Helloz, welcome to the second chap. I feel like we didn't move on with the plot that much here, but it is the same length as the last chap, so I decided that this would do quite well.

Thank you everyone for reviewing~~ :D You're great! I wish I could reply to all of them, but I usually just don't know what to say :S And now it's kind of already too late anyway, since the new chap is up. But I'll think harder the next time xD

On a side note, guess who's going to take part in an international writing competition? ^~^ There are students from other countries going to compete as well, including the US and Sweden, I think, and some others that I don't quite remember... Anywayz, the ENTIRE story can be up to 2000 words (like wtf, even this chap is longer!) and I've decided to modify the first chapter of 'Token' a little, so it would be suitable for the contest :3 Wish me luck and I'll let you know when I receive my first place prize x3 Ok, jk jk. The other contestants ought to be older than me and are native English speakers and shit, so I'm most likely going to fail. But what the hell, I'll give it a try.

Also, my art teacher saw the drawings of pirate Sasori and Deidara (that I've already uploaded on DA) and asked for my permission to hang them on the art class wall xD Obviously I agreed. SPREAD SASODEI AND MAKE IT GLOBAL! Heheh... anywayz, here's the chap:

Chapter 2 – Meet the Insanity

Deidara flipped open the black student handbook. Its cover was somewhat scary, a red pentagram over a black background, but Deidara decided to ignore it and focus on what lay inside. The first paragraph was about clothing and the dress code.

The dress code varied for each rank. Not caring in the least about the other ranks, Deidara skipped to the last paragraph titled as 'S-rank'. The students can choose their own clothes, as long as they are the colors of the S-rank – red, black and gray. Fortunately, he'd known this in advance, so he'd packed his luggage accordingly.

The meanings of the colors had been defined; black – the color of the heart beating inside the students of this rank, red – announcing danger and warning others to stay away from them, and finally gray – the brightest possible future for them.

Deidara found this approach to changing the students for the better odd. It was more like no one believed they would ever change their ways, they just wanted to keep them captive and out of the way. 'Brightest possible future' - what was up with that?

Deidara shook his head in disbelief. There was also a formal uniform for special occasions - a black cloak with red clouds printed on it. Artistically unique,Deidara commented mentally.

He let his eyes run over the rest of the rules, just in case there was something important he should've known. Every rank had different rules that applied to them. Naturally, the higher the rank, the stricter the rules. Behind every rule, there was written 'punishment' and a number. Deidara quickly caught on that the bigger the number, the severer the punishment that followed breaking the rule.

For comparison, he read through other ranks' rules and punishments as well. It surprised him to find out that even when the rule was basically the same, rank S got a far severer punishment. The highest punishment level he could spot was 18. Thinking about what it could've been made Deidara's blood run cold.

He tossed the book back onto the desk. I'll survive,he kept assuring himself as he placed all the books on the shelf and went to unpacking his bag then. As long as I won't go looking for trouble, I have no reason to worry about the punishments.

He pulled open the doors of the wardrobe, finding the mentioned black cloak hanging there. He pushed it to the side, loading his clothes onto the hangers. His bag of clay he tossed into the corner of the armoire.

Taking a look at his watch he'd been lucky enough to take with him, he saw that he still had many hours to go before the beginning of classes. His eyelids feeling heavy and numb, he plopped down on the bed, face first, and fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

The next time he aroused, bright sun rays fell on his face, shining through the barred window. He was lying on his back and scraped his fringe out of the way, bringing his hand up to check the time. The longer hand had yet 15 minutes to tick by before the start of classes and Deidara deemed it to be a good enough time to get going.

He took his schedule from the desk and the book for American Literature, before strolling out of the room, locking up behind him. The entire hallway was empty as he paced down it, not meeting any people while walking down the staircase either.

It was only when he stepped outside that he found proof of not being the only student in school. Clusters of students were scattered about the campus, showing off the general preference of engaging in cliques rather than going solo. An instinctive way of staying alive by having a group to back you up.

Deidara felt vulnerable as he proceeded alone to the south-west building. Glancing paranoically to his right and left, he even went as far as to wish for his ex-friends and classmates to be there. They would've been convenient to hide behind at least.

Hugging his book closer to his chest, he broke into a run for the house, casting his eyes down on the ground to avoid any eye contact. He was sure he'd already gotten over his social phobia about a month ago, but even so starting a conversation with a maniac didn't sound appalling.

He figured his best choice would've been to take advantage of the rank he was in and act like a serial killer, all gloomy with a dark aura surrounding him. But as he tried to force a confident expression on his face and raise his chin, he understood that he felt too shaken up for any of that. Hiding his face behind his fringe, he entered the building, making his way to the third floor where class 307 was supposed to be.

