I

1, Beginning of a new day

~*~

The sound of a bell was heard all over the school grounds, where soon after the students appeared in their uniforms and scattered, off to their first lessons of the day. Breakfast time was over and a long day was ahead of everyone. Well... almost everyone. There were always the delinquents who liked their sleep more than their education.

In the western school building on the third floor in a classroom that looked out over the lake, a man with a mask covering the lower half of his face sat at his desk. An orange book was in his hands, but in this rare moment the man wasn't looking at its content. Instead he was staring outside and enjoying the morning sun shining over the forest and the lake.

Within the next couple of minutes the door to the classroom opened and students filed in, going to their own seats and some took out their books. The silver haired man sitting at the desk watched as they came, knowing every student by name. He was told that today he'd have a new student in his sophomore class, but as far as he could see, no one new had entered. All students had taken their seats, the door was still left open and would stay that way.

"All right, class," the man began, getting the attention of everyone. "Grab your books and open them at chapter eight." The kids opened their books and the teacher put away his own lecture to grab his own lesson material. "So, I hope you've had a nice weekend and slept well, because we're straight down to business as of now."

The groans of some of the students died away as hurried footsteps were heard and a pink haired girl entered the room.

"Sorry I'm..." The girl fell silent as she noticed all gazes were on her. "...late."

So this was the new girl. "Well hello there," the teacher called out. "Welcome to my class. I am Kakashi Hatake, I teach English and Literature, and I am your mentor. Will you introduce yourself to the rest of the students?"

The girl came out of her stupor and walked uncertainly to the front of the class. "My name is Sakura Haruno."

It was quiet, as if everyone expected more to be said, but nothing came. "Well then, take a seat," the teacher told her while motioning to the students. "Anywhere is fine."

Sakura looked around herself and soon saw two bright blue eyes staring at her. The blond boy whose eyes belonged to smiled as she caught his stare and motioned to the seat next to him. Supposing the seat was as good as any, the pink haired girl walked to it and sat down.

"I'm Naruto!" The energetic voice and huge grin caused the girl to blink before smiling back at him and saying it was nice to meet him. Sakura noticed the teacher was continuing with the lesson, so she grabbed her own books, inwardly complimenting herself on already having gone and seeking out her books this morning.

"So you're new here?" Sakura nodded at the blond's question while trying to focus on what the teacher was saying. "When did you arrive?"

"Yesterday."

"Have you met anyone interesting?"

The girl turned her head to her right and looked at him. Wasn't he going to stop asking questions? The lesson had already started... The grin that met her eyes was answer enough to that. "I have," she answered him. He seemed to contemplate this for a moment, because it went silent. Relieved, Sakura returned her attention to the teacher.

"You wanna sit with me and my friends during lunch?"

"Ugh, Naruto, shut up!" Another voice had spoken up before Sakura was able to retort.

"Why would I? Sakura's new and seems nice and—"

"That doesn't matter! I'm here to learn and—"

"Why won't you all be quiet?" Another new voice, this time coming from the dark haired boy sitting to Sakura's left.

"I tell you what," Kakashi spoke up, "You be quiet and work on the assignments I've just told you about, so I can—"

"Read porn," someone finished. Immediately the class began laughing. Kakashi didn't seem bothered by it at all. "A great idea," he said, truly liking the proposal. "I suggest you do the same in your free time. Perhaps you'd mature a bit." With this, he walked to his chair and sat down, then picked up the orange book and began reading.

"He can't be serious," Sakura stated, appalled.

"Oh, he is," Naruto answered her.

The class was quiet for a while, save for some chuckles whenever Kakashi turned a page. Needless to say, Sakura hoped that the other teachers were slightly more sane. Just slightly would suffice.

