A/N: Finally finished this chapter! Yay!
Oh yeah, and a little warning for future chapters. The rating may change to M due to drugs, language, and adult themes, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.
Chapter 7
Smoke
It was late November, which meant freezing temperatures and temperamental weather that should only occur in the dead of winter. When she woke up, Ren cursed the dark gray clouds looming ominously close to the ground and prayed to be spared from the snow for at least another month. With a groggy yawn, she managed to clean herself up and head downstairs to the studio layered in baggy sweats and a sweater that was probably someone else's at some point in time.
Music blared throughout the room, reverberating off the wooden floors and glass mirrors. The bass thumped heavily in her chest and sweat dripped down her forehead as she threw her body about the room. Eventually she threw off the excess clothes and was clad only in a pair of shorts and a tank top loose enough to show off her bright green sports bra. However, even then her body heat continued to rise as she worked herself harder and harder and had to turn on the large fan in the room.
After the next song began she flew into another routine. It wasn't long before Ren felt a few soft beats that didn't fit with the song and recognized them as soft footfalls on the wooden floor. She saw Sai enter in from the hallway carrying a large gray tote bag filled with painting supplies and an easel thrown over his shoulder. He was staring at her with a blank expression she couldn't discern.
She walked over to the mirrored wall and picked up a small remote to turn off the music, allowing only the fan to fill the silence.
"Hey," she called breathlessly.
"Hello," he greeted back. "You woke up early."
The clock on the wall read 9:27. She'd been dancing for two hours already.
She chuckled as she reached down to grab her water bottle and gulped down the rest of it. After dropping the plastic bottle on the ground she noticed his eyes were still fixed on her. "Whatcha' up to?"
"I didn't realize you had so many tattoos," he responded instead.
She blinked in confusion at him before looking down at herself. Her arms were covered in an array of inky symbols that represented various moments and treasures she valued in her life. Across her chest, from shoulder to shoulder, were six colorless roses with intertwining stems making their way down her biceps and through the other smaller tattoos on her arms. Her stomach was mostly bare save for a small, wide-eyed owl sitting comfortably on her hip-bone. Her right thigh had what looked to be the silhouette of a colorless, lace garter while her left had a couple of paw-prints walking up and disappearing beneath her shorts.
Ren laughed loudly then. Sai's expression didn't change despite her outburst.
"How long have we been living together and you didn't know about my tattoos?" She laughed again and walked over to him. When she reached him it dawned on her that she never walked around in anything less than pants and a large t-shirt. "Have you really never seen my tattoos?"
"Just the ones on your arms," he began. He averted his eyes towards the door then. "Anyway, I wanted to ask if it was alright if I came to your class today."
Ren's tilted her head curiously. "Did you want to join the class?"
He shook his head. "Chou-sensei used to let me sketch in the studio during her lessons."
"Ah." That made more sense. "You seem pretty serious about art. You should show me one of your works."
He gave her an odd look then. "But you've already seen some of them."
"I have?"
He pointed to the large painting on the wall of a dancer's shadow. Her jaw dropped. "You did that? That's amazing!"
"How long have we lived together and you didn't realize I painted that?"
With a scoff she waved her hand in the direction of the door. "Get out of here."
His lips twitched slightly before he managed a small smirk and headed towards the door. "I'll be back before 4:00."
"Yeah, yeah," she muttered as he walked through the door. Smart-ass prick, she thought despite chuckling at his humor. She was glad she ended up with a decent roommate.
She shook her head slightly, a small smile still on her face as she picked up the remote once more and turned on the music. She let the music overcome her before she went right back into the routine, losing herself once more into her art.
"Ino!" Sakura called out to her friend once they were outside.
The young blonde kept walking at her slow pace with her eyes lazily scanning the cloudless blue sky above. Sakura and Hinata glanced at each other before running towards Ino and grabbing her by the shoulder.
She jumped slightly and turned quickly to the others. "Oh, hi Sakura. Hi Hinata."
"Ino!" Sakura cried. "What's wrong with you? It's like you've been in some other world today!"
