Welcome to Misery: Roomies
After gym, they changed and trooped back to their dorm. Ino and Sakura were gossiping loudly about Konan and her friends as the girls went to their dorm, and Konan and the boys went to theirs. As Konan and her friends walked to the fifth year doors, Konan heard the other boys shouting stupid things like; "Have fun with your new roommate!" "Don't worry about wearing her out, it's a holiday tomorrow!" "Too bad she's not Ino-bitch, or we'd all have fun!"
Somehow Konan decided that these idiots were implying that she was going to be doing more than sleeping tonight. Assholes. Pain put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a tiny squeeze before dropping his arm. He's nice, Konan thought, glancing up at the pierced guy next to her. He really is. And he's hot. Konan sternly told her inner self to shut up. She wasn't allowed to think her new friends were hot. Especially not Pain.
They arrived at their door, and Sasori, Kisame and Kakuzu went to theirs, saying that they'd meet up later. Konan followed Deidara in, and saw that her lovely corpse was gone. Probably a maid, she decided. She went to her room, dumped her bag down, took off her boots, and sat cross-legged on her bed, door open and a book on her lap. She looked up, and saw that all the guys in her dormitory were suddenly in her room. She watched as they inspected the bathroom, walked around, sat on her bed, and generally looked around. After a few minutes, she asked what they were doing.
"Oh, not much. What's your real name?" Sasori asked, sitting down on her chair, and yawining hugely. Konan waited a moment.
"Konan." Sasori looked up.
"Konan? Doesn't that mean Little South?" Konan nodded.
"Yeah. So..."
"Konan," Itachi said. It was the first time he'd spoken to her.
"Yes?" she said, wondering what he would say.
"Hidan wants to have an initiation process to make sure that you're not totally lame, a wimp, or a bitch." He said, Hidan nodding vigurously beside him.
"Hell yeah!" he said. Konan was imagining horrible things, like sneaking out at night and measuring Tsunade's boobs, or having to strip down in front of all the boys in the giant hall...
"Nothing big. Just truth or dare, or something lame like that." Pain said reassuringly. Konan smiled weakly.
"Okay..." she said, and before she knew it, they were all sitting in a circle on her floor. Hidan had shouted to the other guys in the room next to theirs, and they'd all walked in through various doors; one in her own, connected to Sasori's, Kisame walked through Itachi's room, and Kakuzu walked through Hidan's. They all sat down, looking very very serious. Konan wanted to laugh. She hadn't played truth or dare since she was twelve, when she had been dared to kiss this awful guy, Orochimaru, and she had refused and begun to cry. She wasn't a huge fan of the game, but she'd survive.
"Okay," Sasori began, "Wer'e basically just gonna play truth or dare until dinner. Any objections?" Everybody shook their head. Konan relazxed, realising that everybody was going to play, not just ganging up on her or something.
"We go in a circle. If you can't think of a truth or a dare, no matter how crazy, than you're out and you have to give everybody a massage and wash their hair for them in Konan's shower." Konan was suddenly determined not to get out.
"There are rules, right? Like, you can't dare people to have sex or something, right?" Konan asked. Itachi grinned.
"Of course there are rules. Nothing sexual, no leaving the boy's dorm, and no doing anything completely unhealthy, like drugs or stuff. If you are really uncomfortable with doing something, then you can pull out, and give everybody a piggyback ride around the entire school tomorrow." Konan prayed that she wouldn't have to back out of anything; these guys were probably really heavy, going by muscle content and stuff.
"Okay. Truth or Dare starts...now." Sasori announced.
"And we'll go in order of oldest to youngest. We'd better sit in that order, too, un." Deidara said. So they all moved. Pain would go first, then Kakuzu, Kisame, Sasori, Hidan, Deidara, then Konan.
"Okay." Pain said. "Sasori. Truth or dare?"
"Dare." Pain smirked.
"Grab Hidan's ass." Konan let out a snort; this was going to be a very fun three hours. Sasori stood up, and so did Hidan, reluctantly. Sasori grabbed his ass, and Hidan swore at him angrily for a while.
Kakuzu dared Deidara to strip down to his underwear and do the macarena. Everybody laughed when Konan covered her eyes. Kisame asked Pain what the craziest thing he'd ever done naked was, and he answered riding his motorcycle into a river. Konan forced herself not to imagine that, but it didn't work. She snorted with laughter when everybody else had finished, and they all laughed again.
Sasori dared Konan to switch underwear with Itachi. She had insisted on getting the bathroom first, and had taken off her own black panties (lucky for Itachi it wasn't a thong) and threw them out to him. Then he tossed her his black and red striped boxers, and she spent the rest of the game feeling very uncomfortable. But not nearly as uncomfortable as Itachi, who kept having to readjust her underwear. She swore to herself to wash that pair three times before ever wearing them again.
