Upside-Down

TK Grimm

Chapter Five:

Some Things Never Change

"Oh, please," Sakura said, waving her hand in dismissal. "I have yet to hear a pickup line that I haven't been able to turn down with ease."

"W-we'll just see what he s-says when he gets here," Hinata said quietly, averting her gaze to the floor.

Ino stared at Sakura in shock. "Sakura, this is high school! Don't deny him! These are supposed to be some of the best years of your life! Live a little – date!"

"I will," Sakura assured. "As soon as I find someone who can impress me with more than some clever line." The boy who had been staring at the three girls for quite some time now finally got the courage to walk up to them. It didn't surprise Sakura that boys were so nervous around them. She and Ino were two of the most popular girls in school, after all.

To her surprise, this one seemed a confident now, perhaps a little too confident. "Sakura Haruno," he began with ease. "You look amazing as usual." Holding out his hand with what appeared to be an attempt at a charming smile, he asked, "Why don't you come with me, and I'll show you some of the better places at this school."

Before Sakura could come up with a witty comeback, another guy from behind the first answered for her. "Please, I've heard better pickup lines than that from Sasori's grandmother… yeah." It had to be Deidara.

"Watch it," came the unmistakable sound of Sasori's voice, though rather than sounding offended, it was more so nonchalant.

Sakura raised her eyebrows in amusement, looking at the boy directly in front of her. "You heard them. Couldn't have said it better myself." With a scowl, he took off, not wanting to challenge the two seniors – especially with their reputations.

Deidara and Sasori casually sat on either side of Sakura as if it were an every day deal during lunch time. Ino and Hinata exchanged shocked glances, not sure what to do. Deciding it was better to stay silent so as not to offend either one of them (they didn't like the idea of being tossed in a garbage can or put in a locker), they went with that option and shut their mouths.

"The nerve of these sophomores, yeah?" Deidara sighed, lazily leaning back against the wall. "Just because they're not freshmen, they think they can run the school."

"Obviously," Sakura replied, keeping her voice neutral. She knew how to win with Deidara. She had to act like she wasn't intimidated by his presence. He did say he liked her attitude, after all. And if worse came to worse, Sasori would come to her rescue, since he was by far the mature one.

"Pickup lines these days," he continued, glancing at Sakura out of the corner of his blue eye.

Sakura looked at him with a raised pink eyebrow and a grin, "And you could do better?"

"Hell of a lot better than that, yeah," Deidara scoffed, slightly offended that Sakura thought little of him.

"Okay, try me," Sakura grinned.

Deidara smirked. He looked at her up and down, as if calculating something in his head. "Hang on a sec," he said, getting up and walking away. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and glanced at Sasori. He shook his head, silently telling her to ignore Deidara. Curious, she turned again to see Deidara walking back up to her. He stood in front of her, lowering his head to meet her gaze. "How much does a penguin weigh?"

Sakura gave him a quizzical look, but humored him and played along. "I don't know; how much?"

"Enough to break the ice," he answered with a perfect, charming smile. "I'm Deidara."

Ino and Hinata's jaws dropped, but Sakura knew her face was bright crimson. Immediately turning away and coughing she said, "Okay, that was pretty good…"

Deidara grinned and sat down next to her again. "Thanks. I thought so, too… yeah."

Sakura slowly rose up in her bed and stretched. Frowning slightly, she looked at the clock before pushing the switch on the side to cancel the alarm. It would have gone off in another two minutes, anyway. She stepped out of bed and began fishing through her closet, searching for a decent outfit to wear that day. "I haven't thought about that in a while," she mused quietly to herself, thinking about her dream. "Though I must admit, that was a rather crafty pickup line."

It was Tuesday morning, and like all other Tuesdays, Sakura had class. Though she made it through the three hour lesson fairly painlessly, she was given quite a lot of homework. Unfortunately, it wasn't the blow-off-this-is-easy kind, it was the make-my-brain-hurt-just-by-looking-at-it kind. Heading to work, Sakura made sure she didn't look at the large stack of papers carefully secured in her backseat. It was frightening enough just to think about it.

