I

7, What one doesn't know

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Tuesday, March 17th

Dear diary,

I'm still alive!

So that sentence should tell book parts in itself. Remember what I wrote yesterday? I was right. Today was eventful and I didn't come to like it one bit. Not everything was bad though. I'll just give you a summary of how the day went by.

English was boring, but Naruto and Ino were the ones that managed to entertain me anyway. Naruto was psyched about me joining them and apologized for thinking badly about me. Kakashi read in his perverted book while he pretended to study our assignments. You'd think an adult would know how to do subtlety.

History was strangely exciting. I think I can get used to Gai prancing around in front of the classroom He has a way of getting everyone to listen. You think he isn't paying attention to anything what's going on around him when he is rambling, but that's what he wants you to think. He'll get you when you least expect it, asking you a tricky question about something he just talked about. No matter how effective it is though, it was tiring my mind.

After History, my mind wasn't the only thing that was exhausted. Gym was hell. Pure, vivid hell. Minus the flames and scorching heat because it was cold outside. Anko is a slave driver. After yesterday, this was really waking up from a cold shower. She had spared me yesterday because Deidara said something, but today I was all on my own against her and she wasn't going easy on me.

First break came with such a relief that I didn't even taste my food. It was at that moment that I realized something crucial: Deidara and Sasori hadn't made themselves known to me yet at that point of the day. It was already 10 thirty-something and they had been invisible thus far. The Akatsuki's table was empty, safe for Konan who sat there on her own, all alone. This was disconcerting in itself—who knew where those so called wannabe gangsters had gone off to—but a couple of guys from our group were missing as well: Shikamaru, Lee, Gaara and Kankuro. Ino told me not to worry about it and that it wasn't related at all. Well, trust me when I say that when they came back without Lee and he didn't show up for the rest of First break, I knew it was definitely related.

"Of course, I'll see you there!"

A boy clad in green clothes entered the boys' bathroom. His hairdo was neatly styled so that it resembled the way people wore their hair back in the sixties. His reflection was shown in the mirrors and as the boy's eyes met his own gaze, he held his thumb up and smiled."You look fantastic, Lee," he said to himself, before he went down to business.

The door to the boys' bathroom opened and a blond entered. The guy went to stand beside Lee. His eyes locked with the boy's as he looked in the mirror. Though Lee tensed slightly, they both stayed silent as they did their thing. Lee washed his hands when he was done, relieved to get out of the confined space together with him. He walked past the long haired blond whose gaze followed him in the mirror. The tension was building up as Lee neared the exit and he sighed a breath of relief when he touched the handle and opened the door. He stepped outside and closed the door behind him. The boy took a deep breath. He wasn't a coward, not at all, but he didn't want unnecessary fights. If he had stayed in there only a moment longer, who knows what it could have come to...

Lee turned around and was immediately met with the sensation of being grabbed by the shoulders and slammed into the wall. The back of his head hit the hard surface especially hard and he felt his vision spin for a moment. When he focused again, Lee saw that the one holding him against the wall was none other than the large senior Kisame, who grinned down at him maliciously. "What is this... What is going on?" the boy uttered while looking up from his uncomfortable position.

Kisame chuckled sadistically as he looked down at the green clad boy. "You'll find out soon enough, kid." Someone with silver, slicked back hair went to stand against the wall to Kisame's left and to the senior's right appeared a red haired guy. Both persons didn't look sympathetic at all; one looked extremely amused and the other wore an uncaring look on his face. "You do know who we are, don't you?" the latter asked, though it wasn't clear whether he really cared or not.

Lee nodded, though it hurt his head to do so. "You are Sasori, and the other is Hidan."

"And I am?" Kisame's grip tightened, causing Lee to flinch.

"Kisame. You're Kisame. Would you please let go of me." When Kisame's grip only tightened some more, Lee's hand came up and gripped the taller guy's arms.

Kisame laughed at this. "What are you trying to do, kiddo? Think you can beat my strength?"

"You won't succeed, brat," Sasori cooed. "You've been caught." Kisame laughed again as Lee shot Sasori what could have been a glare and didn't release his hold on the taller guy's arms.

"You will leave me alone." The sentence was spoken with resolution, but neither of the three guys paid it any mind. They didn't believe the freshman could actually do anything to them now that he was in their clutches. They were only partially right about that. Lee suddenly let go of Kisame's arms and jammed his thumbs in the crooks of the taller guy's elbows. Struck by a sudden surge of pain in his arms, Kisame released him and took a few steps backwards. "What the hell?" He didn't seem angry; only amused.