Then Hidan dared Kisame to sing 'I'm too sexy' with actions. Then Deidara asked Kakuzu what his favourite thing to lick was, and he replied (after much persuasion, and after being threatened with piggybacking everybody) that it was the inside of Hidan's mouth. Konan had stared at both of them for a long time, speechless. Then it was Konan's turn. She dared Sasori to give the people on his right and left a wedgie. Pain laughed loudest when Kisame and Hidan were given 'the great pain', and congratulated Konan on her amazing imagination. She felt very pleased with herself.
Then Pain asked Konan what her most embarassing public nudity story, and she told the famous tale of how, when she was nine, she'd dreamed that the world was flooding, and the only way to survive it was to swim to Hawaii and live in a volcano there. So, when her dad was at work, she snuck out of the house, and because she didn't have a swimsuit, she ran down the street naked until a family friend took her home and told her father. The boys were howling with laughter. Konan laughed a little herself.
Next Kakuzu dared Deidara to give Sasori a hickey. Deidara blushed, and as he proceeded to kiss and suck at the skin on Sasori's neck, Konan wondered again about just how close the pair's relationship was. Then Kisame asked Konan if she had any other piercings, and she said that she had one on her bellybutton, and one through the back of her neck.
Sasori dared Konan to spend the next five turns in Pain's lap. She did so, blushing furiously. She hadn't noticed before, but Pain smelled good. This realisation made her ever more embarassed, especially when she forgot to get off for three turns. A while later, Sasori dared Pain to remove Konan's grey cardigan with his teeth. Pain, of course, wasn't embarassed at all. He moved towards her, told her not to move, and then he bent over, his mouth at the neck of her cardigan. Konan held her breath, looking at the windo, trying not to be nervous, or stupid, or silly, or anything... when he pulled it off her, and removed the cardigan from his mouth and handed it to her, she saw that same...something else in his eyes. It kind of scared her.
Finally, they all trooped to dinner, still laughing as they remembered the highlights of the evening. Konan was fairly quiet until Pain slid a long arm around her shoulders and asked her quietly if she was okay. She nodded, and then they were quiet. Konan was waiting for Pain to say something as she looked in his fascinating eyes. Pain just seemed to be thinking, looking at her. Konan finally realized that he was staring at her, and even worse, she was staring at him. She looked away, blushing slightly. They talked and laughed during dinner, and then they went back to their dorm. Konan made them swear not to plant any more spiders, and then she closed her door, changed, and lay on her bed, sketching in her art book, wondering what they were going to do tomorrow; after all, it was a holiday.
The next morning, she was woken up by a pillow to her face. She yelled and looked up. Sasori was straddling her, smirking.
"'Morning, Sunshine!" he said, and she rolled her eyes, trying to roll over and cover her face with her pillow. "Can I use your shower?" he asked, examining his nails.
"Yeah, sure, whatever." she mumbled, and immediately he was gone. Soon after, there was the sound of water, and the shower was on. Konan tried to sleep through it, but it didn't work. She sat up, knowing her hair looked like teddybears had played hide and go seek in it, and looked around. Her room was the same as always, except the bathroom door was closed, and yesterday's underwear were hanging off a chair. She suddenly remembered; those were the ones Hidan had been wearing. Sasori opened the bathroom door, wearing a towel around his hips, his dark red hair all wet.
"I'm just so sexy, right?" he teased her before running out of the room as a pillow came flying at his head. Konan decided that she might as well use the shower, too. She carefully locked her door, then went in. She closed the bathroom door, but knew that it would open again. At least she locked her door this time. She turned on the water, threw off her pyjamas, and jumped in, gratefully warming herself as the hot water came down like rain. She was almost done when she heard a click. She frowned, confused, but continued to wash. Suddenly she remembered with a moment of heart-stopping horror that her room had an adjoining door to Deidara's. She froze. But it was much too late.
The bathroom door had long ago swung open, and Deidara walked into her room; "Konan? Can I use the-OHMYGOD!"
Konan whirled around, and saw Deidara staring at her. She shrieked, and he ran with a load of shouted apologies and OMIGODS. Konan was yelling now, a lower sound, but still loud as she jumped out of the shower, into a towel, turning off the water, pulling on her t-shirt and underwear, and sprinting out of the bathroom. She didn't stop screaming even as she hid under her covers, her head under the blankets at the foot of the bed, her embarassment nothing compared to her anger and shock. She hated surprises. And that was the second time in less than twenty-four hours she'd been spotted basically naked. She didn't realize she was still yelling until a loud voice she recognized as Hidan's told her to shut the fuck up. She stopped yelling immediately. There was a knock on her door. She (just in case) put on a sweater and grey leggings, then opened it. Pain was standing there, grinning slightly.
"Hey Konan. What's up?" he asked in a way that made her want to laugh. (What's up? Oh nothing, I've just been spotted in the shower completely and utterly naked by a guy I'm basically living with for the next two years, and I was just screaming my head off. What's up with you?)
