Hello! Here it is! Enjoy the update!
You're the one that I see waking up next to me
And I hope it's the same for you
But you play with my mind when you send me these signs
And I see other guys get 'em too
Saturday was spent trying to revise the first few chapters of their study. Sakura spent the whole day at Naruto and Sasuke's room. The blond offered his bed as Sakura's work area while he took the floor.
She accomplished what needed to be accomplished in half a day. Of course, she would have finished it earlier had it not been for Deidara.
From: 05*******
Received: 9:10
Message: Hey. Sunday. 10pm. Valkyrie. You're coming right?
That was only one of the six messages she received this morning. The afternoon was fairly quiet but by the time she returned to her room for dinner, her phone began to beep once more.
"Aren't you going to look at your phone?" asked Ino who was currently painting her nails on her bed.
Sakura was digging through a burger she bought from the cafeteria downstairs. She missed lunch to finalize all her revisions and she was famished as hell but she allowed herself a glance at her phone.
Seven messages.
"What the actual—" Sakura started. She licked her fingers and unlocked her phone.
You're going tomorrow, right?
Sakura, are you at work or something?
Tomorrow at 10, alright?
Just text me if you have the time.
Hey, Sakura, I just need to know if you're going tomorrow.
Just tell me if you're going or not because I don't want to waste anything.
Sakura?
"Well," her roommate said in as sing-song tone. "Who is it?"
There was a moment of indecision as she weighed her option between telling and not telling Ino she was possibly going to see a man she met at the club.
On one hand, it would be unfair to not tell Ino since she always tells her what the hell goes on in her life—even how salty the cafeteria's mac and cheese is. Plus, her roomie would always know what to do in situations like these and whether or not the guy could be trusted.
On the other hand, she'd teased Ino for going on dates with strangers she met at parties, most of which ended either really bad or worse. It was possible that Ino might also criticize her for… Well, the blond could criticize Sakura in ways unimagined.
Her mind was fuzzy and she blurted out the first name that came to her head. "It's Naruto," she said. "Uhh, he's asking if we could finish up tomorrow."
The blond narrowed her eyes and Sakura knew she'd told the wrong excuse. Ino was perceptive like that and she made it a thing to know everything that everyone had going on.
"I was at Hinata's room earlier," Ino said carefully. "She told me her beau was planning on taking her out for ramen tomorrow. So do you wanna try again or should I just snatch your phone?"
Sakura looked at her phone in deliberation before sighing. "I might be going out tomorrow."
Ino made a sound that Sakura could closely classify to a squeal and she was pretty sure the rest of the floor heard it too. The nail polish bottle on her bed spilled on the sheets but the blonde couldn't care less.
"Shut the fuck up!" Ino swung her legs over the bed and walked on her heels to slump awkwardly on Sakura's bed. "You've got a date?! Lemme see!"
"There's nail polish on your blanket," said the pinkie as she quickly took her phone and slid it into her shirt, making sure it caught in her bra.
Her roommate didn't even bother looking at her as she screamed. "I don't fucking care! Now spill the beans on your new beau or I'll pull that phone from your tits! Is he a hunk? Is he hot? Who's better in bed—him or the—"
Sakura pulled a pillow from behind her and hit Ino in the face before she could even finish it.
"I said I might go out tomorrow," Sakura said flatly. "I've got a 7a.m. in the morning so I'm not really sure I wanna go. I mean I don't know. I don't think I want to but I feel like I should but I can't be—"
Ino waved her hands in Sakura's face. "Wow, if this were Ms. Universe Q&A, you just went viral. Now you're gonna start from the very top."
Sakura did.
And by the end of their conversation, the polish on Ino's bed and nails had dried up while she licked her fingers clean of the burger grease to pull her phone out and finally give Deidara an answer.
To: Deidara (Valkyrie)
Sent: 22:29
Message: Yeah. See you tomorrow.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"So remember," started her roomie who was standing behind her to pull her hair into a bun. "If your vision starts swirling or blurring, you call me. I'm on speed dial. You sure there's not a last name to go with Deidara?"
Sakura sighed, pulling the hem of her little black dress downwards. "Yeah, mom. Don't worry. I'm not gonna get date-raped."
"Hey, bitch, date-rape drug ain't no joke," Ino said in a more serious tone. "I was only lucky Shikamaru was with me that night."
