato was going to be the reason she passed this course, because while Professor Kakashi still stood up there (well, he stood for about two minutes after class started until he got bored, threw one last glance towards the open window and sat down behind the podium) and occasionally threw out passing remarks about some important things they should know, for the most part he kept his head between the pages of what Sakura had disturbingly figured out was an erotic adult novel while Professor Yamato ignored him completely and continued on with the lecture. From the glances Sakura threw around the room at the other students, she quickly came to the realization that they were all used to this behavior and that they had all gotten used to it in the time she'd missed.

After class was over, Sakura attempted to beat feet out of the room, only to be pulled back by one sweater covered, possible albino. She groaned internally. Lee was already gone, having beat feet after class to meet up with Professor Guy for his late afternoon training session. Even when not in his actual class, Lee was almost always training with Professor Guy.

"Maa, are you a new student?" Professor Kakashi asked, his adult book nowhere in sight, and for the first time in the past hour Sakura idly wondered where he had hidden it, since she never saw him carrying any kind of bag or briefcase, and his clothes weren't baggy enough to be able to completely hide the shape of it.

"No," she said, turning back to him. Professor Yamato was behind Professor Kakashi, speaking to anther straying student, eyeing both her and Professor Kakashi wearily. It may have just been her imagination, but Sakura thought that it was possible he was mouthing at her the words, Run while you still can.

Huh.

"I was gone for a little while due to an illness," Sakura continued, trying not to all-out stare at his one red eye that still looked too much like an Uchiha's eye. "But I've kept up with the course work in the meantime."

He gave her an eye crinkle. "I hope it was nothing serious."

Sakura waved her hand in a nonchalant manner. "Oh, no. Just a bit of the flu. I'm fine now."

"Glad to hear it," Professor Kakashi said, still staring intently at her. Sakura just waited for him to ask the question. He reached up to scratch the side of his face. "If you don't mind my asking . . ."

"It's my natural hair color," Sakura said. She never understood why people said something like "If you don't mind my asking . . .", because even if she did, in fact, mind, it wouldn't matter. They still expected an answer.

She got that question a lot, and anymore she just knew the signs for someone who wanted to ask her, because they typically looked at her pink eyebrows and hair roots. Teachers in high school were typically even more interested because they were never sure if they should be asking her to not dye her hair anymore. If she wasn't the kind of overachieving and all around suck-up to teachers like she was, Sakura highly suspected she would be getting more remarks about it and no one would believe her when she said it was natural. But when a straight "A" student has had the same shade of pink hair and eyebrows since freshman year with never any sign of darker roots coming in, most just turned a blind eye to it.

Sakura thought about asking about Professor Kakashi's scarf since he'd asked about her hair, but after another moment of looking at him, decided she just didn't want to know. She highly suspected the question would go unanswered and it just wasn't worth the trouble.

"Ah," Professor Kakashi said, nodding. He accepted her truth naturally enough. Sakura saw Professor Yamato out of the corner of her eye trying in vain to get away from the too-determined student, another girl in her class who looked a little too interested in the young professor.

"Well," Professor Kakashi cleared his throat, "it was nice to meet you, Haruno-san. But I better go save my colleague before he has a panic attack or is kidnapped. Again."

Sakura just continued to smile, but she wasn't completely sure if he was serious or not. It was beyond difficult to read the man, especially with the scarf covering half his face. And once more, Sakura decided not to ask. She had enough insane men in her life, thank you very much.

It was at that moment that Professor Yamato sidled up to both Sakura and Professor Kakashi, apparently not in needing of saving and having escaped the clutches of the too-enthusiastic student, who was already gone. Professor Yamato looked quickly between Professor Kakashi and Sakura a few times, and Sakura had the mental image of an owl turning its head all the way around.

"Maa, Yamato-senpai, you managed to escape?"

Professor Yamato narrowed his eyes at Professor Kakashi. "Shut up." He turned his attention to Sakura, blinking a few more times rapidly. Sakura thought about explaining to him that yes, her hair color was indeed natural. But he didn't ask. "Hello. Are you a new student?"

"Maa, maa, Yamato, she's been in this class." Professor Kakashi looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and Sakura again forced herself not to look directly at his red eye.

Professor Yamato went red in the face. "Oh, I'm so–"

Sakura cut him off with a wave of a hand. "Don't listen to him. I've been gone for a little while due to being sick, so this is the first day I've been in class since you two started teaching."

