Yays, yays, yays for author's notes! Yes, I know I'm weird. Weird and loving it. :)
Anyways, ffnet's decided to do some 'essential upgrades,' so I don't know how those are going to blow over when I post this chapter, or if it'll be like the last time they did bug fixes and screwed up the chapter counts…oh well. Let's wait and see, shall we?
And, from now on, I shall censor the "f" word in this fanfic, since a few readers' computers do not load pages that have the swear word on them. So, I just replace the vowel with a '-', and there we go. The rest of you guys can use your imaginations for the rest, right? Yes, you can. Okay?
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That Wednesday, Sasori came to school to find a slew of huge posters plastered up onto the walls. 'Go, team! Fight! Win!' they obnoxiously advertised, with various basketball-themed pictures accommodating each. The jocks were being as obnoxious as the posters, strutting down the hall like they owned the place and flirting with girls, regardless of their dating status.
The redhead almost gagged. Gaudy school colors, egomaniac jocks, horny girls. NEVER a good mix.
Homeroom exerted the same abhorrent ecstasy as the halls had, and Sasori was more than happy that Deidara wasn't joining into the retarded sports merriment. Thank God, someone sane.
Taking up a seat next to the blond, he asked, "So, what's with all the sports stuff? You know anything about it?"
Dei shrugged. "They're having a basketball game on Friday," he replied. "First game of the season, apparently against our rival school. It'll be held in the gym, and almost everyone's going. Whee," he finished, adding the last part sarcastically.
The other boy groaned. "School sports. Joy, oh joy, oh heavenly bliss."
"Which must be Sasorian for, "Oh, Lord. You'd have to pay me a LOT more than what Trump makes to get me to go to that shit," the blond said with a smile.
Sasori shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much. Wow, you're already fluent in my native tongue. You must be a very fast learner."
"Well, actually, I took a class," Dei replied as a joke. "The teacher was REALLY annoying, but it's all good," he said, laughing.
The redhead laughed along. If nothing, Deidara had a promising career as a comedian.
--
Good news was, Asuma hadn't given either Dei nor Sasori any trouble for two whole days. Bad news was, now Kurenai was an instigator now. It appeared as though she was extremely angry with how Sasori had run out on their forced love affair, and it was time, she thought, to get back at him.
It started with a simple conversation with Deidara. The slut had randomly come up to him and started talking as though they had known each other forever, blathering on about hair, makeup, and other girly things that Dei couldn't give less of a f-ck about. But, to be polite, the blond heard her out. Nothing worse than getting a queen bee like her upset with you.
Next, she began following Deidara around, even though they had completely different class schedules. Dei, nervous about having a stalker, tried desperately to lose her. Nothing seemed to work.
What she did thirdly came during lunch, when she insisted on sitting next to the blond at Sasori's table. Completely ignoring the redhead, Kurenai got her hands all over Deidara, stroking his hair and playfully poking him. Dei, annoyed as hell by the sudden affection, told her to go away numerous times, which she did eventually do.
After she had totally made out with him, of course.
Sasori had stopped eating when all of a sudden, the slut pulled Deidara's head over and began kissing him multiple times in a row. She was all over him, and the blond immediately tried to push her off. "Away, whore!" he yelled out, shoving her out of the chair she was sitting in and stomping off.
Kurenai, needless to say, was insulted, and promptly made her way back to her usual lunch table. Well, that was one way to get rid of a slut.
--
After ninth period, Sasori headed for his locker as usual. But, he was genuinely surprised to see Kurenai waiting for him.
"Aw, Sasori-chan," she cooed, "Did I hurt you good?"
The redhead gave her a WTF look. "Uh, no," he replied. "Why should I be 'good and hurt?' What did you do?"
Her eyes lowered. "Oh, you know," she growled, "and it was for running out on me last Friday. That damn girly-"
"Woah, is this about you making out with Deidara?" Sasori asked, acting surprised. "THAT was supposed to hurt me?"
"Of COURSE it was! That's why I did it! God, don't you know anything?! You're supposed to feel hurt and heartbroken when I kiss your beloved! God," she repeated. "Aren't you?!"
"No," he replied. "You're supposed to feel confused and sickened when you see the school slut make out with your best friend in front of you, especially if you're eating. God, don't you know anything?" he asked rhetorically, unfazed.
Kurenai, fed up, stomped off. "You're both hopeless beyond belief!" she yelled.
Once the slut had gotten a safe distance away, Sasori let out a sigh of relief. Lucky for him he was a good liar, since the kiss had hurt him. He didn't know why, though. Deidara was a guy, therefore Sasori was not in love with him. Right? Or, maybe…or maybe Sasori was bi. Or gay. Whatever the case, the redhead banished the thought. Just focus on getting home, he told himself.
