"Keep going straight. I'll tell you when to turn," Sakura directed as she opened up one of the group chats that's been buzzing her back pocket the whole time she'd been enjoying her crepe. Leon had the top-hits station on low and tapped his fingers to beat against the steering wheel.

[Akatsuki]

Hidan: course this chats fucked have yu SEEN the age rnge??? the bratss r in high schoool and kuzu rode the fucking dinosores [6:53 pm]

Kakuzu: Every text you send is more supporting evidence of why you should be euthanized. [6:54 pm]

(T)obito: I think its nice! [6:56 pm]

(T)obito: The age range thing. Not the getting put down thing [6:56 pm]

Deidara: i think the onyl rite u have is shutting the fuck up u Uchiha rat bastard [6:56 pm]

Dad: Lol [6:57 pm]

Itachi: Liked "i think the onyl rite u have is shutting the fuck up u Uchiha rat bastard" [7:04 pm]

Deidara: FYCK OFF [7:07 pm]

Shino: How long are you going to be mad about this [7:12 pm]

Shino: Because I'm tired of having to hear it [7:12 pm]

Deidara: thsi motherfucker turned out to be an Uchiha all along and u want me to get o ver it??? [7:13 pm]

Shino: Yes [7:14 pm]

Kiba: no, get his ass [7:18 pm]

Hidan: yea but get his ass [7:18 pm]

Dad: if ur gonna get his ass id prefer u do it at the gym intsead of the back fo a wendys like last time [7:20 pm]

Sasori: yes [7:21 pm]

(T)obito: Yes? {pleading face emoji} [7:25 pm]

Deidara: blocked. canceled. im killing OBITO myself [7:33 pm]

(T)obito: DEIDARA I'M SORRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [7:34 pm]

Me: {headstone emoji} [7:39 pm]

"Where do you want to go next?" Leon asked as they stopped at a red light. "I mean, when we get food next time. There's a pizza place by my house that does thirty-three cent wings on Thursdays, but it'd have to be right after school."

She perked up. Thirty-three cents a wing was a steal that was going to land that restaurant on the 'daily deals' list she kept on the fridge.

"This upcoming Thursday won't work for me." As nice as food sounded, Konan asked her to stop by the office after school that day. She'd been busy with her recent ascension to official CEO of RAIN Security Services and would be for a while, but she still made sure to spend time with her and her dad. "Neither will Friday or the weekend." Friday had Deidara's art exhibit, Saturday had her and the boys babysitting for Kurenai and Tenzo, and on Sunday she was the tag-along to Kakuzu's 'errands'. "My schedule should be flexible after that. Turn right at the next light, and where you'll drop me off will be a couple minutes ahead."

The light flicked to green.

"We might not see each other after school for a while then," he said. "We're playing Northeast next, and Chris is running us through double practices because last time, some of the team pulled all-nighters for a project and came to game day exhausted."

"You guys are pretty funny. Didn't all of you piss off a semi-trailer full of geese and they chased you through the school?"

"Hey, the drive was gone and the latch slipped, and that gaggle had no business being in my truck bed," Leon huffed, and her lips quirked. He rubbed the back of his neck, and each time they passed under a street light its golden glow illuminated the soft warm color on his face. He had a tendency of getting flustered around her—did she still make him nervous? She thought she'd been dialing back how intimidating she appeared. "Um, but the game after that one is a home game and, uh, I was actually kind of wondering i-if you'd come?"

His posture was lax but his hands gripped the wheel a bit tighter as he made the turn, and she wondered if she was imagining that he seemed a little hopeful. Which meant he must genuinely consider her a friend, or at least to some extent of one, and that was... new. Kiba and Shino were her brothers, Kankuro was in Qatar, Naruto was in Japan, and nowadays she only saw them through screens. And those were all the people around her age she considered at the very least a friend. But the people she usually hung out with were people like—

[Sasori removed the group name]

Sasori: where are you two [7:46 pm]

Hidan: jfc let a motherfucker pul up [7:46 pm]

[Hidan changed the group name to 'mean girls']

Hidan: STOP CHANGI NG THE NAME WHORE [7:47 pm]

Sakura: be there in a few [7:47 pm]

"You can park by the dark red building," Sakura said as she looked at Leon. "And yeah, I'll come."

"Really?" He grinned as he turned into one of the spaces lined up along the side of the building. Tension melted from his fingers before they were back to tapping away to the beat. "I promise we won't get our asses kicked."

"Are you injury-prone?"

"Chris once ran into a guy so hard he rolled when he finally hit the ground and said he felt like getting hit with a boulder, so I think we're more injury... bequeathing." He nodded. "Yeah, that sounds fancy."

She snerked as he leaned forward to peer out the windshield and at the graffiti art spanning the red brick. Traditionally tattooed hands came out with their palms facing the sky in more of a plea than a prayer, strings spilling out from their fingertips. The ends attached to the joints of elegant marionette dancers, each one inked with different tattoo styles.

