Chapter 39: Kestrel Heights Fiasco Arc - Half-Lies

I hate exams. Do you? Actually, I don't know a single person who doesn't hate them...

As you may have noticed, my posts have slowed down significantly. I'm not burned out yet, don't worry...but schoolwork is completely stressing me out. However, spring break is starting next week, so hopefully, I'll be better by then!

If you were curious about what happened in the previous chapter, Obito is struggling about whether to go on with Project Tsuki no Me or keep Kagami's friendship. He does seem to have a very small crush on her, but it's mainly due to her similarities to Rin. I don't plan on making it a pairing, since they are many years apart...twenty-four, to be exact. But feel free to ship together any characters you want! I won't kill you! (•w•)

Disclaimer: I own nothing! However, Kaiya, Naoki, Yukio, Kagami, Daichi, Chizuru, and the plot all belong to me!


Today was the last day of school before we all could finally enjoy our winter break.

But either way, I wouldn't have gotten a break anyway. It was either go to school and try to have a normal day, or stay at home all day to make sure that the Akatsuki didn't attempt to do anything too funny.

Speaking of staying home all day, that was exactly what I had in mind for that Friday, since there was no point in going back to school when I wouldn't have homework. I wanted to have an entire day to myself for once, without Deidara carrying me out of my room or Yukio kicking Hidan where it hurt.

But of course, that was never going to happen, at the rate things were going.

As soon as I was about to plop down on the couch — as its occupants had already vacated it for the day — and watch a movie by myself at six in the morning, I heard a noise coming from the top of the television. By the looks of it, it was coming straight from my phone, since I was sure that televisions did not randomly shake and make a rubber ducky noise.

Sighing, I threw the blanket off of me and walked resignedly over to the television, snatching my cell phone. I assumed that it was merely a prank call or a wrong number, but I gasped as soon as I read the name of the caller.

"Kestrel Heights High School?" I wondered aloud, very curious about why they would choose to contact me so early in the morning. My eyes slowly widening, I picked up the call, holding the phone to my ear expectantly.

"Um...hello?" I said confusedly, a puzzled look growing on my face. "Is there something you need?"

"Actually," replied the voice, who I quickly identified as our principal, "Kaiya, there is something that we really need to talk about."

Immediately, I gulped. Needless to say, I knew where the conversation was heading, and I did not like it, not one bit. "Oh no…"

"Oh no is right," the principal responded, his usually nice tone replaced by a sarcastic one. "But now that I have your attention over the phone, I would be very happy to know why you've been cutting classes and entire days of school."

Great.

"Er...I'm sorry?" I tried, beads of sweat trickling down my forehead nervously. My inner facepalmed, knowing well how much of a horrible liar I was. To be honest, Kagami was even better at telling lies than me, and I was pretty sure that she didn't even know how to tell them.

"That's not going to cut it, sweetie," the voice grumbled, and I flinched when he placed emphasis on the last word. "Kaiya, according to our student databook, you are seventeen years old, soon to be eighteen next August. You've been one of our most studious students for years, and it completely shocked me when you began playing truant back in September. That just...isn't like you. Now, can you please give me a detailed explanation of why you have been skipping school?"

I can't tell him about the Akatsuki, I inwardly panicked. And caring for kittens is a horrible excuse as well, since there are probably others at Kestrel Heights that can balance homework and taking care of kittens. How exactly do I deny and tell a lie?

"Are you still there, Kaiya?" he asked sternly, jolting me out of my thoughts. "I said, can you please give me a detailed explanation of why you have been skipping school?"

Another gulp. At that moment, I was shivering, fearful of what I was going to have to say. "Well...um, it's a long story, really. I don't know if you have enough time to hear it all, since school is going to begin in about half an hour—"

"Half an hour is plenty of time," he interrupted before I could finish. "And I have all day, Hoshiyume-san. Go ahead and reveal all of the details that you have been hiding from me for almost three months."

I did not like the way he used my last name. Looking around, I checked to see if anybody else was up and could tell a lie, but nobody else seemed to be around. It was almost as the world had abandoned me right there, but I couldn't really say that when I had ten criminals in my house.