Talking with Ino took more than a couple of hours last night—mostly because Ino did most of the talking. When Sakura finally revealed that she was at a loss whether to go out with a guy she met in the club, her roommate didn't waste another second and conducted a seminar entitled Guys You Meet in the Club.
The seminar didn't start without a teasing remark on Sakura's taste in men but Sakura cautioned Ino wasn't exactly in a position to lecture her about taste in men.
"Look at my best friend," Ino said, taking a step back to admire Sakura's reflection in the mirror. "Only half a year since the breakup and you're already on a date with another hunk."
When she was finally done with everything, Sakura left the dorm and took Ino's car with her blessing. Before setting off, she checked her phone and found no new messages. None came after she replied last night.
Had he changed his mind?
She wanted to say she didn't give a damn but it just occurred to her that it mattered to her. The appreciation of some stranger actually mattered to her and her ego. Damn it.
It didn't take her long to find a decent parking space at the Valkyrie. It was a Sunday, after all.
9:30. That gave her enough time to touch up on her makeup, wait in line and look for him in the club. She checked and rechecked all her stuff her in purse including Ino's Swiss army knife, her very own pepper spray and the keys to the car.
There was no line to the entrance but when she got in the club, it was just as packed as always. Making her way to the dancefloor was just as hard as always but she made it in time.
House music filled the place. Lights weren't completely out but they were dimmed and lights from basic spotlights roamed the dancefloor lazily. The club had just opened up so people weren't exactly gyrating wildly just yet but there was a group of girls singing passionately to the current song, Roses.
9:45. He should be here anytime now.
Sakura left her purse on the table to grab herself a drink from the open bar. There was quite a while but, just as always, pink hair worked as fine as cleavages and heavy makeup.
10:00. Where was he?
10:05. Deidara was late.
10:10. She'd had it.
Deidara hounded her through text messages and kept on reminding her 10:00p.m. It was ten minutes past the agreed time. Now he got her wondering if she heard wrong.
Her eidetic memory begged to differ.
To: Deidara (Valkyrie)
Sent: 22:12
Message: Valkyrie 10. I'm here.
From: Deidara (Valkyrie)
Received: 22:14
Message: Situation. Will be there soon. Promise.
Sakura sipped at her rum cola. Her foot, clad in gladiator sandals borrowed from none other than her best friend, tapped in an unsteady rhythm impatiently.
"Hey."
She'd prepared quite the spiel to throw at Deidara for being late but whatever it was had dissolved at the sight of Kisame who was wearing only a black short-sleeved photo tucked in ripped jeans.
The frown she wore since a minute past 10, however, remained pasted on her face. Not even flattery in the way Kisame looked over her appreciatively was able to break her icy walls.
"Kisame, remember?"
Sakura crossed her arms in hostility. "I do. Where's your friend?"
"Deidara? No, we're not really friends. Close work acquaintances is more like it. Anyway, he's in a bit of trouble with the management."
She raised a brow. "Trouble? For what?"
"For you."
Taken aback, Sakura tried hard not to smile at that. Deidara, who had just met her, was in trouble for her. She tried searching for signs of sarcasm in Kisame's face but he didn't even flinch when he spoke.
"So… What does Deidara even do around here?"
Kisame shrugged, finishing a cup of a green drink she didn't even know he was holding.
"You'll see," he answered. "He's pulled all the stops for you. I've seen that kid try to get a girl. You should feel special, trust me."
As soon as Kisame said it, the lights dimmed down until there was only darkness and the song stopped. LED lights were now whirling all around the club and a mix of I Wanna Know began playing. The whole crowed cheered and raised their bottles and cups.
"I like that, yeah," his voice resounded through the sound system placed all around the club. "One more time, ladies. I wanna hear you!"
The spotlight on stage flashed a red beam towards one end of the stage to reveal Deidara with his hair in the usual half-ponytail. He was wearing a black hoodie with a white shirt underneath, a pair of jeans and were those Air Jordan sneakers?
The crowd cheered again, only this time, she heard more squeals from the ladies. On the other table, a lady, not much older than herself, began to fangirl and started jumping uncontrollably.
"It's him! It's him!" exclaimed the woman. "He's baaack!"
One of her friends pulled her by the arm while laughing uncontrollably before she signed for the fangirl to keep it down.
