"Arghh…fuck,"

Suigetsu put a hand to his head. It pounded like crazy. He couldn't really feel his legs. He reached down with his other hand to make sure they were still there.

He didn't want to open his eyes. But he knew he had to. He opened one slowly, achingly.

Darkness.

Where am I? He remembered he'd passed out. He felt around and found he was cold, hard floor. Leaning against some sort of sack. He tried to sit up, but fell back down. Whoever had knocked him out had knocked him out good.

Who…?

He couldn't remember the faces, even though he'd seen one of them. He only remembered the voice.

"In there?"

"Yeah. You wanna see him or something?"

Deidara gulped a little.

"Uh. No. Not particularly, hm…I just need to get something,"

"Then stop asking about him, fuckhead,"

But he's in our storage room…Deidara shook his head in disapproval of the situation and glanced at Sasori. When Hidan said they were keeping the boy 'detained', he'd assumed that they'd already taken him somewhere in the Akatsuki building or on the ship or something. But as it turned out, the Jashinist was as unorganized as ever and he lugged him into the cafe's storage room.

"Um, danna? How do we get our…stuff…if he's in there?"

"How 'bout, go in and get it?" Hidan said. "What else can you fucking do?"

"Look, you're the one who brought him here, un,"

"Kakuzu told me to,"

You could've just brought him to the Akatsuki building or something…Deidara put a hand on the door knob, but hesitated. He'd heard some noises from inside, and it was obvious Suigetsu was conscious. He pressed the knob down slowly and pushed it open.

A sliver of light hit Suigetsu's eyes like a knife. He groaned and covered them. He couldn't open his eyes, so he didn't know where he was. But the smell was kind of familiar.

Deidara closed the door behind him. He could practically taste the uneasiness that permeated the room. He felt around for the light switch and pressed it.

Suigetsu… Deidara had never talked to him before, but he'd heard about him. He knew Mangetsu—the ramen guy—and that this was his little brother. Even if he didn't know it, they looked so damn alike he would definitely be able to tell. The Iwa felt a pang of guilt, even though it hadn't been him who brought the Hōzuki here.

He was bleeding down one side of his head. Most of the blood had dried up however, and had soaked into his pale blue hair. Deidara cringed and suppressed the urge to walk over and wash it clean, because Hidan would never let him live it down that he helped one of Akatuski's captives. Suigetsu had his eyes squeezed shut, but Deidara could tell he was using his other senses to detect Deidara.

"Whoever you are, you're…," Suigetsu stopped midsentence and groaned. "…you'll pay,"
Deidara felt nervous. He reached for a jar of coffee beans and considered just saying nothing and leaving. But he couldn't. He wasn't that type. He licked his lips and took a few tentative steps forward. Suigetsu jerked his head up in the direction of the noise, on guard despite the fact he was practically blind.

"What do you want?" he said. His eyelids shuddered as he tried to open them again, but his vision was foggy. All he could see were packed shelves and a bunch of …blonde hair.

Blonde hair?

"I…," Deidara shut himself up. What if he recognizes my voice? He knelt down in front of Suigetsu and put the coffee bean jar down gently on the ground. He gently peeled the Hōzuki's hand away from his face, which took a lot of force because Suigetsu was still wary.

"Gr…," Suigetsu didn't know what the hell was happening, but…he let the unknown guy push his hand away. He didn't know what was going on, true, but he decided that maybe resistance wasn't the best idea, especially in his state.

I bet it was Hidan who did this.

"Ouch," he breathed. He glanced back at the door, but on hearing the clanks and clinks of Hidan working outside, he knew the Jashinist wasn't paying attention to whether or not he'd left the storage room.

Suigetsu winced when Deidara's fingers passed through the dried blood. He didn't know what kind of a wound it was, but it hurt like hell. Deidara patted his pockets for tissues, but he couldn't find any. Not that they would do him much good—what he needed was water.

