TWO

Hidan slammed his lunch tray down next to Deidara, who recoiled slightly as if hit. The blonde boy's azure eyes stared up at Hidan and he asked quietly, knowing from experience not to speak loudly when the albino was upset, "Hidan, what's wrong?" He never asked Hidan if he was okay or all right when it was obvious he wasn't. Hidan really didn't like it when people did that. He knew all the things Hidan liked and didn't like. They were best friends, after all. Unlikely best friends, but best friends nonetheless.

"Some chick in my weekend Math class started talking to me," he grumbled. He sat down, his jeans shifting as his rear landed on the bench. "And I talked to her, too."

"Well, is that a bad thing? Girls are good, well, for those who like them," Deidara reasoned. He patted Hidan on the back. "Did she like insult you or something?"

"No," Hidan replied, frowning in anger. "She talked to me, and I tried everything I usually try to get her away, tell her I didn't want to talk to her through body language and looks and my tone of voice. I tried everything! But she just didn't get it," he groaned. "And she messed up my name, and you know how much I hate that, but for some reason I didn't really care right then! And then she said she felt really, really bad about screwing my name up—she called me DON, for Jashin's sake—and offered to make it up to me over a soda. And I thought, 'Is this girl asking me out?' And I got upset because girls don't ask me, I ask them, and also since she wasn't an Akatsuki member I thought I'd get in so much trouble with Pein because we don't talk to outsiders, so I told her in this really nasty tone to not talk to me, not look at me, and never talk to any Akatsuki, ever." Hidan took a giant breath, held his face in his hands, and groaned loudly, "And now I feel really bad about it!!"

Deidara blinked. Hidan had never been this hung up over a girl, or a boy for that matter, since.... well, ever. "Um, well, maybe that means you like her? Who is it, I might know of them, uh-huh," he said, his habit of saying "uh-huh" or "yeah" after most sentences kicking in.

"You don't, Dei. She's new. She and her twin are new. Her name is Vera, and her twin is named Shey. She has long hair that's really dark black and smells so good, like lavender or something, and real bright blue eyes, like yours, except brighter, that she looks at you with using this look that you can't resist, and it makes you feel all strange inside, and she has awfully pale skin, and she's so elegant, especially her hands, and she has dark purple nail polish, it's almost black, even, but not quite, it's like a really dark, dark purple, and—"

Deidara, his eyes wide, had clamped a hand over Hidan's mouth. "Hidan. Hi-DAN. Calm down. Breathe. You're, like, in toxic shock syndrome, uh-huh." He looked at Hidan as if he was crazy. He was acting crazy, anyway. "Hidan, I want you to breathe. Breathe in and out, slowly and peacefully, yeah," he said. "Come on. Calm yourself down, uh-huh."

Hidan followed his orders and started to inhale and exhale bit by bit. "Okay," he said after a few minutes. "I'm calmer now."

"Now, what's her sister like?" Deidara knew that if he asked about the sister, Hidan would keep calm.

"She's got red hair, that's wavier, and freckles." Hidan scrunched his face, trying to think of more features of Vera's twin sister, but failed in his attempts. "I can't remember anything else, Dei. I can only remember Vera."

Deidara almost laughed. Hidan was so obviously interested in this new girl, it was a riot. Deidara couldn't even remember the last time Hidan acted like this. Maybe it was after Kisame grabbed his ass in Social History because the teacher was out on a talk with someone. Not that Hidan liked Kisame, but he was just about as flustered. Hidan was a tough guy, very mean and cruel, but he sure was easily embarrassed. He knew it, too. To his dismay, so did Kakuzu. The blonde tossed his bangs to the side with a finger, looking at the bright red albino (yes, he knew albinos couldn't blush, but he wasn't even really sure what Hidan was anyway) with a face that said, "Hidan, you are such a phony." He sighed, removing his glasses from his jeans pocket and began to clear the lenses. "Hidan," he started. "I know something. And I think you'll be very interested to find out."

Hidan turned to his friend. "Yeah?"

"Well, for starters.... uh-huh.... you like this girl. And even though you're trying to—"

"No! I don't! She's obnoxious," Hidan stated. "It's just that I haven't been talked to by a girl in forever. Not only that, but I haven't been spoken to by an outsider in years. It's a big thing for me. I just want her out of my life. Out of my Math class would help, too." At that very moment, a rush of black hair and the scent of lavender almost made him faint from all the stress that he just wasn't up to at the moment. Vera had sat down next to Deidara.

"Hey there. I'm Vera," she smiled that intoxicating smile at his friend. He thanked the Heavens that Deidara was way too homo to let this girl charm him. Her voice started to say something that sounded like the albino's name, but it stopped short and he let out his breath in relief. At least she listened. Hidan knew that this girl was a big danger to his social life in the Akatsuki.