She pulled into the parking lot of Akatsuki Studios and drove up towards the front door where her usual spot was. Her eye visibly twitched in annoyance when she saw that Deidara had, for the second time, taken her spot. Sakura let it slide the first time, but he was going too far. It didn't help that she had to dream about him again the night before. Parking on the other side of Sasori's Camaro, she stepped out of the car and headed towards the front door.

Okay, she thought, don't nag about the parking spot. He doesn't know it's your spot, so just… mention it. Besides… at least he's here. With these comforting thoughts, she walked through the front door. As if it couldn't get worse from Deidara stealing her favorite parking place, he had to be sitting in her chair by her computer… playing Tetris with a Popsicle in his mouth. That bastard.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye having heard the bells on the doorway chime as she entered. "Yo," he said casually.

Sakura clenched her fists. Mustn't lash out… must save job… "Deidara… you parked in my spot."

"Huh?"

Sasori was talking to a client over by one of the paintings, so Sakura had to make sure to keep her voice light. "Your car," she said, pointing at the black Trans Am in the parking lot, parked neatly by the front door. "It's in my spot."

Deidara raised an eyebrow, "Well before you started working here, cherry chick… that was my spot… yeah."

Oh no he didn't. "Excuse me?"

"I was here long before you. That," he pointed at his car, "is my spot."

Don't yell… Sasori has a client… calm down… Sakura thought, using every ounce of willpower to keep a calm, impassive face. It was a given fact that a few signs of irritation were beginning to leak through, however. "Okay… the spot doesn't matter." I get here before he does on Monday, Friday, and Saturday; I'll just park there first. "But are you supposed to be eating a drippy ice cream thing by the computer? What if you dropped it and it hit the keyboard or worse and it… I don't know, blew up or something!"

She wasn't sure, but Sakura had a feeling Deidara was finding the entire situation amusing whereas she was thoroughly annoyed. A slight grin crossed his lips, "Blow up?" He held the Popsicle directly over the keyboard. When Sakura's eyes widened with fear, his grin increased. "Oh… so you don't want me to do… this, yeah?" He lowered his hand, moving the sweet treat dangerously close to the keys.

"D-Deidara, I really don't think you should do that," Sakura panicked. Deidara gave her an evil smile and moved it to where it was barely a centimeter away. Sakura's look of panic increased ten fold and she covered her eyes, "If you make the keyboard explode you're buying us a new one!" It was quiet for a while. When Sakura peeked between her fingers, she saw that Deidara had resumed his game of Tetris, the Popsicle still in his mouth.

The bells on the front door chimed again, signaling the client had finally left. On cue, Sasori walked over to the front desk, glancing at the game Deidara was playing before turning his attention to Sakura. "Good day at school, Sakura?" he asked politely.

Accepting the temporary distraction from her Deidara troubles, she gave him a weak smile. "It was easy enough while in class, but they gave me more homework in one day than I would have normally received from a full week as a senior in high school."

"Today's a slow day," Sasori mentioned. "If you finish your work, you can start on that so you don't have to worry about it once you get home."

"Thanks, Sasori," Sakura said, smiling sheepishly. That's when something in her head clicked. "Oh yeah, Sasori, tell Deidara that he parked in my spot!" Replaying that sentence in her head, she realized she sounded like a five-year-old.

"It was my spot first!" Deidara retorted, pausing his game once again to glare at her warningly. Okay, scratch the five-year-old thoughts. He sounded just as bad.

Sasori sighed, leaning on the white desk as he looked at Sakura and then Deidara. "Does it really matter? It's a parking spot."

"YES!" they both insisted in unison.

Sasori rolled his eyes in slight annoyance. "Sakura, you're here first three out of six days. Deidara, the same goes to you. You can take your parking place on the days that you get here first, so for God's sake, shut up."

Deidara huffed in annoyance, turning back to Tetris once again. Sakura seemed satisfied with this and walked to the coat rack, hanging up her white trench coat. When she approached the desk again, another thought came into her mind. "Oh yeah, Deidara, I had another dream about you last night."

Awkward.

