Hello, Serenity here again with your long awaited update!

I'm so very sorry this update is late as well, but I had a ten page paper on child abuse to write and turn in, with a speech on Film Scores to give and other buttloads of homework and family drama that kept me from writing and updating. But now it's here, so never fear! BizarreSerenity and your update have come to save the day!

I wanted to thank you guys for all the fabulous reviews. As of today, we have five hundred and nine reviews! Mika and I are absolutely shocked and pleased that you guys are linking our story everywhere, and leaving such lovely questions, reviews, and comments! And trust me, today I'll give you all the attention that you deserve. I'm very sorry I wasn't able to do this last review, when I was rather pressed with time.

On another note, I just wanted to let you guys know that once again, my wonderful boyfriend, RichardInya, (Who reviews my story often here) is coming home again in June around the 26th until July 9th. So that means that there will be no updates for that time, for I will be busy with sexytimes and AnimeExpo2012, along with my 19th birthday on July 8th. It's two months away, but I just wanted to let you guys know in advance. Out of curiosity, are any of my lovely reviewers going to AnimeExpo this year? And on what days? Let me know in a review or a PM! I know a few of you were interested in doing some sort of Freshman, Puppies, Wayward Gangs and Chocolate Liquor cosplay, and I'd love to see it and maybe even meet a few of my lovely readers. But only MAYBE. I'd have to work things out, and although you guys are probably not serial killers, I don't want to take any chances, even with my man at my side. I got a PM asking if I cosplay. Yes, I do. This year for Con I will be Triela from Gunslinger Girl and Kirin from Monster Hunter. My man got me some badass armor, and I'm going to put it to good use :)

Unfortunately, our lovely Beta, Mika, is very sick. She was able to help me with this chapter over the phone, but right now she's not feeling very well. If it isn't too much trouble leave a little get well soon message for our epic beta in your review, and I'll show em' to her. I know that will cheer her up now that she's stuck in bed! ^^

And now for the much awaited questions and comments section! :D

Beeanssx, I'm so glad you enjoy my fic! I do work very hard on it, and its reviews like this that make me want to review as quick as I can. Also, I didn't realize that I had a reader in Scotland! Epic! I'm part Scottish, by the way. So yay! Thanks for the review!

Good boy-chan, your letters were funny, but I just wanted to let you know that Skrillex is NOT techno. It is crappy Dubstep. And Kisame swings in the Benny Benassi direction, not in the junky Sonny Moore direction. In the future, if you want to write more awesome letters, try doing it on the fic's Tumblr so everyone can enjoy them ^^

Amaya Sakaruta, I'm sorry that you are grounded. Being grounded SUCKS. So I hereby decree that this chapter shall be dedicated in both your honor and sick Mika's honor. Get ungrounded soon, and thanks for spreading my fic around!

Hellbound-Spirit, I'm glad you like my fic. If every syllable leads me to domination, then Mika will have Switzerland in no time. And me? I think I'll go with California or Australia. BECAUSE KANGAROOS AND RACOONS.

LadyShirahime93, Those tacos are like orgasms. TRY THEM.

10 Tailed Blossom, that IS weird.

HeartlessKingdom, it is freaking IMPOSSIBLE to get tired of Tumblr. It simply does not happen and never will. Countless hours have been consumed by me derping around on Tumblr.

Queen Of Games, I'm so very glad you gave my fic a try, and ended up falling in love with it. I know the "Let's turn Naruto into a school" story topic is very dry, but I wanted to make my own version of it, and look now! All of you guys love it! So I'm happy. Thanks for trying my fic!

AnimaAmore, I think EVERYONE would become a pro race car driver if it concerned Doritos Locos Tacos. Just sayin'. :)

CherryVampiress, I nearly choked on my Mountain Dew when I read your review. It was freaking HILARIOUS.

SexySelena666, That IS very ironic. It seems a lot of you guys were eating Taco Bell or looking at one when you were reading this story, which is awesome. Glad you enjoyed it!