"Oh, nothing much." she said, and he laughed. "Do you...want to come in?" she asked awkwardly, and he said sure. She sat down on her bed, and he sat down on the floor. He raised his eyebrows at her underwear (hanging on a nearby chair) and said 'nice.' She reddened.
"They're the ones Itachi wore." she explained, and he smirked.
"Of course." he said, and she smirked as well.
"I'm sorry if I...woke you up..." she began awkwardly. Pain shook his head.
"No. I was already awake from Sasori's shower. The waterpipes go next to my bed." he said, and she felt sorry for him; water made a lot of noise when you were trying to sleep.
"So, when's your birthday?" he asked, and Konan looked at him oddly. He explained."Well, you said it's in October, and that's not very far away. We want to celebrate it, but we can't if we don't know when it is." Konan was shocked that they would actually celebrate her birthday when they'd only started to like her yesterday morning. But she was happy that they would; she hadn't had a real birthday celebration since her mother died, when she was ten.
"Oh! It's um...the thirteenth." she said, taking a piece of paper from her desk and folding it quickly into a flower, which she then placed in her hair.
"That's pretty. You like origami, don't you?" Pain asked, and Konan nodded. They were interrupted by Sasori, Deidara, and Itachi, who walked through the open door. Sasori was smirking, his hair still wet, Deidara was looking very very embarassed. Even more embarassed than Konan felt. Itachi looked plain amused.
"You sure have a set of lungs, Konan." he said, explaining that his brother had come over to complain that everybody had heard her screaming, and to make her shut up. Konan blushed.
"Sorry." she said, and Pain laughed quietly to himself. Deidara tried to apologize.
"I'm really sorry, Konan, I didn't see anything, I swear, un..." Konan knew he was lying; there was no shower curtain. But she grinned at him.
"It's okay, Deidara! You just scared me, that's all. I forgot your door came through here." she explained, and he looked a little less embarassed, and grinned at her.
"By the way..." Sasori said, sitting down on the chair, raising his eyebrows at the underwear, then continued. "What are you guys doing for Halloween?" Konan was confused.
"What do you mean?" she asked, and Itachi explained.
"Halloween...actually, all the normal holidays are really important in this school. But Halloween's almost the most important. Every student creates a project that contributes to the decorations, activities, or entertainment for the event. And everybody has to dress up, no exceptions. You can't dress up as a student, either." he said, scowling. Konan had a funny idea that he'd tried that excuse. She grinned.
"That sounds fun! What are you guys being?"
"Sweeny Todd"
"Zombie Prom king"
"Edward Scissorhands"
"Vampire boyfriend for rent." Konan had to say, she was impressed, so she said it. They grinned at her.
"Hidan's being a dead Mad Hatter, Kakuzu's being...well, a creepy version of himself." Deidara tried to explain. "He like...hangs himself with some of his stitches..." he said, waving his hands around his neck try and demonstrate. Konan nodded.
"What about Kisame ?" she asked. Itachi smiled.
"Oh, he's being a zombie."
"That's exciting." Pain grinned at her.
"What are you gonna be?" he asked. Konan thought.
"An...asylum inmate. With a straight jacket!" she said, and Pain grinned.
"Cool!" he said, and Sasori said she'd be sexy insane.
"Why thank you. I'm sure you'll be a simply dashing dead Prom king." she said, and Pain and Deidara laughed.
"Well, I'm glad to see you guys have good taste." Konan said.
"What do you mean?" Deidara asked. Konan looked up.
"I thought I would be the only one in the school who likes Tim Burton's movies. Edward Scissorhands...Sweeny Todd..." she said, looking at Deidara and Pain. Pain grinned at her.
"You like those too?" Konan grinned and rummaged in her bag for a second before retrieving a black badge shaped like a splatter.
'Official Tim Burton's Favourite Girl Award' was engraved on the front in silver. Pain and Deidara and Sasori gaped at it.
"Are you serious? You've met him?" Konan nodded proudly.
"He came to my old school to see me, after I wrote him a letter and made a video showing small details of his movies that one could correspond with his personal life and possible ideas for later movies. I was the one who suggested he do Alice." Konan said, and the boys stared at her. Then she laughed. "No, stupids. My friend and I made those to fundraise for a class outing to watch the premier of Edward Scissorhands." she explained, and Deidara and Pain laughed. Sasori shook his head.
"I can't believe I thought you met him." he said, and she laughed along. They suddenly realized that breakfast had started half an hour ago, and they ran straight there, getting there just in time to get some toast, apples, juice, and a cookie each.
Konan's birthday came quicker than she'd expected, and she lay awake the night before, just thinking that in less than seven hours, she would officially be sixteen. She sighed and fell asleep...
