Whoa, it really has been a while right? My tests are still on but I only have three subjects left so I can update soon! Anyways, what's weird is that its 09:15 here in Colombo, Sri Lanka, I'm eating honey loops (yes, I eat cereal in the night) and I'm typing this when I'm supposed to be studying for my Bio test :D and have to wake up at 5:00 in the morning. Without further delay, onto the tenth chapter of Battle of the Bands (I really have to find a better title).
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I don't own Kashmir either, it belongs to Led Zeppelin.
Chapter 10
After parting ways with the Akatsuki, Sakura made her way to the first class of the day, Biology taught by Orochimaru, only to be glomped by Ino at the doorway.
"Oi, pig, what's all the enthusiasm about?" she asked with a laugh but Ino just shot her a look that said 'shut up and come with me' and dragged her all the way to a hallway off the girls' bathroom, shooting paranoid looks in every direction and confusing the hell out of Sakura.
"Okay, so what's this about Ino? Did Shikamaru finally ask you out?" Sakura asked, her hands on her hips and an expecting look on her face.
"Do you realize you are wearing some hideous pink thing underneath your dress?" Ino asked with a shiver.
"What?!" Sakura exclaimed, eyes wide and angled her neck to look at her sleeve. Sure enough, she was still wearing Ino's hideous pink gift.
A nerve popped on the pink haired teen's forehead. That idiot Deidara! Couldn't he have at least warned her that she was still wearing the pink shirt? And Sasori too! He was supposed to be her cousin for hell's sakes!
"Whew, thanks for telling me Ino or I would have been a laughing stock", she managed a smile at her friend. Gotta love Yamanaka Ino for being so fashion conscious.
"Don't thank me, I just didn't want to been seen with you while wearing that", Ino teased and Sakura glared at her. So much for loving Ino.
"Ack!" Ino squeaked as her phone vibrated in her pocket. She never got used to that thing. Sakura watched as the blonde extracted her state of the art phone and checked it and at once, her face brightened.
"Oh my God, it's Shika. He finally gave me his number!" she squealed happily, bouncing on the toes of her flats. Sakura hugged her, forgetting about her teasing comment. Shikamaru had kept his number a secret from her all these years somehow. Only the guys had it and Shikamaru had forbidden them from telling her (Naruto had tried to once but Shikamaru threatened to blackmail him. Apparently, being the resident genius, a superb hacker and an observer had its uses). Ino had whined about it for ages, until Sakura and the girls had gotten sick of it and threatened not to talk with her if she didn't cease her whining and now, finally, he had given her his number.
"He wants me to come to class. He has something to tell me apparently", Ino said with stars in her eyes and Sakura giggled. Young love.
And so, telling Sakura to change quick and come back to class, Yamanaka Ino left the hallway, muttering something about 'Shika-kun finally coming to his senses'.
Sakura smiled for her friend and entered the girls' bathroom and into a stall and locked the door. She took off her makeshift dress, removed the offending T shirt, dumped it into her messenger bag, and put on the dress, breathing in Deidara's vanilla scent deeply.
Thanking her stars that Ino had noticed the T shirt, Sakura opened the door of the stall and walked to the sink.
With the tap turned on, she didn't hear the bathroom door open and a person walk in. Didn't see the person as they settled behind her as she splashed her face with cold water. Only when she raised her head did she see the person standing directly behind her.
With widened eyes, she turned around, only to be met with a sharp blow to the head.
The figure grinned as Sakura slid to the ground.
Sea foam eyes watered in pain as Sakura struggled to just get up and beat the shit out of the asshole that had hit her but the pain in her head was too much.
"I told you I'd get you back".
Deidara's vanilla smell entered her nostrils once again as Haruno Sakura's eyes drifted shut.
Yamanaka Ino sighed grumpily, her head resting on her chin as Orochimaru droned on and on about the endocrine system.
