Revenge is Best Served Cold

Chapter Three

Oops, forgot disclaimer! I do not own Naruto!

Oh, joy. It just so happens that our high school's gym teacher is the craziest, most hyperactive man in the world.

We were all standing outside, waiting for the gym teacher, and wearing these ridiculous tights made out of stretchy, dark green fabric. I would have to keep in mind to ask the principal to change the Physical Education uniforms. I mean, really? Green tights? Were we doing a ballet unit?

Suddenly, there was a small, green dot in the horizon. I immediately remembered Sasori's warning before we had to part ways because of conflicting schedules (thanks a lot, stupid school!).

"Sakura, make sure that when you see a green dot, stay as far away as it as possible!" Sasori yelled over the crowd to me. I shrugged, confused, and made my way out to the locker rooms.

I instinctively stepped backwards, and just in time, too. The five or so poor students that decided to get a closer look at the green dot were run over by said green dot, which turned out to be a person.

At first, I regretted him slowing down. Actually, cross that out. I still regret him slowing down.

His face was long with huge prominent cheekbones and a shiny sheen of sweat covering his tanned face. The sweat parted ways around the thick, caterpillar eyebrows of his, and ran down his skin. The teacher's haircut was of a bowl, with not a single hair out of place.

"Hello, youthful students!" His loud bellow of greeting sent spit flecks flying everywhere. I, being a safe distance away, was lucky enough to escape the rain, but "sadly", Karin was right in the middle of it and was sprayed with the gym teacher's spit. Her face got red and angry and nasty, and for a second I felt sorry for the teacher. However, before Karin even had a chance to open her fat mouth, the teacher started screaming again.

"I am Gai! Maito Gai!" Oh my God, his voice was even louder this time!

I don't know, I actually sort of like it.

Because you're just as loud as him?

You… You just shut your face, okay?

"We shall start the youthful day doing some youthful activities, shall we?" Gai asked, wiggling his eyebrows. "Does anybody have any suggestions?"

"Dodge ball!"

"Volleyball!"

"Lacrosse!"

"Basketball!"

"Soccer!"

"Just plain old rec. time!"

Gai rubbed his shiny chin, pondering the ideas we had thrown at him. "Those are all very youthful ideas, but I have an even more youthful idea! Let's run twenty five laps around the school, and after that we can do push-ups and sit-ups thirty times as a warm up!"

HOW THE HELL DO YOU GET RUNNING LAPS AND PUSH UPS AND SIT UPS FROM DODGE BALL, VOLLEYBALL, LACROSSE, BASKETBALL, SOCCER, AND REGULAR FREE TIME?! Inner screamed, absolutely livid.

I suppose I had no choice, though, like most of the other heartbroken kids in the class, because we reluctantly started a jog. The upcoming chill of fall had never been so effective on distracting me as I sniffled at least fifteen times the first five minutes. After about five laps around the whole, entire school, I was getting pretty tired of both the running and Gai's consistent screaming.

"Come on! Faster! Let the youth burn through you in a passionate flame!" Gai shouted. Though, I guess you couldn't say he was entirely useless. He was on his eighth lap, still in ease. In fact, there was a little skip in his step as he jogged around with us. I had a nasty thought that he would be expecting us to run as fast as he had sooner or later.

Only one kid was actually keeping up with Gai, and he looked exactly like him. No, really. They were, like, twins.

Ew.

What?

How gross would it be if a high school teacher and a high schooler were actually twins?

I had to ponder that and agreed with Inner. That was an absolutely disgusting idea.

Gai might've been harder on me and my average speed, except for the fact I was one of the few girls who were actually running. There was TenTen, who I only know is a transfer student, Ino, who actually wasn't doing so bad at Phys. Ed for once in her life, and a mysterious blue-haired girl whom I knew nothing about, except for the fact she was beating most of the males except for the Gai look-alike, and was really popular.

Meanwhile, still on her first lap was Karin, who wasn't even running. She was walking. Walking. She even had the gall to file her nails in boredom and scream insults at anybody who was faster than her. There was a girl who was Choji Akimichi's cousin, and I guess it's genetic or something that they're a little chubbier than the average person, but she's still a really nice person and always works hard. However, Choji's cousin was on lap three, lapping Karin three times, and her fourth time Karin yelled, "Hey, fatty, can you run a little faster? I don't want you to block out the sun."

Choji's cousin's lower lip trembled a little. Okay, that was cruel. I ran up to Karin and pushed her from behind, angry at her harassment. She squealed and landed in the dirt, in front of Sasori, who was in the class we were running in front of. I blushed when I saw him and waved. The red-headed hunk of hottie, mine, raised an eyebrow in a half smirk before going back to his classwork, ignoring my little "accident."