"Whoa."

"It took the artists weeks to agree on the idea," she recounted blandly. It was shortly after she and Sasori sent each other to the hospital—her with a butterfly knife in her stomach and him with a half shattered rib cage when she broke a baseball bat against it—that he and Deidara decided for the first and last time to collaborate on a project. That was back in her initial few weeks in the states where her introduction to Deidara had been all the new English swears she learned from him in the group chat. "Then another two months to finish the mural because they were too busy strangling each other."

"Damn, how much do they hate each other?"

"They're best friends."

"... Huh."

Bzzt.

[mean girls]

Sasori: today, Sakura [7:51 pm]

Sakura sighed as she pocketed her phone and cracked open the passenger door. "If I don't go in soon, he'll have a conniption. Sorry for leaving so suddenly."

"Don't worry about it," he shrugged. "But this guy you know owns, uh, Hiruko Tattoo?"

"For over ten years now." She slipped out the truck and braced her hand on the door as she faced him, her skateboard hanging from her free arm. "Thanks again for the ride. You didn't have to."

"I wanted to," he said, like it was the easiest in the world. "See you at school tomorrow?"

"... Yeah. Drive safe, Kennedy," she bid with a small smile. She shut the door and started making her way to the back entrance, and she listened as the truck idled for a few moments before finally backing and fading down the road they first came.

What an interesting guy.

"Thank fucking god, if you got your ass here any later I'd have passed the fuck away from all his goddamn bitching."

The back door swung wide open as Hidan stepped out, an unlit cigarette stuck between his lips. They'd also sent each other to neighboring hospital rooms, and she could probably call him a close friend. Unfortunately.

"If I took my board here, you'd have waited another twenty." Her hand reached for the lighter she always kept tucked in one of her shoes. "Which should have been fine; the race doesn't start until eleven."

Sakura offered a light as he leaned into the flame, rolling his eyes. "Right, but imagine my fucking surprise when the asshole said he wanted to sign up for a specific slot when he usually fucks off and races anyone who thinks they got a big enough dick to do it." Hidan gestured vaguely over his shoulder. "You remember Hao?"

She cocked a brow. "The rich guy that snubbed Deidara's art at the college exhibit last month?"

"We're getting put in the fucking Scorpion because we're friends with a maniac who'd do anything for his bitch no matter how much the fucker denies it!" He took a drag—no pun intended—and turned away to blow a trail of smoke. "Kakuzu's been working on that monster of a Dodge Demon for weeks at the garage and Sasori's not gonna leave any fucking survivors tonight." He savored a last, long draw before dropping the cigarette on the sidewalk and crushing it with the toe of his boot. "You got school tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's Monday."

"Ha!" He yanked open the door and bumped her into the building and closer to Sasori's—in Hidan's ridiculously accurate nickname—mean-girl-mood. "Good fucking luck with that."

(As they walk into the shop's paint-covered hallways, a small part of her idly wonders if Leon got home alright.)

::

"What's the deal with you and Kennedy? And don't give me some bullshit and ask what deal 'cause the last time you what deal-ed someone you ended up friends with a dude with Middle Eastern royalty in his blood because he got lost in Tokyo."

Sakura didn't look up from the book she propped up on Shino's legs resting in her lap. "You like Kankuro."

"Yeah, but it's the principle of the thing." Kiba flicked a balled up lollipop wrapper at her from his spot sprawled on the sectional. He missed. "Kankuro, I get. He's got a good level of batshit that doesn't reach serial-killer but more respectful than a middle-aged woman askin' for the manager, but Kennedy? He's popular. Honor-roll. A jock."

"Sakura's a jock," Shino said. "Why? Because Mr. Dad owns an MMA gym and is physically incapable of producing offspring who can't bench press more than fifty kilograms."

"Shit. Why're you always right?"

"Because I'm not you."

Sakura turned a page as Akamaru yawned wide from in front of the TV and rolled over. Another Thursday evening and they had the house to themselves again. After school she'd spent a few hours with Konan but there'd been a meeting that couldn't be pushed back, so she was home and content to pour over one of the novels Itachi recommended.

Kiba chucked his lollipop stick. He missed again. "Look, all I'm sayin's that I can't believe that all of the people Kennedy could've crushed on, it's Sakura."

She blinked.

"Kennedy's... nice," Shino tried. He pursed his lips when Kiba threw a handful of eaten candies their way, most of them clacking against his keyboard.

"The principle! What're we gonna do if he marries into the family?!"

"If by some miracle Sakura says yes to going on a date with him, and I stress miracle, everyone else would simply eat him alive."

"Exactly! And this is why we should—"

"Kennedy doesn't have a crush on me," she said as she finally looked up from her book and twirled open a jolly rancher that landed on the page. "Where did you get that idea?"