When the bell rang, Naruto cheered and pulled Sakura off her chair and into the hallway. Sakura, who had barely been able to grab her books in time to stuff them in her bag she haphazardly carried with her, found she might as well let herself be dragged as she found out that Naruto was heading to the same class she should be heading to. Soon the hallways were kind of crowded, but not nearly as much as Sakura was used to in her previous school. Still, she had a little trouble hearing what Naruto was saying to her. "That guy to your left was Sasuke, he's a jerk so you shouldn't hang around him. Ino's okay though, don't let yourself be fooled. Hinata was sitting in front of me. She's quiet but really nice, you'd like her."

They rounded some corners and entered another classroom. "History!" Naruto exclaimed, "This class is so funny; the teacher, Gai, prances around and stuff while telling us stories about the past. You've never known history until you've met him."

They kept standing in front of the classroom as Naruto told Sakura about previous events that had happened in that classroom. The founding of America seemed to have been particularly funny, as if they'd been watching a soap series unfold. Meanwhile other students came in and went to their seats.

"You gonna sit in front of me?"

Sakura pondered that for a moment. Sure, Naruto was really nice and all, but he was certainly a distraction. "I think—"

"Sakura!"

The sensation of someone putting arms around her came over Sakura, who recognized the voice and smell of the person. Who wouldn't, when said smell and voice had haunted you all night long. Sakura quickly came to realize that Naruto wasn't nearly as much as a distraction as this person. She felt herself being pulled flush against someone from behind and a hand pushed some strands of hair behind her ear whereafter a kiss was planted in her neck. "Deidara," Sakura sighed, blushing despite not wanting to.

"You!" Naruto yelled, still standing in front of Sakura and thusly damaging her hearing. That is, if she had actually been paying attention.

"Me," Deidara said, sounding extremely full of himself.

"Get away from her!"

Deidara only grinned like a devil. "Hell no." As if to make his point clear, he leaned down and gave Sakura's neck another kiss.

Somewhere around this point Sakura got herself back together and freed herself of Deidara's grip. She turned around and faced him. "What exactly is the meaning of this?"

The guy raised an eyebrow and quickly stepped forward to pull her flush against him again. His face came down and hovered mere centimeters above hers. "You didn't seem to mind it last night, hmm."

There was a noticeable silence that followed after this comment. It was broken only when a particularly bouncy and particularly green teacher entered the classroom. "Everyone, get to your seats!"

Sakura's hands, both of them, were grabbed and she was pulled through the classroom. However, just when she passed the table in the middle of the room, where Naruto had sat down, she became to object of a tug-o-war; Naruto holding one hand and Deidara holding the other.

"Children!" Gai scanned the room with his eyes, standing in front of the class with his hands on his hips. Sakura felt the tension rise as neither of the guys intended to let go of her. Luckily, help came from a red haired boy, also very familiar, who slapped both alien hands away and pushed her in a chair. Sakura landed with an 'oof' and a sigh, and was relieved that when the teacher looked her way, he only smiled and proceeded with writing something on the blackboard.

Sakura took the opportunity to look behind her and soon found who she was looking for. She smiled at Sasori who was sitting in the very corner of the room, next to Deidara who sat behind her. Naruto sat to her left and glared at the two. "Don't look at them," he said to Sakura in a hushed tone.

"You're looking at them," she countered.

"I'm not smiling all lovey-dovey at them."

"Neither am I."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"You shouldn't hang around with those guys!"

"Exactly!" All eyes went to the front of the class. Ah, yes. Gai had been explaining. "That's what America said, but North Korea wouldn't listen. And so they turned to China and..."

Sakura and Naruto settled down and decided to listen to Gai rather than argue. Behind them, silent snickering could be heard.

When the bell rang, Sakura could honestly say that she agreed with Naruto on the subject 'Gai'. He was a phenomenon in himself. Both Naruto and Sakura didn't bring up the subject of 'Deidara and Sasori'. They walked through the hallways when Naruto asked what she had next. Turned out they both had gym of the fearsome Anko Mitarashi, as did Sasori and Deidara, as they so subtly let them know when they passed each other on their way outside. ("See ya in gym, sweetie, twerp, hmm!") They exited the building and walked past the eastern school building, where they soon saw the sports fields, with the indoor sports building on the other side that contained the locker rooms.