Lee had used this moment to bolt away, slipping past Hidan and running towards the end of the hallway. Once there, he went around the corner, ready to kick the doors open, only to smack into a tall, robust male. The smaller male fell to the floor from the impact, hitting the back of his head against a hard surface again. Dizzy, he got up a bit, took a good look of the male in front of him and knew he had to get away immediately or he would truly be at the Akatsuki's mercy.

Lee managed to get up with a bit of a struggle and tried to slip past the tall guy, but he didn't succeed. Kakuzu took hold of Lee's hair and effortlessly dragged him back to Kisame, Hidan and Sasori. Lee struggled against Kakuzu's firm grip, but it didn't work in the slightest. He felt his hair give away at some parts and cried out, shouting that he be released immediately. It was futile and the boy felt his spirits go down, a feeling even fortified when he saw the door of the boys' bathroom open, only to reveal the person who was currently probably the one who held the most ill intentions.

Deidara stretched his arms and cracked his knuckles, grinning as his eyes locked with Lee's. "Hello, Lee." He chuckled as Kakuzu dragged the poor boy forward until he stood in front of the blond. Deidara was taller than Lee, so he now had to look down to keep eye contact. "How are you doing today, hmm?"

"Not all that great, to be honest with you. Your friend is pulling out my hair."

"Oh, I like honesty, alright. Do you think you can manage to stay on this spot while we're having a chat, hmm?" Deidara gave Kakuzu a look after Lee had nodded in confirmation. "Feel better now?"

Lee nodded again, with more ease now that Kakuzu had released his hold and had taken two steps back. The boy brought his hands up and massaged his head where it hurt. "It's fine. What did you want to talk about?"

Deidara grinned. "You've sparked my interest yesterday, hmm. A freshman managing to land a hit on me. That's a first." He chuckled before he closed his eyes and sighed. "Not something I'd forget anytime soon. Not something I'd just allow to happen again." He opened his eyes, sky blue iris looking straight into Lee's dark ones. His grin was gone. "I'm not letting it happen again, hmm."

In a flash, Lee was down on his back lying on the floor, breath knocked out of him. He could barely process he had just been kicked in his gut when he hadn't expected it at all.

"I'll make sure," Deidara continued, walking up to him. "I'll make sure you won't ever get the idea again that you could get away with kicking me."

Before the blond had reached him, Lee rolled on his belly and tried to get up. It hurt when he bent to stand, but he knew that he was lost if he stayed on the ground. At least, when he was standing, they could have a fair fight. Even Deidara wouldn't refuse the chance of beating him fair and square.

"I thought you'd stay where I put you while we conversed, hmm." Unfortunately, it didn't even come to Lee standing up. While he was in the process of getting on his feet, Deidara had reached him and kicked his back, forcing Lee down to ground and onto his back again.

"We aren't having a conversation anymore!" Lee let out a noise of pain as he tried to move.

Deidara stared down at him as he got closer, a smirk adoring his features. "I'm conversing!" He gave Lee's torso a hard kick, the impact causing the smaller boy to roll away and let out a cry.

"No," Lee said, raising himself up a bit on his elbows and looking at the blond. "Let me stand so we can fight!"

"So we can fight?" Deidara repeated. "What a stupid thing to say, hmm. I'm already having fun."

Another kick caused Lee to bump against the wall. With a grunt, the boy managed to get up a bit once more, looking Deidara in the eyes. "This isn't fair!"

A foot stomped down on Lee's throat. "I know, and I'm loving it!"

The boy clad in green, his hair ruffled, his back hurting, lying on the floor underneath the foot of his assaulter, struggled to breathe. His eyes were wide as he just couldn't manage to inhale the oxygen his body so desperately needed. His hands grasped around the ankle near his head, clawing at it in an attempt to get it to move away. His dark irises darted around, seeing Deidara's face contorted in a maniacal laugh, enjoying his suffering thoroughly. Hidan stood close by, grinning down at him when their eyes met. Sasori came to stand next to Hidan when the latter indicated he should come and see this. The redhead's apathetic gaze cut like a knife. It was as if he was watching a snail squirm after salt was poured onto it, studying the poor thing's last moments without really caring. Lee felt like that snail, completely at someone else's mercy. He was already hurt, yet they kept adding salt...

