Woot! Another update. This chapter's a little longer I think, hopefully you'll all enjoy it! Thank you to missmridvika, Ino2613, demon lilith and Aiko of the Akatsuki. Oh, and I owe deathrosekitty an apology for not having Kiba get away unharmed, I'm sorry! Now to business:

Disclaimer:

Now I've started putting this on every chapter, I sort of don't feel like I can stop. I don't own Naruto.

Study In Contrasts

I'm not going to lie, mum was furious. Apoplectic with rage. Extraordinarily pissed off. More than I'd ever seen her before. Here, this is just a snippet of her hour and a half rant (no, that's not an exaggeration):

"I trusted you, and it's not the fact that you skipped school, it's the fact that you said you wouldn't and did it anyway. How can I trust what you tell me if you just say whatever you think I want to hear then completely disregard it? And who were you with anyway? The receptionist said you got into a car that had just dropped off some other students, who was that? Yet another one of your new friends I don't know? What if you'd been abducted? Did you even consider the danger you could have been putting yourself into? I'm disgusted that you would be so irresponsible, and all when you knew you weren't supposed to be going out which just makes it even worse. This is just ridiculous teenage rebellion all over and I wish you'd get it into your head that when you behave so selfishly you don't help anyone, least of all yourself."

And that wasn't even the worst of it. I knew there wasn't really anything I could say in my defense, she was right after all. I'd behaved appallingly. But I couldn't find it in me to really be sorry. I felt like I was justified in my behavior. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have spent so long talking to Pein. But skipping a little less school wouldn't have changed how she felt about what I'd done. I'm not excusing my actions, just saying that I think I had a right to do what I did and mum had just as much right to be angry about it.

And boy was she angry.

Eventually she sent me to my room, "Get out of here. I'm sick of the sight of you," and I texted Deidara to fill him in on the exciting news: banned from leaving the house (except for school), banned from using the computer and although my phone hadn't been confiscated I wasn't allowed to make calls. All of this would be in place for the next two weeks and possibly longer, depending on my behavior.

I got a text back about ten minutes later, "Well, we'll still see each other at school. And two weeks will go by quickly enough. Try not to worry, she'll calm down eventually."

I could only hope so.

The next day was Saturday and I spent most of my time moping in my room. I'd been grounded loads of times before, of course, but I'd always just left through the window or simply gone off from school. I leaned my forehead against the warm glass of my window with a self-pitying sigh. You'd think that obeying instructions would be less hassle than just doing your own thing, but apparently not. Being grounded was dull.

Mum came in sometime after lunch looking irritated.

"Your father just called," she said, speaking to my bedroom wall, "he's visiting tomorrow."

She turned and left without another word.

One thing did happen to brighten up my Saturday, and that was a text from Ten Ten.

"Hey Ino, GREAT NEWS! Neji came to our dojo today, and he sparred with me, and I think he might even have been impressed! I gave him my number and said we should train together sometime. What do you think? CALL ME!!!"

I texted her back straight away, "Can't call I'm afraid, one of the conditions of my recent grounding. Fantastic news though, go you!"

So at least somebody was getting where they wanted to be.

The rest of the day passed slowly, not smoothly like a boring lesson at school but jerkily, in stops and starts. I'd look at the clock four times in ten minutes and then forget about the time for a while before realizing that a whole hour had passed. Mum barely spoke to me, even when I went downstairs to forage for food, and I tried to get on with some studying in my room so that I could feel like I was doing something productive.

As I went to bed (at ten o'clock, this grounding was turning me into someone completely unrecognizable!) I was struck by a grim fact: there was still another day of weekend to go. Just a single Saturday stuck indoors with little to no contact with the outside world was already driving me completely stir-crazy, how was I supposed to cope with another 24 hours?

Of course, I would have a little visit from my father to break up the monotony. And with that idea to cheer me up I dragged the duvet up over my head and tried to get to sleep. The more time I could spend unconscious, the faster the weekend would go. That was my theory at any rate.

I stopped myself from fully waking up for as long as I could the next morning, finally drifting downstairs for breakfast at almost half past eleven. Mum was at the table looking frazzled.

