Disclaimer: Me and my sidekick here were busy stuffing our faces with chocolate pocky when suddenly, out of the blue, in the cold of night, right before bed, but not before lunch, we happened to realize, with some disappointment, that we did not (to our great distress) own any of these characters. However, after coming to that startling realization, and after many a tissue, and many pocky sticks later, in the heat of day, did we decide that, without any further ado, that the story, to our relief, did indeed (here we rejoiced) belong to us, fortunately.

Two Hours Behind

Chapter One

Make the First Move

The heavy sun beat down on Sakura's back as she rushed to work. Today was just not going the way she had hoped it would. First she had slept in, causing her to almost miss her exam, and then because she was late to her exam, she stayed there longer. And now, with the time growing even shorter, it seemed as though she would be late for work as well.

Her boss was going to have her head again . . .for being late . . .again!

It wasn't like he couldn't do her job though, all she did was answer phones! "Hello, thank you for calling this shabby little store. How may I help you?" Yeah, as if that would be too hard for him! But then again, if he could do her job, then she really wouldn't have a job to start with now would she?

And then luck seemed to frown upon her once again. His silhouette, she noticed, was standing right at the door's entrance. Obviously waiting for her to show her face. Yeah, the back door was sounding better by the minute.

A quick turn and a dark ally brought her face to face with her only means of survival. Hurriedly, she opened the door and ran to her desk. Silently praying that he was as dense as she currently hoped he was. Maybe so dense that he wouldn't notice that his receptionist was a good thirty minuets late? Just as she had sat down, her desk was covered with the most ominous shadow she swore she had ever seen.

"Nice of you to stop by . . .yeah." She couldn't see it, but his tone of voice clearly imprinted into her mind the smirk she knew he was wearing. With a sheepish sort of laugh she brought her hand up to nervously rub her neck.

"Eh he? Um, you see . . . there was an exam and . . ." Her savior came in the form of a ringing phone. And she, being the opportunist that she now was, quickly picked it up and started the normal phone etiquette greeting.

A quick glance back toward her boss told her that he was not finished with her yet. And that she had better hope the phone would be ringing all day long. With a heavy sigh, Sakura proceeded to explain to the customer on the phone that their shop was not a flower shop, but an art shop.

The day passed as uneventfully as any other. Sakura spent a good amount of time answering the phone, and her boss did whatever it was he did in his little office room in the back.

Pink lips formed into a cheesy smile, he hadn't confronted her about her tardiness yet, so perhaps she was out of the blue. Inwardly she cheered, maybe this was a sign that her day was finally looking up. Boy she hoped so, she wasn't in the mood for a lecture about potential and responsibility.

But her boss really wasn't so bad, not really. Sure, he had his off moments where she was sure he was going insane. But he was an artist, so Sakura came to the conclusion that was just some sort of artist thing. To her, it made perfect sense. And herself not being one to enjoy the finer arts such as art and literature, there couldn't be any better conclusion. But what she did enjoy was math. It had a set way to do things, always precise and accurate.

That particular thought made her think of school, and school made her remember she had probably failed her exam. Truly, it was hard to find time between work and school to study. A tutor might help, but then she'd have to spend the time looking for one. Plus, she would actually have to have the time to be tutored. The irony of it all, she was failing art.

She had considered, briefly, to ask her boss if he would mind being a tutor for her. Honestly, she really wouldn't mind spending time with him other than at work. He was quite cute after all.

Sakura's cheeks flushes a few shades of red as her thoughts ran down an avenue they shouldn't have. He was her boss, nothing more. He was just a means for her to be able to pay her bills. Yep, that was all. There was no way she could ever see him as anything else.

Right?

"So you managed to make it here only a little late, but now you aren't even working . . .yeah."

Sakura blinked and looked up to the man leaning in the doorway staring at her. How long exactly had he been there? She could feel the nervousness work up in her throat as she tried hard to once again busy herself with the not so busy phone. It was quite hard actually.