"But she kept up with the course load," Professor Kakashi interjected helpfully. Professor Yamato ignored him, never looking away from Sakura. She got the feeling he did that a lot.

Professor Yamato was staring at her owlishly and Professor Kakashi was still side-eying her, and Sakura decided it was time to go. She took a step back. "Well, I should get going . . . It was nice to meet you, Professor Kakashi and Professor Yamato."

"Please," Professor Kakashi interjected, and Sakura knew by his eye crinkle that he was grinning broadly. "Call me Big Daddy."

There was a loud pause.

"I . . ." Sakura started, blinking rapidly. "What?"

Professor Yamato's hand flew up to his face, and the sound of his hand hitting his face was so loud Sakura flinched. He groaned. "Ignore him. He's delusional."

"Most professors are," Sakura said instinctively, and then almost slapped a hand over her own mouth. Shit. That wasn't supposed to be said out loud. That was one of those things that she thought, but never actually said out loud. Especially to her two new professors . . . One of which had just asked her to call him by a name she highly suspected he'd read about in his adult novel.

Both Professor Kakashi and Yamato just started at her, wide-eyed, like her saying that was odder than him asking her to call him Big Daddy. Sakura took another step backwards.

Professor Kakashi leaned over to Professor Yamato like he was going to whisper into his ear, but his voice was still loud enough for Sakura to hear him. "I like this one," he murmured to Professor Yamato. "Let's keep her."

It may have just been her imagination or a side-effect of all the weirdness that had been the last five minutes, but Sakura could have sworn that Professor Kakashi's one red eye gleamed in that moment. Sakura suppressed a shiver.

It was at this point Sakura realized she'd been backtracking to the doorway, and was basically in the arch of it. She waved stupidly at them both, and quickly said, "Well. Okay. I'm gonna go now. See you."

Professor Kakashi held a hand up and wiggled his fingers at her. "See you next class, Haruno-san. I look forward to discerning if that's truly your natural hair color in the future."

Sakura turned away, but not before she missed the look of confusion, then horror of Professor Yamato's face as what he said clicked in his mind. And Sakura also wasn't fast enough getting out of earshot before she heard the sound of a loud smack and Professor Yamato's distinct voice furiously saying, "You do not need to be reported for sexual harassment. Again."

Sakura really did try to get off campus as quickly as possible. She really did. But it was a ten to fifteen minute walk to her car and she had to pass by some of the larger buildings to get there.

She'd never had a problem before. While her university was big, oddly enough it didn't have a reputation for unsightly behavior. Sakura never really heard about muggings or other indiscretions around campus.

Off campus was another story. Her university was nice, and while the area surrounding it wasn't horrible, it wasn't the nicest neighborhood either.

But she wasn't parked off-campus, but was parked in one of the university parking garages, and she'd walked there and back a dozen times over since she started school there. She didn't think about the buildings she passed – many of them were liberal arts buildings, and the odds of her ever having a class in one of them was slim to none.

She was speed-walking past one of the more elaborately designed buildings, one that Sakura couldn't remember the name of besides the fact that she'd never had a class there, and she doubted she ever would. She'd never even been inside of the building.

It was more modern than some of the other science buildings around campus, and was obviously not part of the original construction of the campus, having been built once the school began to make a name for itself and increase the number of freshman each year and the university was forced to expand outwards around town, buying up the homes and buildings surrounding it for construction.

Sakura vaguely remembered hearing something about this building being designed by some graduated architecture student. Some building had been there before, a few years ago, but there had been some kind of accident inside and the building had burned down. What that story was, exactly, Sakura couldn't remember, and there were probably about a dozen different stories about the burning building, so it was impossible to say which one would even be true.

She was thinking about the restaurant she was going to stop by on the way home, and wondering if she should call ahead and place an order for her normal order – the owner did know her, and Sakura had been forced to feed both Naruto and Sasuke from the place more than once, so her new normal order had begun to include tomato related dishes.

And then she heard the bang.

Sakura closed her eyes in mental pain and groaned internally. Something had just exploded from inside the new looking art-deco building, and her conscious said to go inside and see if someone was hurt, but her gut told her to run, run far away, because there was no way in hell she just so happened to walk by the building when something exploded. Not when Madara had made that comment at Red Dawn earlier that day. There was just no way. Not with her luck.