Kittychic0895, That's NOTHING. That was a snack. You should see what they eat for dinner.

Toreh, You guys will find out what's with Sasuke when it happens. Glad you liked the chapter!

TheAnonymousLlama, YOU NEED TO TRY THOSE TACOS. NOW.

LoneWhiteWolfHowl, I'm glad I had you in stitches. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Cherry-Blossom-Beauty, Ino may or may not be in this story. I haven't decided yet.

LAURENCE! How are you? I'll buy you some tacos, bro. Where you at? Anywho, glad you enjoyed the chapter!

SakanaNoDanna, that is also one of my favorite lines. Glad you liked it!

MirrorsDeath17, be careful. Don't choke to death when you read this chapter.

Sakura Ichigo Morihiko, Steve was terrified, by the way.

Mika, you are my eternal partner in crime. I hope you feel well, because I can't do this without you. Hurry up and get better woman! 3

Thanks for all the reviews everyone! I'm so glad you guys love the story!

See you guys next update!

-BizarreSerenity

After months of therapy, and the constant company of Naruto and Sakura, Sasuke finally started speaking again.

His voice came back in small sentences first: "Grab me a Pepsi", "Can you please turn down that fucking music?" and "Will you go with me to get another bowl of cereal?"

Sakura was absolutely thrilled that Sasuke was talking to her and Naruto again, and didn't give his sudden recovery a second thought. She was just happy that he was getting over what ever issues he had been suffering through.

He still saw his counselor every week, and his arms were checked for cuts.

But everything seemed to calm down as spring started to fade and summer started to bloom, slowly at the ending weeks of May.

"Pass me another beer Sakura, yeah!"

Sakura glared at Deidara before snatching a beer out of the fridge, and pitching it at the terrorist's head.

He ducked, sending the can of alcohol flying towards Hidan. It smashed into his shoulder, exploding, showering the Jashinist in cheap beer.

"SAKURA!"

Oh SHIT!

Sakura scrambled out of the way as Hidan lunged for her, his hands catching on the hem of her Akatsuki cloud patterned tank top. She teetered and fell, bringing the silver haired boy down on top of her. The breath was knocked out of her lungs and she gasped, kicking, trying to throw him off.

"Knock it off, Mormon boy!"

PFFF. We'll never get tired of Kisame's endless list of insulting nicknames.

Kisame's rumbling chuckle sounded above her, and Hidan was suddenly lifted off of her by the soggy collar of his Armani button up. He was tossed unceremoniously onto one of the leather couches and Kisame swung her into his arms, rubbing her back as Sakura fought to try and breathe again.

"Poor Pinky." Kisame rumbled, smoothing his large hands over her back in warm, gentle circles. "Too much rough housing for you, eh?"

Sakura dizzily leaned her head on Kisame's broad chest, breathing in tiny sips of air like a dying fish. She could already feel the bruises from Hidan's belt buckle and whatever had been in his pockets start to form on her skin, and she smelt like cheap, crappy beer.

"Stop teasing her, Kisame."

Itachi's serious monotone cut through Sakura's dizzy thoughts and she squirmed out of Kisame's arms and went over to where the oldest Uchiha brother sat, curled up next to him, and laid her head on his lap.

He tensed up the moment her head toughed his thighs, her pink hair spreading out into a choppy fan like pattern that was almost obscenely bright against his black jeans. For a second Sakura thought all of his muscles had turned to iron. He was statue still, breath caught in his chest.

Sakura carefully slid her arms around his waist, turning her head so that her cheek was pillowed on his thigh.

God. Red Eye needs to loosen up already! It's Review Weeks!

As if he were using that freaky little mind trick of his, Itachi sighed. He relaxed, almost sagging in his seat, and Sakura smiled.