"Oh. My. God. Sakura, I cannot believe you just did that!" Ino exclaimed, hiding back a giggle. A mutual feeling of Ino and I was that we both hated Karin. We shared a grin but quickly turned away from each other. Man, I wish Ino and I were besties again, like the good old days before douchebag Sasuke came along.

Karin, however, was not laughing. "Sakura, you bitch!" she screamed. I stuck my tongue out at her and sped up, barely suppressing laughter.

Today might not be a good day in terms of classwork, but it was a good day anyhow. It was a good day because I had made Karin agitated! Yay me!

Sakura Achievement: Get Karin angry 5 times in one day- 20 percent complete

Cha! Only four more left and I achieve my Sakura Achievement of the day!

After an excruciating twenty five laps, I started crying.

"Oh my God, Sakura, are you okay?" Tenten asked worriedly.

"No!" I sobbed, rubbing my eyeballs. "I still have thirty push-ups and thirty sit-ups to do… And Rock Lee is already done!" I pointed to the boy with the similar eyebrows and bowl haircut, who was watching me intensely. It was actually really scary.

In an instant, there was a flash of green and Lee was by my side. Next to me, I could see his face to the full extent.

"I am Rock Lee, dear princess!" he shouted, kneeling down. "Do you need some assistance?" Tenten raised an eyebrow. His calloused hands were rough and scratchy against my own. I winced at his overly excited face pushed straight up to mine.

"Um, I'm fine…" I said awkwardly.

Lee, who was really starting to scare me now, jumped up and twirled around before landing on his toes. He blew me three kisses and declared something about love or whatever and then hopped off. I couldn't listen to his declaration too well… I was too busy dodging his kissy faces.

Tenten watched him leave with admiration. "He has such a beautiful pose and body figure," she said dreamily. Then her face got hard. "But I'm still better at ballet."

"Yeah, you sure are, Tenten…" I muttered, bending over just at the last minute to evade one last pair of evil kissy lips.

I didn't notice a pair of nasty, jealous red eyes peeking at me from behind a bush. If I had, I probably would have noticed those eyes followed me around a lot. Maybe, if I had, I could have avoided the accident.

But I'm dumb, and I never did notice.

Of course, the moment I stepped in that house it was total chaos. The beginning two minutes of Friday night wasn't so bad, though.

My dad parked his car right outside the address, in front of what seemed to be a huge-ass mansion with a humongous porch, yard, and driveway. The driveway, and probably the garage, was already packed full of cars.

"Sakura, honey, are you going to be okay?" my dad asked worriedly, his expert parent ears probably picking up on the loud, blaring metal music coming from said mansion.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Dad, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, okay? Enjoy your Friday night, Dad."

All bark no bite. God, girl, your stomach is doing a tap dance!

Oh, shut up, Inner.

I don't like it. It doesn't feel nice.

Whatever.

I hated to admit it, but Inner was actually right. This was, and I would never admit this to anyone, my very first high school party, with guys and beer and partying. And guys. I had literally spent the whole night playing dress-up in front of a computer screen, with my school help guru, Temari, at the other end of the screen. In the end, she used her godly forces (and voice) to get me into a striped red and black skirt that went down to mid-thigh and a cotton cardigan with a black tank top underneath. Yes, I was wearing Sasori's gift. Why not? It was pretty.

My dad studied my face for a moment before saying some sort of older-parent, wise saying to himself and driving away. He wasn't worried about picking me up; I had told him a friend (hint, hint, Sasori) would drive me back.

The door swung open and this guy with straight black hair tied in a ponytail and dull red eyes observed me for a while. I gulped. "Um… hi, this is…. Akasuna Sasori's house, right?"

His eyes continued to observe me. There was no sexual violation of privacy, or any hidden meaning. I just felt like I was being examined, and I didn't like it. The guy's eyes glowed brighter for a split second when his eyes landed on my bracelet.

"I am Uchiha Itachi," he said, "one of Sasori's acquaintances and member of the Akatsuki. I have heard… many things from you, Haruno Sakura." His eyes hardened again. "You may enter."

I shuddered at his gaze as I walked across the room. Then I realized something.

Holy shit, Uchiha Sasuke's older brother!

Oh my God, Inner, no wonder he's mad at us!

Mad at YOU, not me. He doesn't even know I exist!

"Oh, and Sakura," Itachi called, "Tell your Inner self to quiet down, please?"

OMYFUQUINGAWD! HE CAN READ OUR MIND!

Inner, shut up! Just calmly walk away, maybe he'll ignore us…

"If you keep on screaming in your head like that, it's quite impossible to ignore you," Itachi said calmly. I squealed like a little baby and ran down the hallway, getting closer to the blaring music that now was hurting my ears.

