Streetgang Lovers
Chapter Four
Sakura 'harrumphed' and tapped her foot impatiently. Tenten played with a loose strand of hair that had fallen over her eye. Her ears were still burning red with embarrassment, and she dared not meet anyone's eyes. She observed the six other people standing nearby.
Seems like déjà vu.
The Akatsuki were in one corner of the room, all huddled up like sardines in a can. Sakura stood with her arms crossed, glaring daggers into Sasori's soul while Hinata fiddled with her hands, trying to avoid any awkward eye contact. Nobody was speaking to anybody. In fact, the entire office was silent, the only sound being Tsunade as she took yet another swig of sake and hiccupped.
"I cannot get another detention, my dad will kill me," Ino hissed, sitting down on the bench next to Tenten. "And why drag me into it? I'm just an innocent bystander?" Tenten gave her 'the look'.
"Ino? Innocent? Those two words are never allowed to be in the same sentence. Ever. For Kami's sake, you could've given that boy a concussion." Ino pouted.
"At least I wasn't trying to dry hump Hidan in the middle of the hallway."
"TAKE THAT BACK!"
"We all saw it!" The platinum blonde protested, a sinister smile curling across her porcelain features. A vein popped on the side of the brunette's head as she began to make a mental list of all the possible ways to kill Ino. They were then nudged by Hinata who pointed to Tsunade in turn, who was glaring at them both.
"Can't something like this wait for later?"
"Yes Tsunade-sama."
"Good." The bleach blonde cleared her throat and straightened her top. ''I see that you all made it. Let's begin with your assignment.'' She announced, slamming her fist on the desk for emphasis.
''W-What do you mean by that, Tsunade-san?'' Hinata stuttered, afraid of what was to come. The said woman's fiery stare bore across the four girls. "You know, when I assigned this job for you ladies to act as guides for these young men, I was confident that you would do as you were told and not cause any trouble." She paused and shook her head. "Konoha High does not tolerate with this kind of behavior, and out of the entire student body, you four should know that best. Up until now, your records have been clean. I am very disappointed in you."
"But it wasn't even our fault, sensei!" Ino interrupted. "They said-"
"It doesn't matter what they said, Miss Yamanaka." The woman answered in a cold, calculating tone. "That gives no excuse to treat other students in that manner. Please have a seat."
"They're nothing but a bunch of rude, inconsiderate jerks! Why are you still defending them?" The younger blonde spat vehemently, anger building up in every word.
"I said HAVE A SEAT!"
So how did all this happen within the short span of three days since their unfortunate encounter?
*Flashback*
A furious Sakura chased after the band of the Akatsuki who were walking down the hallway whispering in hushed tones.
"GET BACK HERE, REDHEAD! DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO THIS PROJECT BY MYSELF?" The said boy turned briefly to face a fuming pink haired girl, supposedly his partner for some project he had no care for whatsoever. Brushing his disheveled hair to one side, he exhaled in pure annoyance.
"It's twenty minutes a day, not twenty hours. Even if we miss a day, Shizune told us the minimum requirement is around an hour to pass. Calm down Pinky, I have actual business I need to get to.." And with that, he proceeded back down the hallway.
"I WILL NOT FAIL BECAUSE OF YOU!" Sakura quickened her pace and spread both of her arms in front of Sasori, whose face twisted unpleasantly. He veered to the right, and Sakura also moved to the right. His eyes narrowed as he tried dodging to the left, but Sakura was too fast for him.
"God dammit Sasori, just shove her out of the way." Hidan shouted, although he was beginning to enjoy watching this play out between the two.
"You know he wouldn't hit a girl." Itachi reminded him quietly.
"Whatever."
Sasori went for the right once more, hoping to make a clean break, but he didn't count on tripping over Deidara's shoe. As he tumbled backwards, the poor redhead lunged forward, hoping to gain balance. He grabbed the nearest object in sight, which turned out to be the collar of Sakura's shirt. Her jade eyes widened as they both fell to the floor.