All of them were exhausted from Review Weeks. Final Exams were in June, which was only a few weeks away. Every single member of Akatsuki, especially Kisame and Itachi, who were seniors, had been studying like hell. They came to the Hideout after dinner every night to try and relax, even if most of the boys (Including Sakura) took their notes with them.

"This is fucking retarded." Hidan groaned, from his seat on the couch across from Itachi and Sakura. "I don't fucking get this shit. How the hell do you solve linear equations?"

He directed this question at Kakuzu, who sat beside him with his ever appearing metal cash box, counting the bills one by one as he always did. Kakuzu and Sasori were the only ones who weren't ready to throw themselves off of the roof of the Gym because of Review Weeks and the upcoming Final Exams. Kakuzu didn't even bother to look up from his money, and rattled off a long, complicated formula.

Hidan groaned, head in his hands, but diligently scribbled it down nonetheless.

Deidara had since then acquired another beer and sat perched on the side of the pool table as Sasori lined up another shot, aiming for a cluster of balls near the right side of the table. He shot, the end of the pool cue making a satisfied crack as it struck the other balls, knocking them into the corner pocket.

"Nice." Kisame praised, lining up for his own shot. His enormous biceps flexed visibly through the thin materiel of his shirt as he made the shot, sinking more balls than Sasori had. "But not nice enough. I win, Pinocchio."

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRN.

Sakura giggled, and turned her head so that she lay looking up at Itachi, arms splayed beside her, still warm from being wrapped around Itachi's waist. He looked down at her, his eyes shining slightly in the dim light of the hideout, lips quirked into the slightest of smiles.

"Hi."

She grinned tiredly up at him, and he threaded his hands through her hair, combing the slight tangles out with his long, graceful fingers.

"Hello there."

His voice was soft from exhaustion, and Sakura worriedly gazed at the dark circles forming below his eyes, bruise dark and from obviously pulled every night all nighters.

"Fucking Oto High bitches are in the woods!" Hidan swore loudly brandishing his phone and grabbing a soild oak pool cue. "Tobi's outside and he said the fuckers jumped the gate!"

Sakura swore under her breath and sat up, barely managing to avoid colliding with Itachi's chin.

Students from Konoha Academy's rival school, Oto High, (Which was a crappy public high school) often broke into the academy to vandalize the grounds and steal the school mascot, which was a large bronze sculpture of a tornado.

They'd broken in a total of four times that year, and had succeeded in stealing the statue once. And now they were back, obviously to try again.

The boys all turned to Itachi, the unofficial leader when they were away from Pein and Pins and Needles. Sakura helped herself to a Mountain Dew while they waited for orders. It was just their rival school and not a gang matter, but there was no one up and about that late at night to take care of the sneaking Oto students.

We should go out and scare the fuckers. It'd be a break from Review Weeks, anyway.

Sakura knew that her inner had a point, and looked at Itachi, hoping that he'd make the right choice. Sakura herself had some strong school pride thanks to Tsunade being the Headmistress, and wasn't about to sit around while those Oto High jerks vandalized her aunt's school.

"I say we go and scare the fuck out of them." She said, when everyone else lay silent, even the usually loud and swearing Hidan.

"Fuck yeah!" the boy in question yelled, swinging his cue In a downward strike, almost hitting Kakuzu in the process.

"Watch it!" Kakuzu said icily, stacking his money carefully in his box and moving it out of away, so that his Jashin obsessed friend wouldn't damage it.

Hidan grinned sheepishly, and thumped the end of his cue onto the carpeted floor.

Itachi turned to Sasori, the other rational person in their little school group.

The redhead nodded, his brown eyes shining in their usual i-don't-really-give-a-fuck way.

"Fine." The elder Uchiha said, his voice as smooth as glass. "We will scare them out of the woods. Any ideas?"

Deidara held up a bag of firecrackers, and smiled, baring his perfect, straight white teeth in a rather insane grin.

"How about a nice bang, yeah?" He drawled, flicking the tongue of one of his many Ed Hardy lighters. The bright flame sprang up to greet him, flickering brightly before going out.

