After a few more twists and turns, the blond group (plus one redhead) finally made it outside. It was one of those rare days where the sun was out and not obstructed by any bothersome clouds, which was why Deidara wanted to be outside to enjoy it, instead of cooped up in the building.
"You didn't mention how hot it was," Ino whined, retreating into the shadow of the building."Hey, um, darn, what's his name again...." Naruto muttered to himself. "You!" he called out, giving up.
"You?" Deidara asked quizzically.
"Yeah. Why are you wearing armbands if it's so hot, dattebayo?"
The inquiry surprised him. In Akatsuki they had an unwritten rule: Don't ask why the other members did and wore the things they did, and they won't ask you. That's just how things were. Nobody questioned why Pain had so many piercings or why Konan pinned her hair up with a paper flower. Nobody asked about Kakuzu's preference to cover every part of his body except his eyes and hands and nobody dared to ask why Hidan always bore his chest (probably cause they didn't want to know). Itachi's red tinted glasses would forever remain a mystery and Zetsu would forever be a mystery himself. Kisame's general appearance was a topic to be left alone and the reasons for Sasori's dress-code of long sleeve shirts or jackets and fingerless gloves would be kept to himself.
Deidara was no exception to the rule either. His usual outfit consisted of a long sleeve shirt and either jeans or capris, depending on the weather. When he didn't have a long sleeve shirt on, he equipped his persona with arm-warmers that he wore over his elbow, covering most of the limb, like now.
The blond shrugged. "Why are you wearing a bright orange tracksuit, un?" he countered.
"Touché," Naruto replied.
-------------
After sitting through five minutes of complaints (It's hot, ttebayo; there's nothing to do out here; the building has AC, etc.) and almost being spotted by a teacher, Deidara finally decided that they should return indoors. He spotted a silver haired man a little ways away with a headband covering his left eye and his face masked from the nose down by a scarf. The stranger was heading inside the building and just as he was beginning to close the door, the sophomore ran up and called out to him.
"Hey, hold the door-!"
SLAM
Once again Deidara found himself wrenching his arm, this time the right one, from between the door and the door frame.
The man turned around and regarded him with one eye. "Oh, sorry about that," he said in apology.
"Am I being punished for something, un?!" Deidara exclaimed.
"I said I was sorry..."
That's about when the trio decided they wanted to catch up. "Kakashi-sensei, what're you doing here?"
"Hm? Oh, hello Naruto. I was scheduled to come here with you guys for the tour," he replied.
"Really?! Wait, I didn't see you on the ride up."
"Because he wasn't there," Gaara explained.
"Well, I might've been late for the bus..."The three eighth graders let out a collected sigh, expecting that kind of response.
With the three of them distracted, Deidara pulled himself to the side and tugged at the bands around his still throbbing arms, pulling them down enough to examine the damage.
The flesh at the impact point was red and sore, and beginning to darken slightly.
That's gonna bruise in the morning, un, he thought sourly.
As focus shifted again, Deidara quickly pulled his armbands back up, hoping no one had gotten the chance to see the black threads stitched into both of his arms.
----------
The hall was quiet.
Only the sound of footsteps could be heard, echoing down the empty corridor. Well, empty minus the four teens taking a casual stroll down it's path.
After a little while, TenTen began to believe that of the three males she was with at the moment, none of them could form more than a sentence fragment, and she was lucky to even get that much.
Especially where Itachi was concerned.
The junior that was supposed to be touring them spoke in mostly one to three word phrases, so nobel-prize winning statements such as "The cafeteria" or "Office" followed by an unenthusiastic gesture towards said feature of the school were quite common.
Sasuke definitely wasn't aiding the situation in any way. The younger of the brothers insisted on glaring at Itachi the entire time and mumbling things under his breath that the others couldn't and probably didn't need to hear. Itachi would occasionally turn to look at his brother, stopping mid-sentence (using the word 'sentence' very loosely) at the glower he was receiving and turn back around.
Shino was too busy looking for any roaches or other insects along the walls and floor (because all schools are infested with them). He made the mistake of pointing out a rather large cockroach to TenTen, who then screamed and pulled out a pencil sharpened to a deadly point. She threw it at aforementioned bug, impaling it with perfect aim.