He mentally bashed himself for not reading the descriptions of the dress codes of other ranks. Being able to recognize each rank would've spared him a lot of worrying while treading through the hallways, maneuvering between students and trying to avoid any physical contact. At least he could tell apart the most dangerous from the rest of the student body – they were wearing the same color clothes as him.

Finally finding the class with the right number on it, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. Halting in the doorway to look for a place to seat, he felt relieved when realizing that no one had noticed him entering. But after letting his eyes roam over the students talking, he understood that this wasn't because of his rare luck. No one noticed anyoneoutside their clique. And even though this could've proven to be a good think as to keep him out of trouble, Deidara still felt lonely at the thought of it.

Looking to the side, he eyed the group of seven people clustered around a table at the back of the classroom. Two of them, a redheaded boy and a blue-haired girl, were sitting on the desk, engaged in a lively conversation with the others. The boy was fair-skinned, his facial features doll-like. There were dark circles under his eyes, as though he hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Stopping at that thought, Deidara wondered what his own eyes must've looked like.

The girl on the left had short blue hair, and was sitting crossed legged in her mini-skirt. One wrong movement and her panties would show, Deidara thought. But he didn't think the girl would've been bothered by that, or else she wouldn't have dressed so exposingly, right?

Her eyelids were covered in heavy dark make-up, the black labret piercing making her a great match for the boy in front of her who she was holding hands with. The boy had spiky reddish hair and several silver piercings decorating his face. Deidara thought that he looked good, although not as good as the first redhead sitting on the desk.

Standing as part of the half circle around the desk was a pink-haired girl in the arms of a gloomy-looking male, next to them two more boys acting like a couple. One of them had smooth silver hair, the gray button-up shirt hanging open over his bare chest. The other one, a little taller male, was wearing a black mouth mask and had his hands around the other boy's waist. Deidara almost sighed with relief, now knowing that he wasn't the only gay in school.

Gazing at the group, he couldn't stop his eyes from focusing only on the doll-like redhead sitting on the desk. His features seemed so smooth and welcoming, yet so strong and dangerous. It wasn't hard to imagine him as a murderer. Yet, Deidara found himself not bothered by it. Was the nature of the students here growing on him already?

Deidara forced himself to blink once and the others in the group came back to focus as well. He hadn't noticed it at first, but they were all dressed in S-rank clothes. So the image of the redhead, with a knife covered in blood, he'd imagined, had probably not been so far from the truth. That boy was here for the same thing as he.

"YO! HIDAN!" a blond boy from the other side of the class yelled, catching the attention of the S-rank students', including Deidara's. He had clothes of different colors on, belonging to a lower rank. "YOU GONNA BREAK THE RECORD AGAIN THIS YEAR?" The boy gave an idiotic grin that still looked mildly formidable in a lunatic way.

There was no answer given in response and the classroom that had fallen into silence for a moment, filled with chatter again. The S-rank group turned their heads back to each other, ignoring their blond classmate. Deidara glanced at the blond briefly, seeing as he was chuckling and already talking to a cluster of people in the same rank as him. Being ignored didn't seem to bother him in the least. Maybe he'd meant it as a mocking rhetorical question and Deidara just hadn't caught on?

Deidara shifted his eyes back to the cute redhead he'd found. His heart skipped a beat when his eyes met a couple of dark brown ones. They looked deep and with great depth, inviting the blond to drown in them. Seducing, captivating and formidable at the same time, Deidara felt his face flush red, when he finally caught on that the redhead was looking straight at him.

Quickly, he cast his eyes down, feeling embarrassment. Deciding that he'd stayed in one place for long enough, he went to sit down behind the nearest desk, hoping that it didn't belong to someone else. He could sense the eyes on him, staring at his back, and made sure to keep his gaze down. So much for building a redoubtable reputation; that blush was sure to leave a mark on him for the rest of his time there.

The door swung open and two adults walked in, one male and one female. The man went to sit down behind the teacher's desk, while the woman stopped in front of the class, letting her bored eyes run over the students. Working with maniac teenagers couldn't have been anyone's dream.

"Hm, I'm the school psychotherapist and I'm going to need the new students to come to my office one by one. It's in the south-east building on the second floor at the end of the hallway. Hard to miss. I'll take one of you with me now, the others have to come by alone. So, is Deidara Iwaga here?"

It took Deidara some time to understand that his name was just called. He raised his hand, feeling slight discomfort at the others knowing his name now. The woman nodded and motioned for him to get up. He did, taking his book with him after a split second debate and followed the woman out of the classroom.

