Author's Note: Okay guys! I have been working TIRELESSLY on this chapter ALL WEEK. TI-RE-LESS-LY. I stress this because I have been sorta busy and in my free time, I've sat myself down and said "Imma crank this shit out AND IMMA DO IT TODAY!" *1,000 words later* I can't do it. I gotta take a break...but tonight, I sat down, and cranked it out. With that being said, I hope you enjoy~

***To The Secret Sal: I lied. Unintentionally. I said that 3 major things would happen in this chapter. I'm going to retract that statement and say that 1 major thing happens in this chapter (Sorry!) That being said, 2 major things will in happen in the next chapter! Promise! I hope it's everything you were excited for!

IF SHISUI WAS COGNIZANT enough to reply back to Itachi's text in his hung-over state, then it stood to reason that he didn't die of alcohol poisoning. It didn't stop Itachi from searching for him in the cafeteria on Thursday, however.

He waited for almost ten minutes when he spotted a familiar head of black curly hair peeking out between the mass of students.

"Well if it isn't my second mother!" Shisui joked.

Itachi sighed. "I was just concerned for you is all." He answered, unwrapping the turkey sandwich he purchased earlier. He was too preoccupied scouting for Shisui to eat it until now.

"Over nothing!" He laughed. "It was fun though; you should've been there."

"I'm sure it was." Itachi answered apathetically, taking a small bite of his sandwich.

"You bet it was! The hangover was worth it!"

"Was skipping all of your Tuesday classes worth it?" Itachi asked him. "Especially with midterms being next week?"

Shisui waved the comment off dismissively like he always did and leaned back in his chair. "You only turn twenty-one once, Itachi. You only turn twenty-one once."

"You'll still be twenty-one after midterms are over and you'll still be able to legally purchase alcoholic beverages then. Your midterm grade, however—" He was saying when Shisui put a hand on his cousin's shoulder.

"Let me tell you a little secret, okay?" He said, leaning in close and placing his hand up to his mouth to prevent nearby students from overhearing them. "When I was a freshmen, I thought a lot like you did, all worried about midterms and studying and getting good grades and whatnot. And when I became a sophomore, I still worried about stuff like that, but I still got good grades. Now that I'm a junior, I'm taking it easy. If I don't do well on midterms, there's always finals week. And don't discredit the assignments in between midterms and finals." He said, raising a dark brow.

Itachi wasn't a junior, so he couldn't refute Shisui's claim. However, he still believed that it wasn't as easy as Shisui made it sound. College was harder than high school, that much was for certain. Even though his high school classes were easy, Itachi still studied to ensure that he understood the material. In college, however, it was essential that he studied everything because every professor was different, and it was uncertain what material, and how much material they'd covered in class would present itself on the test.

In high school, Shisui was an excellent student; in fact, Itachi heard nothing but praise from his aunt and uncle when they visited the house for the holidays.

"He's such a hard worker." His aunt told Mikoto.

"The kid's going to go places, Fugaku, the kid's going to go places." His uncle said.

And all the while, Mikoto would smile and laugh while Fugaku nodded in agreement. It was only after the pair took their leave for the night that Fugaku would sit down with a cup of tea, shaking his head. "If he puts his mind to it, he will go places." He spoke of Shisui. "But the boy's too overconfident, and that's going to get him in trouble one of these days."

Although Mikoto wouldn't agree or disagree, the way she pursed her lips spoke volumes. She wanted to disagree, but deep down inside, she knew that her husband's words held some truth to them.

At the time, Itachi didn't understand what his parents were saying. He knew that they were talking about Shisui, as they always did after Fugaku's older brother and wife left their house, but he never understood what they meant.

Across from him, Shisui was smirking, his hand still outstretched and resting on Itachi's shoulder.

It wasn't until today that he saw what he failed to understand so many years before.

"When you're a junior, you'll understand." Shisui said in response to his cousin's sudden silence and retracted his hand.

I highly doubt I will. He thought forlornly and changed the subject. "Are you planning to attend the homecoming dance this weekend?" He asked.

Shisui nodded excitedly. "You bet I am! Are you?"

He had a feeling Shisui would ask him that. He shook his head.

"Why not?" Shisui asked him. "Itachi, it's your first homecoming! C'mon!"

"I'm not against homecoming week." Itachi explained. "I think it's fun and all how everyone is running around showing off their school spirit, but why does there have to be a dance at the end of it?"