Konan opened her eyes. It was still dark. She sighed and closed her eyes again. She'd thought she'd heard something, but she must have just imagined it. Within a few more minutes, she was fast asleep again. Then, out of nowhere, seven large, heavy, noisy, boy-like forms leaped up onto her, dogpiling on her bed and almost killing her from fright and their weight pressing the air out of her lungs. Her eyes flew open, and she was about to shriek, when a hand slapped over her mouth.
"None of that today, sugar." Sasori said teasingly. She was still squished and surprised, but she pushed his hand away and laughed.
"What the hell are you...argh, that hurt...doing?" she asked, being interrupted by an elbow jamming into her hips as she sat up. Sasori, Deidara, Hidan and Pain sat up and got off her torso, leaving Kisame, Kakuzu and Itachi sitting on her legs.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" They shouted, and Konan laughed as they proceeded to sing a very off-key version of Happy Birthday. Deidara finished a little late; "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOOOU!...birthday to you..oh...ahem...un." Konan laughed and clapped enthousiastically.
"Brilliant!" she praised. "You should start a boy band, and pay twenty bucks for a Happy Birthday greeting and song." she said, and Itachi and Pain laughed, while Kakuzu was obviously thinking about the pros and cons of this situation, deducing that twenty dollars per gig wasn't quite expensive enough to have a proper yearly income that would allow for Hidan's hair products.
Still all sitting on Konan/her bed, her friends all picked up presents off the floor, and an empty pop bottle.
"Okay, who drank all the 7up?" she asked teasingly, and laughed when Pain raised his hand sheepishly; he adored the stuff. No 7up was safe while he was on the prowl. She moved her legs, flattened the blankets, and span the bottle.
"Oh, yeah, thanks for getting me presents! You didn't have to..." Konan said, embarassed by the attention. Sasori rolled his eyes, and caught Deidara's expression; they knew she would say this.
"Take it from us," Kisame said. "we had to." Konan grinned, and looked down at the bottle. It stopped at Deidara. He grinned, and held out a medium-sized blue-wrapped package that read DO NOT DROP OR KICK OR THROW AT WALL!
"I'll keep that in mind." she murmured, and Deidara laughed. She unwrapped it, and found that he had made her a little statue of herself, and it looked like it would sit perfectly on a shelf. She was amazed; it was beautiful, and really detailed, from the lace on her uniform to the folds of her paper flower. She sat it on her desk, and it looked up at her thoughtfully.
"Thanks so much! It's beautiful, Deidara!" she exclaimed, hugging him shyly. He grinned.
"I'm happy you like it, un. Just don't...drop it, or anything, because it'll explode. It's a good thing to throw at a stalker, though, un." he said, and she laughed.
"Perfect! Just what I need! I've been getting tired of getting followed to all my classes!" she said, and they all laughed.
Kakuzu gave her seven make-your-own voodoo dolls that could make the person float in midair just by using some of their hair (Konan practised on Sasori). Hidan gave her a book (surprisingly) that was called Thirty-two Ways to Flirt. Konan raised her eyebrows at him, and he laughed.
"You better fuckin' appreciate it, bitch!" he said, and she said that she would protect it with her life calling him an asshat. Kisame gave her a really cool black lace-trimmed umbrella. This was especially good news, because she didn't own one. Itachi gave her a straight jacket, for the cause of her halloween costume, and Sasori gave her a half-filled little black book with his name and number on the first page. Konan, after thanking him, raised an eyebrow at him, and he smirked.
"It's so you can call me during the summer!" he said innocently, glancing at Deidara. "Anyways, it's got the name, number and rating from 1-5 of every guy from fourth year up." he said, and when Konan asked how he got all of them, Sasori changed the subject, catching Deidara's irritated eye. "So, what did you get her, Pain?" he asked.
Konan looked to Pain, and she was caught again by the...something in his eyes. He picked up the kind of big package in front of him, and handed it to her with a simple 'Happy Birthday.' She took it from him, taking a moment to admire the wrapping paper: black with grey and white flower outlines. She smiled and undid the paper carefully, determined to save it. She took it off slowly, and gasped in surprise as she withdrew from the wrapping paper, a handbound photo on the front in silver were the words Miss Konan Amega 5th Year, St Misery.
Konan looked up at Pain, who was plainly worried she wouldn't like it. She looked back down at it, and opened it. Some of the pages were already filled, and the pictures made her laugh. Some of them were photos, some paintings, or sketches, or pastel drawings of her and her friends. She smiled at the painting of the corpse she'd made, and grinned at the comic of her her hitting the volleyball to the ceiling in her first gym class, and a following one of her her lying on the floor with funny swirly eyes.