Before exiting the door, he chanced one last glance at the redhead. He was looking away, proving all Deidara's fears of being watched before wrong. A shrink could've been exactly what he needed.

Deidara was ushered to the office in the south-east building, as promised, and sat down on a rather uncomfortable chair while the woman plopped down on an armchair opposite to him. The walls of the room were plain white, looking like in a hospital which hadn't been renovated in decades. An old uncurtained window with dirty glass opened to the road leading back to the city where Deidara had come from.

The woman flipped through the papers in her hands, while Deidara sat there in silence. He wanted to make as good of an impression as possible, even though there would be no point. Just because people thoughthe was a ruined teenager, didn't mean he should've necessarily acted like one.

"Madara Tobi, yes?" she said, looking up from her papers. "The victim?"

Deidara paled instantly, feeling his heart clench. Hearing his best friend's name mentioned in such a casual tone made him shudder, queasiness filling him and making his stomach heave. His body tensed up, hands gripping the edges of the seat. A drop of sweat rand down his pale forehead.

"I didn't kill him," he whispered without thinking, staring at the woman wide-eyed. She gave a humorless snort, acting like everyone else had before. "I swear I-"

The shrink waved him off, not letting him finish. "Drop the act. I'm a therapist, not the police. Now tell me truth, why did you do it?"

"I DIDN'T DO IT!" Deidara burst out, standing up halfway from the chair. His hands were clenched into fists, a tear of anger running down his cheek.

The shrink nodded calmly and wrote something down on her paper, appearing to be used to cases like this. Deidara watched her, the back of his throat burning. She didn't believe him, no one did. How could he have been so stupid to even dream about it?

He lowered his head, letting the bang fall back in front of his face. He sat down, staring at the floor. The one tear that had fallen, dripped off his chin onto his t-shirt, leaving an unnoticeable mark on the black fabric. He tangled his fingers and bent forward, leaning against his legs and letting his head drop.

"So, who exactly was this… Tobi?"

Deidara's body tensed and he bit his lip, not coming out from behind his curtain of hair. There was no point in him being there with her. It wasn't going to change anything. And he wasn't going to spill his story to some random chick, if even thinking about that day filled him with anguish. She could go fuck herself.

The woman waited patiently, but seeing as the boy had no intentions of speaking, she did instead. "Okay, while you think, I will talk. My name is Aimi. What you're forced to go through now is a check-up compulsory to every new student. Basically, it's up to me to decide whether you should be given any special treatment or not-"

"There's nothing wrong with me," Deidara said, amending the sentence in his mind to 'You won't be able to cure me.'

Aimi's voice was particularly sharp when she spoke, "I can see that you haven't lost your tongue. Could you, please, answer my question, so that I could decide on that?"

You can go rot in a ditch,Deidara thought, but didn't say anything. He just wanted to get out of there. How long would she keep him there after figuring out he wasn't going to answer?

"Just letting you know that not answering is punishable," Aimi said matter-of-factly, tapping her pen against her thigh. She knew most of the weak spots of the students.

Deidara got the hint. For a minute he thought it over, before sighing and giving up. "A friend," he whispered, his voice managing to crack even with only one word. His face was still hidden behind the bang and he could feel another load of tears coming up. His voice had been quiet and barely audible.

The shrink seemed to have heard him, though, as she nodded thoughtfully. "What happened?"

It was the obvious question that everybody had been wanting to know since day one. Deidara had known this would be coming, yet he couldn't stop his nails from digging into his skin to draw away the piercing pain striking in his heart.

"I can't talk about it," he said after a pause. His throat clamped shut after that.

"I see." The shrink nodded and scribbled something down. Her casual tone gave off the impression like she wasn't taking any of it seriously. She wasn't solemn, she didn't look concerned. She was merely doing his job, even though she didn't really care what was wrong with the boy. There was no sincere pity in her voice when she spoke. Deidara was glad for that. He'd endured enough sympathy the last two months to last him a lifetime.

"I'm going to have to ask you to start coming here weekly, Deidara. Does Thursday night work for you?"

Deidara raised his head, covering his face with his hands and resting his elbows on his knees in a ohmigod-you're-fucking-kidding-me manner. "I don't need no frigging-"

"Of course it works," Aimi said, setting the papers on the table and flashing him a fake sweet smile. "I'll see you again on Thursday at 4 pm. Please, be kind enough to send the next one in and close the door after you leave. Goodbye for now."

To be continued...

Hahaha, I got rid of Tobi before the first chap xD All possible annoyance avoided. Btw, try guessing who exactly where the students Deidara saw...? :D (I bet the hardest one to guess is the mysterious doll-like redhead xD)