As soon as the words were out, Sakura immediately regretted it. The little blocks in the Tetris game reached the top, causing 'Game Over' to fill the screen. Sasori gave Sakura a quizzical look – it appeared as if he were also holding back an amused grin. Deidara cursed at the computer screen and then turned his attention to Sakura. "You what?"

"Uh…" Think, Sakura, think! "I had another bee in my view last night. They're after my flowers again, I bet."

"Yeah… that's what I thought you said…" Deidara said slowly.

"Quite an… annoyance, I presume," Sasori mentioned quietly, his expression as calm and angelic as ever.

"Err, yeah," Sakura nodded, feeling her face heat up slightly. I really need to learn how to think before I speak… she thought. When she thought it couldn't get worse, it did by the time her lunch break arrived. Sasori was going through some files to prepare for his next meeting at 1:00, Sakura was working on her homework while munching on Chex Mix, and Deidara was hovering over her shoulder, asking random questions about stuff in her homework.

"Then… what's that?" he asked.

Sakura sighed, "You don't know what ultrasound is?"

"If I knew would I have asked, yeah?" Deidara sneered.

"It's sort of like a moving x-ray, but it shows more than bones," Sakura explained, showing him a picture on a diagram for her homework. "It's mainly used to show mothers an image of their baby while still in the womb."

"That's… gross."

"You self-centered, narrow-minded idiot!" Sakura scolded. "It's beautiful!" Her mind vaguely registered Sasori's snort of amusement as he continued searching through the file cabinet to her right. "If you had a child, wouldn't you want to see him or her before they're born?"

Deidara looked at Sakura as if she had sprouted cat ears and a tail. "Are you serious? Who would want to see that?"

"Many soon-to-be parents see ultrasound techs actually," Sasori mused, keeping his gaze on the file folder he took from the cabinet. "Of course, I'm sure that doesn't include… what was it, self-centered, narrow-minded idiots."

"Hey, whose side are you on, yeah?" Deidara scowled.

"At least someone appreciates my creativity," Sakura said, going back to her homework. As soon as she had moved onto another question, Deidara had to find something else he didn't know about.

"Epih…dur…all…"

"Epidural," Sakura sighed, rubbing the sides of her head stressfully. "It's an extremely powerful analgesic procedure."

"Which involves…?"

Sakura set her pencil down and gave him her attention. "It's where the nurse takes a needle about this long," she spread her fingers a bit too far for Deidara to be comfortable, "and put it in your lower back straight in. The needle itself is hollow. Then they stick a little tube down there through to your spine and from there, the analgesic drips down and goes through the tube, completely numbing your lower body. It's primarily used with pregnancy."

"Sorry I asked… yeah…" Deidara shuddered, getting mental images.

"Are you in a childbirth unit, Sakura?" Sasori asked.

"That's right," Sakura replied. "We're studying all the terms and procedures that go along with it. It's really complicated. But I suppose it's not as bad as basic injections. That section was torture."

The expression on Deidara's face resembled a little kid watching a horror movie. "What… what did you have to do?"

"Oh a number of things," Sakura said, keeping her face and tone nonchalant. On the inside, she was grinning like a madwoman at Deidara's reaction. "We all have a lab partner, and when it came time to practice, we had to do things like… draw blood from our partner."

"With a needle?"

"No, with a toothpick," she answered sarcastically. "Of course with a needle! That's the only way you learn. If you had to get a shot, you wouldn't want a nurse who had never done that before do it to you!" Deidara's face remained impassive for about two seconds until he burst out laughing. This irritated Sakura. "What exactly is so funny?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Sasori rest his forehead on his hand with his eyes closed as he sighed. When Deidara got his laughter under control for the most part, he said, "You wouldn't want a nurse who had never done that before to do it to you, yeah?" He had this stupid grin on his face as if he had just told the greatest joke ever.

Sakura gave him a confused look, but a few seconds later, she got it. "You pervert!" she yelled, accidentally breaking her pencil in half just by squeezing it.

