TOKIO HOTEL WON THE MMM! :D Lol, that was so random.

Anywhoz, thank you all for reviewing~~! I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 3 - Introductions

Hands in pockets, Deidara trod along the path from the south-east building back to the schoolhouse. His gaze was on the ground, his thoughts in a whirl. He found it hard coping with everything new. Looking back now, he understood what a drastic transition he'd gone through in the past year.

He'd used to be a sincerely happy child. A child,before people began treating him as a degenerated adult. In the past year, his uncle had died, his mother had begun smoking and drinking again, his best friend had been killedand he'd been found guilty. There was only so much one could take before losing one's mind.

Deidara felt himself becoming numb. He'd begun questioning his existence, his life. What was he living for? Spending time on Earth by merely existingseemed like a horrible waste of time to him.

But he couldn't leave this world either. Even if there was no one else who would've cared, there was his mother. A single parent who'd raised him for all these years, he owed her something. If he died, she would die as well. She'd never survive losing her only child.

Deidara had never had a father. Mother said he'd died in a car accident or something. Deidara hadn't inquired much, his mother would always become depressed and leave the house after that. Mentioning his father had become a taboo for both of them.

Deidara sighed. His own brain irked him. Whenever he tried to think about something good in his life that would be important to him, he flashed to the redheaded doll-like boy he'd seen sitting on the table among the other S-rank students. His fair skin, dark eyes, solemn look – everything about him invited Deidara in.

He looked like one of the bad boys people usually advised to stay away from, yet Deidara couldn't bring himself to care about it. He knew that he would've preferred to be broken by him than to never get to be with him at all. And he was already imagining them as a couple.

Ridiculous. He'd already managed to fall for the guy (only for his look, mark that!), before he'd heard him say a word. Without knowing a single thing about him, he was already dreaming about him like crazy! That was not rational. Deidara wanted to shove those thoughts back to whatever nasty corner of his mind they had come from.

But he looks so dreamy,a tempting voice in Deidara's head sang, making him want to clamp his ears shut.

Stay away from me, you're crazy!Deidara hissed in response.

Oh, but giving it a try would not hurt, do you not agree? One small attempt to get closer to him,the voice lilted, eating up Deidara's mature way of thinking. Try becoming friends with him, talking to him… You can't deny that you would enjoy that!

I guess I could trytalkingto him, since I'm already stuck in this place,Deidara agreed, making faces at his own thoughts. He was actually having a conversation within himself.

And then maybe it could turn into something much more…

Before Deidara could scream out loud at the voice to shut up, he heard another voice shout from behind him. "HEY BLONDIE!"

Deidara swirled around, his eyes widening with surprise when he saw the other redhead from the group sprinting towards him. He had a red jacket wrapped around his shoulders, the end of it flapping in the air as he ran. Deidara stopped, waiting for him.

"You mean me?" he asked the boy as he approached. His voice may have come out a little bit colder than he'd planned, but the redhead didn't seem to notice. He clamped his hand down on his shoulder, bending downwards and taking a deep breath before standing up straight and looking the blond in the eye.

He nodded, "Yeah, unless you can direct me to another blonde nearby."

Dumbly, Deidara glanced around him, his stupidity becoming obvious to himself when he realized that there was no one beside them outside. "Oh," he said, averting his eyes to the ground. "Hey."

The redhead gave a loud laugh, patting the blond's back and motioning for them to continue walking. He removed his hand from Deidara's back and shoved them into his pockets as they proceeded, Deidara feeling thankful for that. He awkwardly lowered his gaze again, hiding his face behind his bang. He still didn't feel comfortable talking to strangers, he realized.

Suddenly, he became very self-conscious, remembering that this redhead was friends with hisdoll-redhead. Nothing could've made him act more awkward than the will to leave a good impression to a friend of his crush. His whole body tensed up, keeping in mind his every move. A blush tinted both of his cheeks deep red.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're Deidara, am I right?" the redhead said, his tone casual and easy. Deidara was surprised by the friendliness the boy gave off; he'd never imagined finding someone like that in a reformschool. The sudden distraction from his thoughts made the blush disappear as he looked at him. The redhead's curious glance reminded him that he was supposed to say something.

"Um… yeah, I mean, yes. Name's Deidara," he stuttered, shrinking on the inside in embarrassment of not being able to speak properly.

The redhead nodded, looking in front of him. "I'm Pein."

Deidara paused mid-step, casting the boy an uncertain look. Was he mocking him? The boy noticed this and laughed again. He didn't sound like he was trying to make fun of him, Deidara thought, but couldn't be sure either. It didn't surprise anyone that he had trouble trusting people.

"It's a nickname I've been given by our fellow schoolmates," the boy explained.

Deidara wasn't going to ask why. He didn't want to ruin his pleasant image of the boy. Giving a slight nod, he continued walking.

"So, what are you in here for?" Pein questioned, looking at the blond. Deidara felt like in a prison, talking with another convict about their crimes. 'So, how much did they give you?' 'Five years, you?' 'Six, but my cousin's promised to come bail me out.' 'Ooh, you'll get away from this hellhole.'These two places were so similar, it wasn't hard drawing parallels between them.

Automatically, Deidara had quickly turned his head away before the boy could see the change in his expression. Despite the frequency this question had been asked that day, he couldn't help paling every time he was forced to think about it. He remained silent.

Pein took it as a hint. "I see. You're one of them."

"One of what?"

"One of the people who won't share their story. There are only so many of them here, Zet is the only one who knows everyone's secrets."