Shino went from considering speaking to her to flat out refusing to.
"So, um, Itachi," TenTen began, attempting to spark some form of conversation, "is there anything interesting about the school that you could mention?"
The raven remained quiet, pondering the question.
"No," he replied after a few moments.
Mission failed.
Sasuke's incoherent mutterings could be faintly heard in the background. Shino spotted another bug and made sure not to mention it to the group's lone female this time. She, on the meantime, sighed in frustration, wanting to bang her head against the wall. It was times like this that being locked in a room with Lee was more favorable than the current situation...
...speaking of Lee...
"Do you know Guy-sensei?" The question was sudden and caught Kisame slightly by surprise. He looked down at the green-clad teenager, who was staring right back up at him, an eager glint in his black eyes.
"Yes..." the older teen cautiously answered.
Bad idea.
"Isn't he the most youthful person on the face of this entire planet?!" The words nearly flew out of his mouth like a well shaken can of soda being opened. The eager look in his eyes was now replaced by a raging fire.
Kisame smartly decided not to answer that inquiry.
Instead he asked something of Lee. "Are you Guy-sensei's son or something?"
"If only I were that lucky. No, I am merely his humble student, striving to one day be just like him!"
Crickets.
Temari coughed, her expression suggesting that she shared Kisame's opinion on the teacher. The awkward silence was broken only when Chouji began to munch on his chips again.
"So, what's this?" Lee asked, poking at the large instrument case on his back. Kisame jerked it away from him.
"A guitar," he answered. "Don't touch it."
"Cool! Are you going to play it for us?"
"No."
"Oh."
More crickets.
It was Chouji, once again, who broke the silence, doing something food related.
"Where's the -munch- cafeteria?" he asked between bites.
Kisame grinned. "Follow me."
---------------
The best time to be in the cafeteria, the junior decided, was before the lunchtime rush. Sounds of the lunchroom staff getting things ready could easily be heard in the quiet room and the scent of the day's meal emanated from within the kitchen.
Chouji took a big whiff. "Smells like string beans, mashed potatoes, and chicken."
The blue haired teen nodded appreciatively. "You're good."
"As a connoisseur, it is my job to be able to identify food by smell alone," he commented.
"Oh brother," the blond girl said, rolling her eyes.
Because of the time of day their tours were being held, the eighth graders had already been promised free lunch, courtesy of the high school. Kisame managed to earn himself an early sample of today's menu because he was helping them out, but mostly because the lunch ladies knew if they didn't, they were never going to get rid of him.
Temari poked at the beans with her plastic fork. "Was the goal to drown the beans?" she questioned, lifting one up only for it to slide off the utensil and fall back into the tray with a small splash.
"Don't question it, just eat it." The junior told her, already scarfing down his food. Chouji observed him, noting that the older teen was eating faster than he was. With a competitive flare in his eye, Chouji quickened his pace, watching Kisame's reaction of speeding up too.
Lee glanced between both teens. "I shall not be defeated!" he shouted and began to wolf down his own lunch.
Needless to say, Temari was thoroughly disgusted.
"Men," she exclaimed, getting up to throw her tray in the garbage bin. When she returned, all three boys had finished off their lunch and were currently arguing over who came in first.
She scoffed at them and went to the vending machine to get something that was actually edible.
----------
Shortly afterwards, a lone Hidan strolled into the lunchroom and slumped into the chair next to Kisame, one foot in an adjacent chair, the other on the floor.
"Where's your group?" Kisame asked him.
"The fuckers ditched me," the senior replied in a low growl. As if they were called, said trio casually walked into the cafeteria, blissfully unaware of the infuriated tour guide that had gotten up and was slowly approaching them.
"I pray for those kids," Kisame commented as a stream of curses went flying across the room. The other three didn't take the situation as calmly as he did, all staring rather wide eyed.
"Is he always like that?" Chouji was the first one to work up the nerve to ask.
The junior shook his head before replying. "Worse."
Later on, the three other groups found their way into the cafeteria and got their lunch. The high schoolers all moved to a separate table to talk amongst themselves, leaving the younger students to split back into their usual group of friends.