"Hey, that's not fair, yeah," Deidara said with a mock pout on his face. "You need to work on your wording of things, chick. Speaking of which, what did you dream about last night?" Sakura's eyes widened and a blush came over her once again. Trying her hardest to glare at the blonde, all she managed was a stupid look while he kept grinning.

"Nothing," Sakura replied, turning away so she could go back to her homework and they couldn't see her pink-tinged cheeks. "Nothing. I don't remember."

Deidara put his elbow on the desk, resting his chin on his hand as he gave her a playful look. "Really? Lets see… I think you mentioned earlier that you dreamt about me."

"Really?" Sakura said lightly, scolding herself for replying too quickly. "I-I don't remember. What a shame." To Sakura's rescue, the door opened with a chime of the bells as a man entered. "Hello sir, welcome to Akatsuki Studios. How may I assist you?"

"Ah, I have a meeting," he began.

"Oh, Mr. Nara, right?" Sakura asked politely. She turned to Sasori. "Sir, your 1:00."

"Thanks, Sakura," Sasori said before turning to his client. "Follow me."

When the two were down one of the studio hallways examining one of the art pieces, Deidara returned his attention to Sakura, the playful look turning a bit more suggestive. Sakura kept her green eyes on her homework, pretending to be reading a problem, though in reality, she was just staring at it. When she couldn't take it anymore, she glanced at him briefly. "Deidara."

"Yeah?"

"What."

He tilted his head to the side, "What-what?"

"What do you want?" she asked exasperatedly, giving him her full attention.

"What did you dream about?" he grinned.

"High school," Sakura replied, looking back at her homework.

"Oh?"

"Yes."

"Go on…"

"That's it."

"No it's not," Deidara insisted. "If it was, you wouldn't be putting up such a fight to keep it to yourself."

Sakura gave him an annoyed glare. "I have to do my homework."

"You can do it later, yeah," Deidara said. "Procrastinate. It's fun."

"That's a horrible habit."

"In your eyes, everything I do is a horrible habit," Deidara pointed out with a frown, remembering her nagging about him smoking the day before.

Seeing his sudden change in mood, Sakura gave him a slight pout. "That's not true…"

"Yeah it is."

"No it's not."

"Sakura." The tone was a 'drop it' tone.

"Deidara." Before he could speak again, she continued. "Your artwork isn't a bad habit. It's a very good one. And I plan on stealing the hood of your car for that phoenix."

His eyes widened in horror, "Don't touch my car! She's my pride and joy, you evil little-"

"Your car's a 'she'?" Sakura asked with an evil smile of her own. Payback.

"Whatever, you're not getting that hood," Deidara scoffed, folding his arms across his chest and looking out the window. "It took me a week to get it perfect."

Sakura followed his gaze to the Trans Am sitting outside – in her parking place – and smiled slightly. "It looks really nice. Maybe you can paint something on mine."

"Nothing goes with purple," he lied. He was still a bit bothered by the habits talk.

Sakura inwardly sighed and finally took a break from her homework. "Do you remember that day in the lunch room, when you and Sasori sat with my friends and I, and that one kid tried to use a ridiculous pickup line on me? And then you used-"

"The penguin one," Deidara finished, feeling the corners of his mouth tug up a little despite his previous brooding expression. He glanced at her, blue eyes gleaming brightly as a smirk crossed his lips. "You were all over me after that line."

"I was not," Sakura retorted, putting her hands face down on the desk for emphasis.

"Oh, right, the blush on your cheeks to this day cooperates with that statement perfectly, yeah," he grinned.

Sakura picked up her broken pencil and continued working, muttering something about 'self-centered, narrow-minded idiot.' "Well, that's what I dreamt about last night," she said before writing down an answer to one of the questions.

"Dreaming about that line and everything," Deidara sighed dramatically, leaning back in his chair. He folded his arms behind his head and stretched out his legs, crossing his feet. "Yep, all over me."

"Someone's overconfident," Sakura scoffed, still refusing to look at him.

"Naturally," Deidara replied with ease. There was a pause. "Hey Sakura?"

"What is it now?" she asked, setting down her pencil once again as she turned to look at him.

Deidara pointed at a word in her paper with a truly puzzled expression. "What's a… mammogram?"