Apparently, some idiot thought it was funny to send her a prank message as Shikamaru using a fake number. Turns out that Shikamaru had never messaged her and that wasn't even his number. Her immediate conclusion was that Naruto had done it but the blonde had an alibi; his phone had been confiscated by Tsunade, the head of the disciplinary committee, for using it to browse the net during class.
Ah well, the situation did have a plus side, Shikamaru had given her his real number saying that it would be 'troublesome' if the person who tricked her struck again using his name.
With another sigh, Ino glanced at the empty seat next to her. Sakura still wasn't back and it was a good twenty minutes since she had left her in the bathroom.
Well, Sakura did skip classes occasionally to practice guitar in the club room so maybe she was there, Ino thought but she couldn't shake away a small part of her that said 'maybe something happened to her'.
Glancing at Orochimaru to make sure that he wasn't watching her, she tapped Sasuke, who was in front of her, on the back.
The raven haired teen turned around, annoyed that his concentration had been broken but his expression softened a bit when he saw the worried look on Ino's face.
"Sasuke, did Sakura text you about where she is or something?" she asked hopefully but the expression returned to that of worry when the Uchiha shook his head.
"You should send her a message", Sasuke advised and turned back around but his mind wasn't on the lecture anymore and on the whereabouts of his female friend. He too knew that Sakura was prone to skipping classes but according to Naruto, she usually texted someone about it.
He frowned as a thought entered his head. Maybe she was with his brother's friends and her cousin. He hoped she had not gotten into trouble with them.
As the bell rang, Naruto, Ino, Sasuke, Shikamaru and Hinata gathered in the doorway of the Biology class. Naruto looked troubled, Ino and Hinata looked downright worried and Sasuke was frowning in thought. Even the lazy genius Shikamaru was worried for Sakura.
Ino, without the knowledge of Orochimaru, had texted Sakura a dozen times but not once had she answered. She had even texted Tenten, asking her whether she had seen Sakura but the brunette had replied in the negative.
"I'm going to look in the girls' bathroom. You guys go look in the club room", Ino said and turned to Hinata. "Hina, could you go to the senior's section and find Sakura's cousin? He needs to know. If you're lucky, he still hasn't gone to his next class". Hinata nodded and ran in the direction of the senior's section, her petite face scrunched in worry for her friend, and Ino took off to the girls' bathroom.
The guys made way to the club room, asking everyone on the way whether they had seen Sakura. After all, a girl with pink hair was hard to miss.
Ino had arrived at the bathroom. She pushed open the double doors and walked inside, searching for any signs of her pink haired friend.
Ino checked the stalls one by one but none seemed to be occupied except the one in the farthest corner. The electronic sign was blinking and read 'occupied'.
Her expression one of dread, Ino tried to open the door but it seemed to only open from the inside once it was closed.
"Sakura, are you in there?" she called anxiously but received no answer. In her desperation, she even kicked the door but to no avail.
Reaching her wits end, Ino grabbed her phone and sent Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata a message saying 'to the girls' bathroom, hurry and Hinata, get Sakura's cousin!'
Meanwhile, Hinata, panting, was running about in the senior's section and read Ino's message Where was Sakura's cousin?
The seniors watched the cute junior girl running about in the wrong section in curiosity. What was she doing here?
Hinata squeaked suddenly as she bumped into someone's hard chest.
"Oh, I-I'm s-sorry senpai, I-", the poor, flustered girl was cut off by a small smile from the person she had bumped into.
"It's fine. You are Sakura-san's friend, correct? What are you doing in the senior's section?" Hinata was immediately put at ease by the person's gentle tone and deep voice. She recognized him as Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, Sasori-senpai's friend. Wait…
"Uchiha-senpai, h-have you s-seen Sasori-senpai? S-Sakura-chan's in t-trouble", she managed to get out. Itachi's forehead creased in a small frown. Trouble? He had better get Sasori.
"Stay here Hyuuga-san, I'll come back with Sasori-san", Itachi assured her and disappeared into the crowd of senior's, his tall frame easily visible.