Ino's face suddenly turned a bright shade of pink. She grabbed her two friends by their blazers and pulled them roughly past the school gates. "Can you keep a secret?" She asked after glancing back and forth anxiously.
Hinata nodded fervently while Sakura rolled her eyes. "Who are we going to tell?"
Ino mimicked her reaction before motioning for them to lean closer to her. When they complied she cupped a hand around her mouth and whispered hesitantly "Kiba asked me out this morning."
Neither Sakura nor Hinata gave much of a reaction, although Sakura raised a curious eyebrow. "Hasn't he done that, like, a million times already?"
"But I think he was actually serious this time! Really! And…" she looked away from them and towards the school, a light blush coloring her cheeks. "I'm actually considering it."
Now this brought a reaction to the other two. "No way! What changed your mind?" Sakura questioned.
Ino shrugged slightly. "I'm not sure. I've just been noticing him more lately. Like, the way he looks at me and stuff. I can't explain it."
Hinata placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. "Kiba-kun's nice. I'm sure he'd treat you right."
Sakura nodded in agreement. "I think he will too. We'll support you in whatever you decide."
Ino smiled at her two best friends and reached out quickly to wrap her arms around their shoulders. "Thanks. I told him I'd give him an answer tomorrow morning." She took her arms off of them in favor of linking arms with them. They began to walk towards the studio in this fashion, taking up the entire sidewalk as they did so.
Ino's small smile never left her face as they chatted amiably, and to Sakura it was one of the prettiest expressions Ino had ever sported, and she thought her blonde friend was the prettiest girl in the whole school. Ino probably knew it too with the way she always stood tall and confident, or at least that's what it seemed like.
Sakura hoped she could have at least a snippet of Ino's confidence someday, but that would mean she would have to be pretty, which she wasn't entirely sure she could achieve with her wide forehead and frizzy pink hair.
While still smiling at whatever it was that Hinata had just said, she sighed internally. She almost felt out of place with her two beautiful friends. She absently wondered if they could be embarrassed to be seen with her.
She shook her head slightly. If there was one thing she knew about her friends, it was that they were honest.
Well, much more honest than she ever felt.
They arrived at the studio shortly and, since they were the only students Ren had, they were used to having the studio to themselves as they did their lessons, but today they were surprised to see an extra body taking up a corner with a sketchpad and pencil poised in his lap.
Naruto, who came in with Sasuke a minute behind them, grabbed Sakura by the arm and pulled her close to whisper in her ear. "Hey, doesn't that guy kind of look like Sasuke?"
She looked in the direction he was pointing and inspected the boy with the uncanny resemblance to their friend. "'Kind of'? He's like a mirror image."
"Seriously. I wonder if they're related somehow."
"Who's related to whom?" A voice asked from behind them. They jumped in unison and whirled around to face the voice.
Ren was still staring at them expectantly before she glanced up at the stranger in the room, then at Sasuke who was a few feet away from them stretching his arms calmly. She cradled her cheek thoughtfully. "Ah, I guess they do look similar. I never noticed."
That was when Naruto noticed that, rather than the typical high-necked sports jacket she wore at every lesson, a black tank-top took its place.
"Whoa! When'd you get all those?!" Naruto shouted while pointing at her arms. Sakura noticed too and stared wide-eyed at the artwork adorning her arms.
Ren looked down at her arms before sighing. "This is why I wear that jacket all the time."
"Are you allowed to show them when you're teaching?" Sakura asked.
"I'm a dance coach, not a school teacher. I can do whatever I want."
"Whoa! You have tattoos?" Ino asked excitedly as she strolled over with Hinata and Sasuke close behind. They circled Ren and fussed over the ink in her skin. She merely shook her head and let them examine them.
"Who is that guy anyway?" Naruto asked her, already bored of the subject of her tattoos.
"That's Sai, my roommate. He's been living here for a while and asked if he could sketch you guys during practice. Is that alright?"
Sakura glanced around at the others, seeing if anyone would object. Ino gave her an excited smile, happy to have an audience for the day. Hinata looked like she was about to object, but instead just nodded feebly. "I guess," Sakura said hesitantly when no one spoke up, "but why does he want to sketch us?"
