Sakura opened the door, only to find Deidara on the other side, hand raised to knock. He smiled at her, and moved his hand to scratch the back of his head.
"Morning, yeah."
"Good Morning Deidara-kun." She replied, locking the door behind her. They started towards the school, easily falling in step with each other. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a red head walk out of his house, and slowly follow them towards the school.
Gaara.
She almost wanted to… well, she didn't know what she wanted. She just knew something felt weird. Deidara's words pulled her back from her thoughts, and she listened to him talk the whole way to school. He made her forget about the night before, and with his animated expressions, and exaggerated hand jesters. She even forgot about the weird feeling in her stomach from earlier.
He followed her to her locker, as she dumped her book from two days ago into her locker. Then they made their way towards first period.
The morning flew by, with Sakura getting all her make-up work from yesterday.
And then it was time for fifth period art class. When they got in there, Sakura received another surprise. The teacher had actually thought of something for them to do the night before. And that included having the painters on one side, and sculptors on the other. She gave Deidara a small wave, and went to her usual corner seat. To her surprise, Sasori dropped into the seat next to her a few minutes later, right as next rang. He gave her a smile, and then looked at the board as the teacher rattled off what he had thought of the night before. And then he went back to his computer. They were supposed to make a picture or sculpture with the person they were sitting next to.
"I didn't know you painted Sasori."
"I don't." He held up a hand before she could say anything. "I do charcoal sketches. It's close enough."
She smiled, and then got up and got a canvas and frame. She stretched it out while standing, and grabbed a few charcoal pencils and a brush and some paint before going back. She laid the canvas in front of him, along with the pencils.
"You draw the outline, I'll paint it, and you can add the dimension once I'm done." He looked at her, and then shrugged, and picked up a pencil.
She watched him sketch, turning several of his mistakes into smears, like they were mean to be there. But more than that, she watched the little expressions that crossed his face as he sketched. The small scrunching of his eyebrows as he concentrated, the quirk of his mouth when something came out right, even the way his eyes followed his easy light hand movements.
She was startled when he looked up suddenly, and was met by his light green eyes.
"You're turn."
She was surprised to find the canvas in front of her, an outline neatly drawn. It took her breath away.
It was a simple Sakura tree, with a forest in the background. Some unknown wind pulled at the leaves, and caused the few blossoms that had already fallen to dance around its base.
"Sasori… This is- I mean it's- Well it…"
She was saved from her rambling by Sasori placing a brush in her hand.
"Just paint Sakura." He murmured, his voice warm against her ear. And then he was sauntering across the room, going to get the appropriate colors. In the mean time, Sakura picked up the lighter of the two greens she had got, and started to paint the leaves.
Sasori had brought her the right colors, and had left her in silence to work. But she still felt his eyes come back and move over her before going back to stare at something else. But she ignored it as best she could, and kept painting.
She had painted the leaves, and the tree trunk, and now she was working on the Sakura blossoms. They were all one color so far, and she would add the depth and shadows later. But as she started painting the second blossom, the bell rang, telling them to get to their next class. For her, it was lunch. Looking up for the first time since she started painting the trunk, she noticed Sasori was already gone, all signs of his charcoal material already put away. Rubbing her neck, she noticed that most people were gone. Standing and stretching, she returned her paints and brushes, and put the unfinished picture in its place, and went to catch up with Deidara who was waiting for her in the doorway. Together, they headed to lunch.
School ended quickly after lunch, and Deidara met her at her locker as she stuffed all her books in it.
"Ready to go, yeah?"
"Actually, I wanted to stay. I was going to paint some more."
"I'll stay with you, yeah."
"No! Don't stay on my account. Besides, I'm sure you have homework, and I'm not sure how long I'll be here. Besides, you already walked me here. I'd feel bad if you walked me home to."
After a few more comments back and forth, and the puppy dog eyes, Deidara agreed to leave her there. But only after he got a promise that she would call once she got home. She walked him to the front door, and waved to him, before hurrying to the art room. The room was dark and unlocked, her teacher nowhere to be seen. She flicked one light on, and grabbed her supplies so she could keep painting.
"That looks beautiful." Warm breath blew into her ear, and large hands settled themselves lightly at her waist. She jumped, and dropped her paint brush, and it came to rest on the floor, a slight click the only indication that it fell. She froze. She hadn't moved since she started, and her muscles were now making her pay. A chuckle by her ear causes her hair to move.
"It's just me Sakura. No need to get so jumpy."
The warm hands turned her in her chair, enough so she could see red hair and light green eyes.
"Sasori," she scolded, smacking him in the shoulder. "That wasn't nice."
He chuckled again, and let her hips go as he sat down next to her.
"But I meant what I said. It looks beautiful."
She looked at the painting she was almost finished with. She had to agree with him, it did look beautiful. The leaves were green, with darker greens over it for the shadows. The trunk and blossoms were much the same, and the background forest was a deep green, with black shadows. Small flicks of black were around the bottom, dancing around the fallen blossoms.
"It does, doesn't it?"
He pulled a charcoal pencil out of his pocket, and added a few strokes here and there, and then added his signature with a flourish, under her painted one.
"All done." He laid the pencil down, and turned his body towards hers. She watched his eyes as they traveled up and down her body, a slight smile on his face. "The picture's not the only beautiful thing in this room."
She blushed a bright pink, and tried to find something to say. But before she could think of anything, Sasori reached out to her.
She watched as his hand came towards her, felt his fingers ghost across her cheek, and finally entangle themselves into her hair. Without resistance from her, he was able to pull her forward, close enough that their breathes intermingled. And then Sasori leaned forward that last little bit, and pressed his lips to hers. His lips were a contrast to his breath, cold on her warm ones.
His lips barely touched hers, just the slightest pressure, but every hormone in her body went into overdrive. But before she had a chance to respond, or even move, the slight pressure was gone.
By the time she blinked, he was at the doorway, one hand in his pocket as his other was up in a slight wave.
"See you tomorrow." He murmured, and then he was gone.
Yes, it's a major cliff hanger, but I'm going to leave it there for now. I would also like to thank everyone for their reviews, they made me really happy. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next update.