Edited.

Chapter twenty

Sakura fumed, her arms crossed over her chest. Her lips were morphed into a pout, emerald eyes glaring at Deidara.

"I swear, if you laugh one more time, I'll hit you," She gritted her teeth, glaring at the blonde next to her, who was trying valiantly to suppress a chuckle.

But it was in vain.

"Ouch, hm!" He exclaimed as she punched him on the shoulder. "That hurts."

"Well, I warned you." She said, glaring at him. She didn't know how the heck that was so funny either. They were only photos from when she was a kid. Damn Ino..

"Why're you so upset, yeah? You looked cute. Especially with buck-teeth." Another chuckle ripped past his lips and Sakura barely resisted the urge to hit him across the back of his head.

"You're an idiot," She sighed.

"Hey, isn't that chibi-Itachi?" Deidara's question brought Sakura's attention to Sasuke, standing a few feet in front of them with a small girl with flaming red hair. They were apparently arguing.

Sakura rolled her eyes. Knowing Sasuke, the girl was probably infuriated with him. But this girl didn't seem to be bending to Sasuke. She had an air of quiet confidence around her that intrigued Sakura.

"What the hell? What's she doing here, yeah?" Deidara muttered, earning Sakura's attention. He was staring at the redhead, recognition lighting up his blue eyes. This only further increased Sakura's curiosity.

"You know her?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow. Deidara didn't reply, instead choosing to stare at Sasuke and the girl. He looked irritated, for some reason.

Sakura walked close enough to hear their conversation. Yeah, she knew she was eavesdropping, but this was to interesting to miss.

"Didn't you hear? Otogakure's packing up, everyone's transferring to Suna or Konoha." The girl appeared to be saying. Sasuke groaned.

Sakura quirked a brow. Otogakure? So this girl was from there too? That explained how she knew Sasuke, but what was her relation to Deidara? Maybe an ex girlfriend, she thought, unable to help the little bubble of resentment that built in her chest.

"Hey, emo boy!" She called out and said duckbutt's head whipped around to face her. His eyes widened marginally before he let out a sigh. Not Sakura too. Worse, her blonde friend was there too.

"Sakura! What're you doing here?" He questioned, looking uncomfortable for some reason she couldn't fathom.

"Um... this is my school as well?" She trailed off, emerald eyes drifting to the girl beside Sasuke who was grinning. Her eyes were fixated not on Sakura but on her companion.

"Yo, drag queen."

Sakura let out a laugh as Deidara glared at the small girl. This threw out the window of the possibility of this girl being one of Deidara's exes.

"What the hell are you doing here, hm?" He asked, eyebrow still twitching. He couldn't believe Oto was packing up. The whole place probably feel apart after Orochimaru left.

"That's just what I've been telling Sasquatch here about. Otogakure's out. Everyone's transferring here or Suna."

Sakura sobered up. Why was Otogakure packing up? And her questions about the identity of this girl and her relation to Sasuke and Deidara were still unanswered.

"Not meaning to be rude or anything, but who are you?" Sakura inquired.

The girl grinned, brushing away some of her red hair from her forehead.

"I'm Tayuya. Hasn't Sasquack told you about me?" Sakura shook her head and Tayuya threw a mock glare at Sasuke. "I'm hurt."

The raven haired teen sighed. "She was Lithium's unofficial manager -her father funded the band."

Sakura opened her mouth. And closed it. Opened it.

"You look like a goldfish, yeah." This snapped the pinkette's attention to Deidara.

"Shut up prick," she murmured half-heartedly. The insults she directed towards Deidara were too half-assed to be called insults at this point.

A new voice entered their conversation and familiar red hair and mahogany eyes enter into their view. Sasori too seemed to recognize Tayuya, since he greeted her with a slight smile.

"Tayuya, you've grown." Sasori remarked and she glared. "You're still small though."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Sasori." Tayiya said through gritted teeth and Sakura stared back and forth between her cousin and Tayuya.

She held up her hands in defeat.

"You guys, I'm a little lost here. Mind elaborating?" the pinkette said. "How do you guys know each other."

Sasori shrugged, his dark eyes elusive. "We had connections at Oto, she's on of them."

"Why is Sasuke so pissed?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, pretending not to notice that her cousin hadn't fully answered her question.

"Because I barged in uninvited," Tayuya rolled her eyes. "Sasuke doesn't like it when someone doesn't come to his party invited."

"You got that right." Sakura grinned, making Sasuke's glare go even deeper. She liked this girl already. She had spunk, and kind of reminded her of Tenten, or a female Deidara, except with red hair.

"Anyway, what's this about Otogakure packing up?" Sasori asked, brows furrowed. This was the first he'd heard of that, and he quite prided himself on being able to gather information quick.

"So many of their best and most famous students were transferring out, to Konoha. People started taking their kids out, saying it wasn't as good anymore. They packed up. I was one of the last."

