Chapter 10

It was the day of the poolside party. The poolside was decorated with lots of fresh imported flowers, ribbons, satin cloth and gold sparkles. There was a lot of scrumptious food and wine, not to mention guests. Each guest invited (besides the staff members) were high class members of the society; every single woman came in elegant gowns, and every single man came in a smart-looking suit. Made from the finest materials, of course.

Uchiha Mikoto looked stunning in her brand-new cream-coloured silk gown. She had received many expensive gifts and well-wishes, and a surprise party. Fugaku was nowhere to be seen; he was busy entertaining the influential CEOs and company stakeholders who had come to wish Mrs Uchiha happy birthday. And the two Uchiha brothers were talking and keeping the guests company.

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ITACHI AND SASUKE FLASHBACK

"What have you thought of?" Sasuke asked, eyeing his older brother suspiciously.

"I was thinking...if I could get the redhead to just stay at the sidelines and watch the party...He can't swim. He has a phobia of water," Itachi said.

"You mean..."

"Right. So, if the whole party is made up of mainly water activities, he won't be able to join in. So, he'll be forced to sit at the poolside and watch us. Or do whatever he wants. But, since he likes Deidara, he'll look out for him...and if I take the chance to show Sasori how much I care for Deidara..."

Sasuke grinned. "Wicked, big brother. But can't you just play by the rules?"

"Sasori doesn't seem very sure of his feelings. This is a perfect opportunity. You see, if I do not take action now...I probably might not even stand a chance to win Deidara's heart. By the time he straightens out his thoughts, I would have won Deidara over."

"Can't you spare a thought for Deidara's best friend?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi smiled. "In this situation, I will not show any emotion for my rival."

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"So, is your plan going to work?" Sasuke asked, "for all you know, Sasori might not turn up."

"He will. He's a very polite person. Also, he will not want to be left behind by Deidara," replied Itachi, pouring some white wine into a shiny wine glass.

'You've got it all analyzed...' Sasuke thought, loading a tray with wine glasses. As expected of his superb brother.

Twenty minutes later, Deidara arrived with Sasori. He looked very excited, and was practically dragging Sasori along with him. The two friends had greeted Mrs Uchiha and had given her well-wishes already. Sasuke looked at his brother, and the latter nodded in reply. Putting down the tray in his hands, Itachi walked off to meet Deidara and Sasori.

"Hey, Itachi! This place is really huge! Sasori and I got lost in your house; we went to the garden instead...but it was worth going there, hn. The bushes were really pretty - well-trimmed and they looked like rabbits..." Deidara said happily. His hair was clipped up with all sorts of funny-looking clips - mushroom clips, flower clips, and other colourful clips. His hairstyle alone already made him look like a girl. A hyperactive, happy girl.

"Thank you," replied Itachi, "oh, and we'll be starting the pool party games in a few minutes. Why don't you guys grab a bite first? The food is delicious."

"Um..." Sasori didn't look too interested. He had only agreed to come out of politeness. He groaned as Deidara pulled him over to the buffet table, forced a plate into his hands and demanded him to take some food. Sighing, the redhead reluctantly took some food and forced it down his throat, under the sharp eye of Deidara.

"Are you sure you will be ok here?" Deidara asked, stuffing food into his mouth, "they might splash you with water, hn. Also, will you be bored out of your mind?"

Sasori shook his head. "No, I'll sit here and watch you guys. I brought along a puppet to work on and pass time - "

Deidara sighed. The redhead was practically in love with his puppets.

"Seriously, are you planning of marrying a puppet next time?" he asked. Sasori ignored him, and continued eating his food. He was in no mood to argue with the childish brat over such obvious things. He was a human being; how could he ever marry a puppet?

Just then, a bell rang and a loud voice rang out in everyone's ears. It was Sasuke.

"Attention! All guests, we are going to start our water games now. It will continue all the way until the end of the party. It will be fun, we promise you. Please assemble at the poolside after you have changed into your swimwear."

