Fire High

Chapter 7

Of Science Class and Projects

Sakura slowly opened the door to Orochimaru-sensei's class room and peaked in through the crack. Surprisingly there was no teacher. Sighing in relief she quickly entered the room and took a seat in a corner of the back room.

Hopefully no one will notice me. The last thing I need right now is to be in the spotlight.

She thought as she sunk her head into her seat. But not two seconds later, two hands roughly slammed onto her desk top. Looking up she saw none other than Sasuke Uchiha. At the sight of him she scowled in anger.

"What do you want?"

She snapped in irritation. If this is what I'm going to have to deal with for three more years then I'd rather go to boot camp.

Sasuke smirked as he leaned down before whispering;

"You."

At his answer Sakura narrowed hey eyes in anger.

She was about to punch the smirk right off his face but then she remembered what Ino had told her before class, about Sasuke telling everyone she was going to his party with him and then she got an idea. The opportunity to knock his ego down a few pegs was just too good to pass up.

After Sasuke too a seat to her right she quickly faced him with a flirtatious smile.

"So I heard you were going to take me to your party this Friday?"

As she said this she twirled a lock of her hair around her index finger and gave him a fake nervous look. At first Sasuke was surprised with the sudden change in attitude but then he smirked smugly. He sat on the edge of his seat and leaned in to the nervous looking Sakura.

"You heard right baby, I only go out with the best."

Sasuke knew she couldn't resist his charms and good looks for long. After all, he had a reputation of being able to bed any girl. Sakura was no different than any other lay. After he was finished with her, he'd dump her like every other girl. Right?"

Sakura blushed just to make sure her act seemed real, but a tiny voice in the back of her mind told her that she was actually flattered with his comment. She mentally told the voice to shove it before giving her full attention back to the Uchiha who was gradually getting closer to her. She mentally scoffed at his smug look.

He so thought she was falling for him, luckily she had experience with this kind of guy, and she knew just how to crush his pride. In the corner of her eye she saw Sasori walk into the class and smiled.

Perfect timing.

After she was practically in his lap, lips inches from his, she suddenly stood up abruptly and smiled at Sasori who was standing in front of her desk with a bored expression on his face.

"Sasori-kun! You're in this class? Awesome, lets be lab partners!"

She watched from the corner of her eye as Sasuke fell to the floor from the sudden movement before glaring up at the red head who ruined his moment.

Sasori was pissed. As soon as he had entered the room he caught a flash of pink hair and smiled. But when he got closer he noticed how close she was to the Uchiha brat. She was practically in his lap as she smiled up at his smirking face, lips only mere inches apart.

He hid his anger and nodded to the smiling girl before making his way to the back of the room, purposely moving as far as possible from the glaring Uchiha.

"So Sasori-kun, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what Ino said at lunch. You guys aren't so bad, well except Hidan of course."

Sakura said with a nervous laugh. She really did feel bad about what she had said to Ino and Tenten about the Akatsuki. Truthfully she thought he was nice, albeit a little quiet but nice all the same.

Sasori merely nodded in response.

Suddenly the front door slung open and a tall man walked in.

The first thins Sakura thought when she saw him was; snake.

The second thing; creep.

And the third; pedophile.

The third thought came to her when she noticed the way he was staring at Sasuke as he talked. It was unnerving and Sakura found herself feeling slightly sorry for the teen.

But only slightly.

It was finally the end of the school day and Sakura couldn't help but walk as fast as she could through the gates. It was by far the most exhausting and strangest first day of school she had ever went through and she was eager to go home and rest.

Almost there, just another couple of steps and I'll be home free!
"SAKURA-CHAN!"

A voice boomed from across the school yard. In reflex she looked over her shoulder and cursed when she saw Kisame, Pein, and Hidan all heading her way. She looked from left to right to find an escape route and when she couldn't find one she smile weakly at the approaching gang members.

Damn it! Don't they ever get tire of this?

"Hey baby."

Hidan said as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a sideways hug. Scowling, she quickly elbowed him in the ribs and stepped away.

"What do you guys want?"

She asked through gritted teeth.

"Did you forget Pinky? You told us to come find you after school to get your address. We gotta work on our project."

Kisame asked, smirking at her horror stricken face.

Damn it! I forgot about that!