But if she walked away, her guilt would eat at her, and she knew it. And that was probably why she was already jogging up into the building and opening the glass door. She didn't even have to think about it more than a split second and her backpack was already on the ground where she'd dropped it, not needing the extra weight.

For a moment, Sakura paused once the door swung shut behind her. No one else had been around when she heard the bang go off, since it was late on campus and very few classes were being held, and most students were either eating dinner right then or were somewhere else. And this building wasn't near the center of campus, so the sound didn't carry to many people.

No one else was inside the building hallway, but there were still classrooms to open, and there was a second story and even a basement.

There must not have been any classes in session on the main floor, at least, because Sakura didn't hear anything, nor did anyone come out of any of the classrooms to see what made the noise.

Sakura reached for her phone, already trying to remember the number for campus security and failing that, calling Sasuke, who was a cop himself and came from a heavily police related family, and would most likely be able to get to her before campus security even did.

Then there was another bang.

She dropped her phone. Sakura cursed and picked it back up, already moving down the hallway towards where she heard the noise. It was obvious it had come from the basement, and she opened the door to the stairwell.

There were light traces of smoke there, and Sakura pulled her scarf over her mouth and noise. Her eyes weren't watering yet, but she knew the deeper she went in the more smoke there would be, so she started to dial Sasuke while she could still see her phone screen.

Luckily, he and Naruto were both in her emergency contacts, and Sakura quickly punched DIAL and held the phone to her ear.

"Hn."

"I'm in one of the campus art buildings – the newer, art-deco one – near the parking garage and there was an explosion. I'm inside right now, going down to the basement and there's smoke. I don't think campus security knows about it and I can't remember their number."

There wasn't even a pause. "I'm coming." Sakura heard some scuffling on the other side and Sasuke raising his voice at someone – predictably Naruto. "What the hell are you in the building for? Get out of there."

"That's not gonna happen," Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "No one else is here, and there are likely people down in the basement. I wait, they probably die."

This time, there was a pause. And then Sasuke let out a stream of curse. "Fine," he barked. "Just keep your mouth and nose covered and stay low to the ground. Do you know exactly what building this is?"

"I don't." There hadn't been a sign outside. Sakura had looked for it.

"Don't be stupid," Sasuke said, and Sakura knew it was his version of Be safe, so she took it in stride and hung up.

Sakura wasn't a martyr. She didn't have a hero complex and she really didn't want to go down to that basement, where there was likely to be a lot more smoke. She really, really didn't, but her damn conscious was driving her right then, so fuck it.

The basement was much like the main floor of the building, construction wise. Classrooms lining both sides of the hallway; at the end of it was another, large double-door, and Sakura figured that was where the smoke was coming from.

The line of smoke wasn't as thick as she originally thought it would be, and wasn't as difficult to see through or breath in. She was quick and getting down the corridor, and about three doors back from the end of it and the double-doors, Sakura heard coughing and curses flying.

Unfortunately, she recognized the voices.

"DO YOU NOT SEE THE GLORY THAT IS MY ART, DANNA? ART IS A BANG, YEAH!" Maniacal laughter ensued.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT. HOW THE HELL IS THIS CALLED ART? I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING!"

Sakura considered turning around and leaving right then, calling off Sasuke and his little rescue team. She really did.

But the building was possibly on fire, and while Sakura knew both Sasori and Deidara could get out unharmed, there was a good possibility neither of them would even consider to call the fire department or campus security. And the last thing Sakura wanted was for the university to be on high alert because a pyromaniac was among them. (Even though there really was . . .)

Now that she thought about it, Sakura figured there wasn't enough smoke for the building to actually be on fire – more likely, Deidara probably just blew up one of his "art projects" again, and this was the result of that. She was worried for nothing.

Taking quick steps towards the end of the hallway and to where she heard their voices, Sakura came to be standing in the doorway, watching through the thin layer of smoke and haze as Sasori and Deidara continued to bicker about what art was or wasn't.

So Sakura just yelled, "What the hell!?" at the top of her lungs. Both men swung their heads around to greet her, taking in her furious form and the hands balled up at her sides. Her shoulders were drawn up almost to her ears, and she was beginning to shake with rage. Both Sasori and Deidara had the thought she looked like a pissed off kitten, claws sheathed and all. It was fucking adorable.