"Um…" I stammered, unsure of what word choice to use. "Well…"

Suddenly, before I could say anything to the principal, a familiar voice came from the stairs. "Psst...Kaiya, over here."

Instinctively, I turned and faced Deidara, who was perching on the bottom step of the stairs and watched me intently. Placing the phone aside, I ran over to him and whispered just loudly enough so that the principal could not hear us speak. "Deidara, I seriously need your help! The principal is accusing me of truancy, since we've been cutting classes and school for three months! What do I say?"

"Hand me your phone," he whispered back. "I'm going to see if I can clear this up for all of us, un."

Nodding, I ran back over to the television, snatching the phone again. Quickly, I tossed it to Deidara, who caught it and began to speak.

"Hello," greeted Deidara, "this is Masaru, one of the recent Japanese transfer students. Are you wondering why Kaiya and we have not been showing up for school recently, as well as cutting many classes?"

The phone went silent for a few moments before the principal began speaking again. "Exactly. I was going to contact all of you, but seeing that you have no registered phone or email number, I wouldn't have been able to. But since you're here, please specify to me why none of you have been turning up on certain school days recently."

He turned to look at me, as if he were asking for permission to come up with a lie, ironically enough. I nodded, handing him the cell phone as well, a frown on my face. I watched as he gulped nervously and whipped his head back towards me, but I just nodded again, knowing what details he was planning to use in the explanation.

"You see," Deidara began again, "Kaiya...she's been very distraught about how her parents were killed last year. It's...been a little hard for her lately, so we've been trying to help her through it. Sometimes, during class, when she feels like she's about to cry, we all just leave so that we can all comfort her together. Isn't that what friends do for each other?"

I had already known that he was going to bring up a family issue the moment he had looked at me when he had whipped his head around. It was a half-lie, with the whole parent thing being true, but we were not grieving for them as much. But nevertheless, it was also true that I had never really gotten over their deaths.

"I see," muttered the principal. "Is she okay, at least?"

"Yes," replied Deidara. "She's doing a lot better now from the time we first began cutting classes. You have nothing to worry too much about. In addition, all of the other Japanese transfers and I are doing just dandy as well."

"Good," the principal responded. "Tell Kaiya that I'm sorry for accusing her of doing something wrong...I didn't know that it was because of a serious family issue. However, since you are all well, there is one thing that I want from all of you today."

Both of our eyes widened as the principal seemed to dramatically pause before laying out the instructions for us to follow.

"Please attend all of high school today, but no cutting classes unless it is a true emergency."

And with that, the principal hung up, and Deidara breathed a sigh of relief. I had subconsciously held my breath, and realizing that I was going to suffocate myself if I kept on holding it in, I rapidly inhaled and exhaled.

"Are you going to hyperventilate?" he asked, worry clouded in his gaze. "And don't worry, I won't touch your shoulder today. I'm sorry about saying that to the principal...you probably didn't want me to—"

"It's fine," I quickly reassured him. "Honestly, I don't understand why I kept it too much of a secret from my family. But still, what you said was mostly true...I have never really gotten over their deaths, have I? I don't even know where they are buried, because the paramedics did it while I was still unconscious."

Deidara just nodded sympathetically, before proceeding to walk back upstairs. "I'm going to go change and wake up everybody for school. You should get ready as well, since we don't have a choice today."

I nodded, then raced upstairs with him, but unlike Deidara, I didn't need to change. I had already gotten dressed in my kimono for the day, since I had planned to go out and shop for our necessities after the movie was finished.

Running towards my room, I quickly opened the door, grabbing my items and shoving them into my backpack. Konan sat up on top of her sleeping bag, rubbing her eyes sleepily, Pein was still asleep, flipped over and facing away from both of us.

Ever since that Capture the Flag incident, he had refused to speak to either one of us. He came and went as he pleased, but I could tell that he was still upset about the necklace. Inwardly, I mentally vowed to both Konan, Yahiko, and him that I would get him a new necklace that looked exactly like it. Either that, or we could ask somebody to repair it, since Naoki had somehow managed to recover all the fragments from out on the street.

