Disclaimer: still don't own naruto and I despise homework. Hope this chapter makes up for my long disappearance.

It turned out that the dance was to be held in the commons. The items were transferred into the gym by mistake. Now I have been forced to run back and forth with fake pillars placing them in certain places by the order of… Sasori…

~Flashback~

"Deidara, Sasori, You both go outside and decorate the entrance," Pein ordered. "Konan, make lanterns and anything else that would match."

"Hai," she nodded.

"As always, Kakuzu, you are in charge of the tickets."

"As long as Hidan isn't there to make me lose count."

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!? HUH?! KAKUZU?!" Hidan exclaimed.

"Zetsu, Tobi, you both will decorate," Pein continued ignoring the arguments between Kakuzu and Hidan.

"Hai!" Tobi saluted cheerfully.

"Itachi, create paintings that match the theme."

Itachi merely nodded without saying a word.

"Kisame, you're in charge of the food preparation. Make sure there's enough for everyone that are coming."

"Oi, oi! What am I doing?" Hidan asked.

"…You are going to clean up after the dance," Pein stated bluntly.

"WHAT!? I'M NOT A DAMN JANITOR!"

"You created a mess the last time we prepared for a dance… Now your consequence is to clean," Kakuzu explained.

"It wasn't my fault! I already said that!"

I stood there wondering how a group like this still managed to keep things so organized. Maybe Pein was just that good of a leader.

"Don't think we've forgotten about you," Sasori spoke up.

"All right, what do you want me to do?" I asked.

"Move those props to the commons."

"…But I thought we were doing it in the gym…"

"No, some of our props were brought to the wrong location. Now you get to bring them over to the commons, yeah," Deidara smirked mockingly.

"What?! That's not fair!"

"You'll live. You're strong enough," Sasori walked past me and out the doors. Deidara followed, but not before sticking his tongue out at me.

"One of these days, I'm going to yank out his tongue and glue it to his hand so it would mock him for the rest of his life…" I muttered.

"I feel for you," Hidan came over putting his arms around me. "They always gives us the most crappiest jobs."

"Enough talk. Go to your positions," Pein began to walk over to Konan to help her with the lanterns.

~End of Flashback~

I was nearly done with the pillars until I was given another assignment to hang up streams of fabric from pillar to pillar… to pillar… Being short wasn't helping me much either. But listening to Zetsu and Tobi's conversations slightly helped me with my frustration. It distracted me from the irritating thoughts of Sasori and me as his…slave…

"No! You're doing it wrong!" Zetsu scolded.

"Ah! I'm sorry, Zetsu!" Tobi chuckled nervously.

"It's okay… You always twirl the plant clockwise around the pillar. Not counterclockwise."

"Hai, hai."

"He really does have two personalities, doesn't he," I asked Hidan.

Hidan, with nothing else to do, decided to help me since well… he's taller. Damn the men and their tallness…

"Yeah. He's a freak," Hidan stated bluntly.

"…And you're not?" I muttered.

"HEY! SAY THAT AGAIN!" he cried.

"She's right. You're a freak," Kisame walked up smirking.

"Eh, eh? Shouldn't you be checking on the fish sticks or something fish boy!?" Hidan insulted.

"As always, your mouth runs away with you," Kakuzu leaned against the wall.

Hidan scoffed.

"Suddenly everyone's a against me."

I simply shook my head. I decided to rest for a bit and observed what everyone was doing. Hidan was subconsciously hanging the decorations for me while arguing with Kakuzu. Kisame had walked outside most likely waiting for the food to arrive. Deidara and Sasori were both outside also. They were both creating something at the entrance, but I couldn't tell what it was. Deidara was using clay while Sasori was carving wood. I admit, they were both talented…

I turned over to where Itachi was sitting. Somehow, he managed to achieve both small and huge canvases. He seemed to be concentrating hard on the picture, yet his strokes were as if it was the simplest thing in the world. This boy is definitely a talented artist. Zetsu was quiet for the rest of the time. Tobi seemed to be humming away while helping. He seemed nice, but somehow, I felt he was hiding something. Nah. I must be paranoid.

Konan had impressively created lanterns, flowers, butterflies, and probably other things made from paper. She moved onto blowing up balloons. Pein had helped her hang up the papered decorations and the balloons around some of the pillars. He had also created a balloon arc to place near the entrance. They never talked to each other though. Here and there, it would only be about asking where something goes.

If Kyohaku knew them, she would definitely try to bring those two together. Even I see it. I thought.

Hidan had already finished with my job and continued to insult Kakuzu while he insulted Hidan back, so I didn't seem to have anything else to do. But no one was supposed to leave until everyone was done.