Sasori glanced at the poolside buffet table. Almost all the guests were making their way towards the changing rooms, and some of them had already changed into elegant, expensive swimsuits.

"Go and change now," he told Deidara, who had just finished his last mouthful of food.

"But what about you? If you want to go home early you must tell me, ok? I will go home with you."

"No need for that," replied Sasori, "I have legs, I can walk and I can go home by myself."

Deidara scowled. "I will walk home with you and that's final. You stay here and fix your silly puppet. If you go home without me I will spam your message inbox with messages and send you all the advertisement brochures I receive...my mailbox is full of those stupid brochures." With that, he grabbed his gym bag and walked towards the changing room, leaving Sasori to picture his mailbox being flooded by useless brochures.

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A few minutes later the water games began. Water guns were being grabbed from the pool and the guests soaked each other with water. They played water polo, captain's ball...in any case, a lot of fun games. Sasori, who was watching from the poolside, was starting to feel a little bit envious. If only he didn't have a phobia of water...then, he might be having tons of fun with Deidara and the rest.

He remembered the day his grandmother took him to attend his kindergarten graduation party on board a luxury yacht. The event was hosted a rich student in his class, and the event was fun-packed with all sorts of games and nice things. He had felt a little seasick, and went outside by himself to take a breather. Suddenly, two boys (who were chasing each other) ran past him on the small sidedeck, which was extremly small. Only one adult could stand there at a time. But one boy, when trying to squeeze through the small sidedeck, accidentally knocked into Sasori. Sasori, who had been leaning on the yacht railings, was pushed down into the deep sea, and because he couldn't swim, he nearly drowned to death. Ever since that day, he had developed a phobia for water.

He looked over at Deidara. The happy teenager was carrying a large water gun and busy talking to Itachi. Sasori was puzzled. When did the two become such good friends? Itachi seemed so close to Deidara, it was as if he was Deidara's best friend. Also, both of them were in the same team and both had the same model of water gun. Was it a coincidence?

Suddenly, a loud cheer was made by Itachi's team. They had won the first round of the games. Deidara was so excited about it; he turned to say something to Itachi, and Itachi smiled. Then, the rich teen put his hand on Deidara's hand and held it tight. Sasori's eyes widened.

"Ah, Itachi! It's really great that we won!" Deidara said, shaking Itachi's hands vigorously. He was so happy that he didn't notice what Itachi was doing to him.

"Of course," replied the 'weasel', "there is no time for losing in an Uchiha's lifetime."

Deidara frowned. "Whatever," he said, making a stupid face.

As Sasori watched on, Itachi kept trying to intimidate him by talking to Deidara, or by holding his hand, slapping him on the back, putting his hand on the Deidara's shoulder...And the dumb boy was just too excited to notice what was really going on. Bit by bit, Sasori began to feel sour.

Itachi occasionally would secretly look at the redhead to make sure he was watching him and Deidara. He also kept a watch for the redhead's expression. 'Good,' he thought as he saw Sasori scrunch up his fist, 'the plan is going well.'

Finally, after a few hours of restraining his anger, Sasori got up from his chair, took his puppet and stormed off. Who cared about Deidara's threats of spamming his message inbox or whatsoever? He couldn't take all this nonsense anymore, for some reason. He hastily made his way to the deepest pool, which was near the exit. That place was very quiet, and there weren't any people there, or so it seemed. (Of course, this was because most of the guests were either playing in the other pool or inside the Uchiha mansion classic lounge with Mr and Mrs Uchiha. He was so deep in thought and so angry that he didn't see someone approaching him...

BANG! Sasori hit his head on something hard. He rubbed his head, muttered something and looked up to see what it was. He had bad luck that day, really. It was Sakura Haruno and her best friend, Ino Yamanaka.

"Well well, who do we have here? It's not polite to bang into other people you know," said Ino sarcastically, rubbing her head in pain.

"I'm sorry," said Sasori, "But I'm in a hurry, and - "

"Hey, you think that you can just escape from us without a sincere apology? You're Deidara's friend, right? I saw you come in here with him just now." Sakura said, smirking.

