AN: This chapter also has a lot of timeskip.
The Days After
Friday morning came too fast and Sakura was stuck between riding with Yuki or her own bike.
'If I ride with Yuki then they'll be suspicious for sure, but if I use my bike they can analyze it in the morning.' Sakura thought before deciding on using her bike. The parking lot was outside the school so they wouldn't be able to look at it during school.
'It doesn't matter, I won't get caught unless they have hard evidence.'
'Not to mention we also have an alibi.'
'Ugh, was babysitting the mutt the best we could come up with?'
'Hey, that was your plan. I told you we should've just told Sasu-kun that we were making out with Ita-'
Sakura punched her Inner, knocking her out while her face twisted into mortification.
'That disgusting freak. I can't believe she's a part of me.'
As she parked and headed to the front of the school, she ran into Ino.
"Hey forehead-girl!" Ino smiled as she saw the girl. Sakura smiled back.
'Wow, they're all good actors.' Seems like her Inner was awake.
'Add that as a strength.' Sakura thought, frowning inwardly.
"So did you do the homework that disgusting pervert gave us?" Ino asked and Sakura laughed.
"If you didn't add disgusting I would've thought you were talking about Kakashi-sensei." Ino laughed back at this. "But yeah, I did it."
"It's horrible how he gets away with making us label reproductive organs at least once a week." Ino shuddered and Sakura giggled. However, once they were in the hallway their homeroom was located at, they met trouble.
"Hey girls." A boy from a group said with a smirk. Sakura and Ino sighed.
"Why do you always attract the annoying desperate ones." Ino furiously whispered and Sakura gave her a glare.
"At least I don't flirt back just for fun. You give them false hope and they come back for more." Sakura whispered back while the boy walked towards them, smirk in tow.
"Would you like breakfast cause omelette you suck this dick." He smirked and his friends cheered him on. Wow, deja vu.
Sakura and Ino held in their laughter. Did he really think that horrendous pun would get him lucky? "Uh, no thanks. We need to get going." Sakura replied as she and Ino pushed him away. When they walked into their room, they burst into fits of giggles. Neji gave them a questioning look as only he and Hinata were in there.
"What happened?" Hinata asked and the two girls sat with her.
"Some fool decided that a stupid breakfast pun can win us over." Ino replied and Sakura giggled.
"What did he say?" Neji inquired and Ino laughed loudly.
"Would you like breakfast cause omelette you suck this dick." Sakura repeated as Kiba, Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara walked in. Gaara gave Sakura an odd look before sitting down and Kiba and Kankuro laughed.
"What the heck was that?" Temari questioned and Neji replied for the three girls, who were giggling hard.
"Somebody tried to charm Ino and Sakura with that idiotic verse." He mumbled as the two boys laughed harder.
"That's s-so funny." Kankuro held his stomach as Temari snorted.
"Half the guys in this school do not know how to properly flirt." Ino stated and Temari snorted once more.
"Yeah, you would know." Ino glared at her and the group, minus Neji, laughed. Neji just smirked as usual.
Soon enough, the whole group arrived and talked about the two girl's run in. After a while, Kakashi came in late again and started announcements.
"Halloween is next month. The school is allowing you to wear costumes but it is not mandatory. There is also a party being held from 5pm to 8pm which is once again not mandatory. Yuki-sensei, Itachi-sensei, Asuma-sensei, and myself will be chaperoning." Kakashi started as he looked at the papers of annoucements he needed to make. He put the papers down after skimming through some. "That's it. The rest of this isn't important."
"But there's at least 3 more papers left." A kid brought up and Kakashi smiled, his visible eye crinkling.
"Unless you want to hear about boring budget cuts and random teachers who aren't interesting, then you can do what you want." The kid mumbled before being quiet and the class erupted with chatter.
Once the bell rang, Sakura sighed. Lee had stayed, wanting to talk to Kakashi about something and was being loud. That and the group seemed like they were trying to act normal but she could tell they were wary. Sometimes she would catch Shino or even Neji stare at her. She understood Shino; the boy was creepy. However, Neji was different. He'd either be glaring at Naruto, guarding Hinata, or stealing glances at Tenten. Lost in her thoughts, Sakura sighed once more until Naruto asked what was wrong.
"Hey Sakura, something up?" He asked and Sakura who smiled sheepishly.
"Nothing, just thinking." Sasuke snorted and she glared at him. "What's wrong with that?" She demanded and he gave her a smirk.
"Last time you were thinking you started ranting about the weirdest things."
Sakura feinted being hurt and gasped. "I do not!" She protested but Naruto smiled.