''How embarrassing for him." Itachi murmured, and this was the longest sentence by far he had said the entire week.
"YOU PERVERTED IDIOT!" Sakura shouted, slapping him in the face. A five fingered welt appeared on the side of his cheek just moments later. Some freshman girls standing nearby burst into laughter. Tenten, who had been searching for her pink haired friend, appeared from the corner, Ino and Hinata not too far behind. It was Tuesday, and as the girls had promised Tsunade, they were to escort the transfer students to security so the Akatsuki could get their textbooks and other school material.
"Please, pinky. Do you really think Pinocchio would want to make a move on someone like yourself?" Hidan rolled his eyes. "And what's with the hair?"
"Says the one who looks like an old man!" She spat back. "Shouldn't you be doing something more age appropriate, like stalking girls, or doing whatever it is you pedophiles do best?"
"Watch your mouth, Pinky!"
''Shhhh! Guys be quiet!'' Tenten shushed the angry pair. "Shush yourself, panda." Hidan snapped.
''Aren't you bitches supposed to be our guides around here? You're not being very helpful.'' He flicked a piece of lint off of his sweatshirt. ''We're here to escort you to the security building so you can get your ID photos and school materials,'' Tenten explained. "We've been looking for you all day and if we don't head over now, the building is going to close."
"Your friend here had other plans." Hidan laughed, pointing at a fuming Sakura. "Looks like she was trying to get with Sasori over here. Not that she would ever have a chance to though, I mean she's so aggressive I think she's actually a man."
''THAT'S IT!'' Sakura shouted, punching Hidan in the jaw and sending him flying across the hallway, all of which had caught him off guard. ''Oi, are you crazy?'' Sasori asked, staring at her like she had grown a second head. The pink haired girl turned to him, cracking her knuckles and grinning from ear to ear as a psychopath would. Sasori gulped and stepped back.
"What the hell are you doing?"
''Mehehehe. You can't escape me!'' Sakura roared, pouncing on the poor redhead before he could step away in time and began beating him into a pulp. ''Get.. Off.. Me!'' He gasped, feeling the crazy rosette girl jump on top of his back, hoping to break his spine. ''CALL ME UGLY, WILL YOU?'' He scrambled from beneath her and winced as she stomped on his hand.
''Danna! NOOOOO!'' Deidara screamed, watching Sasori get beat up by a furious Sakura Haruno. He ran over and began yanking Sakura off of his danna, but she was attached like a magnet. "Why are you attacking him?"
"You mess with Sakura, you mess with me!" Ino shouted, eyes ablaze as she tackled Deidara to the ground and off of Sakura. Tenten opened her mouth to call Ino back, but no words came out.
Her body was aching to join in. The little devil inside of her was urging to beat up Hidan, and she could, having taken Maito Gai's sparring elective for every term since her freshman year at Konoha High. KYAA! YOU CAN TOTALLY TAKE HIM OUT IN ONE BLOW! Inner Tenten cackled. But why? They had dissed Sakura, not her. But would they have been in this predicament if they hadn't been tasked with babysitting the Akatsuki? She had been wanting to take out all her fury on Neji, but knew it was wrong to displace anger.
A little voice inside her told her not to, that she would get in deep trouble with Tsunade.
Tenten strode over to the delirious Hidan, thinking she would just intimidate him by grabbing him by the collar and haul him over to the security building so the Akatsuki could get whatever they needed and she could get the hell out. What she didn't count on was one of Hidan's books being in the way, courtesy after Sakura punched him As the brunette charged over, she also tripped over it, falling onto him. "OI JASHIN-SAMA, HELL NO!" She heard him yell as her body fell forward onto him. Her hands had managed to grab his collar as planned, but this only made things more awkward for her.
''YOU BASTARD!'' She screamed, a tint of pink rising to her cheeks. Hidan snorted.
