Deidara held his breath as he hid himself behind one of the trees in the park. His stomach jumped into his throat and his skin burned with anger. How could this happen? His blue eyes darted to Sakura and Utakata at the swings - waiting to hear her response.

Sakura's mind went completely blank. She never expected, after only a few days of talking, she would ever be asked out - especially by someone so good-looking. She placed her hands over his and gripped them tightly.

"Uta-kun... I would love to date you." She answered.

Deidara almost collapsed to the ground in sheer shock. For once in his life, his entire being was crushed and the feeling made him nauseous. Sakura, the girl of his dreams, the one that could make him laugh over the silliest things just accepted? With his trembling hands, Deidara dialed Sasori's number and stood against the tree for support.

"What's up?" Sasori greeted.

"I need to see everyone from the club as soon as possible. This is an emergency. Don't invite Sakura-chan." His voice shook as he spoke.

Sasori grew concerned. "Did something happen?"

"Just trust me, Sasori. This is really important." Deidara finished the conversation by informing him to meet at the house. After he hung up, Deidara turned back in disgust to watch Sakura and Utakata.

"How about we go to Ichiraku? I'll pay for everything!" Utakata promised, pulling Sakura from the swing.

Sakura stood timidly. "I don't know... Would it be a date?"

"Look how nervous she is... She's too innocent for a guy like that!" Deidara thought angrily, grinding his teeth.

Utakata patted her on the head and smiled affectionately down at the freshman. "Sure, it can be a date. After all, we are boyfriend and girlfriend now." He took her hand and the couple walked away.

Deidara gagged on the words he spoke. How could Sakura-chan accept him so quickly? Without even a thought! She could be clueless, but this was on the brink of insanity! Deidara made sure it was clear then ran off in the direction of home. If that was his reaction, he was afraid to see how the others would behave.

...

Deidara invited each of the boys in and guided them to his room. None of the others were sure what the emergency was, but Sasori made it clear that it was gravely serious. After the last member arrived, Deidara pushed them into his room and locked the door behind him.

"What the fuck is going on, Deidara? I was busy doing some homework!" Hidan complained.

Itachi sat on Deidara's folded futon. "Please, elaborate on this emergency meeting."

Deidara gazed around the room; hard, confused eyes staring back at him. "Sakura-chan... U-Utakata... He, well, she-" The anger returning caused his mind to jumble up in a disorganized mess.

"Spit it out, Deidara," Kakuzu ordered.

Deidara shut his eyes and let the words spill from his mouth. "Utakata asked Sakura to go out with him... and she said 'yes'!" His voice was much louder than he expected.

When he opened his eyes, the boys in the room all shared the same stunned expression. Itachi was hanging off the futon by the blunt statement while Hidan's jaw tightened and his fists shook.

"Please, tell me you're joking." Sasori's eyes remained fixated on the wooden floor.

"I would never joke about something this serious," Deidara replied.

Kakuzu leaned back in Deidara's desk chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What should we do?"

The group turned to Itachi, waiting for his next call.

"What are you looking at? I say let her be," He muttered.

The others couldn't believe their ears. "Give up?! How could you say that, Itachi?" Kisame asked, completely puzzled by his friend's response.

"We need to do something!" Hidan shouted.

Itachi crossed his arms. "Are you all that blind? She hasn't acted the same for a long time. She isn't the same girl we met on the first day of school..." The boys remained silent. "Face it, she's bored with us."

It was as if bullets sprayed the room and each young man was the victim of a painful bullet wound in the chest. His words wrapped around their hearts and strangled the organ until it burst from the immense pressure.

Deidara wasn't ready to stop. "Sakura-chan is important to all of us! We can't just allow some random, good-looking guy to suddenly sweep her off her feet - atleast I won't. I refuse to give up on her and let her date Utakata!"

"Then you're just running blindly into a war zone. Deidara-kun, we're only friends to her - maybe brothers at most. She will never think of us as love interests," Itachi replied harshly.

Deidara bit down on his bottom lip and turned his attention to the others. "Fine! Itachi's out, but what about you guys? You're not just going to sit back and let this happen, right?"

Their averted gaze was enough of an answer.

Deidara looked to Sasori. "Don't tell me that you're giving up too?"

Sasori's eyes trailed from the floor to his blonde friend. "I... I don't want to..." He trailed off, uncertain of what to say.

Deidara was taken by surprise - even Sasori?! The thought of losing Sakura without even a fight angered him greatly; even more than seeing her accept Utakata's offer. He opened his door and sighed in defeat. "If you don't want to help... then you can leave. I'm not going to bother being around anyone that quits so easily."