"Ugh fine. You might as well walk with me. I don't live very far and the sooner we get this project over, the better. By the way, where's Gaara?"

At the mention of the red head's name, more than one Akatsuki scowled.

"We don't fuckin' know."

Hidan spat with distaste.

"Nor do we care."

Pein added with concealed hatred. But Sakura could see it in his eyes. Speaking of his eyes, they freaked the hell out of her; it was like they could see right through her soul and make her kind of nervous when those eyes were focused on her.

"We can't do the project without him."

She said as she crossed her arms with defiance evident in every part of her body. She was actually trying to find an excuse to get out of it because really, she was not looking forward to her mother's reaction to her bringing home four guys on the first day of school.

She could hear her now;

Sakura Haruno, what have I told you about bringing friends over without my consent? You know the rules; I have to meet them before you bring them over. Why are there only boys? Are you dating one of them? You know you're not allowed to date until you're seventeen.

Yeah, Sakura was aware that her mother was a lunatic but you don't choose your family, right? This was not going to end well.

Sakura smirked inwardly when she saw their irritated faces, thinking she had won, but that thought went down the drain when she realized they were looking at something behind her and of course, the source of their irritation was right there, Gaara Subaku.

He was leaning against the front gates of the school, arms crossed and eyes closed.

Is he always in that position?

She sighed in defeat before walking up to the silent teen.

"Hey Gaara, instead of me just giving you guys my address we're just gonna head over to my house now."

Sakura explained depressingly. His only response was opening his eyes and nodding, and with that they all followed the pink haired girl down the street.

After about ten minutes they arrived at her two story house with the air still tense. It seemed having two gang leaders within five feet of each other wasn't exactly a good idea. Luckily they were both the silent death glaring type instead of the violent type.

However, having Hidan and Kisame around made up for that. They constantly fought back and forth about any and everything. By the time they arrived at her house, Sakura felt like she was about to explode with anger and irritation.

"Ugh, will you guys please shut up? We're here."

She hissed in aggravation making both Akatsuki members stop and stare up at the house.

"Mom, I'm home and I brought some company."

She yelled throughout the house after opening the door. She heard four guys following her through the hall and into the living room.

As soon as she entered the living room she caught sight of her mom on the couch reading a magazine in her house slippers. At her entrance she looked up with surprise written all over her face when she caught sight of the guys who were no doubt behind her all looking very much intimidating as they towered over her small figure.

"Honey, who are they?"

Her mom asked as she gave her daughter a fake smile.

Crap! She is mad!

"They're some classmates from school; we got paired up in a project and were told to work on it after school. Since out place was closer we agreed to come here. I hope that's okay."

Sakura said nervously. She watched as her mom said it was okay, the whole time wearing her fake smile as she told them to work in the living room while she got some snacks together.

After her mom exited the room she breathed a sigh of relief.

"What was that about?"

Kisame asked as he stretched out on one of the leather recliners taking up all of the room.

I never really noticed it before but Kisame is freakishly huge for a seventeen year old.

After everyone had sat down around the living room and her mom had given them some snacks and left to hang out in her room she explained in a whisper.

"My mom doesn't like me having people over unless she knows them or is told ahead of time. That's why I was just going to give you guys my address so I had time to tell her about it."

"Why? Is she fucking paranoid or something?"

Hidan asked with a snort as he munched on some chips. Sakura gritted her teeth in further irritation as Hidan put his feet up on her coffee table making dirt fall to the surface of the table.

"Hidan, remove your feet before I do it for you."

Pein said as he stared at Hidan, anger evident in his eyes. Hidan rolled his eyes but removed his feet nonetheless. Sure Hidan was defiant but he wasn't stupid. His leader was angry enough about the Suna gang leader being in the same room as him and an unruly gang member would only fuel his anger.

Sakura was impressed.

It seemed Pein had a good control over his gang, even Hidan who seemed like the type to not give a damn about what anyone said.

"Alright listen you guys, we need to work on our project. Do any of you have an idea on what we should do it on?"

she asked, hoping to break the tension in this room.

Unfortunately it didn't

But the sound of the door bell ringing at least gave her the excuse to leave the suffocating room.

"Coming!"

She yelled as she made her way down the long hallway. Opening the door she was shocked to see Itachi, Deidera, Sasori, and someone she had never met before all standing on her doorstep.

"What are you guys doing here?"