Deidara opened his mouth to say something, but Sakura didn't give him the chance. "What the hell do you two think you're doing!? I heard the bang and thought the fucking building was on fire, but what do I find? You two imbeciles bickering over your art per usual and nearly giving me a heart attack!"

"Ah, Sakura-chan," Deidara started, grinning broadly at her. "I didn't know you cared, yeah."

"About both of you? No, I don't. But I do care if one of the campus buildings burned down with people inside. You two are lucky no class is in session right now."

Sasori slouched, smirking at her. "Don't tie yourself into a knot, doll. We were careful."

Sakura was steaming. "Careful? You were being careful?" She threw a hand out to gesture at the smoke in the air and the black crisp on the floor between Sasori and Deidara, no doubt the remains of whatever "art project" Deidara had exploded. "How the fuck is this being careful!? This whole floor is covered in smoke!" She had been keeping her scarf up over her nose and mouth that whole time, but now she thrust it down so she could yell at them both more clearly. "What the hell are you two even doing down here?"

Deidara and Sasori exchanged a glance, and Sakura didn't like it one bit. "Don't you know, Sakura-chan?" Deidara started, taking a step towards her. "Danna and I are the new 3-D design art professors, yeah."

For fuck's sake.

Sakura just stared. The universe just loved to play cruel jokes on her. "Why?" she stammered. "You two are more likely to maim or blow up other people than teach them. And about art of all things?"

It might make sense for them to teach art to some people, but Sakura knew better. Sasori and Deidara were more likely to brutally murder anyone who had a different idea of exactly what art was. The only reason they put up with each other and their vastly different definitions of art was because they were somewhat friends/enemies, and for some reason their relationship worked. Sometimes. It was a love/hate kind of thing. Sakura had bet money a few years ago with Naruto and Sasuke on when, exactly, one of them would kill each other. So far, they'd exceeded her expectations and the timeline she had bet for their untimely deaths.

She groaned. Sakura could already envision the disappearances of art students now. No one would ever find the bodies. Or the "lesser versions" of their art.

Sakura turned on her heel and started walking out the door, already planning to call Sasuke and tell him it was false alarm. No doubt the boy was on his way, possibly already on campus with Naruto right behind him and the full power of the Uchihas police force. Damn it all.

Today was just more trouble than it was worth.

Sakura idly heard Sasori and Deidara yelling behind her to come back, but she had already been breathing in too much smoke and who knew what else, and frankly she was hungry. She could have already been to the restaurant and on her way home by now. But what happened? Morons happened.

Sakura fully planned to have a little chat with the Akatsuki next time she saw them and asking (read: demanding) what new stupidity must have smacked them all upside the heads to allow people like Sasori and Deidara to become professors. Honestly, Sakura was close to calling the university and asking them if Sasori and Deidara were even certified to be professors. But that would prove nothing, since Sakura didn't doubt that the university had been . . . coerced (among other things) by the Akatsuki, most likely, to hire on Sasori and Deidara to watch over her.

A hand grabbed her arm, and Sakura didn't think. Not even bothering to look to see who it was, Sakura grabbed the hand and flipped the person over her shoulder. Or, at least, she tried to. It was a testimony to how much she spared with the Akatsuki for them all to have a good understanding of her moves and how she would react in certain situations, because whoever it was who grabbed her – Sasori, she noticed, from the blur of red hair – foresaw what she was about to do and dug his heels into the ground and sideswiped her feet. It would have worked, too, if not for Sakura knowing Sasori's moves just as well as he knew hers, and caught her balance enough not to tumble to the floor.

Unfortunately, it was a move that was impossible to fully recover from, and Sakura lost a good amount of her balance, enough to makes her sway to her right. Another hand caught her other arm, balancing her. Not that she actually needed it, she told herself.

Sakura growled, "What, Sasori?"

"Leaving so soon, doll-face?" he purred, looking down at her through half-lidded eyes, too close to her body, invading her personal space. And Sakura liked her personal space, thanks.

She raised a delicate pink eyebrow up at him, one that personified just how many fucks she didn't give. "Considering that this floor is covered in smoke and whatever other toxins Deidara used to construct his art–" no one could miss the amount of sarcasm she laced that word with, and Sakura saw Sasori's smirk grow larger from her tone, "–I think it's smart of me to get out of here now. You too, if you were smart. Sasuke and Naruto and whoever else they dragged with them when I called them earlier will be here soon, and I'd rather not have to explain to them about all this." She narrowed her eyes up at him and Deidara, who also had a large smirk on his face. Sakura wanted to smack it off him.