Itachi stood first and quickly left the room without a word; followed by Kisame. Hidan shoved Deidara out of his path and muttered a curse word down the hall. Kakuzu lumbered after him, chastising Hidan for being rude in another person's home.

Sasori crossed the room to the door. Deidara turned to him once with a disapproving expression on his face.

"I don't want to get hurt, Deidara-san..." Sasori whispered.

"I don't want to lose her without trying," Deidara answered back. "If I get hurt then atleast I'll know that I tried with all of my heart."

Sasori nodded, silently contemplating what his friend said. The thought of losing Sakura surely hit hard with each of the boys, but in what way could they keep her to themselves. Wouldn't it be selfish of them to take away her happiness? Was Itachi right when he said that she was bored with them? Sasori dug his fingers through his hair - if only he could read her mind!

Deidara unfolded his futon and laid down on his bed. "Sasori-kun? Are you going to help?"

Sasori sighed, settling on his decision. "Yes... I'll help you."

...

Pein entered the Student Council room. The depression radiated by his students was intense and suffocating as he walked to the window.

"Do I have to ask?" Pein turned to them with a concerned frown.

Kisame, lifting his head from the table, showed off a disapproving scowl. "Sakura-chan... has a boyfriend."

Pein placed his hands on his hips. "I'm presuming that the lucky guy is none of you?"

Hidan nodded. "A dick named Utakata. He's only been here for a few fucking days! It's not fair!"

Pein sympathised with his young students. He had known Konan dated even when they stopped talking and it continued to hurt him although he pretended he didn't care. His ringed, grey eyes shifted to Itachi, but the Uchiha hadn't seemed bothered. It was only when he scanned the room that he had noticed Sasori's and Deidara's absence.

"Where are the juniors?" Pein asked.

Itachi shrugged his shoulders. "They said they were busy."

"And Sakura?"

"Does it matter where she is? Probably off on some romantic rendezvous with Utakata." The edge in Itachi's voice could cut through steel.

Pein heaved a heavy sigh. "So what do you do now?"

Itachi's obsidian eyes trailed to his sponsor. "We start the meeting."

...

Deidara searched through the paperwork while Sasori kept the women at the front desk busy.

"Why aren't beautiful women such as yourselves out on the town? Surely, both of you have men in your lives," Sasori gushed. Why was he always the one ordered to flirt with women he had no interest in?

The jolly, round woman laughed at his comment. "Oh, us? No, we're still on the market!"

Sasori leaned over the counter and showed off his boyish grin. "That's insane! Well, atleast I can speak to you without having to worry about a jealous boyfriend. Tell me, what do you ladies like to do for fun?"

The tall, bespectacled woman pushed her glasses up against the bridge of her broad nose. "I love to read and I go to the beach to collect shells." She giggled, sounding like a middle-schooler.

As Sasori continued to ravish the middle-aged women with compliments and honeyed words, Deidara sifted through each record; he was unable to find Utakata's.

"That's so strange... Itachi-kun said he was enrolled in a private school. But the only private school located in Kiri is called Takanami Academy. Why isn't he listed?" Deidara turned to Sasori and motioned him to continue - he needed more time.

Since Utakata had transferred roughly a week or two ago, his records should still be filed into Takanami's system. Could he have lied about attending a private school?

"What would he gain from that?" Deidara thought to himself. "He could gain popularity and respect, of course."

Deidara moved to the other filing cabinets, trying his best to stay undetected. Deidara and Sasori had taken time away from their schooling to travel all the way to Kiri and they were not leaving empty-handed.

But there was nothing!

Did Utakata really not attend Takanami?!

The blonde turned to his friend and quickly motioned him to leave after his quick escape. Sasori nodded in return and waited patiently as Deidara scampered out the door without a single glance his way.

Sasori looked down at his wristwatch and pretended to be in distress. "Oh, my! Ladies, you'll have to forgive me... I'm late for a very important errand-" The plump woman behind the counter grabbed his wrist and placed a folded sheet of paper in his hand.

"That's my number, Sweetie. Call me when you get the urge!" She winked at him - a surge of fear shooting down the redhead's spine.

"I-I'll make sure to..." He bolted from the door before she could say good-bye.

Sasori met with Deidara down the flight of stairs. "Did you find anything?"

Deidara shook his head in frustration. "Not a single file. I don't have anything that even proves he attended here!"

"Maybe if we ask the other guys to help?" Sasori suggested.