"Come on," Naruto said, urgency filling his voice. He began walking faster along the fields, where a reasonably sized group of students had begun running lapses. Sakura inwardly sighed. It would seem that Naruto really talked too much. While they had walked, Naruto had pointed at lots of things and commented about people they passed by. Turned out it had taken too much time... "I think we're late," he commented.

"You think?" They both turned to look right and saw Deidara running up to them. "Don't think, hmm. Run!"

"Who are you to tell us that, huh?" Naruto seethed at the long haired blond who was currently jogging in one place. Nevertheless, Naruto and Sakura began running anyway and Deidara ran along with them.

"I'm not telling you to pester you, however much I'd want to, twerp, but it's for your own sake."

Call it fate, but not a second later a loud voice boomed over the fields. "You two! You're too late!"

"See ya," Deidara said before he parted and joined the rest of the group as Sakura and Naruto went into the locker rooms and dressed for gym.

"Sorry we're late," Sakura said as she came before Anko, a purple haired woman with a spiky ponytail, someone whose aura practically screamed authority.

"I heard all about you," the woman said.

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "Really?" She wouldn't have thought she'd made such an impression in the past two lessons.

"Yes, I have. You don't have to run the lapses." Naruto and Sakura sighed. "What are you sighing for, mister?"

Immediately, Naruto's eyes widened and he gulped. "What?"

"Run! Little brat, do you think you have an excuse for tardiness?" As a deflated Naruto started jogging away, Anko continued. "The rest of you, follow me."

The class walked after her and Sakura had time to recognize Ino, the girl with long white blond hair, and Hinata, the timid, purple haired girl, her long hair shiny in the sun. Sasuke, the dark haired boy, with equally dark eyes as she saw now, was there too.

"I believe someone deserves a thank you here." Deidara came walking next to her.

Sakura just sighed. "What for? Having Naruto run lapses? Embarrassing me in front of him?"

"No... I was thinking more of the fact that I've saved you from running those lapses. And what do you mean, 'embarrassed'?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "I like you, and I don't care if anyone can see us when I hold you." Sakura became increasingly uncomfortable, she didn't really like where this conversation was headed towards... Especially considering anyone could hear them... and he just said he didn't care. Joy. "And I don't care if they see us..." He lifted her chin and—

"Woah, stop, stop!" Sakura quickly flailed around with her hands and Deidara dropped his own that previously held her chin.

"Okay, fine, hmm."

Sakura inwardly let out a relieved breath. Last night she'd wondered if she'd lost herself because of what he, this blond daring guy, had done. She thanked the gods that she could still say no if she so pleased.

"I still want a thanks, though. And it had better be something good."

Anko had come to a stop and everyone halted. "Push ups, everyone! Except for you of course, Sakura."

The students got down to the ground and Sakura watched as they began the horrendous task. Some of them didn't have a problem with it, though. Sakura saw a guy with silver, slicked back hair who held one arm on his back. What was he, a masochist? The girl shivered and looked away. Sasori didn't break a sweat and Deidara, too, was faring well and didn't seem tired at all. To think they'd previously been running... Sakura herself would've been toast if she'd been asked to perform like this.

"It had better be good," Deidara repeated.

When the bell rang, Sakura realized she'd never, ever been so grateful for a break. True, she didn't have to perform the absolute worst Anko told them to do, but that in itself should explain just how great she was at gym. Just thinking of how lucky she'd been made her think of what lay ahead of her. The thank you.

"Come with me, Sakura," Naruto's voice came from her left as they walked back to the main building, where the cafeteria resided. Sakura let herself be led by the blond boy and they walked to a table where others their age sat, ate and chatted. She recognized a few, Ino and Hinata for a first, and a girl who wore her brown hair in two buns. She'd seen her during gym. A blond girl with pigtails, four of them, sat at the table next to the one they stood at, she'd seen her in gym too, along with a boy she vaguely remembered from her first class, with red hair and black rimmed eyes.

"They are with us, too," Naruto explained. "We have both tables." Sakura nodded absently, trying to place the faces or match them with a name.