''What are you talking about? You're the one that fell on me!'' Then under his breath added, "No wonder you're always getting yelled at by that gym teacher. Your aim is awful."
''You... You...'' Tenten stuttered, quite embarrassed that she had failed to even scratch him.
And when had he been spying on her during gym?!
''I...?''
''AUGH! I HATE YOU! YOU'RE DESPICABLE!'' She screamed, kicking him in the face.
Tsunade walked back from the teacher's lounge, hearing sounds of screaming as she passed the math room. Her cup of coffee dropped to the floor with a crash as she witnessed the scene before her very eyes. Sakura had Sasori in a choking position, gripping his neck with the crook of her arm, while Tenten and Hidan laid tangled up, both of their faces turning the shade of a tomato. Ino and Deidara were arguing about something Tsunade couldn't quite catch, but then Ino chucked her bookbag at his head and the blonde male was knocked out cold. In the midst of all this chaos, Hinata and Itachi stood off to the sidelines, both staring in opposite positions, avoiding each other's gazes as if they didn't know how to have a proper conversation.
''WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?!''
*End of Flashback*
She had thought of this plan for a while now, but hadn't come up with an excuse to try it out yet. Tsunade smiled to herself, passing out several eerily familiar sheets of paper to each pupil. ''I've had enough with all your bickering and whatnot.'' She boomed, ''So I've arranged a special task for all of you. This is a pass or fail deal, so your actions towards each other will determine that.'' Tenten skimmed the paper and paled, much to Tsunade's amusement.
"Tsunade-sama, when did we give you our signatures?" She pointed to the bottom of the page that had been handed to her. The principal smiled.
"I photocopied your signatures from the ambassador agreement sheet."
"This has to be illegal."
''NANI?!'' Sakura screeched, her jaw dropping to the ground. ''You can't do this to us!'' Ino protested, anime tears streaming down her face as she crumpled up the sheet of paper Tsunade had given to her. Hinata had fallen over in a dead faint. The poor girl hit the ground with a deafening thud. Tsunade shrugged. ''It was my last resort. All eight of you will be...Confiscated in a house together until you get along. Consider it community service, or research for future consequences since suspension doesn't seem to do much for students nowadays."
Confiscated? Is that even the right word? Tenten laughed mentally, shaking her head. She's probably so wasted she doesn't even know what she's saying. However, her hopes were crushed as Tsunade turned on her. The smile on her lips vanished within seconds and the brunette realized she wasn't joking, which made the situation even worse.
She had a bad feeling Shizune had a hand in this.
"The directions are written on the paper so you'll know how to get there. Besides, it's only two weeks." The principal waved her hand dismissively. "It's not like you'll do anything, right?''
''YEAH GET LOCKED UP IN A FUCKING HOUSE WITH THESE BITCHES FOR TWO WEEKS!'' Hidan shouted, ''THEY'LL DRIVE ME CRAZY! THIS IS TEENAGER ABUSE!''
''Is this really necessary, un?'' Deidara asked, reading over the paper, his single blue orb twitching. Tsunade nodded.
''And what if we don't?'' Hidan smirked, folding his arms. ''Then you'll all be stuck there for another week.'' Tsunade snickered.
''What about our classes, hmm?'' Itachi pondered outloud.
''It's all been taken care of.'' Tsunade replied. "You're excused from all schoolwork." Hidan pumped his fist in the air.
''This is preposterous! You can't expect me to get along with these gangsters! They'll kill us!'' Sakura ranted. "Just the other day we saw them-" Tenten clapped a hand over her loudmouth friend before she could finish her sentence. Sakura struggled, but the panda haired girl kept a firm grip on her vocal cords. "We're already on bad terms as is," she hissed, leaning in so the others wouldn't hear.
"Do you wish to be their next target? If not, then shut it."
"Our records have been clean up until now, sensei. Can't you let this one slide?" Ino pleaded. Then shooting a look towards Hidan and Sasori, added, "We hardly even know them. How do you expect us to get along?"
