Tobi: Kitty-chan does not own Naruto.

Chapter 4

Sasori wasn't at the tree that morning. Sakura probably shouldn't have been bothered by it because he had only been just the once, but she couldn't help but to feel a little down.

When the bell rang, she hurried to her locker, quickly throwing her backpack in it, and made her way to class. It was then that she noticed that the usually loud chatter in the halls had been silenced to a barely audible whisper. Sakura glanced up from her book to make sure she wasn't about to run into anyone and to see what was going on and noticed a lot of people staring at her.

Everyone's staring . . . Sakura thought worriedly to Inner.

Tell them to kiss your ass, Inner grumbled back—she became grumpy when she didn't get much sleep.

Sakura stalled for a second, before taking slow, hesitant steps in the direction of her class. She pulled at the neckline of her hoodie, willing it to cover the bandages that were wrapped around her neck. Her head was starting to fill with dread and paranoia, wondering what had made them so curious all of a sudden. They had never bothered her before no matter how bad she looked. Why should having a few bandages make a difference?

Suddenly, she felt someone tap on her shoulder. Sakura jumped, whirling around to came face to face with a blue haired girl. The girl's golden orange eyes looked back into Sakura's foam green orbs, a worried glint swimming across their surface.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay," she replied, her voice sounded familiar. Sakura stared blankly at the girl, trying to figure out how she knew her.

'Why don't you just ask her, dumb ass, instead of standing there and looking like a retard,' Inner commanded.

'Retard is an offensive term,' Sakura murmured.

'Whatever,' Inner grumbled.

"I apologize in advance for having to ask, but who are you?" Sakura asked.

The girl looked surprised, the surprise turned to embarrassment as she smiled gently.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Konan; my boyfriend and I are the ones who found you . . . you know . . ." Konan trailed off, not sure whether she should continue.

"Hey! Can you hear me?" Konan's voice rang in her ears.

Sakura was pulled away from the short memory when she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder. She looked up.

"Are you okay?" Konan asked.

Sakura nodded. "I'm fine," she answered softly.

"Okay, then," the blue haired girl replied unsurely.

"Konan! Come on dammit! Pein won't be fucking pleased if his damn princess is late for the fucking meeting!" a loud obnoxious voice shouted.

Konan looked back at a boy who had bleach blond hair that was slicked back and had purple eyes. He was wearing the same hoodie—with the same peculiar logo on the front—as Konan. He had a scowl on his face, waiting impatiently with his arms crossed.

"Coming!" Konan called back before turning back to Sakura. "Here's my number," she replied, fishing into her pocket, pulling out a piece of paper, and scribbling a few digits on it. "Call anytime for anything," she smiled handing Sakura the slip of paper.

"Konan!"

"I'm coming!" the blue haired girl shouted back, Sakura stared in amazement as the sweet, kind girl—who had just been so nice to her—filled with rage, a murderous look glowing in her golden orange eyes. Konan stomped over to the male and followed him to wherever Pein was.

Sakura glanced down at the slip of paper she was given and thought in amazement at how Konan's handwriting looked so horrible. She expected it to be curly-queue or cute, but it was sloppy and crude.

You really are an idiot. Why are you wasting your time staring at someone's handwriting? Inner complained as the bell rang.

Sakura sprang into action, wanting to get to class before she could get into too much trouble. When she reached her classroom, she knocked quietly and seconds later the door opened, the teacher stood in the doorway with a grim smile on his face.

"Glad to see you're back, Miss Haruno," he replied stepping out of the way so Sakura could enter. "It's too bad your absence hasn't fixed your punctuality," he added.

Go to hell! You have no fu-

Just ignore him, Inner. What have I told you? Sakura grumbled, making her way into the classroom.

But he-

Ignore. Him. Sakura demanded.

Once in the room, the hushed chatter of the classroom went completely silent. As she made her way to the back of the room, Sakura tried to ignore the stares that were boring into her. She was starting to feel uneasy and nervous; she felt that the bandages that were visible made her stand out more than usual.

In the back of the classroom, she continued as if the attack had never happened, as if she wasn't suddenly the center of everyone's attention. Everything was becoming normal.

