"Who's left?" It was an innocent question, but the answer, coming from behind me in some vague direction I was not aware a person existed, was basically the most horrifying thing.

"No one is left." I turned, and there was a... man. I think. A man shape, holding a pot with a Venus Flytrap who was... half black? Like, very black. Like the shade black, not the skin tone. And then, because of course that small piece of weirdness wasn't enough for my life now, the other half of him was white. Again, not the skin tone white. Just snowy. His eyes were yellow, because of course they couldn't be some normal nice color, that would just be far too basic for this school.

Apparently, I had taken too long staring at the half'n'half man saying vaguely threatening things, because Hidan was shoving me towards him. "TAG THE FUCKER!"

If there was anything I was good at, it was mindlessly following commands. So when that was yelled, I didn't hesitate in sprinting towards him. He slipped around the corner of the pool fence and I skidded after him, just to see... Nothing.

He wasn't there. Which was a decent bit concerning because there wasn't really anywhere to disappear to, just grass, the wall of what I'm still assuming is the gym, the fence that leads to the pool and would've been a very visible escape route, and now an angry Hidan, muttering expletives since that was basically his natural state.

"So, uh.." I begin, a little bit uncomfortable with just about everything. "Who was that?"

"Fucking Zetsu." Is all the answer I get. Which, really, I didn't quite know what I expected but it probably should've been exactly that.

"Language, Hidan." Came a very tired voice from behind us. I turn around swiftly, wondering what kind of weirdness would greet me this time. Compared to Zetsu, the sight that greeted me was positively normal. A man wearing a combination of a black bandanna, floppy hair, and a high-necked shirt was there, the whole ordeal making it so the only part of him that was actually visible was his right eye, eyebrow, and a very small part of the skin around it. On most days it would've been disconcerting, worthy of some scrutiny, maybe even a bit frightening. But today I had seen too much weird shit to spare odd fashion choices a second glance.

Though Inner was definitely giving this dude a second glance. And a third. And a fourth.

Tobi was behind the newcomer, looking sheepish. As I watched, he slipped away, and I didn't find it in me to try to stop him. I mean, he was already tagged, what's the point?

"So, mind telling me why you guys aren't in class?" The odd (Though not nearly as odd as everyone else) man speaks, and his voice reminds me of a sunbathing rattlesnake. Long, loose, lazy. But deadly. Very deadly. I distinctly do not want to be here, in the sights of this predator.

Hidan has the decency to respond as I process this information – Probably for the best, as I would've simply told him 'Hide and Seek'. Hidan's response isn't exactly better, but it does reveal another interesting thing about the oddly dressed man. "I could ask you the same fucking thing, professor."

Hidan spat the world like it was a deadly disease, but it was spoken all the same. I reevaluated the man in front of me, trying to connect the dots in my mind. He looked horribly young, but the entirety of his hair was silver. Which, while being a pretty popular style for girls, was a bit odd on a professor. Maybe he did it to look older? More professional?

His slouch certainly wasn't professional, and neither was the long-suffering sigh that proved to be Hidan's only answer.

He turned to me, and with a raised eyebrow (Specifically the visible eyebrow. I wonder if he thinks about which one he has to raise.) questions, "Aren't you the transfer student?"

"Yup!" Is my cheerful answer; the joys of hide and seek have left me feeling rejuvenated. And even if this dude seemed dangerous, it seemed everyone here was dangerous. This was a lot better than say, Itachi deciding to talk to me.

"Isn't it... Your first day of school?" He ventures, looking positively perturbed.

"Yup!"

He stares at me in silence for a good moment, before continuing as though he was explaining the concept of pooping outside to a dog. "Isn't it... a bit... early? To be skipping school."

Hidan is my saving grace, which trust me, is something I never thought I'd say. "Well, Kakashi, I'm pretty damn sure that you have a fucking class you're supposed to be teaching right now, you late piece of shit."

To his credit, the newly named Kakashi doesn't flinch at all in response to the insult. In fact, he seems like he didn't even hear Hidan's accusation. I wonder if people who've been around Hidan for long periods of time develop some kind of defense mechanism that involves not listening to him ever. It's plausible, really. I should probably look into that.

Much to my chagrin, Kakashi lazily swings his visible eye towards me, and speaks in a long suffering manner. "May I have a word, Ms. Haruno?" He says it like he's unsure if that's actually my name, which makes sense, considering we've never met before. His eye glances very obviously at Hidan before he continues. "Alone?"

Hidan looks like he's about to protest, but I cut him off before any expletives emerge from his scandalous pit of a mouth. "Sure, Kakashi." If he's a professor, I'll probably be seeing him around, and I have a feeling he'll get his 'word' one way or another. At least this way Hidan knows who I went with, so if I turn up murdered they'll have some decent leads.

He looks taken aback by my use of his first name, at least as taken aback as one can look with only an eye and eyebrow to convey their emotions. Hidan splutters, but I'm already walking towards Kakashi, unwilling to deal with any fallout that may or may not occur from my choice to go against Hidan's wishes and with Kakashi's.