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God, I wish Grandma Chiyo would tell me that I need to deliver something to Kankurou and Gaara before nine o'clock at night, Sasori thought to himself, scuffing his feet as he walked. It was Thursday night, a day after the whole Kurenai-jealousy thing, and he had just taken a gelatin dessert to his grandmother's good friends, Hiroki and Niri, parents of Kankurou and Gaara. The redhead was rather acquainted with the pair, Kankurou being two years younger than he was and Gaara four. Temari, a year older than Sasori, was their older sister. Poor guys, they have a slut for a sibling.
Sasori slipped his way down Deidara's street, half asleep. It was somewhere around 10:30 at night, and since he had quit cutting, he had been going to bed earlier.
Passing by the blond's house, he heard a terrifyingly painful wail emit from it. Awoken by this, the redhead backed up a few hundred yards or so when a door-slamming sound became audible. The black-haired man from before hastily walked down the driveway, screaming, "Bleed, ungrateful gay little bastard! Bleed and DIE!!" Getting into an old, red pickup truck, he sped down the road, apparently wanting to get as far away from where he was as fast as possible.
His heart beating heavily, the redhead stared at the house for a bit, wondering what had gone on between the androgynous kid and his abusive father. Realizing that Dei was probably extremely hurt, he rushed through the unlocked door. In his blind rage, the despot had forgotten to lock up.
Deidara lay in a bloody heap in the corner of the room. His hair had been pulled forcibly from its normal sloppy ponytail, his torso had been both hit and cut badly, and his limbs lay useless as the boy desperately tried to breath.
Looks like someone had a bad temper.
Slowly approaching his friend, Sasori stumbled. Seeing your best friend covered in blood and lying like a corpse on the floor can REALLY screw up a person's mental stability for the moment. "D-Dei?" he started, after picking himself off the floor. "Dei, what happened? I know for a fact that you're not okay."
No answer. The blond either had no energy to reply, or he simply didn't want to.
Kneeling down, Sasori lifted his friend's head up, revealing a trickle of red coming from the corner of his mouth. "Dei," he repeated, "Dei, please be awake…"
The blond weakly opened one eye, his right, and gave the redhead a sad, pitiful stare. "Sasori…" he called out distantly, "since when has your hair changed colors like that? It was green before, but now it's orange…scratch that, make it purple…"
Wow. That allergy medicine was harsh on one's eyesight, too. "Dei…Deidara…what did he do to you?" he asked, lovingly stroking the left side of the other boy's face. Feeling a cold sensation, Sasori withdrew his hand immediately. What had he touched? Brushing away the hair that normally covered the left side of Deidara's face, he stared in horror. In place of an eye, a cheekbone and a temple was a shiny, black, metallic casing with some sort of robotic ocular.
Dei's one, organic eye shifted to look up at a fear-stricken Sasori. "Ah," he whispered, "my one best-kept secret. Only, I guess it's not a secret anymore." Closing his eye, he sighed. "Well, I guess you were going to find out sooner or later."
Carefully, the redhead cradled his friend up against himself, with Deidara's head once again laying in the crook of his neck. "What…what happened? How long…?" he managed to get out, as the other boy's body limpened.
The blond let out a sickly sigh. "Tired," he mouthed.
Sasori gently shouldered one of Deidara's arms. One thing in this new confusion was certain: Dei needed professional help. Painstakingly, he dragged them both up to the local hospital.
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The redhead couldn't concentrate at all during school the next day. No matter what he did, he couldn't get his mind off of his friend, whom he had helped hospitalized the night before. Puzzling memories mixed with raw emotion and the fact that Sasori was about to pass out during the entire thing left vivid sensations that haunted him.
He had tried to get Deidara to the hospital as quickly as possible, and although he didn't weigh a lot, it took all of Sasori's strength to get there when they did. Unfortunately, Dei's blood hadn't clotted yet, so it appeared as though the malicious father of his had beat up on the both of them. It was so bad, in fact, that the moment they 'walked' in, a nurse gasped so hard that she forgot to let the breath out. Another, more composed hospital employee had helped the blond off Sasori and into a room with plenty of antiseptic, gauze and Ace bandages. Deidara would be set until the bleeding stopped.
Sasori had not been able to follow his friend, however, for fear of contaminating a perfectly sterile room. With the patient in as bad of a condition as Dei was, it seemed that they couldn't afford to take any chances. Which suited the redhead fine. He'd rather have his friend safe and healthy after a period of absence than see him every day and endanger him.
--
Sasori headed out the door, as he normally did, after the last bell. He had waited a bit for the crowds to clear, though; Lord knows that the halls would be packed with people going to the basketball game. Peachy.
Walking down the new-empty hall, a huge force suddenly slammed the redhead up against the lockers to the side of him. Sasori's body limply went through the motions. He had absolutely no fighting spirit left.
That was, until he saw who pushed him.
Genma stared down at the redhead with a hawk's eyes, piercing and overpowering. "Hello, there, Saso-kun," he growled.
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Okay, if this chapter is late, I apologize. The website had this weird error going around, and it just wouldn't let me update my fanfics (or change my profile, or reply to reviews, etc.). So, yeah. Gomen for that.
Reviews help Deidara heal, both physically and emotionally.