"You called those two morons, yeah?" Deidara asked, raising an eyebrow. "You must have been really worried, un."

She sneered at him. "Well, considering I heard an explosion while I was walking by, I think my actions were justified."

"And so you decided to play hero, doll? How very much like you." Sasori tried to pull her farther back against him, and Sakura found that he had a steel-like grip on both her arms. That, paired with how he was holding her in such a way that was nearly impossible to break out of, what with how he'd made sure she was unsteady on her feet, Sasori being the one to keep her in place, put her at a distinct disadvantage. Unless she wanted to actually fight with them both, she was stuck. And she wasn't quite sure yet if that was worth the effort.

Deidara came closer and brushed a strand of her hair out of her face. Sakura forced herself not to flinch and snap at him at the contact. "Well then, I guess you've just saved both of us, doll." Sasori brushed his nose along her cheek, and Sakura was out of room to move. "We'll have to repay the favor soon. It's only fair."

"Oh, trust me," Sakura deadpanned, "had I known it was just you two in here, I wouldn't have bothered."

"Hmm," Sasori purred, low in his throat. His golden eyes gleamed through the thinning layer of haze in the air. In that moment, he reminded Sakura of the cat who got the cream. "I wouldn't mind repaying the favor, though, if it was something like . . . oh, I don't know," –he looked down at her, and Sakura couldn't read the emotions pooling in his eyes right then– "something like yours and Shisui's interaction the other night."

Sakura forced herself not to flush, and blinked lazily up at him. She didn't say anything.

Sakura peaked at Deidara, who was at her side, and like Sasori, he was frozen up. Sakura couldn't quite tell if it was jealousy or arousal or annoyance or desire that filled them both, or everything in between.

Sakura had expected her interaction with Shisui the other night to backfire with the other males at some point or another. While they all undoubtedly enjoyed seeing her up on that stage, flushed and confused and maybe a little aroused, none of them would be okay with it being Shisui who made her feel those things – besides Shisui himself, of course. It was only a matter of time before at least one of the men jumped her with jealousy and desire because of it. It was kind of like dangling a peace of raw steak in front of the starving shark.

Sasori's grip loosened on her arms just the tiniest bit – a reaction from not feeling her struggle since she had tripped into his arms, just like she'd expected and hoped he would do – and Sakura took that moment to decide that yes, it was worth the effort to get serious with them both.

Sakura moved one of her legs enough to make her weight tip over to one side. Sasori reacted without thinking, moving to catch her before she fell, and it was in that moment Sakura took the opportunity to swipe his own feet out from under him. Deidara lunged at her, and Sakura barely gave him a thought before her fist collided with his shoulder, making him release a huff of air in surprise. Sasori was on the floor, and when Sakura tried to walk away, his arm shot out to attempt to grab one of her legs, but he was only able to touch the end of her shoe, and couldn't get a hold of her.

Sakura didn't look back as she ran up the stairs and down the main hallway to the doors leading outside.

Once outside, Sakura coughed a little bit, a reaction to the clean air after being inside the smoke filled hallway. Naruto and Sasuke were on her before she could blink twice.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto grabbed her up in a hug . . . or at least tried to, because she was bent over with her hand on her throat, and Sasuke beat him to it and grabbed him by his jacket to give her some air. He looked down at her, and had Sakura not been lifelong friends with him, she would have missed the tightening of his jaw and flicker of worry in his eyes. It was that bit of emotion that Sakura knew if he got his hands on Deidara and Sasori, they'd both be dead.

The Akatsuki members were all powerhouses in their own rights, be it fighting skills or power or influence, but Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha could give any of the members a run for their money. If he was angry and determined enough, Sakura had no doubt Sasuke could ruin members like Sasori and Deidara.

Maybe it was because Sakura didn't want Sasuke to go to that trouble to get rid of them and have to deal with the effort of it all – especially since the Akatsuki wouldn't be pleased – or maybe it was simply because Sakura had come to the conclusion a long time ago that if anyone was going to get to quietly murder any of the Uchihas or Akatsuki, it was going to be her, goddamn it, but Sakura decided that she needed to tread carefully, and cool down the flame that was in Sasuke's eyes before he did something rash.