I can't stay in here for long. I need to get back out there, hm.

He straightened up again and opened one of the cardboard boxes down the other end of the room. He grabbed one of the bottled waters and placed it in Suigetsu's hand.

That's all I can do for you.

He watched as Suigetsu put a hand cautiously on the bottle cap of the water, feeling it.

I'm sorry, un.

It was three o'clock—the end of the school day—and Sasuke was getting antsy. He couldn't see Suigetsu's motorbike anywhere in the parking lot, which wasn't exactly an anomaly because the Hōzuki always sped off as fast as he could after the bell rang. He checked his phone again, but neither Neji or Suigetsu had bothered to call him back. Sasuke sighed quietly.

"Hey, Sasuke,"

Sakura nudged him gently with her elbow. "How was your day? We totally didn't have any classes together,"

Sasuke shrugged. "Yeah. It was alright,"

"I bet you're going to work on your assignments early," Sakura continued as they walked out the gate. Looking at Sasuke, she couldn't help but think of Itachi. She wondered what the older guy was doing, and was confused when her heart raced ahead of her again when she thought about him. She shouldn't be feeling like this, should she? After all, she'd admitted to herself quite happily a night ago that she liked Deidara.

Sasuke nodded distractedly. "Yeah,"

"Well…I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye!"

Sakura headed off in the other direction before Sasuke could respond, flustered. She didn't know if she should go to the café—would that seem a little clingy? But she always went there. So…

She pressed on. Before, she'd wanted to ask Sasuke to come with here again, since she didn't like going alone, but the Uchiha's presence was suffocating for some reason. Ten minutes later, she reached the café's front door and it was too late to turn away. She pushed the door open and braced herself.

Deidara looked up. And grinned tiredly.

"Hey," he said. "It's you,"

On seeing him, Sakura felt a million times lighter. But one look around the place made her think of Itachi again—after all, this was the first place she'd seen him. She walked forwards shyly despite herself and placed her hands nervously on the counter.

"Hey, Deidara,"

"How are you?" the Iwa asked. He looked like something was on his mind, but Sakura didn't want to ask. He wasn't the only one with problems.

"I'm great,"

"So, what do you want?" Deidara quickly thought of Suigetsu in the storage room and pushed it aside. He didn't know why the guy had such an impact on his conscience. He'd hoped Sakura would make a difference to his dreary day, but frankly, and unfortunately, she didn't.

"Um…I think I'll just take a milkshake. To go,"

"To go?" Deidara repeated. "You mean you're not staying, hmm?"

Sakura nodded. "I need to start an assignment,"

The blonde's face fell a little. "Oh, un. That's fine,"

He moved away hesitantly to make her milkshake. She hadn't needed to tell him what flavour, because she knew that he knew she always got strawberry. It gave her a tingling feeling. She looked around—the café was more packed than usual—and wanted to hit herself over the head with a shovel when Itachi came through the door.

Oh shit.

She turned away quickly, pretending she hadn't seen him. Deidara looked up and narrowed his eyes.

Him again. Great.

"Here's your shake," he slid it across the counter to Sakura. He smiled at her. "You don't have to pay,"
"But—,"

"No buts, my pretty lady," Deidara joked loudly. Itachi walked over calmly. Sakura faked her surprise.

"Oh! Hey Itachi,"

The room felt like it had dropped a hundred degrees. Deidara looked like he wanted to punch the Uchiha. The Uchiha looked like he wanted to slit Deidara's throat. It left Sakura mightily confused.

What's going on?

"Yeah, hey Itachi," Deidara felt the sudden urge to be an asshole again. "Nice to see you again. It's been ages," he added the latter statement with extreme sarcasm. Itachi cleared his throat. Sakura took a sip of her milkshake.

"Where's…," Itachi looked at Sakura, then back at Deidara. "Hidan?"

Hidan? Sakura thought. You mean, the chef?