"Why don't you sit down, Sakura, was it?" Ino had spoken and patted the chair next to her. Smiling at her, Sakura walked to her made to sit down. She hadn't even gotten far or Naruto had yelled her name loudly so everyone could hear and pointed at her. Way to go introductions. Sakura waved somewhat awkwardly and turned her attention to Ino, who began speaking.

"Let's have a formal introduction: My name is Ino Yamanaka, you can tell me everything."

"She loves gossips," the brown haired girl with buns said.

"I just like to be in the know," Ino retorted. "And that's Tenten, our lovely tomboy."

"Haha, funny." Tenten rolled her eyes and gave Sakura a smile from where she sat in front of her. "Ino talks too much. Don't mind her." Sakura nodded and smiled a little, before returning her attention to Ino, who was impatiently tapping her nails on the table. She stopped as soon as she noticed Sakura paying attention to her and began talking again.

"And this cute girl over here," Ino pulled Hinata to herself, who was sitting to her left, "is Hinata Hyuga, niece of the wonderfully sexy Neji—"

"Ah, stop calling him that!" Tenten interrupted, putting her hands on her ears.

"I'll call him whatever I want, Tenten. Just because you... All right, fine, I won't say it, but I won't have to, because everyone already knows anyway."

"Talks. Too. Much." Again, Tenten. A very frustrated Tenten.

"But anyway," Ino started again, "Neji is a bad boy. I'll tell you all about the bad boys and bitches and other titles once we're done introducing. Over there," Ino pointed at the guy sitting in front of Hinata, who had brown frizzy hair and red cheek marks, "is Kiba Inuzuka... who currently looks stoned..."

"No I don't," Kiba said, resting his head on his hand and his elbow on the tabletop. "I'm truly fascinated by your intelligent conversation..."

"You don't have to listen."

"Of course I do. You're funny. So, Tenten... Neji, huh?"

"Shut up!" Kiba erupted in a laughing fit and Tenten punched his on the head to shut him up herself.

Naruto walked over from where he had been standing at the other table and sat down in front of Ino. "And that, as you know, is Naruto Uzumaki, the famous trouble maker but most of all: a nice guy with too many friends but can't stop himself from befriending anything that walks on two legs."

"Thank you, thank you," Naruto stood and bowed in multiple directions, after which he sat down again. "But what's wrong with many friends? That's about the one thing I can think of that I've never gotten into trouble with."

"True," Ino admitted. "But the day will come, I assure you!"

"Yeah, right," Naruto said, then he stood up again. "I'm gonna get something to eat and drink, want me to get you something, too?" He looked at Sakura, who gave him a smile and nodded. When Naruto walked away Ino continued with her introductions.

"Okay, at the other table: Behind Kiba, at the corner? That's Gaara, the silent one. His sister Temari, the one with the blond pigtails, is sitting next to him. She's really cool when you get to know her, but to the rest of the school she's considered a real bitch. On Temari's other side is Shikamaru, the lazy genius. On the other side in the corner, opposite of Gaara, is Kankuro, Temari's little brother, but he's older than Gaara. Next to him, opposite Temari, is Lee. He's hyper and adores Gai, note the similarities between them, but he's a good guy. Then, finally, there's Chouji, the... big one. Don't call him fat. Never do that."

She stopped and took a deep breath, then took a sip of her drink and a bite of her sandwich.

"There are all kinds of people at this school," Ino started again. "I won't be telling you to hang around us and stay away from certain others, because that's entirely up to you to decide. However... I will tell you to watch out. The school is like an ocean filled with fish, all kinds of fish. Big ones and small ones, all kinds of colors and varying behaviors. Fish like to stay in groups, it's for protection, you know. There are big fish who like to hurt smaller ones, those who prey on anything not their kind... You also have those that look pretty and entice you, but they're really dangerous."

Ino sipped her drink once more and watched Sakura. "You're new in this ocean, so you might not know where to go at first. But I suggest you move quickly, before something gets to you. I can tell you one thing, and that's that you're safe with us. We're all for one and one for all, no matter how small you are."