Hinata leant against the wall and let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank God", she muttered softly.
In no time, Itachi was back with a grim Sasori and an unusually serious Deidara behind him.
"Do you know where she is, Hyuuga-san?" Sasori asked, in no mood to deal with pleasantries.
Hinata nodded and led them down to the junior section of the school. On the way, they met Sasuke, Shikamaru and Naruto, and Sasuke, for once said nothing about his brother's presence. Sakura's safety mattered more at the moment.
The five boys burst into the girls' bathroom without even thinking about it, almost giving Ino a heart attack, Hinata following more slowly. Ino wasted no time in asking why Itachi and most importantly Deidara were there and just pointed to the stall in the corner.
"I think she's in there".
There was no need to say anything more. Deidara immediately made a move to kick open the door but was stopped by Sasori.
"What, yeah?" he growled. Sasori could see that he was worried, no matter what he would say later.
"Do you want to kill her?" Sasori asked and Deidara scowled, dropping his leg.
"Hyuuga-san, Yamanaka-san, do you have a hair clip or something?" Sasori asked, kneeling down on the floor, uncaring of how unhygienic that was.
Hinata shook her head 'no' but Ino removed a bobby pin from her hair and handed it to Sasori. He wordlessly accepted it, straightened it out, thrust it into the lock, twisted, and turned it a few times. The others watched, Sasuke and Deidara looking just about ready to bust the door open no matter what Sasori had said.
They let out a breath as the lock clicked and the door opened a crack. Sasori stood up and Deidara, who was nearest to him, pushed open the door.
Ino and Hinata let out choked sobs, Naruto's cerulean eyes and Itachi's dark grey ones widened simultaneously, Sasuke's fists clenched at their sides and Deidara growled angrily. Sasori seemed to be unable to form words.
There was Sakura, unconscious and curled into a ball on the floor, and her dress torn and ripped in places.
But worst of all, was her hair.
It was cut short, into ragged and messy bangs. Tufts of pink hair were still on the floor, some on Sakura's body, looking strangely like cherry blossom petals.
The teens stared in horror. Who the hell could have done such a thing, they all thought but then again, all of them knew the answer to that.
Ino was the first to break the silence.
"I'll kill that bitch. I'll fucking kill her!" she screeched like a mad woman. How dare that whore do this to Sakura? She'd kill her.
Ino's screams eventually receded into small sobs and Hinata, surprisingly, was the one comforting her. Even Shikamaru went over to the sobbing blonde and put his arm over her.
Sasori still seemed unable to react and Itachi, wisely, dragged him aside.
They all watched as Deidara knelt down and gently lifted Sakura's body off the floor. He felt a rush of anger inside him as the tufts of hair fell off of her body and onto the floor. His arrogant face now grim and serious, Deidara turned to Sasori, cradling Sakura in his plaid clad arms.
"I'm taking her to the infirmary. You better come, yeah", the obvious anger in his tone was unmistakable and Itachi watched in slight surprise. Deidara was someone who never worried about other people and always did as he pleased and here he was, obviously concerned for the girl he was holding in his arms.
Sasori blinked and nodded, coming to his senses.
"W-we're coming too", Hinata said and Ino nodded from next to her, wiping away her tears. Sasuke and Naruto too followed Deidara and Sasori, Sasuke saying nothing about the fact that Deidara was carrying Sakura.
"I guess I'll have to explain to the Headmaster", Shikamaru sighed.
"I'll come with you", Itachi said and the duo made way to the Headmaster's office while the others headed to the infirmary, Deidara still in the lead.
Ino had texted Tenten, telling her of the events and the brunette was already at the infirmary when they arrived. She gasped at the sight of Sakura in Deidara's arms and at her hair.
"Who the fuck did that?" she asked Ino furiously, disregarding the fact that the nurse was there.
"I'll give you one guess", Ino replied drily as Deidara laid Sakura on the bed, Shizune immediately checking over her.