Speaking of fragments, we had found several more recently. Ironically enough, one had appeared after Pein's necklace was shattered, but nobody had seen it except for me. Kagami had found one inside of her pocket on the way home from the winter fair, and surprisingly, it was a pretty large piece in comparison to the others.

But still, we were not given more information about the scintillating orb that was supposed to form after all of its pieces were collected. Kagami did not seem to have any more dreams concerning the Neko Asuka Noroi no Jutsu that had brought the Akatsuki to our world, and Yahiko and I have not spoken again ever since Halloween morning. I guess that didn't really count, since that was all happening by chance.

"Good morning, Konan," I greeted, and she gave me all but a curt nod. "Are you ready for school?"

She shrugged. "It depends on what's going to happen today. You know…" Her gaze flickered towards the snoozing leader of the Akatsuki, then back towards me. I didn't need to look any further to spot the sadness that clouded her amber eyes.

"I hope he gets better as well," I said truthfully. "It's absolutely horrifying when somebody that you really care about ends up like this. I've been in the same position as him, but it wasn't a necklace that I lost. It was okaa-san and otou-san."

Sighing wistfully, I hung my head in sympathy. Konan did not physically display emotion, only standing up to grab her backpack and clothes in order to change and prepare for school. Swinging my backpack over my shoulders, I headed back downstairs. Surprisingly, Deidara had beaten me, sitting on the couch and waiting with Sasori and Itachi. At that moment, Hidan also came into the room, mumbling something indecipherable while he held onto his backpack.

"Are you guys ready?" I said, and they all nodded. "Good. Now, let's wait for Konan, and then we can all head to school together. Remember, today is the one day where we can't cut classes no matter what. Itachi, is Kisame planning anything romantic at all?"

The black-haired boy shook his head. "Not today."

"Awesome," I said, just as Konan came downstairs, her backpack slung over her shoulder. Naoki followed her, grumbling and carrying his backpack as well. "Let's head on out, then."

Together, we walked to Kestrel Heights, which for some reason made me swallow nervously. I quickly calmed myself down by reminding myself that today was the last six hours of school before winter break, so I had a lot to look forward to by the end of it.

When we arrived, Daichi and Chizuru were already there, waiting for us. In addition, the principal stood right next to them, a warm smile on his face that completely contradicted the sarcastic tone he had used when he had called me that morning to discuss my recent truancy.

"Good morning, everybody!" greeted Daichi, and Chizuru just shyly waved to us. "Glad to know that you all made it!"

A blush rose to my cheeks. "T-thank you, Daichi-kun!"

"Ah," began the principal as we approached him, "I see that you have obeyed me. Kaiya, you do realize that all of you have a few tests that you have to make up, right?"

Immediately, Deidara and Hidan's eyes widened to the size of saucers. I was nervous as well, since I had forgotten to study, but kept my cool. "Um...no?" I answered honestly, tilting my head to the side.

"You only have about three each, since you're all in the same classes," the principal muttered. "One on Math, one on History, and one on Biology."

Okay, the ones for Math and History were probably going to be rather easy. Biology was slightly harder, but that stuff came to me naturally. However, as I looked back up at Hidan and Deidara, both of them had shivers being sent down their spines. Luckily, Sasori, Konan, and Itachi kept calm, and I thanked the heavens that the most intelligent and emotionless members of the Akatsuki were able to pass as eleventh-graders. Naoki just said nothing as he stood by us, knowing that he had different tests to take.

He held up a large stack of stapled packets, which I assumed to be all of our tests. "I stapled all of your tests together," he said, confirming my theory. "That way, you can take them in any period, as long as your teachers aren't teaching a lesson based on the content of the tests at the time. No cheating off of each others' papers, okay?"

Everybody except for Hidan and Naoki nodded, then grabbed their respective tests. Sighing, Sasori grabbed Hidan's papers as well and handed it to him, knowing that the Jashinist had no choice.

"As for you, Naoki," began the principal, turning his attention to my brother, "I have a different test for you to take. You only need to make up one test on Algebra, so I have this one sheet for you."

He proceeded to hand Naoki a single double-sided sheet of paper, which my brother reluctantly took. I heard him sigh in resignation as he looked over what questions and problems were on the test.