"Anyone got any ice, un?"
Sasori lazily tossed him the orange juice they'd put on his tray. Deidara took the mostly frozen beverage and applied it to his upper arm. (1)
"What happened?" Kisame asked.
"Doors. Hurt." was all the blond said, switching the carton to his other arm. They chose not to request details. "Well, did anyone else have fun on their tour, un?" Deidara questioned, bitterly accenting the word fun.
"I got fucking buried under some damn books!" Hidan yelled rather loudly. In the background, the two Hyuugas could be seen wincing slightly (Shikamaru didn't because he had fallen asleep).
"I'd wondered what that crash was..." the redhead mused.
"Shut up! What happened to you, puppet?"
Sasori glared at the unwanted nickname. "I make puppets, I'm not one myself," he hissed, unconsciously rubbing at his arm through his long sleeves, even though the punch hadn't hurt him.
"I guess my group wasn't all too bad," Kisame commented.
"What about Mini-Guy over there?" the senior questioned.
"I think he's a failed cloning attempt."
"Ew, who would want to clone Guy-sensei, un?"
That was a question no one could answer.
"And what about you Itachi?" the blue haired teen inquired of his classmate.
Itachi didn't reply.
As expected.
The Akatsuki let out a collective sigh.
"So...Deidara... why didn't you tell us your younger sister bore such a striking resemblance to you?" Kisame asked cheekily.
"Shut up, un! She's not my sister!"
"Cousin then." He dodged the flying juice carton as it neared his head, snickering at the now fuming blond. An angered Deidara was something the junior always found amusing.
Sasori, on the other hand, did not find it amusing in the least. Probably because he was the one who actually had to deal with the enraged sophomore.
Putting a hand on the blond's shoulder, he eased him back into his seat. "Deidara, don't kill Kisame. We all know he's an idiot."
Disregarding the insult completely, Kisame continued. "What's her name again? I seem to have forgotten." Deidara pushed against his restraint, namely Sasori's hand, but to no avail. "I'm just playing, Deidara."
"Un," the blond grumbled angrily, but he had calmed down enough for his classmate to let him go. "Danna, can I please kill him?"
"No." The blond frowned and folded his arms.
"And what about you Sasori?" He gave Kisame a questioning glance. "You must share some relation with that little redhead over there. He looks like a younger version of you. And I think he's one of the ones from Suna Middle."
The older redhead shot him a glare. "On second thought, go right ahead."
Kisame leaned away from the approaching blond, who wore a murderous grin on his face. "Uh, actually, I just remembered something very important I need to attend to. See ya!" Faster than Kakuzu could swipe your wallet, Kisame had disappeared out the door.
"He's a speedy little bastard when he wants to be," Hidan commented.
"Guitar's still here," Itachi pointed out. The others studied the instrument, which was leaning against the now empty chair, looking abandoned.
"Let's mess with it, un!" Deidara exclaimed, reaching for the case.
"Remember what happened last time?" The hand quickly retreated as it's blond owner attempted to drive away the horrible memories from an earlier attempt to defile Kisame's instrument. He rubbed at his palms, remembering how long they were sore and calloused for holding that thing only a few moments.
"What did he even do to that thing?!"
"Something to keep idiots like you from touching it," Hidan answered, watching as Kisame returned, after deciding the threat against his life had passed.
"So, what's I miss?" he asked, resting his hand against the guitar case, as if showing that he was the only one who could touch it without being harmed.
Deidara glowered.
"What? I was only joking!"
He gave a light snort at the totally clueless blue haired teen and decided to let it go for now.
"How much longer do we have to escort those brats around?" Sasori asked for a much needed topic change.
Once again they didn't know the answer to that.
Except for Itachi, who just knew things (and having a little brother who brought home the letter about the trip doesn't hurt). Either way, he wasn't telling.
Luckily for them the person with the answers chose to enter the cafeteria shortly afterwards.
"Attention!"
Every teen in the room was snapped from their original conversations to listen to the principal.
"I'm hear to announce that the tours are coming to a close."
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(1) back at my middle school, the orange juice was either frozen solid, or full of ice chunks.