"You should stop if you don't want him to faint on you."

The comment registered vaguely in Lee's mind. Everything was blurry and his throat hurt, but he could breathe again; he could feel the harsh air rasping through his throat and filling up his lungs. Who had made Deidara stop? Lee tried to focus his eyes and looked around. He could see Kakuzu now, with an orange haired guy standing next to him. It was Pain, the leader of Akatsuki, he knew. He appeared only to be watching. The one who had made it possible for him to breathe again, had been... Sasori? Did he care after all?

The redhead's gaze was uncaring as Lee looked up at him with gratitude when he managed to sit up. Sasori switched his gaze to Deidara. "That should be enough. You can continue."

Hidan laughed as he slapped Sasori's back, who looked at him with annoyance before hitting his arm. "You should see the look on his face, thinking you're his savior! Hahaha! Too fucking good!"

Lee blinked, understanding not having dawned upon him yet. He still felt so weak that he didn't think he could stand on his own. Then again, that turned out not to be a problem at all, since Deidara took the liberty of raising him up himself by taking hold of his sore throat and lifting him only to smash him into the wall. Face close to Lee's, Deidara stared dangerously in the boy's eyes.

"Tell me, is protecting your dear, sweet Sakura worth getting beat up over, hmm?"

He had trouble finding his voice, but Lee succeeded in cracking out a response. "I... I promised."

"That's sweet, hmm." Laughing resounded in the hallway, making Lee wonder what was so wrong with keeping a promise. He had told Sakura he would protect her, and he always kept his promises.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep."

The voice came from Sasori, and the words were spoken with such malice that Lee couldn't help but look at him in confusion. Of course he could keep his promises, that's why they were called promises in the first place. You couldn't do anything else but fulfill them to the best of you abilities, always.

Lee met Sasori's eyes and was taken aback by what he saw there. Those hazel orbs were filled with hatred, something Lee had never seen before and it frightened him more than the look in Deidara's cold eyes that promised him so much more pain. But more than the hatred itself... those hazel eyes also held other emotions that were a stark contrast with the apathetic gaze that had met him earlier. Deeper emotions seemed to manifest in Sasori's eyes; anguish and hurt.

In only an instant, Sasori seemed sad.

It was gone so quickly though, that Lee wondered if he had made it up in his mind. Furthermore, a fist in his stomach caused him to double over in pain. He was quickly pushed against the wall again before he was kneed in his guts. Lee didn't even hear his own gasps and moans of pain by the time he was pulled from the wall and thrown on the ground by a punch to his face. The person he assumed was Deidara proceeded with giving him vicious kicks to his back and stomach. He seemed to avoid his head, maybe out of fear for him loosing consciousness, which would make the whole abusing pointless. The boy lying on the ground thought he could make out a: "Can I fucking have some, too? Why should you have all the fun, seriously?" The assault stopped momentarily, and then it continued again, though it lasted shorter this time. After about five kicks, the new person stopped and Lee felt he was being lifted up into an upright position, but he didn't know with certainty, because he felt dizzy.

When his body was still and Lee's head felt a little better, he opened his eyes and saw he was sitting against the wall. Deidara was standing some ways off, talking to Hidan and laughing, pointing at him a couple of times. Kakuzu and Sasori stood against the wall on the other side of the hallway, and Kisame had disappeared out of his line of vision. It hurt to move his neck, it hurt to move anything in general, so Lee just stayed still and watched Pain who stood in front of him.

When Pain saw that he had Lee's attention, he crouched down and took the boy's chin gently in his hands, making sure the beat up kid could look him in the eyes without much of a problem. "Do you know what just happened, Lee?"

Lee sat still, unmoving, not speaking. He only blinked, feeling too tired and too pained to nod.

"You just had an accident."

Blinking, Lee continued listening. An 'accident'. Well, that was one way of saying what had just happened.

"Anyone can see that you've been in a fight. What are you going to say when you are questioned? Will you mention us?"

Lee shook his head frantically when hearing this, no matter how much it hurt to do so.

"You won't say a thing. You won't remember anything because you hit your head."

Hit his head? Lee frowned slightly; he had taken one punch to his head, but that was it. It wasn't anything too serious. Sure, he had a headache, but from the feel of it, he wasn't bleeding.

"Do you understand what I'm saying, Lee?"