Kisame rolled his eyes, but didn't argue.

"Where do you get all these illegal fireworks?" Sakura asked, sneaking up behind him to swipe the bag out of his hands and examine it. "These are from Canada!"

Deidara plucked the bag out of her hand easily, and tore the plastic open with his teeth, holding up one long string of red-papered explosives for him to inspect. A long white fuse dangled from the end of it, just begging to be lit.

"I have my ways, yeah." He answered brusquely, shrugging his shoulders.

Sakura scowled, but didn't push him any further. Instead she leaned against Kisame, giving Deidara a rather skeptical look.

"So we light a few firecrackers." She said, raising an eyebrow. "Then what?"

Deidara stared at her.

"What do you mean then what, yeah?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, and smacked him.

"Are you serious? A few fire crackers aren't going to scare them off!"

"Why the hell not, yeah!"

"Because they aren't! It would probably make a good distraction, but it wouldn't send them heading for the fucking hills like we need them to!"

Deidara folded his arms and glared at her, his blue eyes flashing.

"Pinky's got a fucking point." Hidan added, sidling up to bump her hip with his. "We need to scare the shit out of these cocksuckers, and blondie's dinky ass fireworks aren't worth crap."

Deidara's face flushed an angry pink, and his glare grew more murderous.

"If we're going to do something, we'd better do it now." Kisame interrupted. "They're probably on the move already."

Sakura groaned, but followed Deidara, Kisame, and Hidan out of the Hideout while Itachi, Sasori, and Kakuzu stayed behind. Kakuzu because he just didn't give a shit and Itachi and Sasori because they needed to hold down the fort.

The woods were so dark they could barely see, but Sakura had gotten used to wandering around them at night with the Akatsuki boys. She kept close to Deidara, watching as he flicked his lighter twice near the fuses of the firecrackers, but never lighting them.

"KISA!"

The high pitched screaming whisper made Sakura jump and grab onto the crazy terrorist in front of her, clinging for dear life onto his arm.

Out of the darkness a figure came rocketing towards them, appearing suddenly out of a cluster of trees.

Sakura exhaled in pure relief as the figure materialized into The Akatsuki's one and only pest.

Fucking Tobi.

Tobi threw himself at Kisame, jumping up on his broad back in a sort of piggy back move. Kisame shrugged him off with just a shake of his shoulders, sending the other boy tumbling to the ground. He opened his mouth to let out a mournful wail but Sakura saw that loud, damnable mouth open and slapped her hand over it.

"SHHH!" She hissed, pulling him up roughly by the arm until he was standing up on his own. "They're going to hear us!"

Ahead of them, Hidan pointed to a bright, small light just a little distance away. Sakura knew from experience that it was someone's phone, used to make sure they didn't trip over any roots on the forest floor.

They snuck silently forward, towards the light. Deidara was grinning manically, fire crackers in his hands, just waiting to light them and throw them.

But they held back, creeping silently and carefully as they could, winding in a wide arc so that they were ahead of the group of Oto students.

It was then that Deidara flicked his lighter, lit the fuse, and threw the firecrackers at the approaching group.

Sakura watched Deidara's face contort into an insane, yet happy expression as the fireworks went off, cracking and popping like gunfire as red and white sparks shot everywhere, extinguishing themselves on grass, skin, and clothing.

The Oto Students ran screaming back into the woods, faces and clothes scorched by the firecrackers. Sakura and the Akatsuki boys howled in laughter and ran after them, screaming and yelling, driving them to the gate.

Deidara caught Sakura's hands and swung her in circles as the Oto kids scrambled over the tall iron gate, not even bothering to look behind them as they fled the school. In the distance a car's engine rumbled to life, followed by the squeal of tires.

And then the woods were silent.

"Fuck, that was awesome!" Hidan whisper-screamed as they crept carefully through the woods to go back to the hideout. They'd made way too much noise chasing the Oto shits through the woods, and Sakura didn't fancy being caught by Ibiki the Security Guard and brought up to Tsunade's office.

