Upside-Down

TK Grimm

Chapter Two:

Long Time No See

Sakura slowly drove her car down the street, scanning apartment buildings as she looked for the one with the right number. It certainly didn't have a very appealing neighborhood, but knowing that she had a clean, comfortable place to come home to gave her warm fuzzy thoughts as she continued on. Finally finding the right one, Sakura parked her car on the side of the road, seeing no driveway, and stepped out. She pondered for a moment about what to do. There was no way to tell if this 'Deidara' person was even home. If he wasn't, was she supposed to just leave the letter in the mailbox? Or on the doorstep? No, someone could steal it there. If Sasori wanted me to deliver it in person instead of through the mail, it must be important.

Settling on these thoughts, Sakura decided to play it out and see what happened. If Deidara wasn't home, she would decide what to do from there. If he was, she would deliver the letter and be on her way. Walking up the rackety metal stairs to the second floor, Sakura finally made it to the door of Apartment 22. Hoping the address was correct, she carefully knocked on the door.

There wasn't a reply at first, making Sakura begin to fidget with her keys in her trench coat's pocket. She decided to not give up just yet and knocked again. Hearing some movement on the inside, she inwardly sighed with relief that someone was home. The door finally opened, revealing a man about twenty-two or twenty-three, leaning on the doorframe. He had long blonde hair with part of it pulled back in a ponytail. Some of his long bangs came down and covered his left eye, but his right eye was a brilliant shade of blue. He raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to say what she wanted, and then sighed, lighting a cigarette. "What is it?" he asked as he put the lighter away.

Using every ounce of willpower to not nag about the horrible side effects of smoking (she was a doctor-in-training after all) Sakura looked at him again, this time more thorough. God, he looks familiar. Her sea foam green eyes lit up at realization. "Deidara?"

Raising a blonde eyebrow again, he asked, "Do I know you?"

"Yeah, we went to high school together, remember?" she asked, happy to see another friend. Sakura had lost touch with far too many after high school, so this was refreshing.

He paused, looking her over up and down a few times. "Sakura."

"You remembered," Sakura said with a smile.

Taking a drag at the cigarette, he gave her a sarcastic smirk, "Sort of hard to forget the pink hair… yeah."

"Ah." Her tone had significantly dropped. Trying again with the light conversation she asked, "Wow, what a coincidence. So how've you been?"

It clearly took a lot for him to not use another sarcastic comment, but he settled with, "Surviving. You?"

"Same," she chuckled. "I got a job, going to college; the whole deal."

"Congratulations," Deidara said dryly. Sakura knew he didn't really mean it, but put those thoughts in the back of her head. She tried to think of another thing to say, and Deidara, realizing she wasn't leaving any time soon, sighed. "You want to come in, yeah?"

"Sure, thanks," Sakura said with the same smile. Deidara pushed the door open more so she could walk in. The apartment was, to say the least, dull and boring. Judging by the smell, Deidara had probably started smoking long before. What an awful habit… Sakura remembered when Sasuke started smoking, and it took everything she had to get him to quit, but he finally did, for her. Sitting down on Deidara's obviously old couch, she played with the strap on her trench coat while speaking. "It's coming back now. You were a senior when I was a freshman at Konoha High."

"That's right," Deidara replied, his tone rather plain as he sat down on the couch as well. To her relief, he extinguished the cigarette and flicked it in the trash can.

"Yeah, you hung out with the bad kids," she chuckled lightly. Her hand immediately clamped over her mouth thinking that she might have offended him. "Err… sorry."

"And you hung out with the preppies, yeah," he sneered, seemingly unbothered by her previous comment.

Not sure if she should be happy he remembered or disappointed with the term 'preppies', Sakura went with the first option. "Yeah. Ino, Hinata and I are still the best of friends. What about you? Still friends with Kisame, Tobi and…" her voice trailed off. Sasori!