Lee didn't know what to think of this. Deidara had held a grudge against him because he had kicked him while he was protecting Sakura. Deidara beat him up. Deidara hurt him. Those others had watched. They hadn't done anything to stop it from happening. They were all evil persons, something had to be done about them. He would tell the teachers. Right now, he would just nod and be compliant.

"For your information: You know what will happen if you choose to disobey me, don't you, Lee?"

Lee blinked, then nodded slowly. If he 'disobeyed', every single one of the Akatsuki would be taken care of by the principal. There would be no time for retribution on their part. Everyone would be safe.

"Just to be sure, I'm going to give you a hint. You might want to bite your tongue for a bit." Pain picked up Lee's left hand and held it in his hands. "I hope your voice really is gone by now." Without another warning, the older male pushed Lee's index finger backwards until it lay flat on the back of the boy's hand.

Needless to say, Lee screamed.

"Do you understand now, Lee?" Pain continued the treatment for every other finger on Lee's left hand.

Lee's screaming was muffled by Hidan's hand covering the boy's mouth. "Goddammit, Pain! Why did you have to fucking do that, huh?" The silver haired male shut his eyes closed as he massaged one of his ears with his free hand. "Fuck! What do you mean, volume? We need to get out of here, fast! Don't tell me nobody fucking heard that!"

"I am aware of that," Pain told him, putting Lee's hand down. "We're leaving." He stood and walked away, meeting with Kisame and Itachi on his way out. Kakuzu followed, motioning for Hidan to follow him. Deidara and Sasori remained in the hallway, together with the abused freshman.

Deidara walked over to Lee, crouching down in front of him. "You hit your head, right?" Grinning, he pulled Lee to his feet and to the middle of the hallway. "Stand on your own, and stand still, hmm." The blond released his hold on the boy, taking a step backwards before making a fist and drawing his arm back. "Inning, hmm!" He lashed out and hit Lee in his face. The boy fell to the floor, not standing stable on his feet to begin with.

"We're done here." Deidara turned and walked towards the exit.

Sasori kept standing there for a while longer, waiting until the blond had disappeared. Then, he focused on the boy lying on the ground. At that moment, Lee made the terrible mistake of opening his eyes and meeting the redhead's gaze. "You don't seem unconscious just yet. Seems like you haven't hit your head hard enough." Sasori walked forward until he stood before him, Lee lying at his feet. Cold eyes stared down.

"Stupid boy."

In one swift movement, Sasori brought his right leg back and kicked the boy's head with far too much force than was necessary.

Biology went by without much fuss. Sasori didn't even speak to me. During Math I finally found out what happened with Lee, as Shizune went over to Ino and told her Lee was in the nurse's office. Of course Ino immediately told Hinata and me, and Gaara heard who sat behind Hinata and he told Temari who sat to his right. Gaara asked Shizune if he could go visit Lee and he was allowed to, but Temari, Ino, Hinata and me couldn't come because it would be too crowded. Gaara returned sometime later, not saying anything.

Chemistry was hell. Not the hell like Gym had been, but more like the hell where some kind of demonic teacher who hears all the things you don't want him to hear makes you want to put your mind on autopilot and flee to the darkest corner of your being and hide. Again, Sasori didn't speak to me... initially, that is. Towards the end of Chemistry, he insisted on telling me how amusing First break had been. He asked me if I had missed him, I told him no and then he told me to guess what he had been up to. I said I really wasn't interested in it, whereafter he told me I should be, for the sake of my friends. After this, of course, I demanded to know what he and his stupid little cronies had done. This was the answer I got:

"Oh, so you want to know now? Ungrateful brat. You should've asked when I offered you the information."

That arrogant, stuck up prick. First goading me to ask, and when I do, he doesn't answer.

Second break came as a relief as well. Not as intense as earlier with First break, but I was glad either way. Temari took me from Chemistry to the Nurse's office, where Shizune greeted us and let us in on the condition that we were to stay calm and wouldn't be too loud.

Lee was beat up pretty bad. His fingers... it was awful. His knuckles were all a sick purple-blueish, and he was bruised all over. According to Shizune, he had sprained ribs and he had been lucky none of them had broken. The worst that had happened to him was that concussion of his. What kind of force did you have to use to cause something like that? He hadn't told Shizune what had happened and he wouldn't tell us either, even when we promised not to tell anyone. I supposed that would technically be a lie, since if it was anything remotely serious he'd tell us, of course we'd tell others, if only for the sake of help. I myself had an idea of what had happened and so I asked him. Lee looked at me with those big eyes of his and told me he was sorry, so sorry he couldn't protect me. This made me wonder: Did he mean he couldn't protect me now, or did he mean he hadn't been able to protect me? If so, I hadn't been attacked or anything, so who had he been protecting me against? I asked and he evaded, telling me he was glad I was okay and all. Temari and I left sometime later for the cafeteria, telling Lee to get some rest and to get well soon.