"You may now head to your classes," the principal announced to us. "Daichi and Chizuru, you are free to go whenever."

We all nodded as the principal returned to his office, closing the door behind him. As soon as I was sure that he was already inside, I returned my attention back to my friends and brother.

"Let's try to finish these as quickly as possible," I told them, "so that we can enjoy the rest of our school day."

Hidan scowled. "What the hell is there to enjoy?"

Immediately, Deidara socked him in the head. "Can it, Eiji! Perhaps we can have fun with each other today, and then after school, too. And remember, no swearing or cursing in school!"

"Masaru's right, ya know," I added, causing Daichi and Chizuru to giggle as Hidan grumbled. "Hurry, or else we'll be late for class!"

We all headed towards our respective classes, with Naoki and Chizuru leaving the group. Once they had gone, Daichi took the chance to start a casual, friendly conversation.

"Hey," he began, a serious expression on his face, "I'm very sorry about..you know, what happened. I know that it's been a year, but I've never really had the chance or heart to say that."

"It's fine," I responded rapidly. "Remember, it's not your fault that...it happened. It's my—"

"Stop," he said quickly, cutting me off. "It's not your fault either. None of us would have known that the accident was going to happen. And neither did the driver that rammed you that day. You were just an innocent passenger, Kaiya-chan."

Unlike Deidara, Daichi had no idea that I was really the one driving the Toyota that day. Even Naoki and Yukio didn't know, since I had usually refrained from being the driver after I got my driver's license. So far, only Deidara knew my darkest secret.

"Yeah," I responded. "But still, I haven't really gotten over it. I can't keep on cutting classes to grieve over their deaths like this. It's going to greatly affect my permanent record...no, it already has…"

Once again, the half-lie returned.

"You're right," he said, then forced a smile onto his lips. "Actually, since you may need help after the tests, feel free to meet me in the library during lunch again. I kind of want to study alone with you, just like we used to when we were younger."

Instantly, I felt my face heat up slightly, but quickly brushed it off, not wanting him to see. "Of course! T-thanks for the offer, Daichi-kun."

This time, his genuine smile returned. "You're welcome, Kaiya-chan. We haven't spoken too much lately, and I want to recuperate our friendship a little bit. Come on, let's get to class with the others."

As soon as we reached the classroom for English, the bell rang, and almost all of the other students ran inside of Misako-san's classroom. We all filed inside quietly, sitting at our respective desks.

Taking out the yellow mechanical pencil Deidara had found for me at Sugar Top Central, I began taking the tests in the packet, starting with Math. Like I had predicted earlier, the problems were rather easy, but took a little time to work out. I strongly disliked how the test required us to show all work, especially since I was able to calculate in my head perfectly fine.

Next, I began the History test, filling out all the information I needed about the Middle East. Unfortunately, before I could move onto the section that outlined the Ottomans, the bell rang, sending us out of English and to our next class: Math.

I heard Deidara and Hidan grumble and groan, and it prompted me to see what the Akatsuki had filled out on the test so far. I couldn't see either of their answers, so it didn't really count as cheating.

To my surprise, Hidan had almost everything on his History exam filled out, probably because it was the only class he really paid much attention to. Deidara had scribbles on all three of his tests, most likely targeting the easier problems on all three first. Itachi, not at all surprisingly, had both Math and Biology completed, and Konan had finished Biology and half of History. Sasori's Biology test was almost complete, while his other two were slightly filled out, but only the last few problems.

He tried the hard ones out first, I thought. That's kind of smart, getting them over with first before moving onto the easy ones.

Math flew by quickly, though I had spent it filling out the rest of history, which was the longest exam out of all three of them. By the end of that, Deidara and Sasori both had two-thirds of each of their exams done, while Itachi had already completed all three tests. Konan was almost done with Math, but Hidan...well, his other two tests were still completely blank. His History test, however, was complete and seemed to contain lots of detail when it came to a war question. Mentally, I prayed that he didn't go too overboard or swore in any one of the short answer responses.

During break, Naoki came over to us to check on how we were doing with the exams.

"The Algebra test was so hard!" he complained, stomping his foot on the ground as he whined. "I don't remember anything about the quadratic formula!"