"Ino, your dad's arriving in two hours. Unfortunately I have to go out... work emergency... so I'll see you later. Around seven," she downed the last of a cup of coffee and got up, sweeping out of the room and upstairs.

It was weird, I mused as I sat down with a bowl of sugar puffs, how little it bothered me that mum wasn't talking to me. I mean, I wasn't enjoying it, but I was hardly a wreck. It was bugging me a little, but mostly because if I'm not talking to someone I prefer it to be because I'm not talking, rather than being the one being ignored. The thing that upset me the most was that I felt I'd let her down. I'd meant to stick to her rules, I really had, but what can you do? She was right, in a way. Every time we stayed on good terms for longer than a couple of weeks I seemed to do something to mess it up. I can just imagine what a psychologist would make of that.

I dumped my empty bowl in the sink, thought a moment, then rinsed it out and left it on the side to dry. Then I went up to my room to get ready.

An hour and a half after mum left it was time for dad to arrive. He greeted me with an enormous grin as I opened the door, holding his arms out for a hug. I just snorted and stepped back, leaving him space to come in. He just laughed.

"What are you inviting me in for? Come on, let's go get some lunch, I'm starving."

"Well come in then, we have food. You may not have heard, but I'm grounded."

Dad frowned, "Grounded? Yeah, your mum mentioned something about that. I'd rather take you out though."

Naturally. Anything to go against mum's wishes.

"I don't want to upset her again," I said firmly, "Come in or go away, it's your call."

He replied with a knowing smirk, "But you want to come out, don't you. I know you, being stuck in there must be driving you up the wall. Come out, she doesn't have to know."

I resisted the urge to slump against the door frame. He could read me ridiculously easily. And what did that say about me? Dad stood his ground, watching me run through the likely outcomes of my possible choices.

"Fine," I groaned, grabbing my coat, "We have to be back by half five though. Mum gets back at six."

Yeah, I know she said seven. But if I told dad we had to be back by seven he'd think that meant half seven. Better safe than sorry.

We went to Pizza Express this time, despite dad gazing longingly at Burger King as we passed. If we were going to make a habit of eating out together I didn't want to encourage him to think fast food was always going to be on the menu. We chatted briefly about school, and then dad asked the inevitable.

"Why are you grounded, exactly?"

"Uh... skipping school. Twice. Amongst other... smaller offenses."

"Nice," dad leaned back on his chair looking, of all things, proud. "What kind of mischief did you get up to?"

And how bad was it that I sort of wanted to tell him? To exaggerate, even, for his approval? I fought that particular whim for all of four seconds.

"The first time was to hang out at the park with my friend. But then we got kind of ambushed by this girl and her friends," I checked dad's expression for concern or even mild reproach but he just looked intrigued, "My friend and I split up, some of them chased him and one of them chased me. I got away with just a twisted ankle."

"And your friend?"

"He... didn't," I admitted, "he's got a couple of broken ribs and a broken arm."

Dad looked alarmed.

"Fractured ribs," I corrected myself, and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, that's so much better. Why were they after you?"

Actually, that was a good question. I thought about it for a moment. Kimimaro had said they only expected to find Kiba there, so they weren't looking for me to pass on that message to Deidara. That had come later. Which meant she was just targeting Kiba. Which was weird, because I didn't think he'd done that much to her. Not as much as I had anyway. So she had Kiba beaten up as badly as he was for just not being her friend anymore? I wasn't sure I wanted to even consider what she might have in store for me in that case.

"Got an answer yet?"

I looked up, a little startled. I'd forgotten where I was for a moment. "Oh. No. They weren't after me though, they were looking for my friend."

"I see. Hanging out with the dangerous types are you?"

Dangerous types? I thought of Kiba on Friday, wrapped up in casts and bandages and still trying to make me feel better, and suddenly had to blink back tears.

"Whoa there," dad held up a hand, "I'm really not good with crying women."

"I'm not going to cry," I said hotly.

"Just got something in your eye? Well, that's okay then," dad grinned and passed me a napkin. "Take that. Just in case you get anything else in there."

"You're annoying," I muttered, scrubbing at my eyes with the rough tissue.

"I do my best."

We left the restaurant after about an hour and meandered down the high street, looking in the shop windows for the worst clothing combinations. Then I saw Kin.