"Karin", Tenten spat out viciously. Oh, she'd show that bitch later.
"Is she okay?" Sasuke and Sasori asked the nurse in unison.
"She will be. She's had a good blow to the head. She's going to need some ice for that. Do you have any idea how this happened?" Shizune asked.
"We don't know", Ino said. "We were at the bathroom before class and I received a text… The text! Karin did that that too, the bitch! She planned this! I left her for a few minutes and then she didn't return to class and that was when we went looking for her", she explained, her corn flower blue eyes fiery.
Shizune listened in disbelief. Students these days. What was wrong with them? If the blow had struck Sakura harder, her head would surely have been punctured and she could have lost a lot of blood.
"Do you think we could track the number?" Naruto asked, unusually grim.
"No, if she was smart, she would have used a disposable phone", Sasuke responded.
"Fortunately for us, Karin in not very smart", Ino added. "I'm betting she used her own phone for that".
The three continued discussing ways to prove Karin was the perpetrator while Shizune treated Sakura. Deidara and Sasori were sitting on the hard backed chairs next to Sakura's bed, Deidara's ice blue eyes trained on Sakura's form.
Sasori watched his best friend as he watched his cousin. Deidara was worried about her, anyone could see that and Deidara never worried about anyone. He was a hard-headed, arrogant idiot who covered up his true self by his bad ass and mischievous exterior. And yet here he was, concerned about Sakura. Even though he was his best friend, sometimes Sasori just couldn't figure out Deidara. Once you thought you had him all figured, he'd go and throw another curve ball at you, like this.
Meanwhile, Deidara was feeling conflicted. Extremely conflicted. He always told himself that he didn't care for her, that she was just another person to him, that he wasn't attracted to her and yet, when he had seen her there, unconscious and on the floor, he had been angry, furious, and at the same time, relieved that she was not hurt beyond that. Exactly what was she to him? An associate, a friend, or something more? He just couldn't put his finger on it. It was annoying. He was still trying to convince himself that he didn't care for her, but then why was he still here? Why had he come with Sasori? Why had he been the one to carry her? Why was he so fucking conflicted when it came to her? God, he was going to drive himself crazy with these questions.
Deidara groaned and took out his iPod. Might as well listen to some music while he was at it. It didn't look like Sasori would be leaving too soon.
He flicked on his iPod and the first song that played was 'Best of You' by the Foo Fighters.
"Ah stupid fucking iPod, yeah!" he cursed mentally and paused it, browsing the other tracks. Not even his iPod seemed to be on his side today.
"Aha, yeah", he said aloud, earning a curious glance from Sasori and played 'Kashmir' by Led Zeppelin. Ah, let us drift with the dulcet tones of Robert Plant and the other guys whose names I don't know.
But no, fate wouldn't allow him to even listen to a song (damn, he really liked to hear Robert Plant wail) because at the exact moment Robert Plant was at his awesome 'Ooooh' part, Sakura just had to wake up.
"Sakura!" Sasori exclaimed and the other three teens stopped chatting and immediately walked over to the pink haired teen's bed. Deidara and Sasori leaned down in their chairs so that their faces were directly above Sakura's own.
Sakura's sea foam eyes fluttered open, the lashes tangled in each other.
What had happened? She remembered washing her face and then… nothing. Why did her head hurt like the freaking fires of well were ignited in it and whose eyes were those? So, blue, pretty, and smudged with eye liner and there was hair too, lots of it, pretty and blonde and he smelled of vanilla too. Oh Holy hell, had she died and gone to heaven and was this guy Kurt Cobain's spirit?
"OH MY GOD, KURT!" she exclaimed and raised her head only to have it smacked against 'Kurt Cobain's', making the pain even worse.
"Owwie, ow, ow!" she said, clutching her head. 'Kurt' cursed.