''Hey! We are offended!'' Deidara shouted back. ''Do you think we want to be stuck with you for two weeks? HMM?''
''Who are you to tell me, you son of a-''
''I can already tell this is going to be a disaster.'' The amber eyed principal muttered, hiding her head in her hands as Deidara and Ino continued to have a scream fest.
''Question.'' Sasori raised his hand. Tsunade sighed. But it'll all be worth it in the end I suppose.
''Yes Akasuna?''
''When does this start?''
''Two days.''
Pein is gonna have our heads, thought the red haired boy, shaking his head in defeat as the rest of the teens grumbled about how little time they would have to pack or how long they would have to put up with the annoying girls. Namely Sakura and Hidan.
The rest of the school day continued to crawl by. Both groups did their absolute best to avoid any contact with one another. Sakura seemed to be enjoying it quite well, striding through the hallways with her head held high. "Careful where you step, Billboard Brow, you might inflate your ego." Ino joked, rolling her eyes along with Hinata, who giggled. Sakura huffed, her cheeks flushing red. "This whole ordeal is stupid," Ino complained, "I mean some of us didn't even do anything to deserve this." Tenten cocked an eyebrow.
"Says the one who threw her backpack at some poor boy's head. He didn't even do anything to you."
"It was a book bag!"
"That's even worse!"
"All the same, don't you think confining us in some desolate area is a little extreme?" Ino asked, popping a piece of bubblegum into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully. "She could've just given us a week's worth of community service, or lunch duty."
"I agree with Ino." Hinata added, "Father won't be too happy when he finds out I have to spend a week with... Boys." Tenten nodded. Hinata hadn't even done anything. She was too innocent to even hurt a fly. "Sorry Hinata." The Hyuuga heiress shrugged. "Don't apologize Tenten. We're friends." Of course, this statement only made Tenten feel all the more guilty. It happened all so suddenly. "And we only have this afternoon to pack up." Ino sighed, as if reading her thoughts. The bell sounded throughout the hallway. Sakura began shoving her textbooks into her locker. "Where are you going in such a hurry, Forehead girl?"
"We have class with Anko next," she replied grimly. "Unless you want to get stuck sitting by Naruto, I suggest you hurry up."
Tenten couldn't concentrate on anything that afternoon. From studies to eating to gym class, her mind was scattered. "FASTER, YOSH!" Maito Gai called, blowing his whistle. Tenten dodged Lee's fist and counterattacked with a sharp kick to the abdomen. The spandex wearing boy staggered back a few steps, but regained his strength and swung yet another punch towards her. Whose idea was it to spar anyways? Tenten grumped, intercepting his attack with her forearm. Gai was the only one enthusiastically cheering. Everyone else seemed to be off in their own little world. Her eyes scanned the room and a pair of ivory pupils met hers. He stood there with his arms crossed, if he was the least bit interested, he didn't show it. But the way he looked at her was enough to make feel very self conscious.
He was analyzing her every move. Tenten shook her head. He didn't even have P.E. with her, what was he doing here? Lee took her distracted state to his advantage, and delivered a swift blow to her stomach. Tenten flew back and slammed onto the ground. Gai blew his whistle once more as a signal that the match was over before jogging over to help the fallen girl. Tenten winced as he gripped her arm tightly and hoisted her up with his monstrous strength.
"Are you alright, Tenten?" She nodded. "Good, now go shake hands with Lee." She walked over to the thick eyebrowed boy and stuck her hand out. He shook it vigorously.
"Tenten, you must be more focused!" Gai thundered, shaking a finger in her face. "You're usually not this sloppy. Whatever it is, don't let it affect your sparring! DON'T LOSE YOUR YOUTHFULNESS!"
"Okay, okay Gai-sensei. I'll do better next time."
"There's the spirit!"
She scowled, irritated that she had allowed herself to be sidetracked by Neji Hyuuga.