So when the bell rang—signaling the end of class—she proceeded to pack everything up except her book and read as she walked to her next class and—once again—ran into someone as she was reading. This person was careful about where they grabbed her, as if they knew about where she had been hurt.

"That's that second time this month," a soft voice declared.

"Sorry . . ." Sakura mumbled nervously as Sasori righted her. He stared at her for a moment as if there was something he wanted to say, but something behind her caught his attention before he had the chance.

"Deidara," he greeted with a nod.

"Sasori, we have to go. The plans have been made, hmm," Deidara informed.

Sakura quirked a brow at his odd accent but shrugged it off and turned her attention back to Sasori—a malevolent glint in his eyes that made Sakura nervous. The two males left without warning, leaving Sakura stranded in the middle of the hall.

What are we? Chopped liver? I mean seriously! What the hell was that about? Inner complained, upset that the guys had completely ignored them. Sakura shrugged.

I guess we'll find out later, she sighed.

~(^-^)~

Sakura did find out.

The next day when she got to school she was surprised to not see Ino's group loitering around the picnic tables in front of the school. That's where they usually met up in the mornings.

But this day was different.

Ino was missing, as were all the guys in her group; Hinata was twiddling her index fingers and blushing every few seconds—like she used to do in middle school before she became friends with Ino—and kept tugging on the hem of her skirt and squeezing her legs tightly together; Tenten was wearing a toboggan plus the hood to her sweatshirt was up and she was wearing sweatpants which was-weird since she usually wore a pair of shorts too short to be legal with a spaghetti strap tank top that revealed too much skin to really be called a shirt; and Temari looked like a four year old dressed her, her usual bad-ass, punk-rocker attire traded with a frilly pink tutu skirt, cheetah print leggings, white tennis shoes, and a lime green Disney princess shirt. All of them looked completely lost.

What . . . The . . . fuck? Inner managed to get out between bursts of laughter.

Just ignore it, Sakura commanded, shifting her eyes from the girls and returning them to her book—trying not to laugh along with her inner personality.

It wasn't long before Sasori met her in the tree with his earbuds in and a smirk playing on his lips. Sakura had guessed at the culprit, but now she knew who it was. She moved over to give him room on her branch and waited for him to take his earbuds out. As soon as he did, she started talking.

"Hinata?" she started.

"Aphrodisiac," he answered quickly.

"Tenten?"

"New haircut."

"Temari?"

"Nothing else to wear . . . Konan thought it was cute . . . For a two year old," Sasori answered with an evil grin. Sakura gave a small amused smile.

"Ino and the guys?" she finished.

"You'll see," he answered, a dangerous glint in his deep brown eyes.

Sakura couldn't help but start to notice that he had beautiful eyes. They held so many mysteries yet they were so open.

"You know it's rude to stare, little girl," he replied, breaking her out of her trance. Sakura looked away, a blush coating her cheeks, but returned her gaze almost immediately.

"You have beautiful eyes," she replied truthfully. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips when she said this, but then was replaced with a mischievous smirk.

"Yeah . . . I guess you'd be pretty cute if you weren't such a nerd," he teased.

What? I know he didn't! Inner shouted. Sakura had to force herself not to cringe at the volume.

"Oh, gee, thanks. Because, you know, every girl wants to hear that," she snorted sarcastically. It was silent for a few seconds.

"You're starting to open up a little more," Sasori observed.

"I guess that's what happens when you become acquainted with someone," Sakura murmured.

"I guess," he sighed. It was silent again.

"Have you worked on the project any while I was out?" Sakura questioned.

"Are you kidding?" Sasori snorted. "Who do you think I am, brat?"

"Sasori Akasuna? Unless I am mistaken," Sakura answered.

"And do I look like some kind of stupid slacker?" he asked irritably.

"No . . ."

"Alright then."

"So you have been working? Have you found anything?"

"Yes, and no. I haven't found anything."

"Well, if you had a scanner on your copy machine we wouldn't have this problem," Sakura sighed in disdain.

"Yeah, that does kind of hinder our progress," Sasori replied irritably.

"I didn't mean for that to be offensive," Sakura mumbled apologetically.

"I know," he grumbled.

"This project is just so frustrating," Sakura sighed.

"Don't you think that I know that?" Sasori snapped, suddenly losing his patience. It grew quiet yet again between the two.