Ren waved her hand dismissively. "It's not you guys specifically - it's to practice sketching different forms or whatever it was he said. Why don't you guys introduce yourself to him? He needs more friends anyway."
Naruto grimaced. "No thanks, that guy gives me the creeps."
In response, Ren tightened her fist and swung it into his shoulder, producing a shrill cry from the loud blonde. Ren pointed a threatening finger at him. "You don't even know the kid, now go introduce yourself."
"But I don't wanna'! He looks like Sasuke and he's an asshole." He whined.
Ren rolled her eyes as Sasuke whacked Naruto's head. "What are you, 4? Don't be such an asshole," Ren reprimanded him.
Their jaws dropped at her harsh words. "Aren't you, like, not supposed to swear at your students?" Naruto sputtered out.
The older woman shrugged. "You probably hear worse among your classmates anyway. If it really bothers you, I won't curse around you guys, but by the way I hear you talk with Sasuke I didn't think it'd really bother you."
"You eavesdrop on our conversations?" Naruto asked loudly.
She raised an eyebrow. "It's more like I'm assaulted by the volume you protrude your voice."
He scratched his head. "What?"
This time Ino rolled her eyes and smacked his shoulder playfully. "She said you talk loudly."
"Why didn't you just say so?" He asked Ren.
The woman looked towards the ceiling briefly before pointing towards the hallway door. "If you're not going to be good sports about Sai, just hurry up and go change, otherwise its laps and push-ups."
Not willing the test the woman's patience any longer, they obeyed her orders and changed in the locker rooms quickly.
"Ren-sensei seems a little scary now with her tattoos," Hinata pointed out as they finished changing.
Ino threw her uniform into her duffle bag carelessly. "I know. It looks like she should be in a biker gang instead of a dance teacher."
Sakura laughed lightly, imagining their petite dance coach donned in leather clothing and standing menacingly amongst a number of muscular men dressed the same and standing with their motorcycles, all scowling threateningly. She giggled at the image before waving it off when her friends gave her funny looks.
"What's so funny?" Ino asked after they left the locker room.
The ghosts of laughter were still evident on her lips as she explained. "It was just a funny picture."
Once they returned to the polished floor they went straight into their stretches, constantly aware of the pair of dark eyes watching them carefully from the corner of the room. Sakura tried to at least pretend she didn't notice the boy, but she found herself glancing in his direction more than once during practice.
It turned out that everyone else was having the same problem and kept losing focus on the task at hand, which brought out a side to Ren Sakura hadn't really wanted to see. It was like the more they slacked off, the more Ren transformed into a military officer barking orders and giving them push-ups whenever they missed a major step. Naruto complained at one point, but was quickly shut up by the glare sent his way.
After a while Sakura forgot about the stranger in the room and focused only on the instructions Ren gave them and copying them as flawlessly as she could, not wanting to do any more work than she needed to at this point.
By the end of the lesson, they were all collapsed on the floor gasping for air.
"Sensei," Naruto whined pitifully, "no more push-ups, please."
"Then make sure to pay better attention next time. Here, drink water." Ren handed each of them a cold bottle, which they gratefully took and gulped down. They'd only had one break throughout the lesson and had only had enough time to take a few sips of their water before Ren had them back in formation and beginning their routine again.
"Today was hell," Ino stated tiredly after downing nearly half her water in one go.
"Agreed," Sakura replied, using the cold bottle to cool down her face.
Naruto sat up fully and, although covered in sweat, looked almost as good as new. "Hey, you guys wanna' get ice cream after this?"
Ino shook her head. "I can't. It's chore day."
"I h-have to go to dinner with father tonight," Hinata said apologetically.
Naruto turned his gaze towards Sasuke, who shot him an incredulous look. "What do you think, dobe?"
"I take that as a yes," he said happily. Sasuke shook his head slowly, apparently not having enough energy to even fight his friend on this.
"I'll go too," Sakura said then, bringing a bright smile to Naruto's face. He whooped happily and stood. "Let's go get ice cream!"