Him and his stupid flowing hair.
Tenten stomped over to the drinking fountain located at the very edge of the gym. She began splashing herself in the face with the water. "Wake up, Wake up!" She reprimanded. "It's not the first time this has happened, why can't you just forget him?" The brunette forced herself to make a mental list of all the pros and cons about Neji. Mainly cons. "Okay, he has long hair, a total turnoff. He rarely talks or shows any sign of emotion, which probably shows he's an egotistical idiot. He's always giving me those weird stares with his eyes and-"
"Hey Panda, are you done with the drinking fountain yet or are you going to talk to your imaginary friend for the rest of the period?" Her head snapped to attention as she came face to face with an impatient Hidan tapping his foot.
"Since when did you take P.E.?" She was still annoyed at Hidan, but mostly embarrassed. He snorted and gave her a look of superiority. "I come as I please." Then leaning in towards her he added, "I saw you lose your sparring match against that kid who wears the ridiculous green suit."
"So did everyone else." She answered, as if his little remark wasn't obvious enough.
''I think you should come up with a nickname for me, Panda.'' She looked at him like he had grown a second head. He really needed to stop calling her that.
''Why?''
''It'll be cute.''
''No it won't. Anyways, I'm done.'' Then turning away, she stalked towards the locker room, ignoring Hidan's call.
Ino was bored. As Anko continued to drone on and on about something called the Cayley equation, she absentmindedly twirled a strand of blonde hair between her fingers. She checked her phone. She braided her hair only to unravel it moments later. She doodled in the corner of her notebook. She did anything but pay attention. The Yamanaka turned to her right. Sakura on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the torturous class. Her hand was propped up, providing a cushion for her chin while her right hand flew across her notebook, hastily scratching down examples and such. In fact, aside from her, everyone seemed to be able to grasp the difficult concept.
''Okay maggots, your homework tonight is to do problems 32-76.'' Anko shouted. ''Class dismissed!'' Ino grabbed her book bag, leaped up from her seat, and bolted towards the door.
''Halt, Miss Yamanaka.'' Anko barked. The blonde begrudgingly stopped in her tracks. She caught Sakura lingering in the doorway and mouthed I'll catch up with you later.
''Yes sensei?'' Anko took a seat on the edge of her desk, fixating the blonde in place with her steely gaze. ''Your grade is dropping, Miss Yamanaka. It's not the first time we've discussed this. You must maintain a B- or higher in order to stay in my class.'' She made a clicking sound with her tongue. ''I'll give you a week to get your grade up and there's a test coming up as well. You have plenty of time to get yourself sorted.''
''But Tsunade-sama has ordered me under some kind of house arrest. I don't think it's possible for me to-''
''Oh I've heard all about it,'' the purple haired woman laughed mildly, ignoring Ino's baffled face, ''You'll just have to do all your studying there and when you come back, there'll be a test waiting. Good luck!'' And with that, the platinum blonde was shooed out the door, with numerous questions swirling through her mind and Sakura nowhere to be found. Ino huffed.
Great, not only was she being subjected to cruel punishment, but also had a week to save her grade. ''This must be some kind of curse.'' She moped, feeling very sad for herself. Of course, this was a typical Ino thing to do. Stuffing her math textbook into her bag, the depressed blonde heaved a sigh of exasperation.
''Oi, doll face.'' It was none other than Deidara.
''What do you want?'' She snapped, not even bothering to avert her eyes as she continued walking down the hallway. Deidara scampered after her but kept a distance as he noticed she had adorned a pair of violet high heels.
''C'mon don't ignore me like that, un.'' She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him, her normal sky blue eyes now blazing like lapping flames. He smirked and leaned against a wall. ''That isn't a very pleasant welcome, un.''
''Tch, whatever.'' She huffed. ''Aren't you supposed to be in class?'' He kicked the ground and shrugged.
''I could say the same for you, un.''