She turned the page, speechless with happiness, and saw a drawing that looked like it must have taken forever of her sitting on the stone steps of the school, folding a paper flower. Then there was a photo of her, Sasori, Deidara, Pain and Hidan which was taken three weeks ago on a Saturday. She laughed aloud, as she looked at it; there was her, looking shocked, Sasori giving her a piggyback, with Deidara laughing, and Hidan striking a 'sexy' pose.
The next photo was of her, Itachi and Pain during lunch. Konan was biting an apple, with it completely obscuring her mouth so she looked silly, Itachi not paying attention and spilling his juice onto Kakuzu's foot, which was just visible. It was an excellent shot, actually, because it captured the juice as it fell through the air. Pain was resting his chin on one of his hands, looking at Konan and evidentally in mid-sentance. Konan looked at the next picture, and laughed again; somebody had drawn cartoons of her and her roommates: Konan was in the middle, folding paper and blushing, Pain was next to her, looking at the origami. Hidan was lying on top of Kakuzu, who was counting money. Hidan had funny swear symbols over his head (#%$ &*#!), and then to the left was Sasori, who was winking with a kitty smile (;3), and Deidara was leaning on him, with a little pink heart over his head. Itachi and Kisame were standing, so they were above everybody. Kisame had bubbles around him, and Itachi was making the Star Wars darth vader hand sign.
Konan laughed again, and turned the page. There was a photo of her. This one was surprising; she hadn't seen a camera around at that moment. It was her in her towel, collapsed on top of Pain, with Deidara, Sasori, Hidan, Kisame, and Kakuzu around them. Sasori was raising his eyebrows and smirking in the picture while everybody else laughed. Konan realized Itachi had taken the picture. She grinned, and looked at the next picture. It was an instant polaroid picture. It looked like Pain had taken it so he was in the picture, too. It showed Konan's wide eyes and blue hair, and that was it of her. Everybody else's faces, arms and legs took up the whole picture. She laughed; he must have taken it ten minutes ago. She looked up, very aware that she was blushing. Pain smiled slightly.
"Do you like it?" he asked.
"I love it. Thank you so much." she said quietly, and Pain smiled wider.
"AWwwwww..." Sasori said, and they all laughed. Konan carefully put away all of their presents (extremely careful not to break Deidara's) and then they told her to wait there for a bit. She obeyed, and sat on her bed, wrapped up in her blankets and her thoughts. Secretly, she wanted to jump up and down from happiness. She grinned to herself, and got the photo album out again. She wondered who had done the drawings; they were really good.
She opened Hidan's book (Thirty-two Ways to Flirt) and flipped to chapter one. She suddenly realized that he must have written it himself (the writing was in his barely-legibal scrawl) and she smiled again, amazed at the effort that her friends had gone to to make her birthday the best one in years. And it definately was the best in years. Probably the best ever.
Konan skimmed the pages, and then something caught her eye. At the bottom of the page, in small, sketchy writing that Konan recognized as Sasori's, it said flirt with Pain. She frowned, and turned the page. There it was again! Sasori had written it on every one of the sixty-four pages of the book! Konan dind't know if she should be annoyed, or if she should grabbed the Little Black Book that Sasori had given her. On the first page was Sasori, then...Pain. Then Deidara and the others, but Konan had a feeling that Pain was second only to Sasori for a reason. Konan was torn from her accusatory thoughts about Sasori by another loud round of Happy Birthday.
She looked up and laughed; they'd made her a cake. They kept singing, and put it down on her table. She jumped off of her bed, laughing, so happy she felt she could burst. She grinned as (once again) Deidara finished last. There were sixteen candles, and it looked like somebody had made a swirly figure of her name in metalshop, and it was sitting on the icing, reflecting the candlelight. She applauded the cake and their singing, and Deidara laughed, saying she was being sarcastic about the singing. She denied this innocently, and they all laughed.
"Make a wish!" Sasori said, and she looked at him, remembering what he'd written in her book. He winked, and made a heart with his hands and pointed at Pain behind his back. Konan rolled her eyes at him, thinking he was being silly. She closed her eyes, thought about it for a little bit, then blew, wishing to have the best year of her life, and opened her eyes. Sasori was laughing so hard it looked like he could throw up. Everybody else was laughing normally. Konan looked at the a single candle had gone out.
She scowled, and wished for the best birthday of her life, and blew again. Four went out. She made a funny hysterical scream at the candles in irritation, and Sasori collapsed onto her bed, trying to muffle himself in the blanket. Hidan was holding the wall for support as he shook with laughter. Pain and Deidara were hardly making any noise, they were laughing too hard. Konan took a deep breath, wished that the candles would freaking go out! and blew as hard as she possibly could. Five went out, leaving seven.
"Seven boyfriends, Konan!" Itachi said, laughing just as hard as everybody else. She sighed, and began to wonder if they'd bought impossible-to-blow-out candles as a joke. One more time, she told herself.