You know what I thought, what I'm still thinking? Kankuro said they had left Lee behind when he had to go to the bathroom. Lee told them to go ahead, so they did. After this, the Akatsuki must have gotten him and hurt him like this. Sasori's words make sense if I'm following this train of thought. Deidara must have been resentful, so he got the others of his gang to help him get back at Lee. Yesterday afternoon, he specifically asked for confirmation of Lee's name, as if he wanted to remember it. Why else would the Akatsuki go after Lee? Deidara must have made it so. Konan seemed like someone who wasn't the fighter type. According to Ino, she let others do her fighting. I supposed it made sense she hadn't been there when Lee was attacked.

Worst of all, I feel really guilty right now. Analyzing it like this does nothing to make me feel better. Lee had protected me, and now he was paying the price for it. If I hadn't been so hesitant yesterday, if I had told Deidara immediately I didn't want his attention, if I had pushed him away myself... But I hadn't. It had tried, but it hadn't been enough. If only I had been stronger, both mentally and physically.

If only. Such wishful thinking. I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me. I'm going to find a solution. Well, I'm going to try, and I hope I'll succeed. Let's just keep it at that for now.

About the rest of the day; Health and Care was annoying because I was sitting next to Deidara. I considered asking Tsunade to switch Deidara and Ino so that the two Akatsuki could sit together and my friend and I as well—everyone happy. I didn't have the courage to do so, which led to nobody being happy. Hidan was frustrated with Ino, and I was frustrated with Deidara so I ignored him, which caused him to become annoyed with me. He asked me what he had ever done to deserve this kind of treatment from me, and I told him what I had been thinking a large part of the day. "You hurt Lee." I expected him to get angry with me, I expected denial, I expected lies. I did not expect his answer.

"Retribution, Sakura, is a wonderful thing. How I wish you would understand, hmm."

I was so shocked at his blatant admittance I didn't speak to him for the rest of class. He let me be, thankfully.

During Economics I wondered whether or not I should tell Naruto, Hinata and Tenten about my discovery, but Pain was sitting right there. I couldn't possibly start up that conversation at that moment. Moreover, Pain didn't say much, but he did start up a random conversation out of nowhere, like nothing had happened during First break—like I hadn't been able to draw a conclusion. What did he think I was, stupid? Lee might not have told us

Of course. They threatened Lee not to tell anyone. That was the reason Pain acted like nothing had happened. His gang didn't have anything to do with Lee's 'accident'. Lee denied the accusations, effectively cutting off every connection with Pain's followers. The teachers, ignorant as they were, would believe Lee. Even if I would accuse Pain, Deidara, Sasori and the other Akatsuki, Lee would tell me I was wrong even though I would be telling the truth, even though it would help him. If the truth of this 'accident' came out, the Akatsuki might possibly be expelled. It was just... Lee had to cooperate, he had to confirm my accusations in order for them to be heard and acted upon.

But none of that would happen, because Pain's behavior told me that he had made sure Lee wouldn't tell a thing. How else could he be so relaxed? After Economics, Pain offered to walk me to Art again. Unbelievable.

I politely declined and walked with Hinata. Now, there was this little problem when we arrived in the classroom: Hinata walked to her seat, and I... My seat was between Sasori's and Deidara's. Ino shot me a sympathetic look, but I knew I had to deal with it on my own. The first five minutes of class were awkward. Kurenai explained a few things, Deidara's hand did not venture on my leg and Sasori didn't have to lend a helping hand. We just sat there, Deidara on my left, Sasori on my right, Pain in front of me on Deidara's side, Konan opposite Pain. We were all quiet. We all sat still. There was only one difference between the four of them versus me: They were relaxed, I was tense.