"Wow, Ino, that was deep."

"I know, Kiba. I have my moments."

"Give her an applause, I'd say," Tenten muttered.

"Don't be mean," Ino said to her. "But, more importantly; are you following me, Sakura?"

The pink haired girl nodded. "I am, don't worry. So I have to stay away from the bad fish."

"Exactly!" Ino got closer to Sakura and pointed at a group of people on the other side of the cafeteria. "Those are the ones who call themselves the 'Sound'. Ridiculous, I know, but don't go and say they're not entirely 'sound' in the head, because they'll maim you."

"You're kidding me," Sakura uttered. "You can't do that."

"Oh, yes they can. And they will if you provoke them. That's the key word: Provoke. Stay to yourself or to your group, or you'll get yourself in trouble. Now, who do you see?"

"With them?"

"U-huh."

"A girl with red hair, long red hair, and glasses. Another girl with long black hair, a brown skinned guy and a fat guy. Someone with gray hair... another one with white hair, oh, and another white haired one. And there's someone with orange hair... and he's tall."

"All right. Those aren't all of them, but remember the faces. These three names are important: Karin, the red haired chick. She's the greatest bitch of all times. Suigetsu, the white haired one... the one with short hair, that one. He likes to hurt you, he likes to fight and he doesn't care if you're a girl. Last but certainly not least: Kimimaro. He's the other white haired one, with two red dots tattooed on his forehead. He is kind of their leader. Watch out for them."

Sakura nodded. "So, that's all?"

"That's all?" Ino began laughing. "Absolutely not. The Sound only get you when you provoke or when you're particularly unlucky and get in their way. They aren't planning or scheming anything."

Sakura was silent for a bit, and Hinata, Kiba and Tenten were quiet, too. "Then who are?"

"Over there," Tenten said, and she pointed to a corner, away from the windows.

"They don't need provocation. They'll provoke themselves. They pick targets, they plan, they scheme. They'll get you if you aren't careful. They judge everyone who's new and brand them; you're either clear and safe, or you're doomed. But in a group you're relatively safe. Take Gaara, he used to be one of their worst victims, but now he's safe. Getting friends with Naruto kind of does that to you, I suppose."

"They call themselves..." Kiba let the sentence linger, building up tension, "...the Akatsuki."

"Tremble, tremble," Tenten added, sarcasm dripping off her words. "They're just a bunch of wannabe criminals. If given the chance, I'm sure they'd chicken out."

"Tenten, that's a load of crap and you know it." Ino glared at her. "Seriously, the Akatsuki are..."

"Are what?" Tenten questioned.

"Hello there, hmm." For some reason, the volume in the cafeteria seemed to go down.

"Hi there!" Ino stated overly cheerfully.

Sakura turned to look at Deidara, who was standing near Tenten. "Hey," she muttered, looking away again.

"What were you girls talking about?"

"I'm not a girl," Kiba said, but not as vehemently as he'd have wanted to. The comment was lost on Deidara anyway, safe for a leer in Kiba's direction.

"Bad fish," Ino said quickly.

"Excuse me, hmm?" Ino swallowed nervously and repeated herself. "Bad fish. We were talking about bad fish." As she ended her sentence, emphasizing the words 'bad fish', Ino watched Sakura out of the corner of her eyes, but when she saw that Sakura was zoning out, she opted for nudging her. Roughly.

"Ouch!" Sakura glared at Ino. "What?"

"Bad fish." Ino nudged her head towards Deidara.

"Huh? Oh. Fish, bad fish. Yeah. You mean the stuff you had last week and that nearly made you choke?"

"Yes, exactly."

Deidara stared at them, what made them wonder whether or not he was buying it. "O-kay... I'll make sure not to ask again."

Ino nodded eagerly and smiled. "Oh, that's fine."