"Woah…" I watched, starry-eyed, at the scene in front of me.

The room was packed full of people, like a sardine can. An iPod sat proudly atop a speaker, which was the source of the loud music.

"Excuse me, sorry, oh God, sorry!" I apologized again and again, bumping into people I barely knew. Before I had gotten to Sasori, I had stepped on eight toes, spilled three drinks, and interrupted seventeen make-out sessions.

Then I noticed something weird. It wasn't my darling Sasori, thank God, it was his friend. The womanly male, Deidara. Sasori was watching him with faint amusement as the mess of blonde hair slurred his words, strutting around the room wearing a stupid grin on his face. An empty bottle was sitting on a table near him.

"Oh my God…" I whispered to myself. "Is he drunk?"

Somebody with a high, nasally voice giggled. "Yeah, that's DeiDei-chan, teehee! He's always drunk at Akatsuki parties!" The girl had orange hair that was so bright and bizarre I didn't know if it was dyed or if she was wearing a wig. There was an overdosage of make-up and she, herself, was obviously drunk.

I gulped. "Yeah, great." Was it normal for an under-aged person to be drunk right now?

Then I noticed, a lot of other people were staggering around, talking in cursive. For some reason, smelling all of the alcohol and sweat and this sort of salty-ish, hot scent made my stomach churn in disgust. Suddenly, a sort of brick wall crashed onto me.

What the hell am I doing here? This isn't just bad, it's illegal! Half the people here are drunk and the other half are about to get drunk! Why the hell did I even accept Sasori's invitation? I shouldn't have made this decision! Images and scenes of accidents flashed through my head.

Shh! Girl, just calm down! Slowly inch towards the door…. Slowly….

Someone grabbed my arm and forced me to turn away from the hallway. "Where are you going, baby?" a drunk dude moaned. He obviously had one too many bottles and was probably permanently damaged in the head from an over-dosage of alcohol. He breathed on me and I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"Ew, get away from me, you freak!" I yelled, struggling. Why wasn't anybody helping? They were all doing their own things, like this was natural. Some were even watching the scene, laughing.

"Come on Pinky don't be like that."

I paused. Stared him dead on in the eye. "What the hell did you just call me?" I bent my right leg back as far as I could. "SHANARO!"

The drunkard yelled in shock and pain as my foot made contact with his lower regions. "NOBODY EVER CALLS ME PINKY, YOU DUMB SHIT!" I screamed in his face.

You go girl!

There was a clapping sound, and I turned around, ready to fire my super awesome mega power groin kicking leg again, when I came face to face with Sasori. "Nice, Sakura," he said, smiling. "Remind me never to call you Pinky."

My face was flaming red. Oh, God, what is he thinking right now? Is he disgusted at me? Oh my gosh what the heck super awesome mega power groin kicking leg! You just ruined my first ever chances of getting a real boyfriend!

"I have to thank you, though," he said again, his mouth curling in distaste. "That wasn't somebody invited to our party. Probably a random person, or a Sound member." He leaned down at the unconscious person and scoffed. "Definitely Sound."

"Um, yeah…" I said awkwardly.

Thank you, super awesome mega power groin kicking leg!

"I'm sorry about the scene, Sakura," Sasori apologized sincerely. "Deidara messed up the invites again, along with the choice of drinks. Do you want to go upstairs where it's much quieter?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," I smiled weakly.

Sasori was right, upstairs was a lot more silent. It was also a lot more beautiful. There were scented candles that let out fumes that weren't too strong but also extremely noticeable during the change from downstairs to here. "This is my floor. Unfortunately, I got the floor right above the ground floor, where all of the partying is."

"Y-Y-Your floor?!" I squealed.

"Yes," Sasori clarified. "Each member of the Akatsuki has their own floor. I guess you could say this is our 'base', funded by the former members of Akatsuki, and, of course, our own money."

"Well, since we're alone…" I muttered, "I need to ask you something."

"Sure, wait…" a ringing sound pierced the awkward silence. "Ugh, who is it now? Unknown caller?" He pressed the answer key and held up the phone. Some inconsistent chatter, a pause, and the guy who I was about to ask to be my boyfriend paled.

An explosion rang out, clear as bells, in a southern direction.

"Oh my God…" My eyes widened in horror at the scene outside the window. "That place… Is where I live!"

A firecracker whistled from the explosion, and a firework exploded in the shape of a musical note. Fire burned and suddenly the happy and drunk chatter downstairs changed to screams of terror.

Sasori swore loudly and raced downstairs. "Sakura, whatever you do, stay here." He told me. Police sirens drowned out all further directions coming from him, but from the upstairs window I saw a car race off to my house.

And…. That's the ending of this chapter!

Thank you everyone who reviewed! I love you guys! :D

-APR