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Just as a forewarning I will not be updating the next chapter for at least a month; life's a bitch and she just bit hard. So I apologise in advance for that.

Chapter 2

Sitting in the dorm room he shared with Iruka, Deidara sat on the end of his bed in front of a canvas, paint brush in one hand, pot of orange paint in the other. On the canvas itself, was an incomplete painting of an explosion ripping through a building. Biting on the end of the brush, Deidara carefully looked the painting over deciding on where to put the next stroke; for every brush stroke must be perfect, after all. Finally making a decision, he dipped the brush into the orange paint and brought the brush tip to a spot on the canvas. Just as the brush touched the canvas the door to the dorm room slammed open and banged, rather forcefully, on the wall as it swung around, causing Deidara to jerk back making an orange streak appear across the painting.

Seeing his roommate, Deidara cried in anger, "What the fuck, un! You just ruined my painting!"

As if not hearing him, Iruka slammed the door closed and tossed his bag on his bed.

Deidara suddenly noticed how pale the other boy was and saw that his hands were shaking. Anger turned to concern.

"Iruka? You ok, un?"

The brunette shook his head, refusing to meet Deidara's gaze. Uttering a strangled, "I'm sorry." Iruka went to the bathroom and locked himself in.

Whatever happened Deidara knew that it wasn't good, sighing he knocked on the door, not expecting a reply he said quietly, "If you want to talk, un. I'll just be out here. It helps if there's someone who listens."

Hearing a muffled "thanks," Deidara went back to his painting.

Sitting on the tiled bathroom floor near the vanity Iruka struggled to keep the tears and, more importantly, the memories at bay.

He couldn't believe that Kakashi just got transferred here. After what the other teenager had done to him, even if it was an accident, Iruka couldn't believe that he would even be allowed in the same school as him.

Iruka began to feel phantom pains in his wrist, ribs and collar bone. He could still hear the bones breaking. No, don't think about that.

Getting up quickly, Iruka began to frantically search through the vanity cupboards for some painkillers. He knew that the feeling of pain was just in his head, but still, the tablets would help.

Not finding any he was going to have to ask Deidara; as long as the other boy didn't ask questions Iruka felt that he could get through the night.

Trying to even out his breathing a little, Iruka opened the bathroom door and went over to his roommate, who was trying to salvage his painting. The blonde looked up concern etched on his features, "Hey," he said quietly. "Are you ok, un?"

Iruka could only nod. "Do you-?" He cleared his throat. "Do you have any aspirin or painkillers?"

"Yeah sure, un." Reaching over to a black bag Deidara took out a bottle of aspirins and gave Iruka two.

"Thanks." He dry swallowed them, grimacing when one felt like it became lodged in his throat. Walking over to his bed Iruka threw himself over it lying on his belly and buried his face into his pillow.

"Uh, hey Iruka?"

Said brunette groaned in response.

"Do you wanna meet some of my friends tomorrow, un? We're meeting up in town, gonna hang out for a bit, you can meet my boyfriend Sasori, un."

Iruka turned a baleful eye towards the blonde, "Your Akatsuki friends?"

"Yep, un."

Thinking that it would be good to meet some new people Iruka summoned up a smile, "Sure, why not?"

Deidara brightened up considerably at that. "Well great, un! I'll just txt Leader and let him know."

Iruka screwed up his face, "Leader?"

"Well, we prefer calling him that to Pein, un. He brought Akatsuki together, that's why we call him Leader." Deidara said with a smile. "Don't let him intimidate you," he said turning serious. "He's very good with making people shit themselves, un. If you survive the first hour he will lighten up."

"Only an hour?" Iruka asked sarcastically.

Deidara beamed at him but didn't reply, becoming focused on his iPhone, tapping away at the screen. With the message sent, he turned back to his painting.

"So why don't you tell me about Akatsuki?" Iruka asked not wanting to be alone with his thoughts.

Deidara turned and sat cross legged in the middle of his bed. "What do you want to know, un?"

Iruka pursed his lips, "Well, you've told me about Sasori and his obsession with puppets and Leader. But what about the others?"

"I guess you want to be prepared, un?" At Iruka's nod he went on. "Well, un, there's Konan, she's Leaders girlfriend. She's a little quiet, has this obsession with origami and she has this sadistic streak, which his kinda why she's with Leader, un. There's Tobi, he has this obsession with weird masks and he's insane; in a cheerful evil kind of way. There's Zetsu, he has an obsession with plants, and he has a split personality, what we dubbed Black Zetsu and White Zetsu. You will know which one you are speaking to because Black Zetsu is kinda violent and will try to eat you," at Iruka's incredulous look he went on, "Seriously, un! He's a fucking cannibal! Anyways, White Zetsu is a bit of a 'save-the-rainforesty' kinda guy and he's really nice. Kakuzu has an obsession with money, like really bad; he will try to kill you if you filch even $5 of him. Hidan, yeah, he swears a lot, and unless you want to be sacrificed to Jashin-sama, I'd stay away from him, un. Don't ask who Jashin-sama is, no one knows but Hidan; apparently he's a god. The last two are Kisame and Itachi. You'll recognize Kisame straight away, I'm not gonna tell you why, you can find out tomorrow. Oh, and he has an obsession with sharks. And then there's Itachi, he doesn't talk much but he's a really good fighter. And he's filthy rich. In fact most of us are. And yeah, un. That's the Akatsuki for you."

Iruka blinked a couple of times before gathering some form of composure. "No offence Deidara, but you all sound really weird."

Deidara laughed, "None taken, un. Because we are weird."

Iruka raised an eyebrow, "I'm not sure if you should be proud of that."

Deidara beamed at him before turning serious, "Probably the main thing that brought us all together is that we are all from fucked up backgrounds, un. And I'm not prying, just guessing, but I think that you are as well."

Iruka swallowed then nodded, "Yeah, you could say that."

Deidara nodded, and went back to his painting.

He no sooner raised the brush up to the canvas when his phone vibrated. Taking it out of his pocket, Deidara sighed and muttered to himself, "If I get one more interruption, un, I am going to blow someone up."

Reading the message he perked up a bit. "Leader says that you're welcome to come tomorrow, un, providing that you're not some 'goody-two-shoes'- his words not mine- un."

Iruka laughed at that. "And what happens if I am?"

"Well, un, even though I know you're not, if you are then Leader, and no one else in Akatsuki for that matter, will trust you. And trust is the biggest thing in Akatsuki."

"Because you partake in criminal activities?" Iruka smiled. Deidara opened his mouth to reply but Iruka cut him off. "Don't worry, the Akatsuki's activities will not be known to those in authority."

"That's good, un; because otherwise you will have to be disappeared."

They both laughed at that; Iruka a bit nervously wondering if the Akatsuki actually were criminals.

Thanks for reading! See the review button down there? *points down* Reviews will be much appreciated. Ja ne!