"Maybe I should try to get to know everyone…?" I asked myself. I've never been the upbringing conversation type of person, though…

I walked over to Itachi who was on his third painting. The other two were placed somewhere to dry, but the one he was working on right now was incredible! He had painted a masquerade mask that was half white and half black. To the left of it was a flowing, dark red curtain that seemed to be being blown by an invisible wind. He had yet to finish, but Itachi was working on another object. The background was to be a light shade of black so that it wouldn't clash with the half black mask. Everything so far seemed three-dimensional.

"That's really amazing," I gaped.

"Hn."

"…You really are Sasuke's brother, aren't you?"

Itachi paused for a brief moment, but started to paint again. It almost seemed as if talking about his brother was a touchy subject for him. I tried to change the subject with something else. I glanced down to see an empty cup next to him on the table with tea leaves on the bottom.

"…Uhh.. So you like tea, huh?" I tried to start a conversation. (See, this is exactly why I'm not good at starting conversations. We'll talk about tea! ….)

Itachi nodded.

"I hate tea… I think it tastes bitter."

"Tea helps the mind," he answered.

"Oh, yeah. Let's be mean to us, but have a nice talk with the new girl about tea," Hidan complained, overhearing our conversation.

"She doesn't have a loud mouth," Kakuzu closed his eyes.

"HUH?! SAY THAT AGAIN TO MY FACE!" Hidan flipped off Kakuzu.

"…Uh.. It was nice.. Talking to you?" I felt awkward. "…Nice paintings by the way."

I hurriedly walked away and gave a small sigh. That was harder than I thought.

"Mizu," I heard someone call for me. I looked up to see Sasori motioning me to come over.

"Oh.. Now what…?" I grumbled.

I trekked over to Sasori and Deidara, who was still working on the clay figure. I took a glance at it, and it looked like a clay human. A man in a tuxedo. I assumed it represented the men coming to the dance because on the other side was Sasori's wooden decoration; a figure of a girl. It seemed incomplete. She took no pose like the clay man that was slightly bowing.

"What…?"

"You're our lucky winner. Go put on this dress. I need a girl model for my puppet," Sasori threw a dress at me.

"….NANI!?" I exclaimed. "YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT DRESSES! BOTH OF YOU PRACTICALLY INVADED MY CLOSET WHEN YOU WERE FREELOADING!"

"That's too bad. A slave never disobeys their master."

"Why can't you choose Konan!?"

"She won't do it. And if we try to force her, Pein will just tell us to stop, yeah," Deidara nodded.

He's asking to be murdered! I glared at Sasori.

"Well go on. Stop dawdling," he shooed me away.

I growled and stomped away to the bathroom to change. I could hear Deidara snickering behind me and practically feel the smirk on Sasori's face. Hidan stopped in the middle of his argument with Kakuzu and looked at me curiously.

"What got shoved up your ass?" he asked.

"SHUT UP!" I snapped and continued toward the bathroom, cursing Sasori and Deidara.

"…Chicks can be scary sometimes," Hidan rubbed the back of his head.

"No men in the world can understand them," Kisame shook his head.

~awhile later~

"Mizu-san?" Tobi called from outside. "Mizu-san? You didn't run away now, did you?"

"I'm not coming out!" I stubbornly stayed in the bathroom.

"Aww, it can't be that bad! Come out for Tobi?"

I hesitantly came out. The dress Sasori handed to me was long enough to touch my knee. It was a two-layered dress. Inside was white as well as the sleeves, which open up near my wrists. On top was the black layer which had short sleeves. They were slightly puffy and had ribbons tied at the end of the sleeves. But being that Sasori never gave me any shoes, I was still wearing my sneakers. From under Tobi's hood, I could see a small gape.

"See. You look pretty," he grinned.

I never did know how to answer to compliments. So I merely sighed and slumped back to Sasori. As I made my way back, Deidara started laughing which caused me to twitch.

"You look like a man in a dress!" he pointed.

A shoe ended up hitting him squarely in the face making him stumble backwards, clutching his nose. I crossed my arms and glared at Deidara, but my stance slightly dropped as I noticed Sasori was just staring the whole time.

"What?" I asked.

"Stand up straight," he ordered.

I raised my eyebrow curiously at him, but did so anyway. He then went over to Deidara, who had been rubbing his nose violently and slightly tearing up. They both started to whisper to each other about something. Suddenly, Deidara smirked and nodded, while Sasori turned back to me and walked over.

"You're going to have to pose for me," he said.

"…Okay?"

"But I'm choosing the pose for you."

"Whatever." It can't be that bad.

"Lean slightly to the side; keep your head straight."

I did so.

"Put that hand into a fist and keep that arm in the middle of you."

"…." What is he doing…?

"Now open your other hand and place two fingers on your chin, yeah!" Deidara finished.