Sakura turned her attention back to Deidara who had put down the mic and slipped on some gigantic headphones, leaving one ear free. The light focusing on him slowly shifted colors as the smoke machines began to emit a light fog from behind him.
And edited typography of his name flashed on the giant screen behind him. Deidara, in big yellow script letters, remained on the screen, shaking every now and then. On the bottom right, a slanted word—bang—kept appearing and disappearing every few seconds.
I've been hit by stars
A beauty you are, a beauty you are
Day turns into night
You light up my dark, you light up my dark
And in that moment, Sakura couldn't help but smile. She looked to Kisame who had been looking at her from the corner of his eye.
"He never told me he was a DJ," Sakura said over the music. She sipped on her cup to hide her smile when she realized she was grinning like a mad man.
The huge man shrugged. "He never likes to tell anyone. It's his big move when it comes to the ladies. Why am I even telling you this? Just shut up, pinkie, and enjoy the music. I gotta go. Got work to do."
And with that, Kisame left his glass on her table with Sakura who was now looking up on stage at the stranger who just happened to be her date for tonight.
Sakura wasn't sure which one was wilder—the lights or the crowd. It was only the beginning of the set and she could feel everyone around her already hyped up. It only led her to wonder just how long the people around her have been drinking.
The smoke machines on the end of the stage started fuming white smoke in the air and the crowd cheered.
In the middle of it all, she still felt her phone vibrate.
From: Deidara (Valkyrie)
Received: 22:20
Message: I see you
She didn't bother replying. She didn't want to disturb him but when she looked up at Deidara again, Sakura found that he was looking in her direction with that easy grin on his face again. How the hell he could even see her through the lazer lights and jumping crowd was a mystery.
After I Wanna Know came Beautiful Now which was one of her more frequently listened-to songs in her playlist. And then there was Footprints and a lot more songs she didn't know yet.
On the last song, the smoke machines went off again but this time, with confetti mixed in. And they were pink. Of course, they were.
It took an hour and half a dozen trips to the bar before Deidara finished the opening set. The gang of women beside her disappeared, no doubt to stalk the good-looking DJ.
From: Deidara (Valkyrie)
Received: 23:30
Message: Meet me at the stairs behind the open bar
Sakura sipped on her half-empty glass of margarita—Was that even margarita?—before she walked away from her table as another DJ took over for another set.
She had to nudge her way through a group of some middle-aged foreigners who kept calling her attention and walk around the puke of some girl she knew from the university for her to get to the spot where Deidara said he was.
And there he stood, with his hoodie draped over his shoulder. His back was on the wall while his hands were tucked in his pockets.
With a serious expression painted on, Sakura approached him.
"Hey," he greeted.
She didn't twitch.
"You liked it."
It wasn't a question. He was stating it confidently which was enough to elicit a reaction from her.
Deidara, who had been waiting for any sort of reply, laughed when she finally smiled at him like she couldn't keep it inside anymore. With minimal effort, he pushed himself off of the wall.
"Whatever," came her reply as she rolled her eyes. "You never told me you were a fucking DJ!"
"What did you think I do around here?"
Clean tables, she thought to herself. Of course, she wasn't going to admit that to him. In due time, perhaps, but not now. Especially not with that smug look on his face that was daring her to admit she'd been somehow wrong about him.
Her bare shoulders raised as Sakura crossed her arms.
"Wanna get out of here?" asked the blond, looking around cautiously. "I wanted to treat you for a drink upstairs but I'm not up to entertaining any fans tonight."
"Where do you suggest we go?"
Deidara shrugged. "It'd be nice to see you in place more decent compared to this. Do you wanna sober up and have coffee or something? There's a café on the other end of the district."
"That'd be nice."
0-0-0-0-0-0
The two went off to look for Kisame to say goodbye before they walked more than a few blocks to find the café her date had been talking about. With a confident and spirited soul like Deidara, the walk was far from quiet and Sakura kept up with him just fine.
"Alright, alright," he chuckled, stirring his cup of cappuccino. "Favorite fruit, then?"
The café was called Indulgence and had an extensive selection of pastries, waffles, coffee and shakes. Deidara got himself a regular cappuccino while Sakura ordered an Oreo milkshake and a couple of cupcakes.
She raised a brow. "Are you expecting me to say cherry or strawberry?"