He leads me away from Hidan, around a corner, out of sight. It's really a wonder Hidan doesn't follow, but he doesn't, so I'm left alone with possibly a serial killer or maybe just a teacher. I stare at him questioningly as he sighs and rubs at his covered face with a gloved hand.

"Do you know who Hidan is?" He asks me finally. This catches me off guard, because I mean... What?

"I kinda do? He's not like a stranger or anything." My perplexity is easy to read in my tone, and Kakashi sighs once again.

"Okay, well... Do you know what Hidan is a part of?" This perplexes me even more because what. I just tilt my head at Kakashi, much in the way a puppy would when it doesn't know what you want.

"I'll take that as a no." He looks at me for confirmation, and I just continue with the confused face. It's enough I guess, because he continues without any more prompting. "Have you heard of the Akatsuki?"

I felt like I had, but it was in the way you think you know someone but you've only ever heard their name; I shook my head.

He grimaced, I think. Something twisted up all bad-like under his mask, and if it wasn't his mouth I have a lot more to be concerned about than Akawhatsu. "This makes this a whole lot harder then." The whole thing is said as a sigh, and I wonder if I should start counting exactly how many sighs he makes over the course of this conversation. "You know of the Yakuza, correct?"

I nod, because yeah, of course. The fact that this somehow connects with Hidan was... a bit concerning. Just a bit. Not entirely unexpected though, which makes me feel like I should rethink some life decisions.

"Great, okay. The Akatsuki... it's like a smaller gang within the Yakuza." I nod, brain is comprehending, everything is well. "And the Akatsuki... well, we have reasons to believe Hidan, as well as those he lives with, are a part of it."

Well. Maybe the surprise stabbing makes the slightest bit more sense.

"I don't think you should be hanging out with those kinds of people." I bristle at this, because as much of a character flaw as it is, I've never liked being told what to do. "You're a good girl, right Sakura?"

My emotions become absolutely volatile at the mention of 'good girl'. Yeah, I was a fucking good girl. I did all my homework, I said my 'please's, and my 'thank you's. I was honest and kind and just a bit scared of doing anything wrong. I was always home before curfew. I got good grades and hung out with good people and never questioned my parents orders.

And what did it do for me?

My parents are dead.

No amount of goody-two-shoeing made them stay. No amount of it will bring them back.

I did everything fucking right and I still got fucked over.

And I'm fucking done with that.

So I turn to Kakashi, and when Inner's voice spills from my lips like all the lies I never told, I let it. "No, I'm not a fucking good girl. I will never, ever be a good girl ever again, because all it ever got me was dead parents and a shitty school transfer to a place I can't even wear fucking PAJAMAS TO CLASS WHEN MY PARENTS ARE DEAD."

Maybe that didn't make sense.

Maybe it's not what I should've said.

But I said it, and its done, and I don't stick around to see the decayed gray of Kakashi's eyes judge me.

The lovely thing about this school is the forests. They start out manicured, paths snaking through overarching trees with branches so gnarled it looks like they are holding up the burdensome sky. Maybe one day they'd let it fall, but my sky already fell so I doubt I would find it in me to care. As iridescent blue crashes around me all I could pull out of my heart is a subdued 'oh well', the kind you say when you get a bad grade on a test you never studied for.

If you go off the trails, plant your feet firmly, one at a time on grass that gives way to dead leaves that gives way to grass, you'll find you have no idea where you came from – much less where to go. This would be a problem, except it isn't. Pick a direction. Continue.

'breathe'

If you don't have anywhere left to go, you'll never be lost again.

Walk until you feel like stopping, then stop. Touch a tree. Lay on the grass, when it itches your face refuse to move. Watch the sky, gray on gray on gray, and wonder of things you hadn't let yourself before.

See if you can find a ladybug.

See if you can find answers.

See if you can shove gangs and blood and pretty faces out of your mind.

When it gets dark, don't notice.

When you get tired, lay on the grass.

Try to pretend your biggest fear isn't waking up.

I woke up.

Of course I woke up. Logically, it was the most likely to happen. Despite the temperature, I was bundled up pretty thoroughly. I wasn't sick or dying.

So yeah, I woke up. But when I went to sleep it had felt so final that I was unsure what to do with my self.

Maybe I should talk to the guys, the 'Akatsuki'. Tell them I've heard some things. But what if it's true? Would they kill me? Are these the kind of trade secrets you get murdered for?

Maybe I should go back to bed.

In an actual bed, this time. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.

It takes a long time to wander out of the forest, but it seems all I have is time. I find the fence signaling the end of the school's grounds before I find the school, which is the slightest bit discouraging, but I don't seem to have my phone or anything helpful so there's no choice but to continue.

I make it to the spiraling structure that signifies this prestigious school around midday, when everyone else is in class. Ino, thank everything, isn't in our dorm. I love her. She's wonderful. But endless questions aren't what I need right now.