"To celebrate!"

Itachi sighed. "Celebrate what? Our football team? The players have a big enough ego as it is, they don't need a dance to boost it any more than that. Besides," he continued, "what if the football team doesn't even win? What're we celebrating then?"

Shisui shrugged. "Our school spirit?"

This was turning out to be a dead-end argument. Itachi remembered the days when he and Shisui would argue about who's rock skipped the furthest when they would play at the river bank. It was a pointless argument, but back then, it was an important one. And at the end of each day, they'd forget about it (most of the time. Itachi could always skip rocks better than Shisui could.)

Here they were now, discussing the relevance of a homecoming dance for God's sake. Could they not have a normal conversation anymore? Had they grown so far apart that they couldn't even agree on anything, be it skipping classes due to a massive hangover or the purpose of a homecoming dance?

"I'm not going." Itachi finally said. "I think it's a huge waste of time, and I'd rather not bear witness to the miniscule pieces of fabric women have come to call 'dresses' and moves once reserved for strip clubs that people our age are passing off as 'dancing.'"

At this, Shisui's eyes grew wide in surprise as well as his smile. "And you chided me for acting older than I really was!" He laughed and raised a hand to his mouth to try to stifle his laughter. "Spam, Itachi! What're you, fifty years old?!"

"Fine. Why are you going then?" Itachi asked, ignoring Shisui's previous comment.

Using the heel of his palm, he wiped away the tears that had collected in the corners of his eyes from laughing so hard. "Lets see," he said, crossing his arms in thought, "I'm going to the homecoming dance to look at girls in 'miniscule pieces of fabric' and participate in 'moves once reserved for strip clubs' of course!" He said and immediately broke into another fit of uncontrollable laugher, attracting the stares of some of the students sitting at the table behind him.

Itachi raised a quizzical brow. And Shisui was the older of the two…

"You're a trip, Itachi." Shisui said as he recollected his composure. "But yeah, homecoming is a chance to have fun and get drunk afterwards. It's a great way to relax and take a break from studying before midterm week comes."

"You're going drinking again this weekend?" Itachi asked incredulously. "After you just went out on Monday and skipped all of your Tuesday classes?"

Shisui shrunk backwards in his chair in the face of his cousin's accusatory tone. "Yeah…? Why? Do you want me to sneak you a drink?"

"What? No!" He exclaimed and lowered his voice when he noticed that his outburst had attracted the attention of a nearby custodian worker moping the floor. "And what are you taking a break from? You just lectured me on how juniors don't have to worry about something as trivial as midterm exams or grades and that doing well on the finals is all that really matters!"

"Okay," Shisui leaned forward, assuming a more serious air, "let me set the record straight; I'm not saying I'm not going to try to get a good grade on my exams next week and that I'm not going to make an effort to study because I am studying, Itachi."

At this point, Itachi couldn't decipher whether Shisui was being serious or not. "But you just said that you didn't—"

"Midterms are different for everyone. Some midterms are easy 10 question multiple choice tests whereas others are ten, twenty page research papers. A film major's mid-term is going to be extremely different from a math major's midterm. While I care about getting good grades, I'm not going to spend every minute of every day in the library with my nose in a textbook. I'm a junior, and this is my second to last homecoming and I want to savor it as much as possible." Shisui said. "I'm going to homecoming to have a good time and forget the stress of midterms next week for a few hours. And like I said, if I do badly on the midterm, there are several other opportunities for me to bring my grade back up."

"Like the final exam?" Itachi asked. Shisui nodded matter-of-factly. "Shisui, what happens if you decide that you 'need a break' from the finals? Then what? Are you going to go drinking then?"

"I already told you, Itachi," Shisui growled in annoyance, "it's homecoming. It's a party; a celebration. I'm going to get drunk whether you like it or not." He said and pulled out his phone to check his messages. "I'm not even going that far from campus in case you were worried I might drive off the road and into a tree or something."

The screeching of Itachi's chair caught Shisui's attention as Itachi hastily grabbed his bag and unfinished sandwich. "Goodbye, Shisui." He said, and stalked off in the direction of the exit. He normally prided himself as being someone who was not quick to anger or easy to upset, but something in Shisui's words caused something to snap inside of Itachi. Something Shisui knew better than to bring up under any circumstances, especially during an argument.

"What do you mean you're not going to homecoming, yeah!?" Deidara asked the night of the dance when he realized that Itachi had no intentions on attending.