"Not really," the blond immediately replied. "I mean I wouldn't be surprised if you did but I'd rather be surprised, yeah."
"Lemons," answered the pink-haired woman as she took a bite out of her red velvet cupcake. "And don't look at me! I'm eating! What's your favorite fruit?"
"Cherries."
"You're kidding," she said flatly behind the hand that was covering her mouth as she chewed.
"Hn. I never kid about cherries," said Deidara. He raised his cup, maintaining a serious expression, before he took a sip. Sakura stared at him with narrowed eyes and he set his cup on the table again. "What? I'm serious."
So far, this had been the flow of their conversation since they left the Valkyrie. Favorite movie. Favorite actors. Favorite color. Favorite everything. If they went to the gym. What kind of music and food they liked.
She told her personal information but not the kind to reveal her identity. He was doing the same thing.
Beside the face that Deidara was a self-aware ladies' man, she also discovered that he liked action and comedy movies, he idolized James Franco and drooled over Angelina Jolie and he liked the color red. He worked out but thought going to the gym was a waste of time. He claimed to like all kinds of music and hated Chinese.
Well, at least she knew one thing—she and Deidara had little to nothing in common.
"Do you smoke?" she asked.
He pursed his lips. "That depends."
"On what?" Sakura frowned at him.
"Do you date smokers?" He leaned in and wriggled his eyebrows at her.
She scoffed. "No."
"Then the answer to your question is that I used to smoke," said Deidara as he leaned back into his seat. He scowled as well when Sakura's expression remained unchanged. "Hey, I just want you to like me, yeah.
Sakura raised her brow. She seemed to be doing a lot of this tonight.
"I'm out of the club with you, aren't I?"
"So you like me then," he concluded with a smile.
Unbelievable, she thought to herself.
"I know you like me too," she told him incredibly. Her eyes were widening to the size of plates. "Isn't that why we're out here? Isn't that why you asked me to go out with you and I agreed? Do you have trust issues because I don't do that kind of baggage anymore."
He eyed her for a moment. It felt as if he was about to say something but he looked away as if the thought passed or he had dismissed it.
If he was concerned about bringing up some sort of problem to the conversation, she really didn't mind talking about her problems. Deidara seemed genuinely curious but was cautious not to strike a nerve. Plus points.
"I just didn't want you to think of me as some one-night stand kind of guy," he sighed.
Her face twisted into a grimace. "I wasn't even thinking about…"
"Oh," the blond said, trying not to sound too disappointed. "I'm sorry."
And Sakura laughed. Her laughter filled the air of the nearly empty café a few minutes before midnight and it was enough to lighten the heaviness in his chest that he didn't even notice until she laughed.
He watched her throw her head back and cover her mouth as she laughed. Consciously, Sakura looked to the staff to see if she was causing a scene despite the lack of a public. Some of the strands of her hair fell out of the bun and he was half tempted to just pull the hair tie and let those beautiful locks down her bare shoulder.
"I'm kidding!" She said as her laughter died down. "I mean I'm not really thinking about that but it's totally fine if you are."
It was the first time he'd ever seen her laugh like she did and it was hard not to get hungover her happiness. She was just as enchanting as he'd hope she would be.
"Really," replied Deidara in an uncertain tone.
"Come on. I didn't come into a club wearing a dress this short and think I was gonna get out of there without my ass getting checked out at least once. It's my first time in a club, yeah, but I'm not an innocent kid."
The DJ sighed. "Well, it is a great ass."
"Of course it is," she said smugly before finishing the last of her cupcake. "I worked hard on that."
"You're weird."
"Thank you."
She wasn't sarcastic. Sakura was actually taking weird as a compliment. Well, he didn't even mean it in a bad way in the first place but most women tend to misunderstand when a guy calls them weird.
He and she had nothing in common.
She liked documentaries and mysteries and movies that weren't conventional. She looked up to Helena Bonham-Carter and admired Mark Ruffalo for his Bruce Banner portrayal from some superhero movie. She liked the color white.
But it was in this moment, as he watched her watch him as she put her straw between her lips, that he knew he had found his muse.
He had found her in a fucking club. And she had fucking pink hair. But he didn't fucking care.
"So why aren't you worried about being outside with a stranger in the middle of the night?" Deidara asked. He saw the corner of her lip tug into a smirk and he found it somewhat sexy.