Grinning slightly, I whispered into his ear when nobody was looking. "X equals negative b plus or minus radical b squared minus the product of four, a, and c, all over the product of two and a."

At that, he groaned. "How do you remember all of that, onee-chan? That was a super long formula! Besides, I already turned the test in!"

I just shook my head, giggling to myself and placing a gentle hand on my brother's shoulder. "I'm pretty sure you'll be just fine, otouto. I know that you know how to solve linear equations and how to use a graph to solve quadratic equations, so I'm pretty sure that you'll score at least eighty percent. But next time, study more."

"Sometimes, I can't help it," he mumbled. "I refuse to miss any episode of a new anime, so I hardly ever study when it comes to stuff like this. I was never really one for studying, anyway. All I want to do is become a filmmaker and director."

"Then you have to work on your education levels for that," I replied. "You need to be able to measure and estimate how long your work is going to be when you create and direct movies. You can't just go there to say 'cut'. It's not as simple as your cartoons depict them to be."

Naoki scowled. "First of all, it's anime," he corrected me. "And second, what do quadratic equations have to do with any of that? I'm not making a parabola with film tape, am I?"

I continued laughing. "Actually, I don't think quadratic equations have too much to do with filmmaking. However, you will definitely need to use some form of algebra when calculating the price of tickets and the constant trends of the resulting ticket sales."

He huffed, knowing that he definitely had been defeated. "Alright, I promise to study some more, onee-chan."

"Thank you," I said, just in time for the bell to ring again. "Hurry and get back to your next class. I've got to run to Biology with everybody."

Naoki nodded, and we all rushed back to our classes. Itachi and Sasori seemed relieved that fangirls had not been chasing him at all throughout the day, though there were a couple girls that would pause and look at all of us. Nevertheless, most of the girls at my school were proper and well-mannered, so that made it much easier on the boys.

I finally completed the Biology test in...well, Biology. I finished just in time to copy down the notes that the teacher had written on the board, even though I could probably borrow notes from Daichi later. Still, either way was at least some use to me.

As I copied my notes off of the board, I looked around to check on each member of the Akatsuki again. All of them were at work, save for Itachi, who was also copying notes down from the board. Hidan was more distracted by the fossils and skeletons in the room, but at least there were no organs or blood samples anywhere in the room. Otherwise, there would be no way to stop him, since he had been complaining that he had not made a ritual or sacrifice to Jashin for so long.

A huge part of me was glad that he wasn't able to.

Next, there was History, where we all finally had a place to hand in our exams to the teacher. Then, much to Hidan's delight and our chagrin, the teacher spent the rest of the class by...talking about the American Revolution, from Lexington to Yorktown. At least we all paid attention to it, though I had always found it quite odd that everybody seemed to pay more attention to wars and conflict, and not just limited to the Akatsuki.

For lunch, I just bought a hamburger and sliced apples, then headed to the library to meet up with Daichi. Originally, nobody was allowed to eat or drink in the library, but because kids kept on breaking the rule, they just decided to allow kids to eat in there, as long as they didn't leave stains on the books or trash everywhere.

When I got to the library, Daichi was already waiting for me, a blue spiral notebook in his hand. As soon as he saw me, he acknowledged my presence by smiling at me. Quickly, I returned the smile, also throwing in a faint blush.

"Glad you decided to join me," he greeted, pushing the door open. "Come on inside! I sort of rented out the spot in the back for both of us, and don't worry, my otouto isn't here today."

Nodding, I thanked him, my inner feeling slightly glad that Hideki wasn't going to interrupt us. Although Daichi's little brother was nice and playful, almost like a mix of Yukio and Kagami, Hideki could be rather boisterous and annoying, not to mention hard to teach.

I followed him towards the back of the library, where there were two empty seats and a small table, covered with a stack of textbooks. We worked together and cleared them off neatly, placing them just at the table leg before we sat down.

"You know, Kaiya-chan," Daichi began, piquing my interest. "I feel like we haven't been talking as much as we used to back when we were still in elementary and middle school. I've been thinking that sometime after you come back from the Charcoal Mountains, I can take you somewhere nice. Not like a date or anything, but two best friends, hanging out with each other like old times."