"I have midterms to study for." Itachi answered simply as he scanned the notes contained in his binder.

"So?" Deidara said, walking over to where Itachi sat at his desk. "I have a quiz Monday morning at eight a.m. and I'm still going, yeah!" He argued, bending down to meet Itachi's gaze.

Does anyone care that midterms start Monday? Itachi thought to himself but bit his tongue. He already lost his temper with Shisui in the cafeteria yesterday and nearly snapped at Kisame in the library earlier for asking him the same thing. The last person he wanted to go off on was the person he was forced to share a room with for the rest of the school year. "I'm not going. Dances aren't my cup of tea." He said evenly. "Enjoy yourself tonight. For the both of us."

Deidara seemed saddened by the fact that his roommate was being left out of the climax of the homecoming week festivities, but offered him a small smile regardless. "I will." He said and opened his arms wide. "Well? How do I look?"

Itachi cracked a tiny smile. For a second he thought he'd said something deep and awe-inspiring that warranted a hug. "You look good." He answered honestly.

Deidara wore a crimson red dress shirt, black slacks, a black vest and a black bow-tie to match. Itachi couldn't have done any better himself if he had to choose, though he would've opted to wear a tie rather than a bow-tie, but the bow-tie suited Deidara. In addition to that, he wore his hair in a low ponytail and left his long bangs hang over the left side of his face like he usually did.

"Really?" Deidara asked him.

Itachi actually thought he looked better that way compared to the high half ponytail he donned every day and nodded.

"Thanks, yeah!"

A swift knocking on the door halted both of their movements as Deidara's face lit up. "That must be Sasori!" He said and darted to answer it.

Standing on the other side of the doorframe was the man Itachi remembered from the club fair. His hair was messy as though he'd just gotten out of bed, but intentionally styled that way. Like Deidara, he too wore a red dress shirt that matched his crimson hair dye, making Itachi wonder which of the two chose to wear red in the first place.

"Ready?" Sasori asked, gesturing to the hallway.

"Yeah!" Deidara nodded excitedly while he fiddled with his phone. "Just a second, yeah!" He said and handed it to Itachi. "Can you take a picture, yeah?"

"Sure." Itachi said, rising up from his chair.

Deidara led them out to the hallway where another couple was taking a selfie of themselves and their homecoming date.

Itachi waited as Deidara wrapped his arm around Sasori's waist, leaving Sasori to follow suit after. "Ready?" Itachi asked. When Deidara nodded, he pressed the camera icon and snapped a photo. "I'll take one more just in case." He said.

"Take as many as you need to, yeah!"

Itachi smiled. Although he still wasn't completely comfortable with Deidara's…sexual preferences, he found it amusing how Deidara's verbal tic increased when he was excited or nervous. No wonder he stresses out so much about his public speaking class.

When Itachi finished taking the couple's pictures, he returned Deidara's phone back to it's rightful owner who was excited to see the results. "Thanks again, yeah! And are you sure you don't wanna come?"

Itachi nodded. "I'm sure." He said and gestured to his clothes. "I'm even dressed for the occasion, nor do I have anything to wear to such an outing." He explained. While he wasn't wearing his nightclothes just yet, he doubted that his school clothes, as professional as they were, would blend into a sea of women in dresses and men in tuxedos. That, and the thought of showing up to a formal dance with Deidara and his date, both of whom were men, unsettled Itachi. What would people think of him then? He didn't want to know and thus didn't exercise the thought any further. "Have fun, okay?"

Deidara smiled. "We will, yeah! And, Itachi, yeah? Don't spend too much time studying, okay? You better be in bed by the time I get back, yeah!"

"Which will be…when?"

"Late, yeah!"

Itachi nodded. "Will do." He said and gestured for Deidara to take his leave. "Now go on, you're going to be late!" Itachi called after him.

Deidara waved to him one last time and jogged to catch up with Sasori who was idly scrolling through his phone.

Itachi lingered in the door a little longer than he meant to, wondering what it was that Sasori saw in Deidara. Not that there was anything wrong with Deidara, Itachi just found it odd that Sasori just so happened to be homosexual, and on top of that, just so happened to be attracted to Deidara. As if Itachi wasn't suspicious enough already, Sasori made no physical contact with Deidara the entire length of the hallway.