"K-Konan! hahahahha...W-wish for a b-boyfriend! It might...HAHAHAAAaa work!" Sasori sputtered, laughing hysterically. He had sunk to the floor, which he was beating with his fist, tears streaming down his cheeks. Konan sighed. You never know... She took a huge breath, wished as hard as she possibly could for a boyfriend. Then she closed her eyes tight shut and BLEW! There was a sudden silence. And then an avalanche of laughter. Konan looked at the candles. Then her jaw dropped.
All of them had gone out except one, which she wordlessly pinched, and it went out.
It took at least twenty minutes before Sasori was calm enough to be trusted with a slice of cake.
In metalshop, Konan had just decided to take pictures of her and her friends to fill her new photo album with, when the teacher came over to mark the day's project. She got 4/5 for the progress she'd made on the metal butterfly-decorated shower curtain rings she was working on (she was determined, after being seen half-naked twice, to find a way to get some form of privacy). Pain got 5/5 for his new earrings (metal rods that go straight through his ear, top to bottom), and Sasori got 4.5/5 for his bronze eye (he was going to put a webcam in it, and stick it on his door, or something like that. He had threatened to hide it in the bathroom, but Konan had convinced him with a heavy book to the head, that this was a bad idea).
After class, they walked to gym, and were joined by Hidan. He was kind of pissed off at his drama teacher (What the fuck is wrong with that bitch? I wasn't hurting him...that much..), but he cheered up at the thought that today was the big volleyball tournament. Konan was surprised how many people wished her happy birthday; some of them she'd never spoken to.
Sasuke, who was clutching a twenty-dollar bill (probably bribed by Itachi) said that he hoped she had a fantastic birthday right in front of Ino, who looked livid. Konan said thanks to him, and laughed at Ino with Pain, Sasori, and Hidan. Konan changed quickly, and spoke briefly to Sakura, who Ino had told that Konan had flirted with Sasuke.
"I promise, Sakura, I don't like him. And I don't lie when I promise." Konan said, smiling. Sakura looked relieved, and smiled back. Konan walked out of the changeroom, thinking that Sakura deserved a better BFF than Ino.
Mr Asuma divided up the class into teams of four, based on prowess, age, and the level of difficulty they chose. Sasori quietly told Konan to choose Challenging, and she did, despite her knowledge that she hadn't gotten that much better since their first day. She was put on a team with Pain, Sakura, Tenten, and Sasuke.
Konan was pretty happy (and she knew Sakura was) because Pain and Sasuke were two of the best players, Tenten could jump really high, and Sakura had the best spike in the class. They were playing against Ino, Sasori, Hidan, Temari, and Naruto. Sasori was the best player, but Ino was almost worse than Konan. Temari was a really nice girl in Konan's choir and music classes, and Konan really liked her because she had the most backbone of all the girls in her year (4th). She was pretty good at volleyball, but Naruto was a little clumsy with accidentally hitting the ball out. Konan felt nervous, because the best team got their own pizza party in the staff room, and 20 extra bonus points for the term. Konan didn't need telling that her entire team wanted that party...badly. She bit her lip, hoping she wouldn't screw up. Pain nudged her, and she looked up.
"Don't worry. You'll do fine. Unless you fall over again..." he said, grinning. She grimaced, and said 'Thanks' sarcastically.
Sasuke and Naruto did rock-paper-scissors, and the other team got the first ball. Asuma's whistle echoed sharply through the gym, and Sasori served.
The ball flew over the net, and Konan was very glad that she was playing on the left; it went straight for Tenten's face. She moved back quickly, bumped it, and set Sakura up perfectly for a spike. Sakura hit it hard, with a loud CHA! (that made Konan laugh every time) and the ball smashed down into the other court. Ino dived for the ball, but missed, and landed flat on the ground. Konan saw Sasori roll his eyes, then smirk at her, and she grinned back. Ino stood up, looking irritated and rubbing her boobs. Konan looked at Sakura, who was hiding a laugh behind her hand.
It was their ball, and Pain served the ball. Naruto bumped it, and Hidan saved it from going out. Temari spiked it over, straight for Konan. Oh...crap...crap...crapcrapcrapcrapcrap...Konan put her hands together like Sasori had taught her, gritted her teeth, and bumped it. To her relief, it didn't hit the ceiling or go out, and Sasuke spiked it. Sasori saved it, and Ino tried to spike it over, but it went straight into Tenten's face. She blocked it, and scored when Naruto missed it. Pain grinned at her, and mouthed 'Good one!' Konan smiled back, and Sasori winked at her when she looked back at the other team. Konan knew what he was thinking but there was no way...