"Yeah! I remember you were talking about what would be heavier: 200 pounds of bricks or 200 pounds of feathers. When Chouji said bricks you denied it and said that if you tried to carry 200 pounds of feathers, then you would also have to carry the weight of what you did to the poor birds!" Naruto exclaimed and Sasuke grunted.
"Surprised you remember it word for word dobe." Naruto glared at him, ready to start a fight until he was interrupted. Well, the whole class was interrupted.
"Kakashi! My eternal rival! I challenge your youthful self today!" Gai exclaimed as he rudely barged into the class. Kakashi gave him a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, Gai. What brings you here?" He smiled lightly and Gai exploded.
"Oh youthful Kakashi, how are you so cool!" He asked loudly before getting into his good guy pose. "Since I have a 1st period class, I challenge you to a quick but youthful game of rock-paper-scissors!" He smiled and students nearby cried in agony as his smile blinded them. Despite this, Lee looked at his idol and excitedly cheered him on.
"Yes Gai-sensei! Hopefully you will beat Kakashi-sensei this time!" Lee exclaimed and the two smiled. On the other hand, Kakashi was used to Gai's smiles and had reacted quickly, closing his eyes in time.
"Sure, whats the record? 300-300?"
Gai grinned once more and shouted, "Yes, now get ready! Rock, papper, scissors..." Gai threw a rock as Kakashi coolly threw a paper. Gai groaned loudly and looked at Kakashi, pointing at him. "I will come again. Next time, I will beat you!"
"I believe in you, Gai-sensei!" Lee said and the two were together again.
"Oh, Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
The two hugged and a sunset appeared before it was unceremoniously interrupted by none other than the principal herself. She looked pissed.
"Gai you blockhead! There's a class you need to teach!" She screamed, dragging Gai away by the ear. "It's either you or Orochimaru acting unethically, and it's annoying as hell!"
"I swear Kakashi, next time I will get yoouuu..." He trailed off as Tsunade dragged him out the class. Kakashi just sweatdropped as Lee realized he needed to be in class too.
"Oh no! I must get to my class in 42 seconds or else I will be counted tardy!" Lee yelled and zoomed out of the class. Everyone sweatdropped as Kakashi laughed quietly.
"Okay then, class. Today we will learn about the wonders of creating a thesis." He smiled his smile and Sakura groaned. If she thought this was bad, then she would be in for a surprise.
By the end of the day, Sakura was mentally exhausted. Throughout the day the group had been low key trying to see if she was different. She couldn't recall how many times Kiba asked if she could speak any other languages or Kankuro asking about clothes similar to the Akatsuki uniform. Then there would be Temari and Tenten asking about weapons since Yuki had them in her class and even Hinata asking about her friends that were older. Sakura lied somewhat, saying that she understood parts of French and Spanish and that she hated robes because it was the type to make someone look fatter than they were. She told the girls that she loved the weapons and would experiment with them from time to time. This got them more suspicious about Yuki and her friends but Sakura defended them, saying that they were once part of a private establishment that included investigation and protection services, and that some of her friends were still there. She said that they taught her some things so their friend's 'little sister' could defend herself.
Once she was on her bike, she called Zetsu knowing that he was a genius with technology and information.
"Yes, Blossom?" His pale face appeared and Sakura inwardly shuddered. His hair was green and had yellow eyes but what scared her was his split personality. They called the carefree, playful, and obedient side White Zetsu while the serious one was called Black Zetsu. Guess he was the one Sakura was talking with right now.
"I need you to fix some records ASAP. The Silver-Bloods practically interrogated me today and I couldn't help but give some half lies." Sakura started and White Zetsu came out all of a sudden.
"Of course Saku-chan! What happened, did you tell them that Deidara used to be a dancer?" He teased lightly and Sakura couldn't help but giggle. Fortunately for the Akatsuki members, once White Zetsu forced his way out Black Zetsu wouldn't come until something serious happened.
"Unfortunately no, seeing as how I didn't think of that earlier. But I do need you to fix the records and state that Deidara, Sasori, and Yuki retired a couple years back."
"Sure thing Saku-chan. Hows 5 years for Yuki and 3 years for the two art freaks?" Zetsu snickered and Sakura laughed, smiling in agreement.
"Thanks Zetsu, I can always rely on you."
"No problem, visit sometime yeah?" He asked. The leader trusted him enough to take charge of the other hideout near the Hidden Valleys town in the Land of Rivers, though the Hidden Rain village trusted the Akatsuki group which enabled them to stroll free around the area without worrying about the Rain citizens betraying them. They did help overthrow the pompous, cruel leader there and establish a stable democracy.