"Can I join too?" A strange voice asked. They all turned to see Sai standing near them with a strange smile on his face.
Naruto choked on his next words, surprised to see the stranger there, but eventually managed a bright smile. "Sure, man. We're gonna' go change real quick and then we'll go. You're Sai, right?"
The pale boy nodded, his smile never changing. Honestly, it unnerved Sakura how insincere his smile seemed. He was like a painting, never changing expression no matter how you looked at it.
They all stood to properly introduce themselves to him, all except Sasuke who just offered his name and turned away to go and change. There was tenseness in the way he walked away, something that Sakura couldn't help but notice as he all but marched into the boy's locker room and disappeared behind the door.
She wondered briefly if he was born an asshole.
He hated the studio.
Sasuke decided that it was as simple as that. He hated coming to do something that didn't even pertain to his future or his uncle's wishes. He hated that he was accused of something he didn't even do in the first place. He hated the carefree attitude that always permeated the air during the lessons and the laughter that filled the silences when the rest of his friends were in the exact same situation as he was in and they didn't even care. He hated the fact that Ren knew his older brother and the fact that she was considered friends with the bastard.
Most of all, he hated how he never forgot his duffle-bag every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
He sighed then, too exhausted to be angry at the rest of the world at the moment. He picked up his stuff just as Naruto walked into the locker room, laughing loudly about a joke shared between him and tinkling laughter out in the studio. The blonde walked over and immediately threw off his shirt in favor of changing into a clean one.
He saw Sasuke heading towards the door and asked knowingly, "Out for a smoke?"
He stopped and turned towards his best-friend. "Hn. I'll meet you over there."
Naruto nodded once, not questioning his best friend on his bad habit. "Don't ditch us."
He scoffed and turned back towards the door. "I couldn't even if I tried." He shut the door behind him, muting Naruto's boisterous laughter. He quickly headed out of the building, ignoring the curious eyes of Sai, and walked around to the back and stood next to the emergency door, figuring no one would come around this way.
After a moment of fumbling, he found his cigarettes and lit one up, inhaling deeply and letting out the smoke slowly, enjoying the thick cloud that surrounded him briefly before being carried off by the slight breeze.
Finally, he thought. It felt like an eternity had passed since he'd been able to enjoy this small reprieve from the world around him. The thick smoke escaped his lips with every drag and with it a little of the tension in his shoulders eased. He knew the risks on his health the tobacco had, but since the first time he tried it he couldn't seem to care. As long as his uncle or any of the school officials didn't find out, he'd carry on with his bad habit until something else could replace the calming effect cigarettes had on him.
Suddenly, the emergency door opened and Sasuke thought his heart nearly stopped from the shock. Ren emerged then and turned towards him, jumping back slightly and staring at him wide-eyed for a long moment, glancing to the cigarette between his fingers and back to his face a few times.
After a long moment of staring wide-eyed at each other, Sasuke was about to say something before she finally sighed and shut the door behind her and walked past him with two bowls stacked in her hand and a bottle held to her side with her arm.
"I'm not going to say anything," she said as she set down the bowls and poured water into the empty one.
He watched her for a moment, hesitant to take another drag with his instructor right next to him, so he decided to say something instead. "What are you doing?"
She stood after emptying the bottle and throwing it in the trash. Instead of replying she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small box of her own. He was surprised to see her pull out a cigarette with her teeth and light it in the next second with a zippo, putting the box back in her pocket after it was lit.
After seeing her take a long drag of her own cigarette, Sasuke put his to his lips and inhaled hesitantly, waiting for the moment she would try and knock it out of his hand or yell or something a normal adult would do in this situation.
She gestured with her cigarette towards a line of dead bushes that separated her lot with the neighbors. "Watch closely."
Following her instructions, he kept his eyes trained on the bushes, yet nothing happened. The silence drew on as they stood staring at the poor foliage. His gaze slowly swept the bushes before a brief flash of light caught his attention. He traced the spot he had seen it and focused, trying to figure out exactly what had caused it.