She was standing outside the cinema, just fifteen meters or so ahead of us, talking to Tayuya. Dad sensed the change in my mood instantly and looked at me, concerned. I stared for a moment at the two girls, long enough to be sure they hadn't seen me yet, then turned around. I grabbed dad by the wrist and tugged him after me.

"Wait, Ino, what's wrong?"

"Shut up," I hissed, and he looked alarmed. I spoke as quietly as I could without being inaudible over the other chatter around us, "I just spotted two of the girls who I ran into the other day. I don't think they saw us, but-" I broke off as I suddenly found myself standing in front of another face from the forest.

"Hello Ino," his voice was low, with the usual lack of recognizable emotion.

"Hey Kimimaro," I responded weakly.

"And who's this?" Dad asked, not sure whether he was supposed to be friendly or not towards the newcomer.

"Well, he's a," a what, exactly? Not a friend, but clearly not an enemy either. Not an ally. An acquaintance? Is that what you call someone who spent five minutes holding you down on the forest floor before letting you 'escape'?

"I'm a friend of a friend," Kimimaro supplied, "unfortunately I can't stand around, I'm meeting people."

"Don't tell them I said hi," I said lightly, and the corner of Kimimaro's mouth quirked up in a half-smile.

"No need to worry about that."

"Well, see you around," I lifted a hand in a rough approximation of a wave and pulled dad away down the street.

"What the hell was that?" Dad complained, "I have to say Ino, that boy looked very peculiar. Is he on something?"

"Dunno. Look, he's friends with those two girls. But if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have got off so lightly the other day," I paused thoughtfully, "I'm still not entirely sure what side he's on, but I don't think he's against me as such."

"Well that's something. Maybe you can encourage him onto your side and have an ally in the enemy camp."

I laughed, "I'll consider it."

Dad dropped me off at home at six twenty (what did I tell you?) and looked relieved to see that mum's car wasn't in the driveway.

"Guess she's late back."

"I guess so," I agreed. "I'll see you, what, next week?"

"I'll check my diary. Do I get a hug this time?" He opened his arms, looking hopeful.

"Nope. You're gonna have to work harder to earn that privilege."

He didn't seem too crushed, laughing it off and promising he'd do his best. I waved him off and went inside, surprised to find myself smiling fondly. It had been an unexpectedly fun day, despite the stress of almost running into Queen Cow Kin.

/\/\/\/\

I can't tell you what a relief it was to leave the house, legitimately, to go to school on Monday morning. Fresh air, the sunshine and best of all, double sports first thing. I know what you're thinking: Best of all? She must be joking. Actually, this isn't even sarcasm. After having to endure the oppressive atmosphere of my house all weekend I was truly looking forward to kicking the crap out of somebody.

And then I was partnered up with Sakura, effectively squashing my good mood.

I tried not to notice her dull, sunken eyes or the edge of the bruising visible past the end of her shirt. I couldn't help but notice that she was a lot slower than usual. At first I tried to go easy on her, not wanting to take advantage, but it seemed the more gentle I was the less fight she put up.

A rush of rage overtook me without warning. I don't know where it came from, or why, but it was like glass smashing. Abrupt. Violent.

I threw a punch with sudden speed, blocking her own feeble attempt at a side kick and using it to unbalance her. A swift kick to the solar plexus sent her falling to the floor in a heap. It didn't end there.

Every time she got up I beat her down. I didn't use any more force than was necessary, angry as I was I wasn't actually looking to hurt her. I just used the techniques I'd been learning for months to drop her, quickly and effectively. As the lesson progressed an interesting thing happened though.

Some kind of fire crept back into her eyes.

I don't know if it was the competitive side of what we were doing, or the physical pain I was causing, or surprise that I wasn't being kind anymore. Whatever it was, she started to fight back. Clumsily at first but with increasing confidence. The first time she managed to send me sprawling she stood above me with a tiny smile of satisfaction on her face.

I got up and grinned at her, "Oh, it's on now."

And she laughed in response, getting into the start position.

We sparred all lesson and when I saw Gai getting ready to blow the final whistle I grabbed Sakura by the arm, right where I knew the worst of the bruising would be. She winced and shot me a dirty look.