The blond guy eyed her suspiciously before turning to Sakura. "If you want to eat something or want to have a drink..." He eyed the rest of the persons sitting at the table, "...or if you want to hang around other people, you can come to where I'm sitting." Again, his eyes went over the others in a quick glance, and he added as an afterthought, "Alone." Then he walked over to Sakura and nuzzled her from behind. "Still waiting for the thank you... hmm." Sakura sat stiffly, frozen to the spot. Deidara got up a bit and rested his head atop hers, while looking the others in the eyes, one by one. "Choose wisely, Sakura."

"Choose what?" Sakura managed to say.

"Your friends, Sakura. Let me give you some advise. Ditch these losers. They're contagious." He planted a kiss on her head. "I expect to see you before the end of today's lessons, hmm. If not, expect me to come visit you tonight." With these words he parted, leaving some dumbfounded people behind.

"Sakura..." Ino started after a moment of silence, "What have you gotten yourself into?"

Sakura sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I don't know..."

Tenten and Kiba could be heard sighing. "Fine, I believe it... somewhat. I still don't think they'd kill you or anything." Tenten shot a furtive glance at Deidara's form who'd arrived at his own table and had sat down between a blue haired girl and Hidan, the guy with silver slicked back hair who she knew from gym. "Sakura, I have to agree with Ino on this matter. Those people give off some weird vibes."

"You sure you won't get raped tonight?" Kiba joked.

"Kiba!" Ino glared at him derisively. "Don't do that." She turned to Sakura. "You can not let them into your room, they'll know where you sleep and you'll never get rid of them."

Sakura stared at her.

"What?" Ino asked tentatively.

"...Too late."

"No!"

"Smart move, Sakura," Tenten added. "Perhaps you should invite them for dinner, too. Oh, wait, I know! Announce that you'll be his girlfriend! I'm sure that'll make them think you don't know what to do with this situation!"

"Come on," Sakura crossed her arms. "I thought they were okay, so I let them show me around. No big deal, right?"

"Doomed," Kiba said, and he began to cross himself.

"Well, what do you guys want me to do about it?"

Ino let out a sigh and finished her meal. "There are numerous possibilities. But first, let me tell you about bad boys. We have countless of them, but some of them aren't all that bad. In the rule, bad boys are mean, strong, smart and generally bad for you, hence the name. The Akatsuki is the only group that consists solely of bad boys, so I'll tell you now that Deidara is not okay. There's Konan too, but she's what we call a bad girl, or otherwise known as a bitch. You can see them as mean and hurtful, but they're girls and will use more subtle ways for hurting you, though there are a lot of them who wouldn't be afraid to get into a fight."

Sakura looked over to where the so called Akatsuki sat at the table in the corner, though they used the table nearest to them to dump their bags on and pulled its chairs over to the table they sat at themselves. There were eight of them, all guys with the exception of Konan, the blue haired girl.

"What you can do," Tenten began, "is go to them right now, face Deidara and... well, kiss him or something. He obviously want something like that."

"But do tell him that was his thanks, and it meant nothing. Get back to us immediately after, don't agree to anything they say. Got it?" Ino stared Sakura in the eyes, who avoided her gaze and looked at the Akatsuki before shivering.

"Fine then... There aren't any other options?"

"Rape!" Kiba cheered.

"Kiba!" Ino and Tenten shouted at the same time, and Tenten whacked him up his head.

"I get it," Sakura sighed.

"It's for the better, truly, I know," Ino tried to comfort Sakura, who let out a sigh once again.

"Well, Here I go," she said, and stood up.

"Remember what I told you, Sakura! Get right back to us, they won't do anything with us near."

"I will, and thanks, Ino." Ino smiled at her and Sakura smiled back, albeit not very convincingly. Then she walked away as the girls and Kiba watched her go to the most feared gang in school.

"We should have told her about the womanizers part," Tenten commented.

Ino's eyes widened. "You think? Shouldn't that be obvious? I mean, look at... them." They saw Sakura stand near Deidara and him talking and smiling at her, while Sakura smiled back. "She doesn't know," Ino said.

"Nope," Tenten agreed.

~*~

First part of the story: START!

Next chapter coming up soon~