"Not so much," Deidara said. "I see Kisame every so often, but Tobi got some scholarship… yeah." He gave a fake laugh, "And here I didn't think the idiot would amount to anything."

Avoiding subjects that resulted in random insults or sarcastic comments, Sakura moved on, voice still pleasant. "I remember you guys used to go around school in your little 'gang' thing, Akatsuki."

"And you were Principal Tsunade's little kiss-ass, yeah."

"Ouch," she sighed, though he did speak the truth. Deciding to play along, she continued, "Got me out of more trouble than you can speak for, though didn't it?"

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Unlike you, cherry chick, I never got caught."

Sakura rolled her eyes in amusement. Again, he spoke the truth. He and those other Akatsuki guys got away with a lot of stuff, making them very notorious and popular in school as 'bad boys.' That was probably where Sasori got the name for his art studio. That reminded Sakura that she still technically on the clock and had to get back to work. "Oh, well I was supposed to deliver this to you," she said, taking the envelope out of her pocket. "I work at Akatsuki Studios, ironically enough."

Deidara gave her a weary glance before taking the envelope. "Sasori told you to give this to me, yeah?"

"That's right," Sakura nodded. She remembered from high school that Deidara and Sasori were best friends. It was strange to see how… well, different they turned out as adults. She saw both of them going far with their talents; they excelled in art big time.

As soon as Deidara opened the envelope he scowled and gave it back to her. "Give it back. Tell him I'm not interested in his charity."

"Charity?"

"Read it yourself, I don't care… yeah," Deidara said standing up.

Sakura took that as her silent sign to leave. She stood up and walked towards the door. "Well, it was nice seeing you again."

"Yeah."

"Maybe we'll run into each other sometime."

"Maybe," Deidara replied half-heartedly. He seemed a bit bitter about whatever was in the letter.

Sakura gave him an encouraging smile and waved goodbye before leaving. Deidara stepped outside, leaning on the railing. He appeared to be staring at the sky as she walked down the stairs, heading towards her car. She unlocked the door and gave him one last look. It was a shame… such talent and no desire to do anything with it. Or perhaps there was more to the story than what she was able to decipher in their short meeting.

Deidara seemed to catch on that she was looking at him and returned her gaze. After one last smile, she got in her car and drove away. He watched her car disappear before walking back inside his apartment. Sakura hadn't changed a bit; she was still just a preppy little girl with the perfect life that everyone around her was envious of.

When Sakura made it back to work, she found Sasori typing something on the computer at her desk. He glanced at her with his amber eyes and continued typing as he talked. "Did he take it?"

Sakura bit her lip, though the expression on his face and tone of his voice told her that Sasori didn't expect Deidara to accept the letter. At a red light, Sakura had looked inside the envelope. There was a letter in there that she didn't read (it wasn't any of her business) and a blank check. "No, he didn't."

Sasori sighed and stopped typing. "How did he take it?" he asked, standing up and turning in her direction.

"He seemed a bit bitter," Sakura said hesitantly. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," Sasori said, accepting the letter when she gave it back to him. "Did he say anything?"

Sakura paused again, "He said… well…" She cringed slightly, "He said he didn't want your… your charity." Sasori's facial expression remained impassive; again, he probably saw this coming. Unable to hold in her curiosity, Sakura couldn't help but ask the next question. "Sasori, what happened to you two? I remember in high school you two were really close." He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, like best friends," she said quickly. I can't believe I just insinuated my boss was gay… Oh, please don't fire me!

"We started Akatsuki Studios after high school, we got in a fight, he left." Sasori's tone was rather blunt and his description was vague, but it would have to suffice for now. Sakura sighed, deciding she probably shouldn't ask any more questions.

"Well, I'm going to get started with these meetings," Sakura said, replacing her frown with a smile. "I still have to input them on the computer."

During Sakura's lunch break, she called Ino on her cell phone, asking if they were getting together. "I've got an hour, what do you say?"