Kisame chuckled and snatched Sakura away from Deidara and lifted her up, settling her on his shoulders.

Don't even-

"I'M THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD!"

"GODAMMIT, SAKURA!"

They raced through the woods, Sakua giggling insanely on Kisame's broad shoulders, covering her face to keep low hanging branches from hitting her face. She nearly choked Kisame as she hung on for dear life with her legs, branches lashing at her.

"Why do you always have to fucking do that?" Hidan hissed, after they were far enough into the woods that the lights of the school weren't visible anymore. Deidara used his phone to guide them through the trees, and Sakura grinned.

"Because fuck you, that's why."

Kisame lifted her off of his shoulders and she squealed, thrashing as he set her back down on the ground so she could walk on her own.

"You gotta loose some weight, Pinky." Kisame teased, kneading his shoulders with his hands. "You nearly made my back cave in!"

OH HELL NO. HE DID NOT JUST CALL US FAT!

Sakura clenched her fists and crouched to lunge at Kisame, a rather harsh blow to the family jewels in mind. But just as she bounded into the air with her foot positioned Chuck-Norris style to claim her revenge, Tobi pounced and tackled her to the ground.

"TOBI WHAT THE-"

The one-eyed boy slapped a hand over her mouth, eye darting ahead of them.

"Shh! Look!"

Sakura and the boys fell silent as two lights moved in the distance near the hideout, Tobi helping Sakura up so that they could creep forward in the direction of the hideout and track the lights.

"You think there's more of them?" She whispered to Deidara, who stood on her other side.

They neared the area where the trapdoor was, and Sakura watched as Deidara's blue eyes widened, mouth turning down into an enraged scowl.

"No." He whispered harshly, jerking his chin in the light's direction. "Look!"

Sakura turned her head to stare at the lights again, only to find two figures illuminated by the dim lights of their phones held up to eye level.

Soft voices reached Sakura's ears, and she crawled forward to try and catch a glimpse of the two figures.

Wait…is that?

Sakura's jaw dropped as Deidara jerked her roughly behind a tree after she was close enough to actually see the two people talking near the trapdoor.

Cold sweat ran down her back as she gazed at one of the boys; He was tall and slender, with bone white hair that fell to his shoulders, red beads woven into two locks that hung in front of his face. Two bright red birthmarks marred his forehead, with more red around his eyes.

"Take all the time you need."

His voice was soft and musical, and instead of being dressed in black to blend into the shadows, he wore a soft white shirt that was just as white as his hair, and almost as pale as his skin, which seemed like it had never been touched by the sun.

Skin and shirt inked with the familiar musical note that Sakura had learned to hate.

Sakura inched forward to try and catch a glimpse of the other person, to try and justify the sick feeling that was climbing up her stomach to her throat.

"I'll have your answer in a week."

The curt, soft voice that answered made Sakura want to lean over and throw up, and she stepped forward again, hoping to whatever gods existed that she was wrong, that there was no way he could betray her.

Her green eyes narrowed as she grew close enough to identify the Sound gang member's companion, and she took another step, her heart screaming that she was wrong, that it was too dark to really tell who stood with the white haired Sound boy.

A twig cracked under her shoe and the Sound boy and the other's head turned in their direction.

Sakura could only stare in horror as she saw dark eyes, almost black, stare in the direction of her and Deidara's shadowy tree.

Dark eyes and dark, blue black hair styled into emo spikes, with lips turned into a permanent scowl.

"Sasuke." She whispered faintly, grabbing onto Deidara's arm again, her nails digging into his bare skin.

She felt Deidara tremble in anger beside her, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the scene before her.

"That fucking traitor!"

Sakura's head swam dizzily, Deidara's hate filled hiss barely reaching her.

Sasuke, meeting with the enemy.

Sasuke, betraying her again.

More like betraying all of us.