Sakura mumbled a quick apology, grabbed the nearest object to her hand, the pen, and began to fiddle with it. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden? Maybe it was because her own boss hadn't talked to her about her tardiness earlier today? Then again, she was quite happy that he hadn't, she had already dealt with enough stress. Getting up late, nearly missing the exam, and being late for work.

Not a moment later, a loud sound was heard and her desk took an unexpected rattle. She looked up only a bit to see a pair of hands flat on the front of her desk. Innocently, she peered up at the man leaning over her table who in turn grinned.

Yep, she was in for another one of those lectures again.

"Why again were you so late for work . . . yeah?"

Sakura smiled nervously and spoke, "I . . . uh . . . had an exam."

It seemed that his grin grew about another inch that moment.

"I thought I was working you around your classes . . . yeah."

She could have sworn she had shrunk in her cozy little seat right about then.

"You are . . . but I had to finish the exam first."

The smirk he wore slowly faded away and his body straightened once more. He sighed and began to scratch his head.

"May I ask what exactly it was in . . . yeah?"

As if it was instinct, Sakura glared at him and gave a stern "No."

To her dread, Sakura watched as the mischievous grin quickly fell back to place on his face. With a quick flick of his hand, her boss questioned, "Why?"

Sakura crossed her arms, quickly deciding that she needed to change the topic. "Can I have a raise?"

It was his turn to glare at her and answer with a stern "No, you don't do anything . . . yeah."

Sakura bristled, she did too do a lot, he just wasn't able to notice because he was always in his office! Bah! Standing up, Sakura replied, "Well, since I obviously don't do anything around here, may I go home now?"

An arched eyebrow was sent her way at her request to leave early, "But then I'd have to answer the phones . . . yeah."

Sakura pointed an accusing finger toward him and basked in her glory. "AH HA! So I do, do things around here!"

Huffing indignantly, her boss placed his hands on his hips. "I never said you didn't . . . yeah."

Her finger faulted a moment, he had said that, didn't he? "Wait, what? You did too!"

"Not really, I just asked why you were late."

Green eyes narrowed to slits, he was doing this purposely to annoy her. What he said really wasn't a question, but she felt the need to reiterate that she had an exam. "I had an exam, that was all."

His lips formed into a self gratifying smile, "In what?"

Secretly she wanted to tell him she was failing art, just to see his expression. Maybe he would blame himself? . . . Yeah right.

With a frown, and her voice dropping an octave lower, Sakura shook her head. "No, now go away."

His shoulders slumped, and he was about to make some sort of retort, but the door suddenly opened. Sakura groaned, it was him again. He had a knack for showing up when she was having a bad day.

Her boss's attention fell away from her and landed on the newcomer, a smirk replaced his earlier expression. "Well, if it isn't the puppet maker himself . . . yeah."

Said puppet maker stopped in the doorway, obviously wondering if it was really worth walking in or not. Deciding that he did, in fact, have to talk to the owner about the latest shipment, he walked in. But not toward the owner, instead toward Sakura.

"Would you please leave a message for Deidara."

Sakura blinked. Not quite understanding what was going on between the two, she grabbed for a sheet of paper and a pen. "Okay?"

"Your shipment of puppets will be late." With that said, he turned to leave.

Deidara, who had been standing by Sakura through the whole process blanched. He needed those dolls! "What do you mean late? I need them now . . . yeah!"

Sakura couldn't help but to chuckle at his expression, and she tried to hold it back as much as possible. Yet with her trying to hold it back, Deidara's attention was once again attracted to the lady behind the desk.

"Something funny?" came a stoic remark that nearly felt like Sakura got hit in the gut. It was true that her boss enjoyed art and made sure everything stayed in line. Nonetheless, it seemed he was offended by the fact that she was just giggling at him.

Attempting to look serious she shook her head and put her hands in her lap.

Still looking rather exasperated by the new establishment he said, "Get back to work." Then walked back to his office and shut the door.