Even though Itachi himself wasn't homosexual, if he were taking his date to homecoming, he would've at least wrapped his arm around his date's neck, holding her close, loosely around her back or around her waist. If anything, he would've attempted to hold her hand for the duration of the journey to the gymnasium where the dance was being held.

Then again, I'm not sure that they're officially dating. Itachi thought to himself as he closed the door to their room. From what he heard, Sasori had asked him to be his date to homecoming out of the blue; Deidara didn't know whether or not the upperclassmen was homosexual before then, so it made sense that they'd be apprehensive to dive right into physical contact.

Sitting down at his desk, Itachi briefly glanced at the work spread before him and leaned back in his chair.

His mother knew he'd be spending the night studying for midterms, having called him the day before to ask if he'd changed his mind about attending the dance (to which, Itachi wearily confirmed that he would be studying instead, much to her disappointment). Kisame himself was attending the dance and made it clear that he was not studying for their philosophy midterm. Deidara was attending the dance with Sasori, and Shisui implied that he was briefly attending the dance before retreating to a friend's apartment to "relax and get drunk."

Although Shisui's after party plans concerned him, Itachi reminded himself that Shisui was twenty-one and could make his own decisions. If he became so drunk that he couldn't walk the next morning, then it was on him for making the wrong decision the night before. If he was still hungover by midterms Monday morning, so be it. After all, it wasn't like Shisui was his brother or anything. What did it matter to him if his cousin got himself into trouble? He couldn't say that Itachi didn't warn him.

With that in mind, Itachi set to work on his various assignments for the week, starting with his English paper which was due Monday afternoon. His accounting midterm was scheduled to take place earlier that morning, but he was on top of his accounting assignments and knew that the test would be relatively simple. Regardless, he would still review the material Sunday night just to make sure, but the paper would take longer. After his paper was done, he'd study for his marketing midterm, which was to take place on Tuesday morning. Given that the material to be covered was going to be taken straight from the text, he needed to take time each night before then to study it so that he didn't miss anything.

Which left his philosophy midterm on Thursday afternoon. Thanks to Kisame, whom Itachi had been tutoring for the past four days, Itachi himself had brushed up on his knowledge of the material and felt that he would do just fine on the midterm for it and still had another five days to prepare if need be.

He glanced at the time on his phone. 9:08 p.m. it read. The dance started at nine and was scheduled to be over by 11 p.m. which gave Itachi approximately three hours to finish his English paper, and submit it electronically to his professor, and get a head start on the content for his marketing midterm. If he worked diligently enough, he'd have finished reviewing at least two and a half chapters of his marketing essentials text

If he paced himself correctly, he'd be finished with two and a half chapters by the time Deidara arrived back because by then, the blonde would no doubt spend the rest of the night recounting every detail of the event, from the songs that were played to the color of the drinks that were served and wouldn't go to sleep until Itachi heard every word of it.

If he arrives back. Itachi thought with a small smile. Though he didn't want to consider what Deidara and his date might decide to do after the dance, he liked the idea of having an extra hour or two to study before retreating to bed.

When he heard the tumblers of their lock turning earlier than expected, he quickly checked his phone which read 10:03 p.m.

It's over already? That was fast. Itachi thought and glanced at his unfinished English paper. He had only the conclusion and works cited page to type yet. What's more, he still had to reread it for content and grammar before he could even consider e-mailing it to his professor. "That was fast." He cited out loud.

"Yeah." Deidara responded apathetically.

"Did Sasori realize that midterms are next week and go home to study?" He asked when he noticed that Deidara had entered without his date, attempting to make a light joke out of it.

"No." He answered, untying his bowtie.

"Then why are you back so early?" Itachi asked, turning back to his computer to finish his conclusion paragraph. He knew that something was up, but he'd be damned if he didn't at least finish this paper by the end of the evening. "Did something happen?" He questioned in response to Deidara's uncharacteristic silence.

Leaning against his bed, the blonde numbly unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt, eyes averted to the ground. "Sasori wasn't really into me, yeah."

Itachi sighed. Why did I have a feeling it would turn out like this? He thought, feeling guilty for not bringing up his suspicions about the redhead sooner. "How do you know that?" He asked, playing dumb for the time being.

"His girlfriend showed up."

This, Itachi wasn't expecting and blinked his eyes in confusion.

"Yeah; that's what I thought." Deidara answered.

Itachi shook his head, the conclusion paragraph of his paper long forgotten as he turned around in his chair to face his roommate. "His girlfriend showed up? I didn't he even had a girlfriend."