I leaned in close, "Why don't you fight back like that with Sasuke?"

Then Gai blew his whistle and I walked away, back to the changing rooms.

In my free period later I hung out in the common room with Deidara and Sasori. Our conversation turned to one of the few topics we all found equally interesting: the Akatsuki. Obviously I hadn't been able to talk about it before, since I was still being kept ignorant, but now Pein had seen fit to share the whole story it seemed I was a kind of honorary member, free to ask whatever I felt like.

"So Sasori," I asked after hearing about his family's puppet company, leaning against Deidara's side, "how did you feel about joining the Akatsuki?"

"The idea interested me," he replied after a short pause, "although I wonder at the motivation behind it."

"I thought you knew all that stuff about the business... company... alliance... thing?"

"Yes, I mean beyond that."

"I agree," Deidara put in, fiddling with a few strands of my hair, "I bet Pein has something he's going to want us all to do, yeah."

"Does that bother you?" I shifted round to look at his face.

Deidara smiled, "Nah. If I don't want to do it I won't do it, hn. And he's not a bad person, it's hardly going to be some terrible, evil plot."

"Something I was thinking about," I remembered, "Deidara, you were reluctant enough to join that Itachi had to fight you. Now, that seems a little OTT to me, given that Pein's all about being all fair and nice."

"Clearly Deidara was invaluable," Sasori commented drily.

"Shut up, yeah," Deidara sighed, "it was Orochimaru's idea to suggest it. Pein said that if I agreed to it then it was okay by him. Itachi forced me to agree by being such a massive jerk that I had no choice but to fight him."

"Okay, I'll buy that, and what's your opinion – both of you – on this:" I relayed to them Tayuya's message to the Akatsuki, and a brief back story so they knew the context.

Deidara looked alarmed, Sasori just seemed a little nonplussed.

"Why would someone just decide to compete with us, hm?" Deidara wondered aloud, "Why would anyone outside of school even know about us?"

"Don't look at me," I muttered.

"What I don't understand is the use of violence," Sasori added, "we're not a gang in the conventional sense, it's like trying to beat a golfer at boxing."

I was slightly distracted at the image of the Akatsuki members topless in opposite corners of a boxing ring but was brought back to reality with Deidara's next comment.

"What we need to think about is what Kin's going to do next, yeah," he said, his voice uncharacteristically serious, "I mean, she hasn't really got what she wants yet."

"What does she want?" Sasori asked.

"That's another thing we need to figure out, hn."

Sasori looked mildly exasperated, "So how do you know she hasn't got it?"

"Because nobody's dead yet?" I suggested, only half joking.

"Sounds like she made a good attempt of that with Kiba, yeah." a dark look passed across Deidara's face and I put a hand on his arm.

"Don't worry about him. He's tougher than he looks."

The bell rang, interrupting our conversation, and Deidara and I stood to go to art.

I waited as Deidara and Sasori exchanged goodbyes and then left, Deidara taking my hand as we got to the top of the staircase.

"I'm glad you didn't get hurt, hn."

"Me too," I was aware that I hadn't told him the whole story. As far as Deidara knew, and I'd told the story carefully to imply this, Kiba drew off the only people who were actually there, leaving me to escape without any danger. Given how possessive I now knew he could be, I wasn't sure how he'd react to the idea of me being trapped by Kimimaro. I didn't want him to do anything stupid.

"How's the grounding going?"

"It's awful," I groaned, "mum's barely speaking to me, I have nothing to do and nobody to talk to, it's boring and stuffy and just plain crap."

Deidara laughed as he opened the art room door for me. "I'll have to text you a lot then I suppose, to make things a little more bearable, hm?"

"That would help. A lot."

I was careful not to look around the room too much as I went in, nervous that if I saw Shikamaru I'd accidentally react. I wasn't worried about how Deidara would see it; I knew he'd know it was just because of the topic of our argument. What I was trying to avoid was Shikamaru feeling the need to comment on it later, which could quite possibly be very dangerous for his health.

Deidara and I sat next to each other, leaning into each other and talking quietly while we waited for the lesson to start.

/\/\/\/\

We waited outside school together for Pein to pick Deidara up. Hinata came past, pausing briefly.