Sakura froze, a plan in her head. "Actually, do you mind if I visit tomorrow? I need to get these guys off me, I doubt they'd leave me alone during the weekend."
"Sure thing. I'll go confirm with the leader in a bit, drive safely!" Zetsu replied and Sakura gave a thankful smile before driving off to her home. Once she entered, she called Yuki on her phone.
"Hey what's up?" Yuki asked.
"I'll be in the other hideout for the weekend, need to get these Silver-Blood off my trail." Sakura sighed and sat down on the couch.
"I saw during 6th period. They gave me looks too."
"Don't worry, I warded them off for now. I told them you used to work for that fake agency Pein runs."
"It's not really fake though, clients do communicate with us through there."
"Well, at least it's somewhat true. I'm gonna go pack now, have fun at the club!"
"You bet I will." Yuki teased and Sakura's face contorted into disgust.
"Ew, I don't want to know." She hung up once Yuki started laughing. That woman really was interesting in both a good and bad way.
Once she was done packing, she heard a ring and went downstairs, looking at the intercom. She saw the inseparable art freaks, as White Zetsu dubbed them, and let them in. The two entered the house and Sakura looked at them oddly.
"What are you two doing here?" She asked and Deidara laughed.
"Sasori wanted a day off from the club so they got Kakuzu to fill in for the weekend. I wonder how he's gonna do around Hidan, the two never go well with each other." Deidara smirked at the thought of the two arguing. Those two were complete opposites as Kakuzu did what he could to gain money while Hidan was crazy religious.
"That and Pein said it would be nice if we got a couple days off. Something about teaching and needing to relax." Sasori said, looking around the house.
"As if that man would know anything about relaxing. All he does is sit in that seat and do god knows what." Sakura replied with distaste.
"There are many ways a man can relax." Deidara started, wagging his eyebrows and Sakura scoffed, smacking him.
"You're disgusting, let's go. I want to leave ASAP so my friends won't bother me." The three got into Deidara's S63 AMG Mercedes-Benz and Sakura sweatdropped.
"Uh, shouldn't we use something more efficient in gas? Like your ghetto looking Altima?" Deidara glared at her before sulking a bit.
"Repairs. Some dick bashed it during a race."
Sasori scoffed. "You bashed him back, idiot." Deidara glared at him and was about to retort when Sakura interrupted.
"I swear if you two fight I will give you hell when we arrive."
The two kept quiet and Deidara drove out of the driveway and onto the road. The hideout was around 3 hours away so Sakura slept, hoping the two wouldn't argue along the way.
"What happened Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked from the radio. Sasuke glared at the car that left Sakura's home.
"She left with the art teachers."
"That's odd." He heard Gaara reply but Temari spoke up.
"Well, she has known those two for a while. Where are they going though?"
"Hey, one of you girls call her and invite her out or something." Naruto suggested.
"For once, that's a good idea dickless." Sai commented and was met with Naruto's furious insults.
"Shut up." Ino demanded, calling Sakura but frowning when it went straight to voicemail.
"That's weird." Tenten commented. "Though her answers to our questions today seem plausible."
"She seems n-normal. I don't think she's our suspect." Hinata replied but Sasuke spoke up again.
"Hn, something seems off. Let's just lay back and see if anything suspicious come out again."
"If she leaves her phone off the entire weekend, then something definitely is up." Shikamaru responded and everyone agreed.
"Whatever. One of you call her from time to time. If she doesn't pick up, then we'll see what 'excuse' she makes up this time." Sasuke stated and the others sighed. They really didn't want to do this to Sakura but they had to. There were no other suspects and everything was too much to be a coincidence. But they all knew something: if it was Sakura, then they would have no choice but to bring her in. No matter how much they didn't want to, they had to.
Sasuke sighed one last time before turning off the radio. He laid on his bed, arm over his eyes as his last thoughts were filled with the pink haired girl.
Back to Sakura
Sakura groaned as the car stopped. She opened her eyes to see that they had arrived at the alternative HQ. It was completely different than the one at Konoha as it was a mansion that was supposedly owned by Pein. However, the basement included all sorts of technology, information, and weapons. The maids were loyal and were willing employees from Hidden Rain.
"C'mon, let's go." Deidara told Sakura who got her bags and went inside.
"What are supposed to be doing anyways." Sakura mumbled and Deidara smirked with a glint in his eyes. Sakura inwardly groaned; that look always came before Deidara did something incredibly stupid.
"How about we... explore for a bit." Deidara snuck a glance at Sasori and Sakura took the hint, inwardly smirking.
"Sure, we'll go ahead Sasori." Sasori eyed them warily before sitting down on the couch, turning on the TV.