I felt my face heat up again, even though Daichi had specifically stated that it wasn't supposed to be like a date. "T-that would be great! When do you want to go?"

He shrugged. "I don't have a specific day in mind right now. But I miss those days where it was just you and me, don't you? Well, and your brothers, too, of course. I'm pretty sure that Yukio would kill me if I forgot about him."

Both of us laughed, prompting the librarian to remind us to be quiet in the library.

"My cheeky little otouto," I giggled, thinking of my brother. "I'm actually pretty glad that he inherited my father's mischievous side. Along with Kagami-chan, he really makes me laugh, even though his antics do get really annoying."

"Yeah," Daichi agreed. "But I'm pretty sure he has friends of his own, right?"

"Most likely," I mumbled. "But speaking of friends, what do you want to do on our free time together?"

His gaze looked rather distant. "I'm not sure. Maybe we could fly kites or play catch? Or badminton and soccer? I mean, there's a million things that we haven't done—"

"But just you wait...just you wait!" I finished, causing both of us to tumble to the ground with laughter and the librarian to come over and send us another death glare. Immediately, we sat back up silently, shivering in fear.

And as soon as she left, we laughed again.

We continued eating lunch with each other without bothering the librarian again, discussing the many things that we could do on that day that we were going to plan. At one point, we even considered video games, but that was quickly set aside when we realized that it would probably lead to Hideki joining us.

When the bell rang, I headed to the gym, where PE was being held for today. There, I met back up with the Akatsuki, and Hidan wasted no time in teasing me about Daichi.

"So..." he began, the smirk on his face evident, "did you two kiss in the library?"

Quickly, I shook my head from side to side, my face turning completely red. "N-n-n-no! I-I never even told him about it yet! And besides, public displays of affection are banned at school, anyway!"

I must have been imagining it, but out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Deidara heaving a sigh of relief.

"Hurry into the gym," I ordered. "Today we don't have to dress out, so we can just relax on the bleachers for now."

Nodding, we all rushed inside, although Deidara was still complaining about doing PE in a skirt.

"You'll be just fine," I told him. "You've already made it through about four months with a girl's outfit, so you should be okay. Nobody has teased you about it yet, have they?"

"Hey, blondie!" roared Hidan from inside of the gym. "Are you coming with us inside the gym? Or is that frilly little miniskirt holding you back?"

My eyes widened, and I sweatdropped. "Never mind...nobody but Hidan has teased you about it. But still, I think you should be just fine. We're only playing volleyball today, but with a giant plastic volleyball."

We headed on over to the bleachers, where the coach was taking attendance. The other students had already gathered up there, and we sat where there was space.

Once he had taken roll, the coach told all the boys to gather on one side of the court, while all of the girls grouped together on the other side. Quickly, Konan and I ran to the girl's side, and the boys ran to the other side. However, before Deidara could follow his partner, the coach tweeted his whistle and called him over.

"Please head on over to the girl's team," he said, and I watched Deidara's face turn red. "I know that you are a boy in a girl's uniform, but there are not as many girls as there are boys. Join the girl's team in order to even it out a little bit."

Sighing in resignation, Deidara stormed over to our side, clearly miffed. I shot him a sympathetic look, but he ignored it, awaiting the coach to throw the volleyball into the air, like all the other girls were doing.

"Don't worry," I reassured him. "At least you'll be able to cream the others with us and brag about it when we get home."

After I had said that, his smirk instantly returned. "Definitely, un. I can't wait to rub it in Sasori-danna's face when we beat him...but then again, how do you play volleyball?"

Before I could answer, the coach clicked on his timer, then tossed a huge, plastic, inflated volleyball over to the girl's side. Swiftly, I ran over to it, bumping it over to the other side before shooting a smirk at Deidara.

"Watch and learn."

The ball flew over towards Itachi, and copying my actions, he bumped the ball back over as the rest of the Akatsuki observed him. Another girl quickly received the ball and spiked it back over.

Sasori seemed as if he was considering using his puppet strings to manipulate the direction of the ball, but not wanting to risk his identity, he just decided to set it to Hidan, who jumped into the air to slam it back over with his fist, straight towards Deidara.