She could see through his partial glass door, him sitting down and picking up the phone. He was probably going to call the company.

It was amazing how quickly his mood changed though. With just that one sentence said by the puppet maker his attitude went back into a state of irritability. Sakura mused to herself, as long as he wasn't angry with her any longer, she guessed it would be fine.

Sakura slouched as she opened the door to the classroom and proceeded to leave. She couldn't really say that the Professor was angry or displeased with her but he made it a point that she needed some help in the class. Sure, she wasn't pleased with herself in the beginning when the exam started but she had no idea that she would fail. For once in her life she felt like an idiot.

With the class dismissed and many people wandering around, Sakura usually didn't pay much attention to the crowd. However, today there was a rather familiar face in the crowd who happened to be walking toward her.

Straightening up and behaving as if there was nothing on her mind she continued walk right for the exit.

The man that looked so familiar walked passed her, but not without noticing a paper dangling out of her bag at her side. His hand quickly went for it and pulled it out. Stopping he looked back to the woman who kept on walking away. This was the signal for him that she hadn't noticed and proceeded to walk forward. He opened the paper and read it.

Once again he came to an abrupt halt and his mouth gaped open. What was before him was definitely hers.

Spinning around on his heel, he hastily made his way through the group of people. She had almost made it to the exit until a hand grabbed her shoulder and forced her to turn around. A paper was held up in her face and slowly but surely she began to read it, but the more she read it the more it sounded like her paper.

Wait a second, this was her paper!

"How . . . can you fail art? . . . yeah?"

Great . . .

She grabbed the paper and to her dismay, the person earlier was behind it. With a withering frown he leaned toward her slightly, his eyes never leaving her own.

"Well?" He asked, obviously waiting for the answer she didn't feel like giving.

Sakura glared at him and huffed, "Well, what? So I do horrible in art, big deal!"

An eyebrow twitched on the man's face, suddenly pretty turquoise eyes didn't seem too happy anymore. The man put his hands on his hips and glared.

With a finger pointed in her direction, he spoke, "How can anyone flunk art though! It's the easiest class . . . yeah."

Sakura could feel herself get redder as the argument went on. Why was it his business to know that she didn't care for the fine arts? True he owned a studio and an art shop, but still! She had never seen him do anything but talk on the phone. Maybe it was because he really had no talent and decided that it would be the easiest way to go. Go figure, it was usually the lazy types that got stuck as the boss.

"Well . . . I . . . HEY! I did my best alright!"

She had yelled at him and she had even gotten in his face and said it to. It was the small change in the woman's character that literally made him take a step backward.

"Heh . . . I got to go to class now. I guess I'll see you . . . hopefully on time . . . at work." Taking another step backward he turned and waved at her.

Classes? Thought Sakura as her once raised hands dropped to her sides. He takes classes? Well, that was an interesting turn of events. After all, he was what? Four, maybe five years older than her? A slow smile formed on her small lips, that would mean he was one of those supposed professional students.

With a shrug of her shoulders Sakura decided that he was probably just too dumb to actually get any form of degree, maybe she should tutor him?

No, definitely not.

As her mind juggled the thought that he was indeed too dumb to pass college, she forgot to notice time, and ended up being late for her next class.

Two days later . . .

"What do you mean you can't send those puppets until for another week!"

She could hear it, even with the door closed. His very much audible voice screaming into the telephone probably deafening the person on the other side.

She tapped her pen on the piece of paper and tried to concentrate at the task at hand, but the ever-growing voice of her boss kept her occupied. Just by the roughness of his words she could tell he was angry and just imagining his face was quite horrifying to her. He was really all worked up about those puppets that he barely had anytime to come out of his office and check up on his clients.

Then again, he still hadn't said a word to her about anything except for her to write down some notes.

She giggled at the memory and remembered seeing his hair completely messy and it seemed he hadn't slept for days.

"Is there any possible way to get them in maybe just a day earlier?"