After a few long seconds, a pair of small, yellow lights appeared from under the bushes. In the dark it was hard to tell exactly what it was, but he figured it was most likely a cat.
Sure enough, another second passed and the small creature inched its way out of the cover of bushes and stared at them apprehensively.
"Don't make any sudden movements," Ren said softly, keeping her cigarette close to her lips as she watched the creature carefully.
Sasuke didn't care if he scared the creature off, but he found himself listening to her and dropped his arm slower than he had before, observing the stiff cat moving slowly towards the food and water.
When it was about halfway, Ren spoke up softly. "I think she's pregnant."
He gave her a curious look. "How do you know?"
The cat had started at their voices, but didn't give up its trek towards the food. Ren shrugged slightly. "I'm not sure, but she's gotten significantly fatter in the past week and I'm pretty sure it's not from the food." She puffed on her cigarette before continuing. "I don't think the kittens would survive the cold here, so I'm hoping to gain her trust enough to bring her inside if and when she has her kittens."
"What'll you do with them?"
She shrugged a shoulder. "Get them fixed and find them homes. Ideally I'd keep the mama, but she'll have to approach me before that can happen."
The cat was really close to them now and slowed its approach towards the bowl, its back arching slightly as it glared warily at them. After a tense moment, it inched closer and sniffed the contents of the bowls before taking a cautious bite, its eyes never leaving them as it tentatively ate.
Ren dragged on her cigarette once more, a small smile on her face as she watched the frightened creature. "You can't rush things like trust. It'll probably take weeks before she's willing to set foot inside."
"Why even bother?" He asked then, dropping his cigarette and snuffing it out with his shoe. The movement startled the cat and it stared at him closely, but didn't move away from the bowl.
"I've always been a sucker for animals," she explained, copying his action with her own cigarette. "Besides, I think everyone deserves a second chance in life."
"It's a cat."
"It feels pain just like we do." She sighed and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "Anyway, I need to go get ready." Setting one last look at the cat, she turned and opened the door with a key. She held it open for him after stepping inside. "Oh yeah, and one more thing: Sai's had it rough in life too, so he's a little weird. Give him a break, 'kay?"
Without waiting for a reply she turned away and walked around to the stairs.
"So," Sakura drawled slowly once they got their ice cream and found a table by the window to sit at. They were the only ones in the shop with the exception of the girl wiping down the counters by the cash register. Sakura was almost glad Hidan wasn't working today.
"How'd you end up living with Ren-sensei?" She finally asked.
Sai was sitting adjacent to her and took a small bite of his mint chocolate-chip ice cream before answering. "I was living there before she bought the studio. Hiroshi-san, the previous owner, didn't want to kick me out and was looking for tenants who would still allow me to live there. Ren was the only one who would allow it."
"What's it like living with her? Have you seen her in a towel?" Naruto asked then. Sasuke, who sat next to him, smacked his head.
Sai seemed to ponder this seriously for a second. "No, but when I caught her practicing this morning she was just wearing shorts and a cut-up shirt."
"Is she hot?" Naruto asked more excitedly this time. Sakura kicked his shin under the table, earning a slight yelp from him.
Again, Sai looked thoughtful. "She has a lot of tattoos."
A bit tired of this conversation, Sakura asked, "Anyway, what do you do, Sai-san?"
"I draw," he said bluntly.
Sakura tried hard not to roll her eyes. "Yes, but where are you going to school? I've never seen you at Konoha High."
"Oh," he said once he understood her question. "I'm not in school right now. I'm working while improving my art so that I can attend Ame Academy of the Arts."
"Wow," Sakura breathed, impressed, "I've heard that's the best arts college in the country."
"It's ranked third in the world," Sai said with a smile that didn't seem to reach his eyes. His expression had been that way since they'd met him and it was starting to send chills down Sakura's spine.
"Actually," Sai continued, "I heard Ren had gone there for her first year of college."
"Seriously?" Naruto asked this time. "No wonder she's so good."
"Not good enough if she didn't make it through the full four years," Sasuke interjected.
Sai shook his head. "She had received a scholarship, but decided to switch schools at the end of the year. It sounded like she hated the program there."