Sakura doubted any of them would find Sasori and Deidara now; they both knew how to disappear when they wanted to, and Sakura highly doubted they wanted to explain to anyone why the building was filled with smoke, least of all Sasuke and Naruto, who both looked mightily pissed off and worried about getting a call from Sakura about running into a possibly on fire building.

When she stopped coughing, Sakura asked, "Did you call–?"

"Yes," Sasuke interrupted her gruffly, looking over her shoulder at the building. "I called campus security and the fire department. They're on their way." He nodded at Naruto, who took the cue and lifted her up and off the ground before she could protest.

"Hey–"

Sasuke gave her a withering glance and talked over her. "We need to get out of here before anyone else shows up. I doubt you want to explain to anyone about this, since I doubt anyone else will be found in the building."

Sakura gave a noncommittal sound. It didn't surprise her that Sasuke and Naruto had already worked out that this was undoubtedly done by the Akatsuki members who enjoyed blowing things up and bickering about art, since it was in the art building they'd just left. The boy worked fast, and Sakura idly wondered if he had given a gruff and angry call to Itachi demanding an explanation.

And he knew her well enough to know the last thing she wanted to do right then was get interrogated by campus security and fussed over by the fire department about possible smoke inhalation. It wouldn't look good that she was the only one around when the explosion went off. Not that she was particularly worried about getting blamed for it, but it was just something she didn't want to deal with.

It was enough to make her stop struggling against Naruto's hold, who just kept grinning cheekily down at her, his grip unbreakable, even to her right then. Then something occurred to her. "How did you two get here before anyone else?"

Sasuke didn't even bother to look over his shoulder when answering her, keeping his brisk pace towards the parking garage. "I may have broken some traffic laws."

Sakura blinked. "That's always nice to hear from a police officer."

"Hn."

When they got to the parking garage, Sakura reached for her keys and realized Naruto had picked up her backpack from where she'd dropped it outside the art-deco building before she'd run in. She tried to reach for it to take it from him, but he just held it out of her reach and held up her car keys, still grinning way too cheekily for her taste. "Nu-huh, Sakura-chan. No way the teme and I are letting you drive right now."

Sakura frowned. "I'm not even dizzy! You two are acting like I'm half-dead or something."

Sasuke just glared at her while Naruto continued grinning, and Sakura realized she wasn't going to win this battle. She huffed and waved Naruto towards her car.

He carried her over and dropped her in the passenger seat, moving her backpack to the back of the car. When he attempted to try to buckle her in, Sakura almost bit his hand off. Naruto backed away, hands in the air, smiling. In the next second he was in the driver's seat, and Sakura let her head fall back against the seat and prayed with every fiber of her being that Naruto didn't total her car like he'd done with his last three cars.

Author's Note: Sorry about how long it took me to finish this chapter. I have just been so unmotivated to write lately. It's awful. The one good thing is that I haven't just been working on this story, but started another Sakura centric story that will most likely be a oneshot. This one is more supernatural/fantasy where it's not set in the Naruto universe but not present day or anything like that either. I got really excited when I had the idea, and just ran with it. Right now, it's currently at about 15,000 words and I'm not nearly done yet, so it will probably be a 30,000 word oneshot eventually. No idea when that one will come out for ya'll to read, though.

Thank you to everyone who has been taking to the time to read this story and it's prequel and favorite/review. If I'm taking too long to update another chapter, remember that leaving a review can get my butt in motion and helps me write. Recently I've just been busy with work and stress, and sometimes I get home and just want to read or watch something. I'm also going to back to school around the week of August 17-ish, so the amount of updates and how long each chapter will be will decrease unfortunately. I'm in my junior year of Forensic Science, so I already know it's going to be painful. (The joy.)

But seriously . . . reviewing or sending me a PM can seriously get my butt into my writing chair. I mean that.

I'm intending to add as many characters as I can handle, and this chapter has introduced Kakashi, Yamato, and Lee. More will come. I've mentioned Neji, Hinata, and Sai in previous chapters and Sakura's Moronic Best Friends, and I do want them to have a place in this story. Also . . . Naruto's parents. Obviously they will be making appearances, and I'm really excited for that. Maybe some Mommy Wars with Mikoto and Kushina? Yes, please.

Not sure how I feel about Kakashi and Yamato's appearances yet. I want them both to have large parts in my story, and I felt like this chapter was kind of rushed and I had to really force myself to write it. So next time I hope will be better. It is what it is. Kakashi will be as perverted as he should be, of course.