"Just use your hands to bump it back over!" I told him, and he nodded, going through with the order. The ball went straight up into the air, and I ran over to Deidara to spike it to the other side.

"Oh no, you don't!" Hidan yelled, slamming his fist into the ball again. "You can't— oof!"

As expected from the half-witted Jashinist, Hidan had spiked the ball straight into the net, which it bounced off of. The ball had barreled into his head, causing Deidara to stifle a laugh.

"One to zero, girls!" exclaimed the coach, tossing the ball back over to our side. Another one of the girls bumped it to her friend, who spiked the ball over the net.

The game went on for another thirty minutes, points being scored every now and then. Itachi proved to be really good at volleyball, but then again, it was probably due to his prodigal hand-eye coordination. Sasori was doing okay, but he only seemed to be setting and spiking the ball, afraid that his puppet body could not handle bumping it. Konan bumped the ball from time to time, but mostly stayed out of it, especially when Hidan went crazy with his overdramatic spikes.

Eventually, with one minute left on the coach's timer, our teams had tied, with twenty-three points each. It was already rather clear that whoever scored the next point with the giant volleyball would win the game for their team.

Currently, we were struggling against Hidan, who kept on spiking the balls back over without giving most of the other boys on his team a chance. Deidara and the girls seemed to be doing fine, but that was when they made the mistake of bumping it straight to Hidan, who had enveloped his fist with a thin, unnoticeable layer of chakra.

"It's time to die!" he exclaimed as he slammed his fist into the ball. I almost screamed in terror when I realized that he had sent the ball spiraling right towards me.

Deidara's eyes widened in horror, and he quickly rushed over to me. "Look out, Kaiya!" he shouted, standing in front of me.

Taking aim at the ball, he bumped it right back over, coating his fists in a layer of chakra as well that was too hard for even me to notice. The ball zoomed back over, right towards an empty space on the court.

From the speed Hidan was running at, I could tell almost instantly that he wasn't going to get there in time. My theory proved itself to be correct when the ball landed with a thud on the ground, just when the coach clicked his timer off.

"Final score!" he thundered, though our team was already cheering loudly. "Girls: twenty-four! Boys: twenty-three!"

I turned towards Deidara and sent him a smile of congratulations, but for some reason, he was not smiling or smirking as the boys stormed off the court in defeat.

"Um...Kaiya?" he whispered to me as the other girls began running towards him. "I've got bad news right now, un."

"What is it?" I asked him, my smile quickly fading.

"I have to sneeze."

My eyes widened, and I was just about to grab Deidara and shove him inside the boys' locker room when the girls from our team surrounded him.

"That was a great shot, Masaru-san!" they commended him. At that moment, Deidara's face would have definitely welled up with pride...if it weren't for the dangerous situation he was about to enter.

"It's nothing, really," pleaded Deidara, running away from the girls and towards the boys' locker room. "Please, just go away before— ah-choo!"

A huge cloud of smoke filled the gym, and the students, mostly the girls that had just been surrounding Deidara, screamed and began running around everywhere. I screamed as well, realizing exactly what had just happened and what was probably going to happen as a result.

Because no longer hidden from plain sight, there sat the sneezing yellow kitten, who had originally been a human five seconds ago. He was still slightly secluded by the smoke, but if anybody looked hard enough, they could easily detect his yellow fur and panic-filled eyes.

And then, he made the fatal mistake of attempting to speak again.

"Meow?"


A/N: Yup! I just did a cliffhanger! Let's see what happens next...

Notice the Hamilton reference I made in the library scene? Yeah, my History teacher is obsessed with it...enough to make us take a test on the songs...

Question: Most annoying thing about fanfics? I've got a whole list: Mary Sues, rushed love, things in all caps, incorrect grammar and spelling (though I'm pretty sure this fic is littered with the ones Grammarly and I haven't caught), constant author's notes that interrupt the flow of the story, and villains who don't have a good reason to be evil. They annoy me so much, but I don't mind OOCness, especially if it's a crackfic.

Goodbye, everybody!

— Tenshi —