"Tch, you idiots do what you want." He grunted and Sakura giggled before leaving with Deidara.
The mansion was incredibly huge; it was as big as 4 of Sakura's houses put together. The 1st floor included the living room, kitchen, training room, gym, offices, and armory while the 2nd floor was the residential area. It was littered with staircases, bathrooms, and rooms. Outside was a pool and garage, which stored Zetsu's many cars.
Sakura and Deidara put their luggage in a room of their choice before snickering. They were going to prank Sasori.
"Got the tape?" Deidara asked and Sakura nodded.
"You have the whipped cream right?" Sakura responded and Deidara smirked.
"Girl, I always bring one can. I love it." Sakura laughed lightly at that. Deidara loved his whipped cream.
"Okay so how about we call him up in a panic so he's rushing and then put the tape at eye level. Once he takes it off, you smack him with whipped cream and we book it." Deidara snickered at Sakura's plan.
"Where are we going to hide though? I haven't been here in years." Deidara asked and Sakura paused in thought.
"He'll probably go towards the rooms in the back so how about we stick to the rooms near Zetsu's?" Deidara nodded in agreement.
"We have to keep extra quiet though, I swear he smells fear." The two laughed at that before getting ready. Deidara got his hand filled with whipped cream while Sakura put the duct tape at Sasori's eye level.
Taking a deep, controlled breath, Sakura screamed in panic, "Sasori, come quick!"
Having heard Sakura's voice, Sasori rushed up the stairs and headed to the area where Sakura seemed to be.
"Where are you?" He asked loudly and heard Sakura respond on the room to his right. He rushed in only to be blinded by duct tape. Knowing it was a prank, he growled loudly as he took it off only for Deidara to slap his face with whipped cream. Temporarily blinded, Sasori heard the two pranksters laugh before running off.
"Those idiots." He grumbled as he cleaned his face. "They're gonna get it."
After a long hour, he wasn't able to find them. He heard one of the maids call out for dinner and he rushed there, knowing the two would be there. He growled when he saw the two with Zetsu, giggling.
"You two..." Sasori glared at them and the two giggled harder.
"Oh let it go, you can always prank them back." Zetsu said lightly prompting the two in front of him to glare at him. "Just don't break anything, this mansion is expensive."
Sasori smirked and the two paled. It was going to be one long weekend.
Sakura groaned when she came back to school. She had a terrible headache after what happened when she went to the other Akatsuki HQ.
Her entire weekend was filled with nothing but pranks. Sasori would scare the two with his puppets then the two would fight back by putting a bunch of salt in his water. It went from scare tactics to sabotaging food to tripwires dumping actual food. They all slept with their eyes open, wary that the other was going to prank during night time. However, Sakura's real problems would start when she came to school.
When she sat down on her seat in her homeroom class, she had her hands on her face. Groaning, she didn't realize the girls of the group arrive.
"Sakura!" Ino yelled and Sakura opened an eye before moaning more.
"Shuddap pig, headache." She mumbled and Ino glared at her.
"Oh please, forehead girl. Why weren't you answering your phone this weekend?" Ino demanded and Sakura groaned more.
"Cause that idiot red haired freak scared me and it fell into the pool." Sakura sulked. The event actually happened.
"Where did you go?" Tenten asked and Sakura sighed.
"A friend's place. There was a job there and I got paid about $10,000" Sakura lied and the girls gasped.
"What did you do to earn that much?" Temari asked and Sakura groaned.
"Cleaning a damn mansion that a party wrecked the day before." She lied more, acting extremely well.
"Your art teachers came with you too?" Hinata asked. Her stuttering was long gone.
"They knew the guy and they're my friends, remember?" Sakura replied before putting her head down.
"So how come you didn't answer your phone on Friday?" Ino asked and Sakura shrugged.
"Takes 3 hours to get there so I slept." The other girls stole glances at each other and figured that Sakura was telling the truth.
Once the boys came in, they told them what happened wtih Sakura. They were a bit uneasy but decided to back off. Everything may have been coincidental but what Sakura said seemed to be real. With this reasoning, they canceled Sakura out as a suspect.
After 2 weeks the routine had gone back to the way it was. The suspicions on Sakura was gone and she was thankful for it. September was nearing its end and Sakura was sitting down on the grass, Tenten and Temari next to her since Kiba and Kankuro were on the tree.
"Excited for the football game next week?" Tenten asked the boys who yelled in agreement.
"Of course we are!" Kiba said and gave a fistpump to Kankuro.
Naruto was next to Hinata, arm around her. "Hell yeah! We'll win every game!" He pumped his free fist in the air and Hinata blushed.