Deidara's mouth turned into a twisted smile. "Neither did I, yeah." He chuckled darkly.

"So wait, start from the beginning and tell me how all of this happened."

Deidara sighed and pushed himself up onto his bed. "Everything was going great when we got there, yeah." He began to explain, livening up as he told the story. "He kept staring into my eyes and everything was perfect yeah. It's like he and I were the only people on the dance floor, like nothing else mattered."

Itachi nodded along, trying to discern when within the last hour this had happened, but remained silent.

"He kept looking around, every so often, and I asked him what he was looking for, and he'd look into my eyes, smile, and say "nothing" in that sweet, seductive voice and give me one of those warm smiles that made me fall for him in the first place, yeah."

Again, Itachi nodded along, trying to pretend that Deidara was a girl so that the fact that both of them were men didn't bother him so much. After today, he never wanted to hear a man describe another man's voice as being sweet and seductive.

"And then he'd grab my hand and pull me onto the dance floor, and everything would be perfect again." Deidara told him. "And then all of a sudden, I hear someone screaming 'Sasori! Sasori!' and I turn around to see this pink haired girl in a tight red dress and matching two inch heels walking towards us, yeah. She was so mad that if looks could kill, Sasori would've been dead in an instant."

Only someone with an artistic mind would use this many metaphors when recounting an event. Itachi mused, though he expected as much upon Deidara's return. The only detail that eluded him was the one concerning the girl's hair color. Red haired guy plus pink haired girl...interesting.

"I looked at Sasori, who didn't even bat and eyelid, even as the girl got up in his face and starting yelling 'I can't believe you, Sasori! Going as far as bringing some butch as your date just to make me jealous!' and Sasori pulled me by his side and told her 'my date is actually a man, babe; and I've been meaning to tell you this for a long time but, I'm gay' yeah, and she kept growling and saying 'I cannot believe you, I just..I cannot believe you!' yeah." Deidara said. "And then she was like 'I told you, he and I were working on a group project together and there wasn't any enough space in the library to do it!' and then Sasori went 'it didn't look like it when I came in!' but she just kept yelling 'I can't believe you, bringing a man as your date and even color coordinating with my red dress – how long did you have this planned? I said that I was sorry, God dammit! Was it really so bad that you had to pretend to be gay just to make me jealous? Huh? Was it?!' and then she grabbed his shirt and dragged him off to the side, yeah. And when he smiled at me and said 'brb' she started yelling 'Oh no! He's not your date, I'm your date, Sasori! Me! I'm the one whose dress you color coordinated with! Me! Not him; me!' and I just kinda waited by the punch bowl like an orphan waiting for their parents to come back, yeah. And like, ten minutes later, I look over to see them both sucking face and he's got his hand on her ass like she wasn't just about to punch him in the face when she saw us!" He cried, his face red with anger and embarrassment.

Itachi was speechless. He knew that something was off about Sasori, but he didn't say anything regarding the matter because he didn't know the facts. In his mind, he imagined Deidara saying something to Sasori about needing a date for the homecoming dance, and Sasori, feeling sorry for him like an empathic human being, agreed to go with him. Knowing Deidara, however, Itachi figured that Deidara interpreted Sasori's accompaniment as being a date and that the two had entered a romantic relationship with one another.

At least, that's what he thought until Deidara told him what happened at the dance with Sasori's girlfriend. It was one thing to agree go to the dance with Deidara as his date, it was another thing to pretend to be homosexual in order to play Deidara's feelings. It was something else entirely to pretend to be homosexual and agree to be Deidara's date in order to make his girlfriend jealous.

But then again, how trustworthy were people who dyed their hair blood red?

Across from him, Deidara sat shaking on the bed, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. "Deidara," Itachi soothed, rising from his chair to offer a comforting hand, "I'm sorry that happened to you." He said, attempting to rub circles into Deidara's back until his fingers got tangled up in the blonde's pony tail. "I really am."

"I knew it was too good to be true, yeah. I knew it." He sniffled.

Itachi instinctively moved to grab a tissue so that Deidara wouldn't rub his nose on the sleeve of his dress shirt or onto his black slacks. "These things happen sometimes." Itachi said, trying to meet Deidara's eye. "You're bound to come in contact with dishonest people at some point in life or another. It's just unfortunate that that person turned out to be your homecoming date."

Deidara nodded. "You can add manipulative heart breakers to your list too, yeah."