"…" Wait a second… "Hey, wait a minute! What kind of pose is this?! I'm not doing a flirty pose!" I exclaimed.

"Master commands it," Deidara mocked.

"It's enough I'm already wearing a dress! Shouldn't your model represent a girl coming to a dance?!"

"Girls at Konoha High who go to dances are usually flirty. So why not make that their image?" Sasori shrugged.

"No they don't!"

"All right. Name one person, not including you, that would not flirt at the dance, or do something close to it."

"……"

"Exactly."

"Well, why do you even need me to model. I thought you were good at making puppet like people?" I stalled.

"I excel more at making men versions than women," he shrugged.

"Why couldn't you use Deidara? He's close enough."

"WHAT!?" Deidara growled.

"Believe it or not, his physic is manly. And also, he's too tall."

"….ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT I'M SHORT!?" I pointed my finger angrily at him.

"There's nothing wrong with being short, kid," Kisame walked outside to once again wait for the food order.

"Enough chit-chat. Hurry up and go back to that pose I showed you," Sasori waved his hand.

I huffed and did as I was told, unfortunately. And all of this happened just because Kakashi-sensei came to class early…

Sasori began to carve the wooden doll into the pose I was taking. I was having a hard time keeping that stance, so I decided to distract myself with something else as not to get tired from standing so long. Kisame had already went back in, so I glanced over at Deidara. He was just putting the finishing touches on the clay man. I had to admit, his artwork was really good. He must have used a ton of different clays to give the man perfect hair color and skin color. The shading he gave the man almost made him look real, too. I would never have thought someone like Deidara was so talented. Nevertheless, I still don't like him.

"Are you done yet?" I asked Sasori.

"I may be an impatient person, but art takes time. It needs to last forever," he answered, still concentrating on his puppet.

"Hm, suddenly you're so poetic," I smirked.

"Art doesn't last forever! If it were up to me, art should be a big bang! Fireworks are works of art, yeah," Deidara disagreed.

"Art is not a bang, Deidara. It should be something that lasts forever. You got caught when you tried to make a big bang."

"You do fireworks?" I asked.

"He tried to. Our principal punished him good, though."

"I'm not scared of her! Yeah!"

"….Uhh. Sasori didn't say that, Deidara."

"…I'm going to take a break, yeah," he hurried away.

I rolled my eyes. Sasori didn't bother to answer Deidara, so he continued doing what he was doing. I observed the way he was creating it. The shoulders were measured correctly so that it would give the implication of leaning to the side instead of having messed up shoulders. The head of the wooden doll was a feminine, so it would not be mistaken as a boy. Her body figure was a normal curve. Not too curvy so that the female puppet would seem like an anorexic type of girl with big hips, and not to wide as to give her a manly physic. It was hard to believe Sasori wasn't good at creating a female doll. Her hands were so well done, too, and I know for a thing that hands are the hardest to create.

"You're really good," I complimented.

"Not as good as Pein. He has photographic memory, so he could sculpt without looking at anything twice."

"You're too modest. I should be the one to say something like that. I'm not as good compare to all of you. I've already observed what most people here could do."

"Portraits are hard as well. You can never make a painting look exactly like someone else. There are always room for mistakes and you have to adapt to it so it would look normal."

"What about Itachi? He didn't seem to make any mistakes at all," I recalled to his freaking amazing painting.

"He can't do portraits. He's only good at making up things on his own," he replied.

"Oh. Well, I still wonder why you guys chose me, besides the fact that you need one more girl."

Sasori didn't say anything. He just continued working. I thought maybe he didn't hear me since I sort of muttered it anyway. Before I could speak up again, he started first.

"It's done. You can get out of that stance now."

"Finally!" I fell down to the ground, relieved.

"It looks like everyone's done," Pein and everyone else walked outside.

Sasori nodded. "I just need to paint this. I'll be finished by tomorrow in time for the dance."

"In that case, everyone is free to leave. All of you better be right on time for the masquerade."

"…Eh? Uhh, I think I may have heard you wrong… Did you say, 'everyone'?" I wondered.

"Yes, he did," Konan replied. "Is there a problem?"

"Uhh, yes, well, you see… I never planned on coming."

"Everyone has to come. It is required since you are part of the art club."

"What if I came down with a sickness?"

"Come in a bubble," Kakuzu shrugged.

"You're joking!" I exclaimed.

"You are required to come since you still have a job to do," Pein shook his head.

"What?"

"You paint portraits. We need to see how well you do, so you will be painting the portrait of the Dance King and Queen," Zetsu explained. "So you better not mess up."

"Ah, well I have no dress!"

"The one you're wearing now will do fine. If you have no shoes, Konan will lend you one."