"Sorry, Sakura," Ino apologized. "Hinata and I have clients coming out our ears; it's crazy. I'm on my lunch break, too, but I probably only have fifteen minutes."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Sakura assured. "It's no big deal. Hey, guess who I saw today."

"Who?"

"Deidara, from high school. Do you remember him?"

There was a pause, "Yeah, I think so. Blonde hair, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Sakura smiled. "Wow, you know, I was always told you'd lose touch after high school, but I never thought we'd lose as many people as we did. It was nice to see him again."

"Yeah, I bet. You've got a point though, I mean, we used to be close to Tenten, but I haven't talked to her since graduation."

"It's too bad," Sakura said. "Well, I'll let you get back to work. Let's meet for lunch Sunday maybe?"

"Sure, if I'm free. Bye, Sakura."

"Bye, Ino." Sakura hung up her cell phone and contemplated options for lunch. Unfortunately, it was true. Sakura had lost a lot of friends after high school, losing touch with most of them. After graduation, everyone just went their separate ways. Some went to different colleges, some got jobs, and some went traveling. It was a bit of a damper on her social life, but Sakura still had Hinata and Ino, plus with work and college, there just wasn't a lot of free time to spend socializing anyway.

After work, she clocked out and told Sasori the usual, "Good night, don't work too hard!" before getting in her car and heading home. She pulled into her driveway and after checking her mailbox, she unlocked the door to her apartment. "Yuki!" she called making mewing sounds to call her house cat. Naturally, Yuki the black shorthair had other ideas and chose to ignore her as she continued sleeping on the couch.

Sakura sighed and closed the front door. She hung up her coat and left her shoes on the mat. With a slight groan of pain, she sat down on the couch. It was five in the afternoon and her feet already ached. "I guess that means I should take it easy on the high heels, huh?" she asked to no one in particular as she scratched Yuki behind the ears.

The sound of her cell phone ringing made her jump slightly. Sakura smiled, recognizing the personalized ring tone. She assigned the song 'Temperature' by Sean Paul to ring whenever Sasuke called her from his cell. Opening it, she said, "Hello, darling," in a teasing tone.

"Hey, babe," Sasuke's voice came through the phone as calm and cool as ever. "How was your day?"

"Great!" Sakura exclaimed. "I went to breakfast with the girls and work was easy-peasy. What about you?"

"Same as ever," Sasuke sighed. Sakura noticed he had been exceedingly stressed out lately.

"Hard day at the office?" she asked with a slight frown.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. We still on for Saturday?"

Grinning, Sakura replied, "Of course! I get off work at four."

"See you then."

"You bet. Love you."

"Love you, too." Later that night, after dinner and a nice hot shower, she picked out a simple pair of pajamas and sleepily crawled in bed. Turning out the lights, Sakura was soon able to fall into a peaceful slumber, not realizing she forgot to set her alarm clock.

"Sakura, w-we're going to be late!" Hinata panicked as the two of them raced down the hall.

Sakura bit her lip in frustration. "Not good… I don't think that's a very good first impression for our teachers. First day in high school and we can't even find our class!"

They stopped running. Sakura was frantically searching the map and looking around the hallway. "What do we do?" Hinata asked. I should have came early, she thought. I wouldn't be lost if I found my class earlier!

"Don't worry, we'll find it," Sakura said. Though she was calm on the outside, she was panicking inside. She had to be strong, if not for her than for Hinata. Oh, why didn't she just stay with Temari! Temari was a junior; she could have showed her where the first room was! "Okay, I think I got it," Sakura said at last. "Follow me, Hinata!" She took Hinata's hand and the two girls ran as fast as they could, hoping to not get caught by any of the hall monitors.

Turning a sharp corner, Sakura collided head-on with another student causing both of them to fall down. The boy rubbed his head painfully and gave her a slightly annoyed look. "Watch where you're going, yeah?"