''I was held up by Anko-sensei.'' The girl replied, rolling her eyes. ''Unlike you, I have a valid reason to be missing the first quarter of class.''
''So I heard you're having trouble with math, un.'' She made a face.
''Eavesdropper.''
''And you have a week to get it up before you're dismissed, un?''
''What's it to you?'' His eyes only twinkled as his smirk widened and Ino wished she could slap the everything out of him but they were already in deep trouble as was.
''I could help tutor you, un.''
She searched his face for any signs of possible trickery, but failed to. He was dead serious.
''T-Tutor me?''
''You heard me, un.''
''What's the catch?'' He shrugged.
Ino eyed him suspiciously. ''I chucked a book bag at your head.'' She replied flatly. ''Why the sudden change of attitude?'' Her eyes widened. ''Unless... Kami-sama.. DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON ME?''
Deidara looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock and hide for the rest of his life. He took hold of Ino's wrist. ''Just come with me, un.'' He ordered, ears burning red with embarrassment. She struggled free of his grasp. ''Hey! You didn't answer me!''
''I said come with me, un.'' He hissed, lips dangerously close to her ear. ''What class do you have next?''
''Art.'' Came the now timid reply.
The following night, Tenten took the liberty of actually creating a list of what to pack. This entire ordeal was thrown at them on such short notice, but leave it to their evil principal to make life difficult. Despite the unfortunate events that had occurred during the course of that day, she came to the conclusion that it really wouldn't help anyone if she was acting like a total whiner. In merely two days, she would be living with the same group of people and secretly prayed that Sakura would be able to hold in her anger for that long.
''I guess I'll just have to make the most out of it.'' She shrugged, placing her toothbrush and toothpaste into a small Ziploc. Unlike Ino and Sakura, Tenten really wasn't one to be worried about the 'house arrest'.
''Think of it as a small vacation from school, life, and everything else that makes you unhappy.'' By 'everything else that makes you unhappy', one could see that this was an obvious reference to Neji Hyuuga.
Two days later, all eight teenagers packed their bags and met Tsunade in front of the school gates. ''Remember, I will be watching EVERYTHING.'' She laughed maniacally. ''Good luck!'' The principal cheered, watching eight miserable bodies move farther and farther away from the school grounds.
Everyone seemed miserable that morning. After being told they would have to walk six miles to reach their destination, all of them considered jisatsu. It was five thirty in the morning and Sasori pointed out that if Tsunade wanted them to get there anytime soon, she should have moved the time to noon since most teenagers didn't wake up until then.
"We're wasting valuable sleeping hours." He grumbled.
''How much longer?'' Ino whined, hauling her heavy bags along the ground, each one painted a different color of the ocean that matched her eyes, and each one weighing from forty to fifty pounds. The sight would look ridiculous to a stranger, a petite girl toting two large suitcases, (each of which was twice her size) while hauling a duffel bag which held her math book from hell and purse in the other. She exhaled through her nose sharply, which was a very unattractive sight for a person like Ino.
''This stupid place has no reception whatsoever! Does anyone who has a watch care to tell me the time?''
''About ten minutes, un.'' Deidara replied. "Do you really find it important to bring that much stuff?"
"It's not that much!" She retorted defensively. "I'm going to be away from home for Kami knows how long. I have to be prepared."
''Whatever you say, un." He was about to go ahead when he heard Ino scream. ''What is it?'' He demanded, stepping beside her.
''J-Just a spider.''
He sweatdropped.
''I think we're here.'' Itachi muttered as he caught sight of a random white house planted in the middle of the forest. The exterior was furnished a soft cream color with white marble steps. It was two stories, complete with a rather large swimming pool on top of the roof and was surrounded by trees from all sides. Tenten came to a halt, deadpanned.
"Well now we all know where Tsunade-sama invests the school funds in."
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
A/N: End of Chapter Four! It looks like the plot is starting to unfold. Everything will be clear soon. So what do you think? Reviews would be nice :3
Sparkle^^