"I'm Deidara," his blonde, gay, most loved person in the world, his best friend, just ruined Hidan's day. Fully and completely ruined it. He kicked Deidara's tightly jeaned leg under the table, glaring at his closest buddy. Wait, did he even tell Deidara that the girl's name was Vera? He toyed with the idea of emotionally abusing the girl and physically dragging her away. That'd sure put a scare into her. Or... maybe not. "Hey, are you in Professor McBridge's Math class today?" Well, now the homo bastard would know. Duh.

Her sleek, addicting accent sang into Hidan's ears like water on the skin. "Oh, yeah. Nobody really talked to me, though." What was that accent? It couldn't be Israeli. It seemed very exotic, though. Maybe Indian? No, she was way too pale. Not Asian. Too crisp. It was clear and from an English-speaking country—or that's what Hidan assumed. Not British. Maybe Italian? Greek? Wait, stop. Why did Hidan care? He'd never figure it out on his own. He'd have to ask her. And that was simply out of the question. She was going to ruin him. Akatsuki had strict rules. Pein liked Deidara a lot, so Deidara could bend those rules, but it wasn't so easy for Hidan. If he was allowed to, he'd talk to Vera. Maybe say "hi" to her once in a while. But he had no such lenience. So he couldn't, and didn't want to. She'd ruin his life. She'd get him kicked out of the Akatsuki, and he'd never get to talk to any of his friends ever again.

"Ah, that's a shame, uh-huh." Deidara nudged Hidan lightly. He turned to Hidan and whispered furiously, "Hidan! Talk to her!" Seeing his friend shake his platinum blonde hair, Deidara glanced at Hidan pointedly, stomping on his foot under the lunch table. The albino glared lasers at the homosexual blonde and stood up, throwing his tray down, then walked away in a huff, slamming his butt down next to Itachi across the room. The reddish magenta eyes saw the hurt on Deidara's face, and Hidan felt bad about it, but he didn't feel any remorse at the moment. He didn't need to be around Deidara now. The guy basically was smiling and being chipper to the girl that could ruin his high school life.

"Hey, Itachi," the albino grumbled. "Your bitch is pissing me off."

Kisame laughed as Itachi's face turned downwards into a scowl. The Uchiha said in a dangerous tone of voice, "He's not my bitch. Deidara is a useless addition to our group. He doesn't even do anything to benefit us. He should get lost."

Despite his current frustration with the feminine blonde, Hidan defended his closest friend. "Hey. Don't you dare talk about Deidara that way, you hear me? He's much more to the Akatsuki than you could ever be."

Itachi was about to take action violently against Hidan, but Kisame grabbed his arm and whispered something in his ear that Hidan didn't understand. Hidan shook his head and started to continue his lunch, but he wasn't hungry anymore. He stared at his food, then promptly gave it to Zetsu, who was eyeing it excitedly.

Kakuzu was sitting in the principal's office, counting money. Although the principal didn't trust him or any of the Akatsuki, he was the only person who could stay focused for long enough to count the money for the principal. In addition to that, he would have extra time to count his own earnings. There wasn't really much of a choice in the matter, anyway. It was seen by most of the students as a form of punishment. But Kakuzu enjoyed it. He enjoyed anything that had to do with money. Also, being the bad person he was, since he was the one counting the money, he was the only one who would notice if some went missing. A ten here, a twenty there... Kakuzu didn't need to steal, he just liked it. He had plenty of money on his own. He was quite fond of currencies in general, and was an ambassador for the exchange students, money-wise.

As he was mumbling the numbers to himself, a redheaded girl ran in the door, saw him, and stepped back. "Err, uhh..." She frowned. "Do you know where I can—"

"If you have something to say, chick, spit it out. I've got work to do," he snapped. He put down the bils he was working with at that moment and looked up at her, lacing his surgery-ridden fingers together and resting his chin on the back of his hands. He wondered if he had scared her. His shaggy black hair and green eyes were enough to freak some people out, but the fact that almost every limb he had had been stitched back on from his injuries that had been the result of a car crash.

The redhead looked at him cautiously. "I just want a map," she said politely. "Do you know where I could find one, by chance? Please?"

Kakuzu blinked. She sure was a nice girl. It seemed as if there was more to her mild-mannered state, though. Heeding her request, he leaned over backwards, not taking his eyes off her, and reached for one of the pamphlets on the wall behind his chair. He handed it to the girl and smiled. "Here you go," he said, his gravelly voice containing a slight edge. He was annoyed at the girl for disrupting his work. He groaned as he lost count in his head, and waved a hand at the girl. "Go along now. I need to finish counting this."

She nodded, taking the map. She blinked as her skin just barely grazed his bronze hand, then after a moment of silence, nodded and thanked him before briskly walking out. Kakuzu just chuckled to himself and started counting again, his frustration from losing count returning as quickly as it had disappeared. He grumbled loudly and put all the paper bills back in one pile. "One, two, three, four, five, twenty-five, twenty-six, thirty-one...." How he hated it when the twenties and fives were mixed in with the ones. He hated that so much.