When Kurenai allowed us to work on our stuff, I bolted out of my seat and went over to Ino, Temari and Hinata. I hope my flight wasn't too obvious, but I shouldn't hope too much. The rest of class went by rather smoothly, if I must say so myself. My painting progressed, also thanks to the guy that sat at the girls' table. Apparently he's a gifted painter and his name is Sai. His nicknames are annoying though... Calling me 'ugly'. And he calls Ino 'miss Beautiful'. Now, I know Ino is good-looking, but I am not all that bad either! I mean, come on.

"Hello, Ibiki."

"Don't call me that, brat."

The dark look the tall man got sent his way, let him know he had hit the bullseye. Not that Ibiki really cared he ticked the boy off with that comment, he just liked the result: Obedience, frustration and the knowledge that the first verbal battle had been won by him, the one in charge—a fact that seemed easily forgotten by the mighty Sasori Akasuna. Ibiki motioned for the boy to sit down in the seat in front of his desk. A hateful glare and ten seconds later, the unwilling student grudgingly sat down. Ibiki took place in his own seat and made himself comfortable, all the while staring the boy up for detention in the eyes.

After a couple of minutes in which not a word was spoken and a warfare of a caliber unseen to the world as of yet was fought as the teacher and student stared each other down, Sasori finally spoke up since he hated to wait, didn't want to willingly waste his time and Ibiki wasn't about to speak up anytime soon. "What's for today, mister Morino."

"So you do remember the correct way to speak to me." 'Another victory down,' went through Ibiki's head as he saw the boy's glare deepen. He remained silent for a minute longer, knowing how much the red haired boy despised having to wait. Those essays were definitely useful. "Today, we're going to have a polite chat; a chat in which I will be the one asking questions and you will fulfill the role of the one who answers."

Sasori huffed and leaned back in his chair, almost amused. "Really? We'll see about that."

"Yes, we will. I'm even willing to put in a little bargain in order to make things more interesting for you."

The boy raised one eyebrow. "Explain yourself."

"Now, so quick with wanting to switch our roles? Surely you don't suffer from short term memory loss. I will be the one 'asking', to put it politely. And of course we will act civilized and politely, for we are both adults—though young adult might be a more appropriate term for you."

"Your point?"

"Quiet." Ibiki stared the just dubbed young man in front of him down. Sasori met his gaze with confidence, not intimidated at all. "I'm appealing to your sense of maturity in order for you to think about this carefully and make the according decision that will benefit us both." The man stopped there, letting the redhead wait and testing his patience. Sasori didn't say anything and waited for Ibiki to continue. This told the older man that the younger one was indeed willing to cooperate if the deal was really worth it. Once Ibiki was satisfied, he continued speaking. "Answer each one of my questions in full sentences and truthfully. If I feel like you've done this to the best of your abilities, you are free from the detention you would still have to endure for your previous acts of disobedience. It means you're off the hook. Until you get yourself into trouble again, that is."

Sasori looked thoughtful. "Will I also be off the hook for the so called acts of disobedience I may or may not have committed and haven't been punished for yet?"

Ibiki narrowed his eyes and couldn't help but show one of his rare grins. There was more to this sneaky little kid than he was letting on. "Yes."

"Interesting. Definitely worth consideration." Sasori was silent for a moment. "What will happen if I don't meet your expectations?"

"Nothing. Everything will stay as it is now." Ibiki locked eyes with the redhead. "Think about it: You've only got things to gain."

This time, it was Sasori who narrowed his eyes and grinned slightly. Of course there was more to this deal than Ibiki let on. But if there was nothing to loose for him... he might as well give it a try. "All right. Je suis d'accord, imbécile."

"Did you just call me a name in another language?"

"Has the deal already started?" When Ibiki stared at him, Sasori assumed that yes, it had. An easy start, then. "Yes, I called you a name in another language. The language is called French. I had French last period. Just in case you didn't comprehend, I said: I agree, you idiot." Full sentences and truthfully answered. Just like he asked. This was going to be easy. Moreover; because he had already won this deal he couldn't be punished for anything he said that was of offensive nature and he couldn't be more honest about.

"I see. Well answered. How old are you?"

"I am seventeen years old." Sasori felt like he was reciting something, articulating every word just to show Ibiki what an amazingly, stupidly easy thing this was to ask of him.

"What is the birthday of your grandmother?" Random question. Ibiki was well aware of Sasori's background story and few relatives.

Sasori frowned slightly. "October fifteenth." His eyes widened a fraction and he narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him. "Her birthday is on October fifteenth. She will turn 74 this year." Full sentences. Damn. He had almost had him there. The bastard was grinning at him. Sasori really disliked Ibiki. He'd get him someday.