Neji glared at him but Tenten gave him a look. He immediately backed down and all the girls heard the guys tease him.
"Whipped." Chouji whispered and Neji glared at him.
"Okay guys calm down." Ino said, laughing slightly. "I'm more interested in Halloween."
"Oh right!" Lee exclaimed. "A youthful holiday in which one showcases their youth with costumes!"
The group sweatdropped before Shikamaru spoke up. "Party still at your place for Thanksgiving though, Sasuke?"
"Hn." Sasuke grunted.
"Thanksgiving all of a sudden?" Temari asked and Shikamaru shrugged.
"Chouji's been hounding me over it. Less than two months away and he's craving Sasuke's mother's turkey." Shikamaru lazily stated and everyone chuckled. Chouji was happily sleeping at his desk from eating too much breakfast.
"Cool, am I invited Sasu-kun?" Sakura teased and he glared at her.
"Stop calling me that."
"Hm, let me think. No." Sakura said and giggled as Sasuke increased his glare.
Kiba looked at them in disgust. "Stop flirting."
The two directed a glare at him. "We. Are. Not. Flirting."
Kiba cowered behind a branch and the others laughed. They had said the phrase at the same exact time.
"Okay back to the games though." Tenten said after she stopped giggling. "Who are we going against next week?"
"Colonial High Tigers." Shino replied.
"Really? They're easy." Temari said with a wave of her hand as the boys chuckled.
"Beat them 14-0 last year." Sai commented and Sakura was a bit confused.
"Okay don't make fun of me because I have no idea what mascot we are." Sakura stated and the girls giggled.
"You've been here for about 2 months Sakura." Hinata said, giggling slightly and Sakura pouted.
"We are Konoha High's Heroic Hawks." Kankuro exclaimed proudly and Sakura sweatdropped.
"...heroic?"
"I know, sounds stupid." Gaara replied and his girlfriend smacked his arm.
"That's mean." Matsuri said and the boys laughed.
"Yeah Gaara, that's mean." Kankuro teased and Gaara glared at him.
"Shut up."
"Okay boys stop." Temari interrupted. "The official name is Konoha High Hawks, but my idiot brother added that stupid word 2 years ago and it caught on."
"Unfortunately." Gaara mumbled before the bell rang, successfully stopping one of Matsuri's light slaps.
"Lets go!" Lee yelled as he zoomed up to his next class. The others sweatdropped and took their time.
Once Sasuke and Sakura arrived in Itachi's class, they sat down in their seats. Sakura gave a smile to Itachi as a greeting and he gave a nod in acknowledgement. The class filled in rather quickly and Itachi cleared his throat before speaking.
"Today will be a study period as you have a test two days from now. If you must speak, do it quietly." Itachi said and the kids immediately formed study groups. Itachi's tests were a pain to deal with but Ikibi's were much more harder.
Sakura was bored and learned the material easily so she walked up to Itachi who gave her a raised eyebrow.
"What's up?" He asked and Sakura shrugged.
"Not much, just wondering about all the police stuff." Itachi smirked at Sakura's curiosity.
"If you must know, my father is head of the company and the military. The police was to be handed down to me but seeing as how I have this job, it has been pushed back." Itachi explained. "Though, I feel like Sasuke would be better at it."
Sakura looked at him curiously. "Sasuke?"
"Hn, his friend's parents are involved so it is only a matter of time that they too become a part of the police. As you can see they work well together." Itachi stated before sighing and speaking in a quiet whisper. "I don't understand why leader is making you do this mission. I'm against doing anything to my little brother."
"Me too, they're my friends after all." She whispered back before Sasuke came up to them.
"What are you two whispering about." He grunted and Itachi gave him a smirk.
"Nothing, foolish little brother. Just recalling some stories back when we were younger." Sasuke glared at him and Sakura giggled lightly.
"I don't want to know." Sasuke said as went back to his seat. Itachi gave Sakura a knowing glance and she glared slightly at him before sitting back down.
"He's just joking." She told Sasuke who grunted. "Oh come on, talk to me."
He looked at her and she found his gaze unrecognizable. "Why are you so close with him?"
Sakura was miffed; was Sasuke jealous?
"He's pretty chill," Sasuke stared at her and she giggled. "but I like you better."
At this Sasuke stiffened before relaxing. Itachi saw the exchange and all his worries about the gang were diminished. He took his phone out and sent a text to Yuki.
"Don't worry about the plan, everything's set. - Itachi"
"Alright, give me some time. Don't worry, I'll give them the push they need. - Yuki"
Itachi silently chuckled. Yuki would most definitely give them a good push.