Sakura sat back in her chair, caught somewhere between amazement and wonder. She hadn't realized their dance instructor was amazing enough to have received a scholarship to one of the greatest art schools in the world and then hated the program. She didn't know much about the dance world, but practically everyone knew of Ame's incredible fine arts school and that only the best got into it, and to receive a scholarship to such a place meant you had to be the best of the best.
"You still want to go to that school even after hearing someone say they hated it?" Sasuke wondered.
Sai nodded. "Ren-san said each program is different and you'll never know until you try it out whether it works for you or not. Also, if I receive admission into the school and end up not liking it, since I was admitted into Ame I can pretty much gain admission anywhere else."
"That's awesome. I don't even know what I want to do yet," Naruto admitted then.
"I thought you wanted to be president," Sakura asked playfully.
"Yeah, but after looking into it some more I realized it's not really something I want to go towards. You know that even if you're president you still can't make all of the decisions? You're pretty much just a figurehead, and that's not a position I think I could do a lot in. I want to do something that will make a difference."
Sakura blinked a few times. "Wow, Naruto. I never thought I'd hear something so well-thought out come out of your mouth."
Naruto jutted out his bottom lip in a pout. "That's mean, Sakura-chan. I think well on a lot of things."
"Apparently not on what you say," Sasuke remarked.
Sakura laughed at the way Naruto suddenly began arguing with Sasuke, to which the normally cool-headed Uchiha would respond with something smart to feed the fire. Although she didn't know Sasuke very well (other than the fact that he was a total jerk), she knew the only person able to get him riled up was Naruto, but she wasn't surprised. Naruto simply had that nature.
"Are they always like this?" Sai asked her as the argument started to make less and less sense.
Even though she hadn't been around the two much in the weeks she'd been attending school with them, she figured she'd seen enough to know that yes, this was normal.
"They'll stop eventually," she ended up saying.
Sure enough, the argument stopped with a couple of bruises and one split lip and a warning that they were never allowed in the shop again.
Ren leaned against the ledge of the living room window and looked out towards the small parking lot in front of the studio. Her hair was still slightly damp from the shower, but figured that she and Deidara were just heading to the usual bar and it didn't really matter what she looked like.
The stop sign at the corner suddenly seemed to light up and a car drove up a few seconds later. She watched it pull into the parking lot and realized it was Deidara's little blue Corolla. She checked the clock and noted that there was still twenty minutes before he had originally said he'd be there.
She left the window and walked into her room to grab her jacket and purse before heading to the hallway to grab her converse. She managed to get one shoe on before Deidara opened the door, clad in a pair of slacks and a pea-coat she couldn't recall seeing before.
"Whoa, don't you look fancy," she remarked playfully.
"And you look homeless," he replied brusquely, eyeing her ripped jeans and worn-out hoodie she'd probably had since high school.
She watched curiously as he kicked off his black dress shoes and removed his pea-coat to reveal a dark red button-up. He began walking down the hallway towards her room and Ren, wondering what was going on, kicked off her one converse and quickly stumbled after him.
"What are you doing?" She asked once she saw him rummaging through her closet.
"You still have that red dress?" He responded instead.
She cocked her head in confusion and walked over to him. "Probably. Why do you want to know? Aren't we just heading to the pub?"
"There's been a change of plans. Here." He found the dress he was looking for and thrust it towards her. She held it to her chest and stared at him with wide-eyes.
"Why do I need to wear a dress? And why this one?"
Deidara checked his watch before walking out of the room. "You've got twenty minutes to look decent, so I'd suggest hurrying up. I'll do your hair, un."
Ren stared at the door for a long moment after he had shut it behind him. This wasn't the first time Deidara had been so cryptic with her. They had lived together for a year in college so she had gotten to know him well enough to know that he loved surprising people, but she also knew that since they graduated from University he had had trouble maintaining a job and didn't have a lot of money to spend, so there was no way he'd go out of his way just to take her out to a fancy place.