Was there really any reason for him to get that shipment in that quickly? Sakura thought that she would remember something important about the dolls but nothing came to mind.

Sighing at her own horrible memory, she once again contemplated about her exam in the beginning of the week.

However, her thoughts were immediately thrown off course when the door ahead of her opened and a rather irritated boss came out. He ran his fingers through his blonde hair and slowly his eyes met Sakura.

A rather stiff glare was shot toward her and Sakura leaned back into her seat.

"What are you looking at?"

Sakura's stomach tightened and the only word that slipped through her lips was "Nothing." Her green eyes darted down to the piece of paper beneath her and without thinking her pen began drawing circles. She heard the faint footsteps walk to the glass window and then stop. Was he thinking, or was he plotting a way to get that shipment? Looking up she saw a turquoise eye starring back at her.

She snapped back to her paper.

Why was she feeling so nervous around him all the time? He's her boss, a very strange one but still her boss. He was nothing more that an older man looking for a way to waste his time. All he did was sit in his office and answer the phone a couple of times and maybe write something down.

Wait a second, didn't she do that to?

Curiosity getting the better of her, her eyes once again looked up but this time the guy she was expecting to see was gone. Blinking a couple of times before returning to her pad of paper, a sudden feeling of being watched came over her. She looked over to her left to see her boss watching her hand intently as it scribbled then looked back to her.

"No wonder you're failing art . . . yeah."

The words stung and her facial expression truly went evil. Glaring at her boss, Sakura held back the extreme need of wanting to slap him.

"It's just scribbles!" She protested and quickly tore the piece of paper out of her pad and threw it away. Deidara stood up straight and a playful smirk danced upon his lips. He sincerely loved making her uneasy, just watching her squirm in her own seat as he approached her. Indeed, the status of being her boss had made an impact on her.

"You're hopeless . . . yeah." A chuckle broke out during the process of speaking and he quickly spun around and walked back to his office. Sakura eyed him angrily as he happily walked away. Stopping before he entered his office his grin went wider and again he chuckled.

"Have you thought of getting a tutor . . . yeah?"

Of course she had, not a single day went by without her thinking about it. However, most of the time it usually came up to being him as the tutor, but she didn't really think that it would be a good idea. He was always here at the art shop, no where else. Hell, when she saw him in the college was the only time she had seen him away from his desk in the closed office.

Sakura mumbled a small "yes" and tossed a glare at the object of interest, her blue pen.

Deidara blinked and took a step away from his door and looked straight at her, "You have?"

And the pen became suddenly even more interesting. On any other normal day she would never have told him that, so why did she answer "yes" today? She could almost hear the seconds tick away before he would inevitably start to tease her.

The mischievous grin that was distinctly Deidara, crosses his face, "Oh really? Who?"

Nope, there was no way she was going to tell him that one. She could see it now . . . and it would not be pretty. She would say, "why you of course!" And he would answer, "I know, I'm the best . . . yeah." She would never hear the end of it, so she would never tell him.

But she had to tell him something! He was staring! Couldn't he catch a clue? No! With a low mumble about "stupid bosses" she decided now would be a good time to change the subject. "So . . . how's the doll shipment going?"

With a slight quirk of his head, and his expression clearly letting her know she wasn't going to get off that easily he answered her with another question. "Do I know him . . . yeah?"

Frustrating, that's what he was. He was the embodiment of all her frustration, and he would not go away! A fly, yes, he was a fly, and she had to be the sticky paper. Her luck just plain sucked.

Not quite sure how to answer that one, as he was the one she thought about asking, she said the first thing that came to her mind, "Sasori."

She watched, with some amusement, as Deidara's face went totally blank save for, what she thought was, a tinny little twitch in his right eye. "Sasori huh?" An almost noticeable pout formed on his lips as he slowly turned away from her and proceeded into his office, mumbling softly to himself, "Why not me? All he does is make dolls . . . yeah. I'm much better at art then him. At least I can draw stick figures . . . yeah."

Fanfic by IoneInc.