Although it seemed a little too specific for Itachi's overall statement, he found a way to work it in. "Yeah. You'll come into contact with those people at some point too." He said. "The first person you fall in love with isn't always the right person, nor will they end up being the one you spend the rest of your life with."

Deidara nodded and pulled a tissue from the tissue box Itachi had offered him, blowing his nose.

"Just don't beat yourself up over this experience, Deidara. If anything, let it be a lesson learned to never fully trust what others say, especially if you don't know them that well first." Itachi said and added "and don't go blindly rushing into love next time either. Wait until you're sure that it's definitely the right moment. And the right person. Alright?"

Rubbing his eyes, Deidara nodded once more and said "I will."

"Good." Itachi replied when he heard his cell phone vibrating on the surface of his desk. He stole one final glance at Deidara, making sure that he'd be okay while he answered his phone. It was probably his mother calling to ask if he'd decided to go to homecoming at the last minute or to ask how studying for his midterms was coming along. No, I didn't go, and it's coming along fine. He'd say, which would hopefully end the conversation quickly.

"Itachi?" Deidara asked.

It wasn't his mother.

"Thanks, yeah."

"No problem." Itachi mumbled, too distracted by the name displayed on the caller I.D.

"Who is it?" Deidara asked him.

It was Shisui.

So that's the end of chapter 5! Whose ready for some champagne? I know I am, and yes, I deserve it too!

So, as I was telling The Secret Sal, I intended for 3 major things to happen in this chapter and only 1 of those 3 things did (Sasori's true motives being revealed). The other 2 are still part of the storyline and will take place next chapter, I promise! I intended for them to take place in this chapter, but the word count was pushing it (it totaled approx. 4,800 words last time I checked and the average I shoot for is around the 4,000 mark). But like I said, those 2 things will happen next chapter!

And for those of you who are short on time/patience, I do not know when I will get around to updating the next chapter. Parallel Lines (my other fic) is taking off and is on chapter 19 right now so I'm working on that in between working on this. I also have a new story idea that I want to develop in the near future. This fic takes a lot of work to write because of the length of each chapter. I will try to update soon, I have not forgotten about it, and I have plans for the next chapter. I just need a break...I'm going to aim to have it done by the middle of June. (sorry!)

Also, I encourage you to CHECK MY PROFILE PAGE FOR UPDATES! I may not update my fics too often anymore, but I do update the section of of my profile page titled "STORY STATUSES." Check there if you're ever curious as to where I'm at in my writing.

A couple of questions before we part:

1. Did the chapter seem rushed? (I'm not gonna lie, I was kinda rushing to update it since it's been longer than I intended)

2. Any complaints? (Please tell me so I can revise/fix/keep an eye out for the same mistake in the future)

****To The Secret Sal: Was it everything you hoped it would be?

****To the guest who reviewed chapter 4 on May 19th: You were right on the money with the "mysterious Sasori" and it was your review that made me wanna update sooner so you could see how things turned out with him! PS Can you leave a name when you review next time? (any old name will do) so that I can address you by a name next time? I gave you a shout-out on my profile page too, by the way! Thanks for the review and the support! I hope to hear from you next time! (and don't be afraid to PM me!)

****To Hikiri: Here's the chapter you were patiently waiting for, my darling~ I hope you enjoyed it as much as you enjoyed the previous chapters!

****To Trucky: I'm so sorry! I broke Deidara's heart! But Itachi fixed it and he's all better now! *nervous smile* please forgive me.

****To the guest who reviewed chapters 2 - 4 today (May 30th): Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for the wonderful reviews! I am so tickled that you reviewed almost every chapter! (most people fly through them all and review at the end, but not you!) You're very lucky that I was working on this for a while and updated it today...very lucky! I will try to update the next chapter soon; I know I left off on a major cliff hanger but you gotta give me some credit, I worked my butt off trying to type up this chapter and have it done today! (and don't worry, the last chapter, this chapter and the next chapter all take place in the month of October. I have planned up until at least March for this story. At that point, I'm not sure where I'll go with it, but hopefully the answer becomes clearer when the time comes!) PS When you review again, can you leave a name (any old name) so that I can address it to a name rather than "guest who reviewed chapters 2-4 on May 30th" ? Thanx! (Don't be afraid to PM me!)

Thanks to everyone to reviewed this story at one point or another! Your feedback is my motivation to continue!

Until next time!

~Sasori33-001