Deidara crossed his arms over his chest. "Like they want to help. Besides, we can handle this by ourselves! Once we figure this out, they'll fall to their knees - praising us for our hard work!" He found it quite amusing to imagine Hidan and the others bowing at their feet.

Sasori smirked. "Oh? So you're not just doing this for Sakura-chan's sake?"

Deidara glared, irritated at Sasori for disrupting his thoughts. "Don't act all mature now, Sasori-kun!"

"Whatever. Let's just head to one of the public schools." Sasori flipped a large sum of Deidara's blonde hair into his face. "Then, once we find out the truth, you can gloat about your accomplishment."

...

Itachi leaned against a large tree in the park. They cancelled another Student Council meeting due to the juniors' absence - not to mention none of the others wanted to deal with Sakura. For once, Itachi was angry. Angry at her. How could she change so much in such a few months? Yes, he understood that she had to deal with situations that not many people had to face, but she had proven how strong she was. Weren't they her friends? Why did she remain silent when she knew they could help her?

They loved her! He loved her! Why couldn't she see that?

Every time they'd walk home, he'd have to restrain himself from twisting her around, wrapping his arms around her waist and confessing his true feelings. If only he hadn't swore to the others to let her choose - it would have only taken meer seconds... then she would have known.

Turning around to walk home, Itachi's eyes were set on the couple near the swings. Utakata leaned against the metal pole that stabilized the swings and talked to Sakura with a flirtatious grin. Sakura noticed the president and motioned him over to the pair. Itachi hesitated, but decided to do as she wished.

"I haven't seen you in awhile!" She acknowledged with a smile.

Itachi jammed his hands in pants' pockets. "Well, you haven't joined us for lunch. That's probably why you haven't seen us."

"But why have meetings been cancelled?" Sakura asked.

Itachi watched in disgust as she gripped onto Utakata's hand. Was she trying to throw her stupid relationship with Utakata in his face?

"They've been cancelled due to specific reasons I cannot disclose with you. Are we done talking here? I have to go home." His blood was boiling beneath his skin.

Utakata joined in the conversation. "Oh, com'on, Itachi-san! I'm sure you can stay for a little while longer!" His grin was annoying the hell out of Itachi.

"No, actually I can't. Besides, I don't want to interrupt your business." As he walked past the two, Sakura held onto his shoulder and turned him around.

She turned to Utakata. "Uta-kun, can you give us a bit of privacy?" Utakata agreed and walked over to the water fountain to get a few sips.

"What's wrong with you guys? Are you all trying to avoid me?" Sakura hissed under her breath.

"Avoid you? Now, why would we do that, Sakura-chan?" The tone of his voice was cold and rude as the words slipped from his lips.

Sakura frowned. "Why haven't you been walking with me to school? Why don't you guys say 'hi' to me in the hallway?"

"I didn't realize you needed so much attention. Isn't that Utakata's job to keep you company?" Itachi snipped.

Sakura stepped backward, surprised by Itachi's response. "What do you mean 'job'?"

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Sakura, you're dating the fool. Isn't it obvious that he should be the one to walk you to school or speak to you in the hallway?"

"That's unfair! You guys are my friends-"

"Yeah, you're really proving it to us. Skipping out on lunch and making excuses... Please, stop wasting everyone's time."

Sakura bit her bottom lip. "How in the hell am I wasting your time?!"

"We know you want to quit the Student Council, so do it! We don't need you and your seat can easily be filled! Go ahead and take all that extra time to spend with your Uta-kun!" Itachi snapped - his voice loud and harsh.

Sakura flinched as he yelled out. She could feel the tears forming behind her eyes, but she blinked them away. "Fine! I will leave!" She pushed passed him and turned only to spat out her final words. "I'm sure you'll be happier without me!"

Seconds later, Itachi regretted every word that spilled from his mouth. But what could he do now after everything he said? Immediately, he ran to his house. His legs seemed set on auto-pilot while his mind was filled with disorganized thoughts.

He slammed open the front door, kicking off his shoes, and ignored his mother's greeting. He opened his door and locked it as soon as he nestled in. As concerned knocks erupted from the other side, Itachi sat against the wooden door and buried his face in his hands. For once, he let the tears cascade down his cheeks and didn't bother ignoring the empty pain in his stomach as it did somersaults throughout his abdomen.

He was angry.

Not at Sakura. Not even at the moron who swept her off her feet. He was angry at himself.

For letting her slip through his fingers.

xxx

Awe, poor Itachi and the guys. Baha; hope you liked. Comments and votes are appreciated. <3

xTsu