"He's inside," Deidara said. Duh. "You need him?"

Itachi nodded. "Immediately,"

"Huh. I'll get him for you. Go around the back,"

Deidara looked at Sakura. "You gonna go start that assignment?"

The Haruno jumped a little. "Um…um yeah. See you both later, I guess,"

As she scurried away from the two, she thought what the heck was that? Itachi…knows Hidan? And why is he and Deidara so cold to each other? And…she snuck a glimpse back at Itachi and Deidara through the glass as she walked away from the café. They looked so serious. And Deidara had basically told her to go away. She didn't know what was going on, but she didn't like the sound of it. She didn't let it bother her. After all, she was the queen of overanalysing. She pressed on down the street, taking sips of her free milkshake every now and then, wondering why her heart still felt like it was split in two even after that fantastic dinner, where she'd been positive that she liked Deidara more than Itachi. But what were these feelings that she had when she saw Itachi? It's like whichever one I see is the one I like.

"I'm here to take…him…away,"

"That little Hōzuki shit?"

Itachi flinched a little, because that "little Hōzuki shit" had been sitting in his penthouse not too long ago. He felt like shit. Because Suigetsu was Sasuke's friend.

I cannot possibly be doing this…can I?

"He's in the storage room. Far as I know, he's still out,"

"He's not out, hm," Deidara put in. "He's awake,"

"Oh. Well he's tougher than I thought,"

There was a pause.

"Give him to me,"
Deidara whipped around the corner and pushed the back door open, re-entering the kitchen. He dodged Sasori, who was bent over an oven, and walked into the storage room once more. Suigetsu had drunken some of the water, and had poured some over his wound. Murky puddles were around his feet. Deidara walked over and hauled him up carefully. Suigetsu's knees were weak and buckled a little.

"Careful," the Iwa said quietly, wanting to disguise his voice by keeping it soft. He waited until Suigetsu had steadied himself before walked out with him.

"Oh, you got to be fucking with me,"

Deidara looked up and saw Hidan stride over to them. In one smooth motion he had dumped Suigetsu over his shoulder, knocking the breath out of the Hōzuki.
"You pussy," Hidan sauntered out. Deidara bit his lip.

He's right. I'm too worried about that kid.

But why? I don't even know him.

He looked around himself. At the cardboard boxes, the bags, the bottles. Today last week, he probably would've stood here just like he was right now and would have thought of nothing more than the weekend and Sakura. But now...

He shook his head lightly and walked out. He emerged at the back of the cafe just in time to see Hidan dump Suigetsu's body in the back of Itachi's car, which was parked messily next to Sasori's. The back parking lot was reserved for all the staff, but Deidara never bothered to park there, for convenience sake. Besides, he wasn't worried about someone scratching his car because he could see it through the glass all the time.

Itachi shot a look at Deidara. Deidara wasn't looking at him though: he was watching Hidan manhandle Suigetsu with too much worry and slight desperation on his face for somebody who was in the Akatsuki. But the Uchiha wasn't about to change his opinion on the guy just because he looked like he would bite his nails off from anexiety any moment: after all, he could probably have been worried about something else. At the final moment, though, Deidara looked up and his eyes met Itachi's. But this time, his expression didn't change. He didn't suddenly smirk or laugh at Itachi. He just looked at him and looked away. A very quick meeting of the eyes. Itachi had seen the apprehension, but he didn't know what to make of it. He shrugged to himself as Hidan straightened up again and complained about how he had to "rough up the kid enough and knock him out again". He looked at Itachi.

"He's just going to be lie in your back seat just like that?"

Itachi nodded and slid into the front seat. He turned the key in the ignition and the car started up. His car had tinted windows anyway, so it wasn't like anybody could look in.

"Fine," Hidan shut the door and moved away as Itachi slowly eased the car out. Deidara ripped an annoying loose thread from his apron and walked back inside wordlessly.