Deciding it best not to question him (as she'd done many times before), she quickly changed, glad that she had decided to shave her legs earlier, and exited her room to do her makeup in the bathroom. Deidara grabbed a chair from the dining room and had her sit in front of the mirror and immediately began brushing through her mostly dry hair.
"You're such a girl," Ren laughed while using a makeup brush to put foundation on her skin.
Deidara snorted softly as he sectioned off her hair with expert hands. "Anyone can use a curling iron."
Ren continued to try and hide most of her imperfections. "Not you like do, 'Mr. I-can-make-your-hair-look-like-a-butterfly-if-I-wanted-to'."
He grabbed the curling iron that had been heating up on the counter and twirled a section of hair around it. A little cloud of still rolled off of her hair at the contact "Whatever, 'Ms. I-like-to-start-bar-fights-and-have-my-guy-friends-finish-them-for-me'."
"That was one time and I was the one that ended up knocking him out," she corrected with a huff.
Deidara let out a small laugh before falling into a comfortable silence. Ren quickly applied powder to her face and began working on her eye-shadow while Deidara patiently curled the bottom layer of her hair. It always amazed her how quickly he was able to style her hair and how amazing it turned out each time. Deidara had only recently got his beautician's license and had yet to land a solid job anywhere in town (mostly due to the short temper he had with some employers and one or two clients in the past).
However, despite Deidara's inane talent when it came to hair (and the occasional makeup when he had to perform a full makeover on clients), his true talent lied in sculpting. Although Ren liked to think she was well-rounded in the arts, having taken lessons in multiple skills as a child, Deidara's clay sculptures was like entering a whole different world for her. She'd had the chance to watch him work a lot in college and it never ceased to amaze her how he took a useless, formless lump of whatever material he was given and turn it into something tangible and beautiful.
Unfortunately for her and everyone who loved his art, Deidara had a different idea on his works. His favorite moment of the artistic process was sticking a bunch of firecrackers into various holes he'd make into the sculpture and watch as it exploded into millions of pieces. Ren had begged and pleaded with him to not blow up some of his clay works, which were always the best, but of course, he'd laugh and do it anyway.
The worst part about his art style was that he spent more money than he could gain, which was none, because you can't sell just parts of a piece that exploded, so he decided it was best to learn something that would actually make him money. He didn't really like working with others, but doing hair kept his hands busy and he likened it to a different kind of sculpting, and so he decided to attend a beautician's school to get his license and work at a salon to at least have some sort of steady income.
And yet, his personality had caused a lot of verbal disagreements over the course of his school career and his instructors wondered if the scissors in his hands would one day be used as a murder weapon against a client who rubbed him the wrong way. Luckily for the future clients, Deidara eventually learned to tune out remarks he thought were stupid and keep his temper in check until he could vent to someone else who could take it, which most of the time was either Sasori or Ren.
"You've got split ends again," Deidara suddenly stated, breaking her out of her reverie.
"That sucks," she replied blandly, not really caring about the state her hair was in. "When do you want to cut it?"
"What makes you think I'll cut it, un?"
"'Cause you won't let me go to anyone else."
"You'll chop it all off again if I let you near anyone else."
"Do you have a thing against pixie-cuts?"
Deidara allowed Ren to lean towards the mirror to put on her eye-liner, keeping the last of the untouched section of hair in his hands. "You looked like a boy."
"A mighty fine boy at that," she said with a sassy snap. She quickly finished her simple eye-liner so Deidara could finish her hair before adding, "And you look like one of the girls from my class."
"Oh please," he said as he rolled his eyes. Once she leaned back he finished curling the small section of hair left, leaving her side-swept bangs alone. "I am much prettier."
Ren tried her hardest not to get burned by the curler while she laughed loud enough for the neighboring shops to hear her and noticed Deidara's cheeky grin in the mirror. "You know," she began once her giggles subsided, "sometimes I can't believe you're straight. Are you sure you're not dating Sasori?"
"Why are you still asking that?"
"Because he's your only other friend."
Deidara turned off the curler and Ren couldn't help but revel in the way he ran his fingers through her hair and tossed it to loosen up the tight curls. "You're argument's invalid and you know it."