"You don't even know my size!"

"No, you both are the same. I measure," Kakuzu stated.

"You will go to the dance, regardless, Mizu," Sasori began to carry the puppet and the clay man back into the commons for storage. But he turned back to give me one more reply. "Master orders it."

"….I really do hate you," I twitched.

"So it's settled. You better get a ticket by tomorrow and arrive, or I'll have Hidan hunt you down."

"Fine!" I swiped my backpack and stomped into the bathroom to change back to my regular clothing.

By the time I came out, everyone was already gone. I exited the school and began to walk back home.

Even after a long day, it will be longer tomorrow… And it's only my second week at this new school! I closed my eyes and sighed. At least I didn't run into those three people I met on the first day. Maybe they ditched or something.

I suddenly slammed against someone and fell back.

"Ow, ow! I'm sorry! I wasn't looking!" I apologized.

"You never do…" a voice replied calmly.

I glanced up to meet the eyes or a certain red-head.

"..Oh shit…" I muttered to myself.

"You're home late."

"What's it to you!?" I stood up pouting.

He reached into his pockets and took out a rectangular piece of paper and handed it to me. I stared at it curiously, wondering what he was doing.

"What's this?"

"You're going to the dance, aren't you. I told you yesterday that my sister gave me one, but I wasn't going," he answered.

"Oh… Right. Thanks," I took the ticket. Maybe my luck is finally turning around slightly. I happened to have needed a ticket! "Wait. You were about to come to my house to give this to me?"

After all, we were already close to my house. Gaara wouldn't be walking around here for the heck of it. He would definitely be at the park.

"My sister planned on shopping today with me and my brother. I needed to 'accidently lose' the ticket," he replied while walking away. Actually it felt like you needed one. Not that it mattered. I didn't need it.

"Oh… Well… Thanks again," I walked back to my house.

I entered and walked up to my room, sighing heavily as I landed on my bed.

"Well that felt awkward. I'm always having awkward conversations with him, don't I," I talked to myself. "Oh… I better find myself a mask while I'm at it."

I went to find some money and walked outside my house. I walked around looking for a store to buy from, but the mall was a fifteen minute drive away. But then I a flower shop caught my eyes. They were selling masks for a limited time.

"Huh. Maybe I am getting lucky."

I walked in and the shop bell rang, signaling that someone entered.

"Mizu?"

I looked over to see Ino at the register. She seemed surprised and happy to see me.

"What are you doing here? Oh wait! Let me guess. You're going to the dance, right?"

"Yeah. I need a mask. Do you have any black ones?"

"We have them all in different colors and sizes. They're at the glass-shelves over there," she pointed.

I walked over and examined them. Some were plain, and some were the most outrages masks I've ever seen. They were all color sorted, so I glided my way to the black ones.

"So you work here, Ino?" I asked her.

"Yeah. My mom owns this shop and I help her after school. You know, if you purchase a mask, you can choose a flower for free to give for the one you're going with," she grinned.

"Oh, that's okay. I'm not going with anyone. I was just forced to go."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," she laughed. "You can always give it to someone you might meet."

"Mm.." I was still distracted by trying to find a good mask. None of them so far caught my interest.

"You need help?"

"Yeah."

"What does your dress look like?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, the mask should always match with your dress, silly!"

"Oh.. Well. It's layered black and white, and-"

"No need. I already know exactly which one," she stopped me.

.Wow…

Ino walked over and began to look around as well. Her face lit up and reached to grab a mask.

"How about this one?"

It was, of course, a black mask. The outside and the outside rim of the eyes were silvery-white. There were black feathers on the outside, except it formed into something that looked like wings.

"That will do," I nodded. It's not like I knew what to pick anyway.

We both went over to the counter and I paid for the mask.

"Choose a flower now, Mizu!"

"Oh. All right, I'll choose one," I sighed.

I randomly chose one. It was blue-violet and it looked almost like it was wilting, but the petals merely twisted inward toward itself.

"OoOo. A Monkshood," Ino examined it. "And it will be in full bloom by tomorrow, too."

"You actually know what its called?" I asked slightly impressed.

"I know its meaning, too. It fits someone like you."

"It does?"

"Yeah. It means 'a foe is near.' Basically, it's saying the other person better be careful of you," she chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm going to jump out and murder them," I shook my head. …Actually I do want to murder two certain freeloaders…

"Well, everyone should beware. Thanks for stopping by at the Yamanaka Flower Shop!" Ino waved.

"See you tomorrow at school, Ino," I waved back.

I entered my house and placed the flower in a cup filled with water. I don't have any vases in my home. I took about some left over food that I made yesterday and sat down at the table eating. I stared at the mask I bought and sighed.

"Another long day waiting for me tomorrow…"