Sasori was getting tired of these girls. "Get out of my way, please. I have already given you an apology."

Ino gave a nasty grin. "Not sincere enough, redhead."

"Then what do you want me to do? Help you girls braid your hair?"

Sakura scoffed. "Too easy, my dear boy. For starters, go swim in that pool." She pointed at the deepest pool, which was directly behind the Sasori.

Sasori stared at her as though she was crazy. He couldn't swim, and he wasn't going to let some stupid girl control him like that. So, he simply said "sorry, I really have to go now," and proceeded to walk towards the exit.

Sakura's eyes burned with anger. How could a guy turn her down like that? Sakura Haruno wasn't going to be humiliated like that! With that, she grabbed Sasori's arm and pulled him back to where he had been previously standing before.

"What on earth do you want? Can't you leave me alone?"

"Leave you alone? Go swim in the pool first, you stupid midget!" With that, she pushed Sasori into the deep pool, expecting him to swim for her to see.

But she did not get what she wanted. And she did not like what she saw after that.

"Hmm? Are you kidding me by pretending you're drowning? You're just like your stupid friend, Deidara. You two are idiots, and idiots shouldn't appear at this party!" Sakura snickered, bending over the pool to watch poor Sasori struggle in the water.

"glub - get me out - glub - of here - glub."

Ino sighed. "He's acting stupid. Who doesn't know how to swim? And you're a man, for goodness sake."

Sasori's eyes were filled with terror as he tried to stay afloat. He was gasping for breath, but water was starting to fill his lungs and he was choking. The water felt like a monster swallowing him into its stomach. After a minute or so, he sank down to the bottom of the pool, taking a last look at the blurred shadows on shore.

And Sakura screamed like a mad woman.

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The guests heard the horrific scream echoing through the whole pool, and were shocked. Itachi realized that something was amiss, and looked at the poolside. Sasori was nowhere in sight. Deidara noticed that too, and started to feel a bit worried.

"Where is Sasori?!"

"I don't know. But lets check out where that scream came from." Itachi pulled Deidara away to where Sakura was standing. She was completely frozen, and Ino's knees were shaking. Both girls looked petrified. They only knew how to swim in shallow pools, not deep pools like this one. And they were too shocked to react.

"What happened?" Itachi asked as he got to the stupid girl. Deidara's eyes wandered from Ino to Sakura to the deep pool, and he saw Sasori's bag beside the pool. Sasori had dropped the bag when Sakura pushed him into the pool. Feeling strange, Deidara looked at the pool and got a shock.

"What the HELL!" he screamed as he saw Sasori's blurred figure in the deep pool. It was Sasori

all right; his bright red hair made it easy to recognize him. Without a thought, Deidara jumped into the pool and swam downward before Itachi even had a chance to say anything. He found Sasori, who was unconscious, at the bottom of the pool. Picking the redhead up, he kicked off the pool floor and swam as fast as he could to the surface of the pool. It was really a deep pool - Deidara was already out of breath, yet he persisted on hanging on. He needed to save his best friend.

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, Deidara reached the pool surface. Itachi was waiting on shore anxiously for him, and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Deidara's head surface.

"Itachi, help me get him out of the water, quick!" Deidara lifted Sasori up and Itachi hurriedly carried him out of the pool. He placed Sasori on the floor.

Deidara quickly climbed out of the pool and went over to see Sasori. Feeling flustered, he started to do CPR on Sasori. Itachi watched quietly as the two girls looked at Deidara timidly. They had never seen him this angry or anxious before.

Deidara was about to blow some air into Sasori's mouth when he stopped abruptly. What if Sasori suddenly woke up and found Deidara's lips on his? Sasori would probably be angry at him!

'ARGH! Who cares about that now? I have to save his life, or I will die of guilt!'

And so, to Itachi's dismay, Deidara placed his lips on Sasori's and started blowing air into Sasori's mouth.