Her thoughts were interrupted as Ino served overhand (for the first time, probably trying to impress Sasuke) and she hit it wrong. Konan, of course, had been expecting it to go where it was supposed to; on the right side of the court. But instead, she looked up, and BAM it smacked her in the face with the force of a running cow. She stumbled, and Pain caught her before she fell. It took a few seconds for her to realize what had happened. She looked up, and saw Pain grinning at her. She blushed red, and stood up, thanking him awkwardly. Ino, of course, was shrieking with laughter. Sakura, on the other hand, asked if Konan was okay, and she said 'Kind of.' Sasori snapped at Ino to shut up, which she did, glaring at him. Konan sighed; it was going to be a wonderful rest of her birthday, she could tell by the way things were going.
Her team ended up winning the tournament, and Konan and Pain promised to sneak Sasori and Hidan into the party. Ino-bitch bullied Sakura into swearing she'd get her into the party, too. As they walked to the Teacher's Lounge instead of going to dinner, Konan talked to Sakura nervously.
"Sakura...?" Sakura looked up.
"Yeah?" Konan decided that she would have to pick her words very carefully.
"Um...I'm just wondering...if you're okay...I mean," she rushed on, as Sakura looked at her quizzically. "You and Ino...are you two...um, fighting, or something?" Sakura smiled wryly.
"Me and Ino...we're not really friends." she said in an undertone. Konan was surprised, and she said so. Sakura grinned. "Well, we were best friends when we were young, but we both liked Sasuke, so we kind of broke up...but last year, when Ino thought that Sasuke might like me better, she wanted to be friends again, best friends. I didn't really want to, but she said that she'd ruin my rep if I didn't. I think that she thought that if Sasuke was looking at me, if we were best friends, and close together, he'd then look at Ino and see how much prettier she is than me." Sakura said, plainly angry at Ino-bitch. Konan couldn't blame her.
"No way. You're way prettier than Ino!" Konan said, being perfectly honest. Sakura smiled at her.
"Thanks. But I guess I don't really have to be friends with her anymore...I mean, after all, my rep's ruined just by hanging out with her. She can't do anything now." Konan half-hugged her.
"That's the spirit! And, you know what...I saw Sasuke looking at you during the game...I really think he kind of likes you when you're not with Ino-bitch." Sakura's eyes widened.
"Really?" she blushed, glancing at Sasuke, who was vaguely talking with Pain about metalshop (Sasuke makes swords). Konan nodded, absolutely serious. Then Sakura laughed. "You know what? I was the one who first called Ino Ino-bitch." Konan laughed.
"Really? It's become pretty popular." Sakura nodded proudly, and Konan could see that now that she'd outwardly accepted that she didn't need Ino, she seemed to stand taller inside herself. Konan smiled, happy that she'd helped Sakura out.
Hidan and Sasori ended up in the party, and Sakura 'forgot' to text Ino and tell her that the supervision teacher had left. Konan sat on a table, drinking 7up and watching Sakura, who Sasuke had gone to sit next to. It looked like they were getting along just fine, if you didn't count Sakura blushing every time he spoke. Konan gave her the thumbs up, and Sakura smiled at her. Konan sighed and sipped more 7up. Suddenly somebody sat down next to her. It was Sasori, and Deidara, who had plainly come, too.
"Hey Konan."
"Hey, guys. Having fun?" she said, her voice full of implications as her eyes roved over Sasori's ruffled hair, and Deidara's blush. Sasori cleared his throat.
"Yeah...but anyways, we came here to discuss something very important with you." Konan raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you came for the pizza."
"That too, un." Deidara said, and Konan grinned.
"Well, we've got to tell you something that's serious, as well." Sasori said, and Konan nodded.
"Sure." she said, and Sasori grinned.
"I just came to give you a heads-up. You're not gonna be single much longer, Miss independant." he said, and with another implicatory wink, and a tug on Deidara's arm, they disappeared into the semi-darkness of the party room. Konan frowned, having absolutely no idea what they were talking about. She decided that Hidan had probably poured vodka into the punch, which Sasori had been chugging like coffee.
Konan yawned (the birthday celebrations had started at 5 am) and sat down on the sofa, leaning her head on the arm rest. Within half an hour, despite the loud music, noise and talking, Konan had fallen asleep, splayed on the couch. Pain came over and grinned at her sleeping form. He didn't notice that he was just standing there and looking at her.
She was so fascinating, and, he had decided that she was the first girl he'd met at this school that he considered pretty. But Konan was more than pretty. She was beautiful, adorable and fierce at the same time. He never knew that he would ever find a girl like her, and he was especially surprised that she was both smart and funny and fun to hang out with. She had even helped him pierce his arms, and he didn't know anybody else who would help him with that. He sat down at the other end of the couch, and thought about her.
He knew that he liked her, and he knew that he was probably gonna ask her out soon. But the funny thing about her was that she seemed to have no idea whatsoever that he liked her so much. She wasn't stupid, but she suspected that she didn't think it was possible for a guy to think she was pretty. He shook his head, drank more 7up (he'd gotten addicted to the stuff at age 7), and waited for Deidara and Sasori to decide to go back. The ywere probably making out in a corner or something, and Hidan was probably stoned from the alchohal he'd smuggled in.