"I'm not telling you why," she said, as if it were so obvious. "That's my advantage. And is it the middle of the night already?"
Pulling her phone out of her purse, she grimaced when she realized it was already nearing midnight.
"You've got an early thing tomorrow, right?"
Sakura nodded. "Uhuh. And I've gotta go."
"Well, I guess I have to get up early tomorrow morning too. Should I drive you?"
"It's okay," she said, packing her purse up. "I've got my friend's car parked back at the Valkyrie. Remember? I was dragging her ass out of the club when we first met. Anyway, you can walk me back."
0-0-0-0-0-0
Deidara asked her to send him a text when she arrived home just to make sure she made it safely.
On her way back to the university, Ino texted her, asking how she was doing and she replied at a stoplight that she was already on her way back and that nothing bad happened during the date.
To: Deidara (Valkyrie)
Sent: 00:54
Message: I'm home. Thanks for tonight. Goodnight.
From: Deidara (Valkyrie)
Received: 00:58
Message: That's great. Just got at the apartment. Text me when you're free. Goodnight.
Upon opening the door to their dorm room, Ino threw herself at her best friend and locked her arms around the pinkette, begging her to spill the details.
Sakura could only spare her the basics like they went to a café for a midnight snack and that he offered to drive her home and that he was a friggin DJ at the Valkyrie and Ino's jaw threatened to drop on the floor.
"He's a DJ?!" she screamed. "Son of a bitch! You scored, girl! You know how great those guys are in bed?"
The pinkette pulled the dress over her head and threw it at Ino.
"Keep it down, bitch," said Sakura, putting a finger to her lip. "We don't want the whole dormitory to know I just got home from a date, right? There are snitches on our floor. And no, Ino, I didn't consider sleeping with him tonight."
Ino grinned. "Tonight," she repeated.
Sakura shrugged. "Well, he's handsome and all but I don't do sex on the first few dates."
"You don't do sex on dates," corrected the blonde. "You do sex in serious relationships and look where that got your virginity. In the trunk of some guy upstairs."
"Shut up," she answered bitterly. "I just wasn't thinking about sex at all."
"Alright, alright," Ino said in a resigned tone. "I'm going to bed. I've got a 9 a.m. tomorrow morning."
"Speak for yourself. I've got a 7 a.m. minor class in the morning."
Sakura failed to realize that she forgot to set an alarm for 6 a.m. and woke up far too late the next day.
0-0-0-0-0-0
He hadn't gotten any sleep when he arrived home and he cursed himself for his low caffeine tolerance. The rest of the night had been spent watching the Expendables movies and anticipating the shooting and bombing sequence.
Half of the time, he was thinking about Sakura and the small talk over midnight coffee. Occasionally, he glanced over at his work space and his unfinished piece but decided he was still in no mood to work.
Several hours later, an alarm he'd set a few days back for 6 a.m. went off and he automatically walked into the bathroom for a shower. He put on a typography shirt and a pair of jeans.
After which, he heated water for another cup of coffee he needed to function the rest of the day and some instant noodles which served as his breakfast.
Deidara slipped on his university hoodie, grabbed his backpack and his keys and drove to Omphalos University.
He was almost late for Philosophy 401 but thankfully, the professor was interrupted during the noting of attendance and he was able to slip in the classroom unnoticed.
As expected, during the first day of classes for what was usually a minor subject to other majors, the classroom was only half-full. Or half-empty. He guessed the most of the people in the room right now were Philosophy majors.
The professor once again returned to call on everyone.
"Gaara?"
"Present."
"Goran?"
"Present."
"Gutaiza? No? Habiko?"
"Present."
"Haruno? No? Absent. Henairo?"
"Present."
This is what he hated about asking to list himself without a last name. His name had already been called and he was already listed as absent. Well, running across the hall had been a waste of time.
Seated in the very back row of the room, Deidara pulled out his laptop discreetly and popped in his earbuds and proceeded to create a new mix. He was going to be here for the next two hours. What else was he supposed to do?
Hope you enjoyed the update! I'll be back soon. I'm currently working on Under The Heir's update and brainstorming some other fanfic ideas.
I'm also in the middle of a very long BoruSara fic so stay tuned for that!
See ya'll soon! Favorite, follow and leave a review. Makes good inspiration, you know? Thanks!