In an attempt to seem cute, she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, although it didn't seem to faze him at all. "You're so uncool."
"Bitch, I'm trying to make you look nice."
"Oh, I meant to say you're totally cool. Yeah."
In a matter of seconds, Deidara had twisted her now extremely curly hair into a simply, messy bun and secured it with a dark elastic band and placed his hands on her tattooed shoulders to examine her reflection in the mirror.
"Use the peach blush," he ordered blatantly. "Just a light gloss should be fine, too."
"Yes, sir."
Happy with the results, he left the bathroom and checked the clock, glad to see they still had a few minutes before they needed to leave. A moment later Ren had packed up her makeup and carried it back to her room quickly, leaving Deidara to take care of the rest while she attempted to find a better jacket and a pair of nylons to help against the cold.
It took a while to find the right pair of heels to match the dress, but after a few minutes of stumbling around and trying not to trip down the stairs they were locking up the studio and heading towards the car.
Uncharacteristically of him, Deidara opened the passenger door and waited for Ren to move the bottom of her dress before shutting it, sending alarm bells ringing through her head.
"Okay," she began once Deidara had gotten in the car and started it. "I was bit surprised earlier, but now I'm worried. Did someone die? Was it Kisame?"
Not even perturbed as to how Ren had jumped to that strange conclusion, he decided to simply play along. "Yes, I dressed you up nicely because Kisame died."
Ren stared at him silently for a long moment. "You're weird," she eventually ended up deciding. "You're supposed to wear black when someone dies – not red."
Deidara merely shook his head and turned on the radio instead of replying. The radio was set to an indie station and Ren didn't recognize the song playing, but decided she liked the harsh beats and the rough vocals over screaming guitar licks and intricate electronic melodies.
As he drove and the music filled the silence, Ren tried to guess where they were going by the streets he took, but after three turns onto very unfamiliar roads, she began to wonder if even Deidara knew where they were going.
"Where are we going?" She asked suspiciously.
"You'll see," he replied curtly.
She crossed her arms and slouched further in her seat. She continued to try and keep track of the strange streets they were turning on to, but gave up after a minute after she figured it wouldn't help anyway. Instead, she let the unfamiliar music wash over her and found herself closing her eyes and imagining the movements that would best fit the sections of the song, which wasn't unusual for her. Yet, what had surprised her was seeing her new students be the ones performing the moves and going as far as to fit certain solo routines to match each student's personality.
She opened her eyes and found familiar buildings passing them by and noticed they were on a main road heading towards the upper district, practically in the exact opposite direction as their usual drinking spot.
"Where are we going?" She tried again.
Deidara didn't even reply this time, just smirked knowingly and shrugged a shoulder. Ren sighed and tried to distract herself with the new song that had begun playing, but couldn't help trying to guess where he was taking her.
A minute of contemplation passed before they were suddenly pulling into a large parking lot next to a brightly lit restaurant. The name of the restaurant was lost on her at the moment as she was trying to figure out if she was actually dreaming or not.
"Here?" She breathed out, her eyes wide with shock. She turned to Deidara to find him giving her one of the most self-satisfied expressions she'd ever seen him wear.
"Glad you dressed up now, huh?" He said playfully.
She knew no words at that moment.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait. A lot of these are pretty much transition chapters, which to me are the hardest to write because it's all building up to the thing I really want to get to and I'm impatient and… yeah.
I'd like to hear your opinions on the whole Ren and Deidara thing going on here, whether you'd like to see more of them or for me to focus solely on the main pairings, which I'll flat out say will be Sasuke x Sakura, Naruto x Hinata, and Ino x Sai (eventually). I promise to bring more substance to them anyway, but if there's anything else you'd like to see, just let me know, but no promises btw.
It'll probably be a long update for the next chapter, unfortunately. I'm really sorry about that, but I want these chapters to be good quality and that's hard to do with college and shit.
Also, I'm curious if you guys prefer longer or shorter chapters? (I consider these to be kind of in the middle)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, if not, you can thrash it in a review. Okay, done talking now. Thanks for everything!