Sleep, actual sleep in an actual bed, comes easy.

It's evening by the time I wake up, spluttering and gasping for air that enters my lungs easy. This is not an uncommon occurrence, nightmares were a part of my life just as breathing was.

At least this time I couldn't remember it. It was always worse when I glanced around my darkened room, seeing shadows morph into whatever had just been terrorizing me, unsure if I had really awoken or if the trials and tribulations of my nighttime mind would continue.

I stumble out of my cave into the homey light of the living room. There was a note on the fridge, and I make my way to it slowly, very aware it could involve repercussions of my outburst to Kakashi.

Instead, in the most girlish writing I've ever seen it said: Hi Forehead! You were sleeping like the dead, and I figured I might as well let you; I went out though, the shopping district here is absolutely to-die-for! I swiped some food for you though, feel free to chow down!

There was no signature, though it was obvious who wrote it. I opened the fridge and felt my mouth water at the sight of pizza. It was devoured in a quick second, and that's when I realized my mouth wasn't the only thing watering. Tears were rolling down my puffy cheeks, even though I was so happy Ino was being such a great friend.

Maybe that's why I was crying.

Maybe it's because I hadn't cried earlier.

Either way, I sprawled out on the kitchen floor, too-bright eyes finding solace by staring under the fridge. A boring pastime, for sure, and I blame that completely for what happened next.

"Forehead! Why in the world are you sleeping on the kitchen floor!?" Ino's voice is instantly recognizable, always. Even more so when she's annoyed and it takes on the shrill quality of a banshee being devoured by mosquitoes.

"Whaa...?" Eloquence is always my best character trait, especially when I just wake up, I assure you.I mustered up the majority of the strength currently in my body and manage to push myself upright, a very slouched, bent upright, but upright none the less.

It takes a second, but her words actually process in my brain. They are then ignored, in favor of my own questions.

"Do you know what the Akatsuki is?" If anyone knew anything, it would be forehead. The information hoarder, sometimes I think it would suit her more to have my forehead.

"The... what? What has gotten into you?" I take that as a negative, until she continues, face twisted up in some weird expression I was far too tired to even attempt deciphering. "I mean, I do, everyone here does – you haven't gotten mixed up with them, right?"

I flap my mouth uselessly, hoping words will somehow fall out. They don't, and I'm just left working out my jaw in front of Ino, who somehow takes this to mean that yes, I had gotten mixed up with them.

"OH MY GOD, FOREHEAD!" I hadn't realized I had a headache, but at the sound of Ino's shrill voice, there it was. "You didn't, you really didn't, holy shit. Oh god, I don't even know what I expected of you, of course you'd get involved with a gang before you've even been here a week." She's giggling as she talks, as though it's all so funny that I have apparently endangered myself horribly. "Oh fuck girl, what do you know about them?"

I shrug uselessly, because really, what did I know about them? They were all prettier than me, enjoyed hide'n'seek beyond normal human standards, and were vaguely homicidal.

None of that seemed like the most useful of information.

"We have a lot to talk about Forehead." Ino held out her hand to me and hoisted me off the floor. The sudden change in altitude murdered my vision for a second, but I steadied myself and looked to Ino for guidance.

By the end of Ino and I's discussion, I had learned that the 'Akatsuki' had the school under their thumb from monetary donations the gang gave that the school wouldn't survive without. I also learned that it was a pretty prominent theory that the school was actually owned by someone working within them, which is why the pretty boy brigade – as Ino had taken to calling them – was going to school here. Either way, it seemed the school was irreparably tied to this gang.

Other than that, it was just rumors of things they had supposedly done. The list was long, and included everything from bombings to porn-trafficking, with no rhyme or reason to any of it.

At the end, Ino had asked me what exactly I was going to do about my relationship with them now that I knew what they were involved in.

Her answer was a small shrug.

Really, I was entirely unequipped to deal with any of this, so I used the best method for deciding things: indecision.

I went to bed in my actual bed that night.

I went to school in actual clothes the next day. All my classes, even. Sasuke was in two of them, and I studiously ignored him, except for a few sidelong glances to platonically admire his bone structure. A friend I had all but forgotten about named Naruto shared one class with both me and Sasuke, and it was probably the most entertaining class period I've ever been a part of.

The other class I shared with him was markedly less funny, mostly due to all the clumsy flirting I had to endure.

Ino and I had three classes together, and she caught me up on all the gossip about every single individual person in each of them. It was... interesting.

There were apparently some really weird fetishes out there.

This routine repeated for the rest of that week, and then the Monday after. I was getting right back in the swing of being a good girl, doing all my homework and everything, when I was woken up at 3 on Tuesday morning by a hissing voice next to my head.

Really, it's not my fault he got sucker-punched in the facial area.

A/N: Quality? What quality?

Reviews appreciated. Feedback welcome. Constructive crit worshiped.