"I'm so sorry!" Sakura shrieked, her hands flying to her mouth in embarrassment. Hinata helped her up and both of them apologized several times.

The blonde looked at his red haired friend and then back at the two in front of them. "You're freshmen, aren't you?"

Hinata was about to say 'yes' but Sakura clamped her hand over her friend's mouth. These two guys were obviously juniors or seniors, and she knew full well from several high school movies what they did to freshmen! There was no way she was going to fall into that trap! "No we're not!" Sakura said quickly. "W-what makes you think that?"

The red haired one raised an eyebrow, looking at them with what Sakura swore was an amused expression. "You seem… lost."

"We're not lost," Sakura said, pretending to giggle even though it came out sounding more like a nervous laugh. "We were… we're skipping first block."

"Ne, Sasori, you hear that?" the blonde grinned. "These two 'non-freshmen' are skipping first block… yeah."

"Interesting," Sasori said quietly, calculating the situation.

Sakura felt her heart going at least a hundred beats a second, and judging by the look on Hinata's face, she was terrified as well. Putting on her best brave face, Sakura faced them and said, "That's right, we're skipping. So what are you two doing when you should be in class?"

Sasori's companion smirked again. He gripped Sakura's chin and examined her face. "You think you're pretty tough, don't you, chick?"

Resisting the urge to slap his hand away, Sakura kept up her brave façade. "I'd like to think so, yeah."

He glanced at Sasori, who rolled his eyes, shaking his head once. "It's not worth it, Deidara."

"Yeah, yeah," Deidara sighed, letting go of Sakura. "Just so you know… the freshmen classes are down that hallway," he said, taking Sakura by the shoulders and turning her around.

She whirled around and gave him as much of a glare as she could muster. "We're not freshmen!"

"I like your attitude… yeah," Deidara grinned. "See you around, cherry chick."

"You arroga-"

"S-Sakura, come on," Hinata urged, pulling Sakura down the hallway. "I see our class…"

Sakura woke up to the blinding sunlight that leaked its way into her room. She rolled over and buried her head under her pillow with a sleepy groan. A few thoughts about her dream the night before passed through her mind until she realized that the sun was up. She lifted the pillow to glance at the clock and screamed.

It was ten a.m. – Sakura was supposed to be at work two hours ago. "Oh my God, I'm late!" she panicked, leaping out of bed and rummaging through her closet to find something to wear. With incredible speed, she put on a quick, purple sundress and ran into the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and pulled her hair up into a messy bun; there was no time for an elaborate hair style.

Grabbing an orange from the fruit basket on the table, she grabbed her keys, slipped on flip-flop sandals, and rushed out the door. She closed it and raced to her car, unlocking the door with the button on her car key. With her eyes on the rear view mirror, Sakura backed out of the driveway and drove to Akatsuki Studios, not caring that she went through several red lights far over the speed limit.

She pulled into the little parking lot and drove towards her usual spot by the door. Sasori's red Camaro was already there, making her stomach churn like butter. However when she went to park in her usual spot, she saw a 1979 black Pontiac Trans Am in her way. Pushing her frustration to the side, she drove around again and quickly parked in a different place.

Sakura nearly jumped out of her car and slammed the door to the Tommy Kaira shut. The sound made her cringe, but she wasn't concerned for her car at the moment. She was concerned with her job! Racing towards the front door, Sakura opened it right away and after taking a huge gasp of air, spoke quickly in one breath, "Sasori, I'm so sorry! I slept in, I didn't mean to, it'll never happen again, I pro-" She froze immediately when she saw the sight before her, eyes wide.

Sasori was sitting at the desk holding a file folder, and Deidara was sitting on top of the desk munching on an apple. Both of them were staring at her with raised eyebrows.

Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Sakura slowly backed up towards the ladies' restroom, "Um… I'll just go… wash my hands or something…"

"Sakura."