"Ino, have you spoken to Kiba today?"

I shook my head, "The terms of my grounding included no calls, remember? And since Kiba lost his phone I can't text. It's doing my head in, not knowing how he is. Why?"

"Well, I was just thinking that I could go and get an update for you."

"Sure," I nodded, "that sounds like a good idea. Do you know his address?"

"I don't remember the house number."

"Here, I'll write it down," I fished a pen out of my bag and ripped a section off my Spanish homework sheet, scrawling the address. "Text me, will you?"

Hinata nodded, "I will. See you tomorrow, and you Deidara."

We watched her walk off, weaving easily between groups of chattering friends as she made her way down the road.

"She's sweet, hn."

Deidara let out a mock gasp of pain as I elbowed him playfully in the side, "Don't you go giving me a reason to get all jealous!"

"What are you implying, hm? That I've ever displayed signs of jealousy?"

"Oh no, that's right, you'd never behave in such a way would you?" I laughed, "I suppose I must be getting you confused with my other boyfriend."

"Yeah, I really wish you'd stop doing that," he kissed my neck lightly, "it kind of makes a guy feel unloved."

The honk of a car horn jolted us out of our little world and I looked up, scanning the cars for Pein's. I didn't find it, discovering instead my mother's not-so-smiling face behind the wheel of the nearest vehicle. Frozen with surprise it took me a little while to understand why she looked so incensed. Then I realized how I was standing: leaning back against Deidara's chest, both of us against the wall, his arms loosely around my midriff.

"Shit," I muttered, pulling reluctantly away from him.

"What is it?"

"I don't know if I mentioned this, but along with the grounding mum kind of forbade me to see you."

Deidara looked put out, "Why? What did I do, yeah?"

"She assumed I was with you that day in the forest," I picked up my bag, slinging it over my shoulder, "I'm really sorry. Text me?"

For a moment I was worried he wasn't going to say anything, but then his face broke into a grin and he nodded. "Course I will. Try and sort out this little misunderstanding, hn. It'll make things pretty difficult when your grounding's over otherwise."

"I'll see what I can do," I promised, "see you tomorrow."

"See you."

Turning towards the car, and getting another look at mum's expression, I couldn't help but wonder if there was any point getting her to allow me to see Deidara. At the rate I was going I'd be grounded for the rest of my natural life anyway.

I slid into the passenger seat, dumping my bag by my feet and doing my seat belt up. "What are you doing here, mum?"

"I texted you earlier," she said, irritated, "didn't you read the message? I'm going to pick you up from school most days now. Sometimes it will be impossible, and I have to go back to work afterward, but I think it's for the best."

I bit back a sarcastic comment and sat there, beginning to seethe. Great, so now she was going to treat me like a little kid.

"I'll let you know when I can't make it, but that shouldn't be too often."

"I'd say thank you, but you're clearly not doing it for my benefit."

Okay, I probably should have bitten that one back as well. Mum turned steely eyes on me, "Don't start, Ino. We haven't even talked about Deidara yet."

"Yeah, I had a think about that-"

"You agreed you wouldn't see him."

"Oh for the love of-"

"You agreed you wouldn't see him."

I tilted my head backwards, looking at the car roof, "I can't exactly help seeing him since we do actually go to the same school."

"Very mature, Ino. Listen, I only say this because I want to keep you-"

"He wasn't even the one I was in the forest with!" I burst out, "It wasn't him! So banning me from seeing him is completely pointless!"

Mum sighed, "Really, I'd rather try to have a sensible conversation about this than have you try and make up any old excuse."

"Are you trying to say I'm lying?"

"Well aren't you?"

"No."

She looked at me, confused, "So who were you with?"

"... Kiba."

Silence. "Oh. Well, I'll have to think about that, and I'll be checking with his mum to make sure you're telling the truth this time," we pulled up in front of the house and got out of the car. "And you're still grounded," mum added, as if I might have forgotten.

"And don't I know it," I replied sourly, getting my phone out.

Sure enough, there was the text from mum, "I'm picking you up after school today. Wait outside the main entrance."

And another text, this one from my most favouritest person.

"u wana talk? alrite by me. u name th plce. il b ther.

-Kin"