"Do I look like a fucking dead guy to you, yeah?!" no, that wasn't Kurt's voice. Wait, actually she recognized that voice, those eyes, the hair and especially the vanilla smell.
"Deidara!" she exclaimed. What was he doing here? Wait… where was here anyway?
"No, I'm Billy fucking Joe, of course it's Deidara, you idiot!" Next to Deidara, she could see Sasori's worried face.
"Hey Sasori. Um, where are we again?" she asked, disoriented, and Deidara scowled at being ignored.
"You're at the infirmary Sakura", she turned to see Sasuke, Ino, Tenten, Hinata and Naruto all smiling somewhat shakily at her, even Sasuke.
"Sasuuu! Why am I at the infirmary? Don't tell me I fainted on the gym floor again", she joked but the smiles disappeared.
"What? What happened to me?" she asked, now panicking. Why was not anyone answering her?
Desperately, she turned to Deidara. She knew he would hand it straight to her without any qualms.
"What happened to me Dei? Am I gonna die or something?" she asked.
Deidara scoffed. How could she think she was dying with just a blow to the head? Well, then again, he had been pretty worried himself. "Of course you're not gonna die idiot, yeah. You're… well, let's just say I can't call you cherry anymore, yeah", he muttered and the others smiled sadly.
"What?" Sakura asked confusedly. No one was making any sense. Why couldn't Deidara call her cherry anymore?
Ino swallowed and extracted a compact from her bag and handed it to Sakura. "You, um, should see for yourself Sakura. I'm sorry".
The feeling of dread in her stomach increased and Sakura grabbed the compact with shaking fingers. She supposed she knew what was coming but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw when she opened the compact and raised it to her face.
A strangled gasp escaped her lips.
Her hair… It was chopped up roughly into awful messy bangs up to neck level. No two strands were cut in the same length and there were awful split ends in her hair.
Holding back her sobs, she clutched her hair. She had been growing it out since she was a kid and now it was just gone.
"Who did it?" she asked, a dangerous edge to her voice.
"Well, we're not really sure Sakura but-", Ino was cut off by Sakura.
"Who the fuck did it!" now she was just plain angry.
"We think it was Karin, that she was the one that sent the message and did that to you", Ino sighed.
Sakura swallowed audibly, clutching the compact so hard it probably shattered. That bitch. That fucking little slut. What the hell had she ever done to her (except punch the truth to her ugly whorish face of course) to deserve this? Oh, she would show that Karin.
The others watched in surprise as suddenly, a grin formed on Sakura's face. She lifted her head, messy bangs and all and grinned even wider.
"Deidara, Tenten, Naruto, Ino, what do you say we teach that bitch a lesson?" she asked.
Deidara's pissed off expression disappeared and was replaced by an impish grin on hearing her words. This was what he liked about her, her total unwillingness to back down and go without a fight.
"I like your style, cherry, yeah. I'm in".
Naruto, Ino and Tenten looked at each other, grins identical to Sakura's and Deidara's forming on their faces.
"Definitely (believe it)"
Sakura looked at Sasori and Sasuke, her eyes wide and pleading and mouth pouting.
"Fine", the both replied simultaneously (they sure had a knack for doing that), rolling their eyes. You couldn't even say that this was the same girl that had her head bashed and hair cut off just a little while ago.
"Count Shika in too!" Ino said cheerfully, waving her phone. Shizune watched in amusement as the whole mood of the room changed.
"Alright, let the games begin", Sakura cried.
"Oh yeah, first I have to do something about this hair", she said and a little of the earlier sadness came back but she pushed it away and replaced it with energy for the mission they were about to embark on.
Deidara smirked and Sakura smirked back. How long had it been since he had smirked like that at her? A while.
"Leave that to me, cherry, yeah".
How was it? Short I know, but it was the best I could do and I have to go study now. Thankfully, I got Biology tomorrow, my best subject after English. Wish me luck Please review and let me know how you thought the chapter was and whether the DeiSaku was enough.
Love,
Alistair.