Pein's explanation made nothing clearer for the blond. His face cringed into a question mark as he looked at him. "The what and the who?"

Pein started explaining, "Zet is one of the twins. He has access to everyone's profiles, that's why he knows the story behind everyone here."

"What twins?" Deidara still didn't get it. Things had almost added up, aside from the name mentioned that made the story confusing.

"There are two twins in this hellhole – Zet and Su. They're both A-rank. Zet is known for getting information, while Su can get everything else."

This explanation seemed a bit hazy, pieces of information having been left out. Was that intentional? Deidara didn't like to inquire much, yet he couldn't keep himself from asking, "What is everything?"

"Anything,"Pein replied, his gaze away from the blond full stop in the sentence was clear – there would be no more dwelling on that topic. Deidara was looking at the ground as they walked up the stairs to their classroom. They had two classes of American Literature in a row, so Deidara didn't need to go back to his dorm room for other books.

The cluster of the S-rank was still in the same spot as before, now missing one member who was standing next to Deidara. Pein took a seat on the edge of the blond's desk, Deidara coming to a stop with him. They both looked in the same direction, Deidara feeling like bashing himself for allowing his eyes to search for the scorpion – a random nickname he'd come up for the doll-like redhead.

"This may surprise you, but that's it for the students in S-rank," Pein said, Deidara not really paying attention to him. His eyes were on the scorpion. "Most students are in other ranks. Didn't make it to the top." Pein gave a low chuckle, laughing at his own joke.

He glanced at the blond, finding him nodding absentmindedly. He raised an eyebrow, following the blond's gaze. What he saw were the redhead and the blue-haired girl sitting on the table. His eyes narrowed as he misinterpreted Deidara's stare.

"That's Konan, but she's off the market," he said, letting coldness enter his voice for the first time. Deidara blinked out of the daze, looking back at Pein. "What, who? The girl?"

Pein's solemn gaze frightened him. It took him a moment to put two and two together. Once he'd come to the right conclusion, an embarrassed smile spread across his lips. He felt his cheeks heat up and he averted his eyes to the ground, letting his fringe shield his blush.

"I wasn't looking at her," he said in a small voice. Pein blinked, his expression clearing as he gazed back at the girl. Then his eyes shifted to the redhead next to her and his lips twitched into a smile. A low chuckle escaped his mouth and Deidara shyly looked up.

"Batting for the other team, I see."

Deidara stiffed, his whole face turning deep red. Folding his arms, he turned his head away dramatically, whacking Pein with his long blonde hair. Pein laughed amusedly, moving back out of the hair swinging radius.

"Chill, dude," he said appeasingly. "That's no one to make a fuss about. That's just Sasori."

Deidara glanced back on the alert, seeing as the other male was willing to share information about the scorpion. "Go on," he urged, eyes narrowed in a challenge for Pein to make up for his bluntness.

Pein shrugged. "Not much to tell you about. He's in here for killing his grandmother," he said in a casual tone, while there was a shiver running down Deidara's back. "If you're interested, go talk to him."

Go talk to him? That's your advice? I'll make a fucking fool out of myself!Deidara faked a smile over his shoulder, his back still on Pein. "Maybe later. Who are the others?"

Pein looked over at them. "The one with the mouth mask is Kakuzu and in his arms is his boyfriend Hidan. I recommend that you don't pick a fight with them. They're a little… harsh."

Deidara nodded. He hadn't thought they looked friendly either. "What are they in here for?" he asked.

Pein shrugged. "Beats me. Go ask Zet, if you're curious, although I doubt he'll give you any info." Deidara didn't say anything, only gazed at them. Pein continued, "The pink-haired girl is Tayuya, Hidan's younger sister. The one that just kissed her is Itachi. He's in here for killing his whole family."

Deidara's eyes went wide. "What the fuck?" Hiswhole family?

Pein remained indifferent. "Not exactly everyone. He didn't kill his younger brother. Sasuke is the one standing in the left corner next to that blond boy," – he pointed at a boy dressed in blue and black, whose black hair was curved upwards with gel – "he's in A-rank for an attempt to kill Itachi. Almost succeeded. Itachi was in hospital for two weeks."

Deidara deemed this place to be officially fucked up. His face wasn't capable of giving forward the emotions he felt inside. The older brother killing the family and then the younger brother trying to kill the older brother and then both ending up in a reform school? Sounded like out of some bad action movie.

"Is scorp-, I mean, Sasori single?" Deidara couldn't help but ask. His gaze was on the scorpion, but darted back to Pein the moment he saw Sasori move his head, in fear of getting caught staring again.

"As far as I'm concerned, yeah. He isn't much of a 'relationship' type. More of a one night stand guy. Don't get your hopes up, chances are that he's not what you're looking for. There's a reason he's single."

Deidara looked like he'd just swallowed something extremely sour. That was just what he needed – someone telling him that the spark he'd found in his life was not right for him.Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

The introduction ended with the ringing of the loud school bell.

To be continued...

Heheh, Sakuraphobes, see, it wasn't Sakura? I think she's in A or B rank. Hooked up with... Ino, maybe? Sasuke? I'll think about it. Anywhoz,TAYUYA IS ONE OF THE BEST CHARACTERS EVER.So next time, if you read my stories and spot a 'pink-haired girl', chances are it's Tayuya. Sakura... is just there to fill the empty space. I don't care much about her. She's boring, unless she's OOC. Imho. Idk. Lol.