About half an hour later, Pain opened his eyes, and looked down. Konan, still asleep, had somehow turned herself around, and was now asleep against his chest, on of her arms flung over his legs, her back to him, and the other arm across her own stomach. He looked at her, uncertain if he should wake her up or leave her like that. He decided to just leave her there. He absent-mindedly put an arm around her waist as he waited for the others.
Meanwhile, Sasori was pinning Deidara against the wall of an office just off the main room. Deidara kissed Sasori's neck, moaning quietly as Sasori ground into him. "I...love you, un." Deidara said into Sasori's neck. Sasori kissed him fiercely, exploring his mouth with his tongue, making Deidara moan again. "You're sexy." Sasori said teasingly, and Deidara bit his lip in retaliation. Sasori grinned wickedly, and came back to Deidara's mouth for more, his hands twisted in Deidara's long dark blonde hair...
Konan opened her eyes. She realized that she was really warm, and she was lying on something that was breathing. She looked up in surprise, and almost passed out when she realized that she was lying on Pain. He was looking down at her, one arm around her waist. She turned bright red and sat up.
"I'm sorry, I'm really-" she began apologizing quickly; she must have fallen asleep on him. Pain laughed and punched her shoulder playfully.
"I don't mind. You were tired." he said, but she still felt really silly. She stood up, her arms folded around her waist, looking very awkward and embarassed. Pain watched her, amused. She was so funny.
"I better go..." she said, and Pain stood up, too.
"Yeah, it's getting kinda late...the others'll come when they're...done..." he said, and Konan followed his gaze into a small room that came off the one they were in, and saw dark red hair she recognized as Sasori's, and Deidara's dark blonde hair and...oh...
"Right!" she said, embarassed, and she began walking towards the door, surprised when she realized Pain was loping along behind her. They walked together quietly down the dark halls, Konan still feeling embarassed and awkward, Pain watching her and grinning.
"What's so funny?" she asked accusingly.
"Oh, just you." he said innocently.
"Right." Konan grumbled, and he laughed. Konan smiled to herself; she had discovered that she had trouble keeping a straight face when Pain laughed, because his laugh was so catching.
"So..." Konan began, trying to fill the silence that had descended upon them when Pain stopped laughing. "How long have Sasori and Deidara been...uh..." Pain saved her.
"They started making out and dating, I guess, at the end of last year. Sasori kept on saying how adorable Deidara was, and Deidara always got super jealous of his other girlfriends and boyfriends-"
"Sasori's bi?"
"Yeah. Anyways, so one day I kind of walked in on them sucking face. And they've been together ever since. Sasori still flirts with people, though, just to have fun."
"I've noticed." Konan grumbled, and Pain laughed again.
"He likes flirting with you, especially." he told her, which surprised her.
"Why?" Pain didn't have to think about it.
"Because you're adorable when he does. You blush and look at your feet and stuff. It's hilarious."
Konan rolled her eyes. Of course it's hilarious. Not stupid, or embarassing, it's funny. Typical.
They got back to the boy's hall, and opened the doors (they got locked at 11 pm). They walked through the dark, quiet hall, and opened the door to their dorm. The lights were on, and it looked like everybody who hadn't gone to the party were all lying around, talking and drinking coke. Konan almost laughed; Pain had told her that the truth or dare had been especially for her, that guys didn't normally do stuff like that. So Konan was still completely unsure as to what it was guys did at sleepovers, if they had them. But this looked just like she imagined it; guys lying around, probably having watched a gory movie, then drinking coke and talking about girls, (or guys) then falling asleep at four.
Konan shook her head, stepped over most of them, and walked into her room. Pain asked if he could come in to talk to her for a second, and she said yes. He walked in, and took a camera out from behind her head. He smiled at her, before moving next to her, and raising the camera so it faced them. Konan looked at the camera, confused. Flash.
"Smile, stupid." Pain said teasingly. Konan elbowed him in the ribs and smiled. Flash.
"One more." Pain said, and Konan's mouth opened in a perfect O, her eyes wide when she felt Pain's mouth kiss her cheek. Flash. "Goodnight! Happy Birthday!" Pain said cheerily, waving the camera and closing the door after him. Konan sat down on the bed.
What was that? What the heck was that about? Is he crazy? Boys are so weird! Maybe it's like a tradition to do that on people's birthdays where he comes from? Where does he come from, anyways? Why did he do that? Now I'll just feel even stupider around him than I do now, if that's even possible! It's going to make things all weird if I think it means something and it doesn't...what the heck!
Konan shook her head, put on her huge grey tshirt and black boxers, closed her eyes, and lay down on her bed, not bothering with blankets. She was sixteen...she was sixteen...
Konan smiled one last time before falling asleep again.