Sasori raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean you'll be coming here from now on?" There was a hint of expectation in his otherwise apathetic voice as he spoke.

Sakura stifled a smirk. Was that anticipation she heard just now in her cousin's voice? Seemed like there was more going on behind the scenes she wasn't aware of, mainly between Tayuya and Sasori.

"No, I'm going to Hawaii's School for Young Gorillas." Tayuya said, her face blank.

This time Sakura actually smirked. It appeared as if her cousin had finally met his match.

"Whatever, hm. The real question is why has Oto decided to pack up all of a sudden. The thing about it not being good enough is bull, Oto's never had a good reputation," his tone was unusually serious.

The majority of people around him nodded, surprised that he was being serious for once in his life. He was right.

Before anyone could come up with any speculation, the bell rang, preventing further conversation, and the teens dispersed.

Sakura sat quietly, for once, absorbed in her thoughts and music. Turned out that Tayuya was actually older than her and the rest and had most of her classes with Sasori and the rest. Too bad, she would have liked to have gotten to know her better.

Speaking of said redhead, Sakura spotted her making way to the Akatsuki's lunch table with her tray. Interesting. She'd never seen another person who even dared walk up there before.

"Why not?" Tayuya was saying, her brow furrowed and a hand balanced on her hip.

"It just doesn't work. How can you like the two?"

"Why not?!"

"All Time Low and Evanescence do not go together." Sasori buried his head in his hands. Ah, so that was it. Sakura had to stifle a giggle. Sasori was extremely particular when it came to which genres and bands he listened, and it seemed that it irked him that Tayuya wasn't concerned.

"They don't have to! It's the music I like!" The girl pointed out, shooting him a glare.

Sasori opened his mouth to argue but Tayuya put her hands to her ears.

"La la la la la~ Your argument is invalid." She sang. "I like what I like and that's it, ginger."

"Well, maybe it is, but- But..."

Tayuya smirked triumphantly. Felt good to render Sasori speechless. Sakura couldn't barely even believe it, as she watched on. She'd never seen someone silence Sasori before.

"Sasori, my man, you just got owned, yeah." Deidara snickered, poking his best friend good naturedly.

"But," the ginger looked distressed.

"There are no buts!" Tayuya poked his cheek playfully. "I win."

Sasori looked away from her, huffing and Deidara and Tayuya burst out laughing. Sakura continued observing, her lips curled in a smile.

"Sore loser~" Tayuya grinned.

"I'm not!" Sasori argued.

"Denial, hm," Deidara smirked. Too bad, he shouldn't have said that... Who but Hidan should pick up on this little blunder.

"Speaking of denial fucker, when are you gonna bang that chick?" Hidan grinned lecherously and Sasori's eyebrows twitched in irritation.

"That 'chick' you are talking about is my cousin, Hidan," Sasori remarked coldly, directing a death glare at the silverette. Meanwhile, Deidara was muttering under his breath, his eyebrows puckered into a frown.

"Piss off ginger, go fuck yourself." Hidan retorted foully. Someone was in a bad mood today.

"Oi, fucker! That's my cousin you're talking to!" In her indignation, Sakura had walked over to the Akatsuki table,

The teens looked up to see her, glaring slightly at Hidan, but not much animosity.

The silverette rolled his eyes. "You and your fucking cousin."

"It's her birthday, be nice." Tayuya chuckled.

That seemed to perk Deidara's attention. The blonde sat up, looking straight at Sakura. His blue eyes bore into her, intense and demanding.

"Come on, hm. I want to show you something." He said. The Akatsuki smirked. The baby of the group was finally making his move. It was all they could do not to sing Hallelujah.

Sakura blinked as the blonde grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the cafeteria and into the school hallways. His grip was warn, and firm as he led her around.

"Where are we going?" She asked in confusion, as Deidara looked around calmly.

"Just go with it, yeah." He muttered, dragging her through the maze of hallways. They reached a back door that lead to the school grounds and it seemed to click in Sakura's head.

"Cutting class? Nice," she grinned. "But how do you propose we get out of here? And with no one seeing us?"

Deidara smirked "It's after lunch so there won't be many teachers out, yeah. I parked outside the school. Let's go."

The duo pushed past the door and arrived at the school grounds. The place was empty save for a few birds dotting the green grass. Deidara smirked triumphantly; it was all as he'd thought.

"Alright, the coast is clear. Come on," he grabbed her hand in his and pulled her to a fence that lined the whole school, aqua eyes keeping a look out for the enemy, A.K.A the faculty.

"You go first, hm." He inclined his head towards the fence. Sakura nodded, climbing over the fence and jumping off to the other side, thanking God that she had worn jeans and that the fence was short. She landed with a thud, thankfully on her feet.

A thump from behind her told that Deidara had joined her. He grinned, holding up his palm and dangling a set of keys.

"Shall we?"