"See you in fourth," Sakura muttered bitterly, jumping from the tree, the bell ringing as soon as she started walking away.

Sasori sighed in frustration.

"Dammit," he hissed, punching the nearest branch, bruising and scraping a few knuckles in the process.

How could I lose my temper like that? he scolded himself. Girls are so sensitive. She's probably crying right now . . . Serves her right, though; she shouldn't complain so much . . . What am I saying? Kami, I'm hopeless.

He gave another sigh of frustration before jumping from the tree and making his way to his first class.

"Sasori, hmm," a familiar voice penetrated the chaos of Sasori's thoughts.

"What is it, Deidara?" he grumbled, not really in the mood for any of the blonde's antics.

"Leader said to meet on the roof, hmm," Deidara informed him.

Sasori gave another sigh, knowing that for this tardy he might actually get suspended; Baki-sensei absolutely hated him. What was worse was that Sasori hated being late no matter where he was going. He liked being punctual; and when Pein called for these before-class meetings, it pissed him off a little more each time.

I guess I'd rather be at a meeting than in class anyways, he grumbled, cringing when the tardy bell rang.

~(^-^)~

Sakura found out what happened to Ino and the guys almost as soon as she stepped in the building. Pasted on every square inch of wall was a provocative picture of Ino with each of the guys.

Janitors were scurrying everywhere trying to scrape them off the walls before more and more students could rush in and see them. The few that did were either laughing too hard to be able to breathe or were shaking their heads and muttering something like 'slut' or 'whore' under their breaths.

It was bad. It was really bad.

But when Sakura saw it, she almost smiled.

Oh, my, Kami! Where the hell did they find pictures like these? Inner cried through fits of giggles.

I have no clue, and I don't think I want to know either, Sakura sighed.

I do! Man, this is Internet gold, Inner laughed.

You're such a jerk, Sakura grumbled.

You know it. Hey next time you see that Sasori-kid, give him a hug for me, she replied, wiping stray tears from her eyes.

Yeah, yeah . . . Sakura responded before tuning out the voice.

~(^-^)~

Everyone was already waiting on the roof when Sasori arrived, and he internally growled, wondering whose bright idea it was to invite him last, They knew that he had a patience problem.

"Well, now that we're all here . . ." Pein started. Everyone's heads turned to look at their leader.

"I called everyone here to tell you that because of recent vandalizing of the school—and protests from many angry parents who threatened to sue—I am being sent to an alternative school.

There will be no meetings of the Akatsuki or any new missions after I have left. I will be back in two months. You know what to do while I'm gone," he informed, saying his last statement as a dismissal. Everyone started filing off of the roof, whether it be through the door or through the windows in below classes.

"Sasori, before you leave," he called after the redhead who was trying to escape through the door, which was becoming increasingly difficult because Tobi was standing in the way, demanding a cookie from everyone before they could go through.

"Yes, Leader?" he asked approaching the carrot-top.

~(^-^)~

Sakura was actually in her class before the bell rang, thankful that she wouldn't be getting another detention. She gazed out the window, her focus deteriorating as the seconds flew by.

Why so quiet? she asked her Inner, who usually by now was chattering away.

Thinking . . . Inner answered.

About what?

Whether I should tell you or not.

Tell me what?

I don't know, I thought maybe by now you would be able to figure it out.

Figure what out? Dammit, Inner, tell me!

That you like him.

Like who? Sakura was becoming more and more confused with every word that came from Inner.

~(^-^)~

"Don't get into too much trouble," was Pein's only reply.

"What do you mean?" Sasori asked.

"I mean in the next few days she's going to get a lot of shit from them, so don't go overboard," the orange-haired senior smirked.

"She? What are you talking about?" Sasori demanded.

"Sa-ku-ra," Pein sounded it out as if he was talking to a two-year-old.

"What are you talking about?" Sasori questioned, becoming irritated.

"You'll find out soon enough," Pein chuckled. Konan came to his side and they left the roof together. Sasori stood alone and confused.

~(^-^)~

Sasori, Inner giggled.

'What? What are you talking about? I don't like Sasori,' Sakura denied.

'Uh-huh . . . We'll see about that,' Inner replied with a giggle and faded away.