"Is she your only relative?"

"No, she is not my only relative. Her idiotic brother is still alive too. However, his idiocy doesn't compare to hers. I'd rather they were both dead."

"Instead of your parents?"

It became deathly quiet as Sasori stared at the older man with disdain. How dare he. This wasn't relevant at all. Moreover, Sasori didn't feel obliged to tell him in the slightest. It was none of his goddamn business. "If it was up to me, both she and he could undergo the same tragedy my parents had to endure. As can you, now I'm at it. Orochimaru can die as well, Tsunade too, and dear principal Jiraiya, by my own hands if I could make it so. Anko can fall into a ditch and die, and I hope Asuma will grow a tumor in his chest by the time I leave this school. Shizune may trip and gouge her eyes out with a stray pencil, and may Kakashi have a heart attack. Let Gai fall out the window and break his neck. Don't even get me started on the students, because if I would ever be given the choice between saving myself or saving them, I'd let them all rot."

Sasori's eyes were locked with Ibiki's. The older man knew he had crossed a line that by all means he shouldn't have, but he wanted to let Sasori know that the boy had nothing against him, while he had every weapon he could use ready to charge. Sasori had better know that he should never use that hatred of his against his superiors.

"Oh, hear my prayers, God." The poisonous look the red haired male sent the other would have terrified anyone. Unfortunately, Ibiki had seen and heard it all.

"What was your first class this morning?"

If it had been possible, Sasori would have ripped the man's tongue out. "My first class is Math. Shizune is the one who teaches Math. She is also my mentor, and I hate her."

"What was your second class today?"

"I had History as my second class. Gai teaches History, he annoys me and I hate him."

"What did you have for lunch during First break?"

"I didn't eat anything during First break."

"Why didn't you eat anything?"

Ah, so it was like that. That was the reason. Outwardly, Sasori's appearance didn't shift or change. "I forgot to get lunch because I hung around with my friends."

"What did you and your friends do during First break?"

It was definitely like that. It was definitely the reason. Well, Ibiki would end up sour in the end. Sasori hated liars, but to be truthful, he felt like the man in front of him didn't deserve the truth. That vile, disgusting piece of filth in front of him deserved nothing less than lies. Just like his grandmother. He had always pretended to be the angelic grandchild. It wouldn't be too hard to keep up the pretense. Sure, he had admitted he hated his grandmother to the bone, but the school had never had any evidence that he had done something bad. The most he did was backtalk to teachers, and apparently that was just so sinful... "We hung around the school grounds, we walked around the lake. We met our Biology teacher on our way, he can vouch for us." 'Take that, filth. Zetsu will side with us.'

Ibiki looked a bit taken aback. This made Sasori feel better inside. It would seem that the big, bad detention man had already had his prejudices. Well, too bad. "Your stroll around the lake took up the entire First break?" He didn't understand, and Sasori didn't pity him.

"Yes, it took up our entire First break."

"Several people have claimed to see you exit the western school building by the end of First Break. How would you explain this?"

They'd have to find out who those telltales were. "They must have lied. My friends and I aren't very popular." A lie. A big, fat lie. "They are afraid of us and want to see us punished for no reason other than that they can feel more safe." More or less true.

"Do you know what happened to a boy named Lee during First break?"

"I don't know what happened to him." After he left him what must have been a concussion, that is.

"He was assaulted and physically abused. His left fingers were all dislocated, he had sprained ribs and had a concussion."

'You don't have to tell me that.' "That's sad to hear. Are you saying me and my friends were the ones who did it?"

"The staff has reason to believe that yes, you and your friends were the ones who did it."

"I find that very disconcerting. However much I would have liked to kick that Gai-clone senseless, I would certainly never physically abuse someone. I know I can say very mean and harsh things, but I am sane enough to know that violence is never the answer." 'How goody-two-shoes was that? Hah.' Admittedly, Sasori was finding it very hard not to smile out of glee. It was so easy to twist the truth.

"Do you swear on your life that you and your friends have nothing to do with today's incident?"

"I swear on my life that we had nothing to do with it."

Ibiki was silent as he watched the boy in front of him who sat there with a placid expression on his face. All anger had disappeared. The man had experienced a lot of different kind of people in his life, including some of the best liars alive. It came with the job of interrogator on one of the country's most dangerous prisons. He had been given many compliments during his career and he liked to think that he could be the world's one and only living lie detector.

This kid was something else. If Ibiki didn't know any better, the kid was telling the truth. But then, he did know better. He had evidence that Akatsuki gang was involved. The problem was, the victim didn't cooperate and now there was supposed to be a teacher who could vouch for the students who were undoubtedly involved.

Ibiki would have liked to apply techniques he used back in his old days, but of course that was prohibited. This was a boarding school, one of the best and most expensive in the country. The people who attended were almost exclusively rich, there were only a couple of students who had managed to enter because of a fund or scholarship. This wasn't some kind of prison, even though there were those who thought of it as such. This was a school, a school with children who thought themselves to be equal to adults, perhaps even better than the average citizen with a low class income. People would have his head if he started acting like he was dealing with criminals.

To cut a long story short, Ibiki didn't have a strong foothold for his arguments. Furthermore, it was about time to end detention hour. It annoyed him to no end, but he was going to have to keep his word.

"You're free to go. Don't let me see you here again."

Sasori stood and walked to the door, grinning as soon as he had turned his back on the older man. When he had closed the door behind him, he couldn't help but feel victorious. As the angelic redhead came outside, he couldn't help but laugh. Such stupidity, such ignorance, such naivety. Ibiki Morino had lost.

Now, to find Zetsu before someone else did...

So, the day went by like that. After Art, I didn't have detention—the thought a particular someone else did, made me feel good inside—and I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with 'miss Beautiful', Hinata, Temari and Tenten after we had picked her up from her class. Poor girl, she has Math as her last class of the day.

After we had dinner together, we went to visit Lee in his room on the second floor. Gaara opened the door, Lee was asleep. I was surprised at first to see Gaara, but it disappeared soon enough when I realized they shared a room together. There was someone else as well, a guy with long brown hair called Neji who is Hinata's cousin. Um, let's see... Yeah, I wrote it down with the room numbers yesterday. I like Hinata better than her cousin, really. Of course, it is very easy to like Hinata, she doesn't hurt a fly. Neji, however, looks like he could hurt things much bigger than himself. He was lean and taller than me, not very muscled or anything, but his aura just radiated the message: 'Don't mess with me or you're gonna get hurt'.

We stayed for maybe half an hour before we left Gaara alone. According to Temari, Lee and Gaara have a history together, with Lee viewing Gaara as a worthy opponent and Gaara seeing Lee as a nuisance that needed to be crushed. For some reason, the word 'crush' in relation to Gaara doesn't make much sense, since I really think Gaara seems like a silent, sad teddy bear or something. I think he likes hugs.

I am so glad right now that you can't give me the look, sweet, reliable diary of mine. My mind is weird, my thoughts are weirder. I am sad to admit that I myself am just a weird person. Then again, everyone is weird, especially at this school. By the way, Deidara and Sasori didn't wreck my room yesterday. At least, not nearly as much as I had expected them to. One of my panties is missing, god knows where it is right now. One of those guys has used my bed to jump on it or something, the bed was a mess. That was about it. Could have been worse.

I finished my homework some time ago. It was kind of easy, so I read in the black book again. About that book, and the story... I am in it. Like, my name and description. Sakura Haruno, a pink haired girl of twelve years old. You think this is a coincidence? Her best friend and worst rival is a blond girl named Ino Yamanaka. This is freaky, seriously. They attend some kind of ninja academy where they are learning to become, well, ninja. But they are called 'shinobi', and female ninja are called 'kunoichi'. So... I haven't read that far yet, but it's strangely compelling. I really want to know what this book is about, what it has in store for this kunoichi in the making named Sakura Haruno, who lives in the Village hidden in the Leaves in the Land of Fire. Honestly, who has come up with that stuff? The author is unknown, so there's no way for me to find out. Unless I'll ask the librarian... Something I definitely won't do, since technically I'm not even allowed to read this book. Whose fault was that again? Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten.

I wonder for how long Sasori and Deidara will stop bothering me. Could it be that they've just given up on me? I hope so. I don't think I want to be involved with them. 'Don't think'? What kind of weak willed thought is that? I really need to be more resolute. I know I don't want to be involved with them.

...It sounds more secure. I wish I'd feel like it as well.

Love, Sakura

~*~

Over a thousand words more than the previous chapter. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed it^^

What one doesn't know... Oh, the Akatsuki aren't sweet at all.

Again, comments/requests/critiques are very welcome~