Because Leon Kennedy checked off the list of smart, attractive, and friendly. Or, at least that was what she'd been hearing from some classmates. She guessed he had his charm too with his sugary sweet lines that made her want to laugh whenever she heard them. Faintly flushed cheeks, an eager demeanor, all the smiles he never ran out of—he had to be like that with everyone. What would make her so special?

The boys squinted at her so hard they might as well have been staring straight into a flashlight.

Kiba leaned over the edge of the couch. "Are you—Have you seen the way that guy looks at you?"

"It's embarrassing," Shino deadpanned as he peered over his laptop screen.

"It's so embarrassing!"

"Think what you want," she sighed, waving off Shino's legs so she could stand. "I'll go pick up some food. Don't eat all the candy in the bowl."

She swiped the keys to their shared Jeep Wrangler and headed for the garage, the sound of all that Kennedy-talk following her out the door. They could think up whatever they wanted, and as ridiculous as they sounded, it wasn't like she had to worry about any of it.

What were the chances any of that could be true?

::

Kennedy: I think Im behind u? [5:37 pm]

Sakura glanced up at the rear-view and spotted a blue pick-up behind her in the McDonald's drive-thru.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, but Kennedy once got a rabbit snuck into his hoodie as a joke and he called it his 'little bud' while hiding it from the teachers for the rest of the day, and that might be the farthest from the devil one could get.

Me: you are and you look like a nugget guy [5:38 pm]

Kennedy: And Im proud of it [5:38 pm]

Kennedy: U give off mcchicken vibes [5:38 pm]

Me: fish filet [5:39 pm]

Kennedy: I was SO close [5:39 pm]

Her cheeks twinged as she dropped the phone in her lap and pulled forward to order. She'd never crossed paths with someone like this for as long as she'd been here, but of course it'd be him. After that project he just seemed to pop up everywhere, really. He waved at her at lunch and made sure to greet her whenever they passed in the halls, and he'd also been sending her a lot more texts during the classes they had together.

She didn't mind, though. Being around Kennedy.

Sakura parked in the lot closest to the drive-thru exit and turned off the ignition and lounged back in her seat. It wasn't too long after that the blue pick-up drove up to the space right beside her before Leon hopped out his truck and bounded up to the driver's side prompting her to raise a brow as she lowered the window.

"You waited?" He asked as he crossed his arms over her door and rested his chin on them, a surprised smile lighting up his face in the slight evening chill.

"I didn't want you to pout if I didn't."

"I wouldn't have pouted," he pouted, and she held back a snort. Bright blue eyes trailed to her left arm exposed by the tank top she wore out despite the weather. They traced the band of cattails wound around her bicep before they swept down to the pair of crossed tomahawks along her inner forearm, one of the blades dripping in blood—both apprentice tattoos courtesy of Kankuro. He didn't hold his gaze for long and instead pretended to have been moving to look at her passenger's seat and at the four bags on top of it, briefly skimming the pair of small blue horns inked on her left collarbone. "You having a party?"

"Kiba eats a lot and sneaks bites to Akamaru. His dog," she clarified as a particularly crisp breeze rifled through the open window. "Did you just finish practice?"

"Yeah, both Chris and Coach ran us ragged so we can annihilate Northeast tomorrow."

"Right, McDonald's: the healthiest pre-game meal."

"I deserve this twenty piece after taking a football to the back of the head," he sniffed. "Well, that and I have to babysit my little sister Casey tonight. She had kind of a bad day today so I got her some nuggets, a chocolate milkshake, an apple pie, and a Happy Meal toy. Just to remind her how annoying I am," he grinned. Another breeze flung his bangs into his face and he pushed them back with one hand. "Hey, are you not like, cold or anything? You probably just went out to get food, but..."

She looked down. She'd been lounging at the house in joggers and a cami, and the house never ran that cold with how many people were in it at any given time. How the rest of her dad's friends got their own copies of the house key, she refused to waste any effort finding out, but if she ever did get too cold she usually had Akamaru or the boys as walking heaters.

Leon stepped back towards his car and rummaged around his back seat for a bit before coming back to her window and handing her something orange. "Here."

Sakura scrutinized the bundle with a sharp eye before she unfurled it and draped it over the steering wheel. SOUTH HIGH curved across the chest of the sweatshirt in blocky black letters and FOOTBALL ran beneath it, and between both lines was a silhouette of Lucky dashing forward with bared teeth.

"I just remembered I tossed it in the truck the other day and I've been forgetting to bring it down and uh, you can use this if you didn't bring a jacket with you." He paused. "Shit, is that weird? I didn't mean to make it weird."

"Mm, I don't think it's weird," she said. She rested her arm on the door and leaned out a bit, the low sun gleaming against one side of her face as she cracked a small smile. "You're sweet, Kennedy."

And his face flushed pink all across his cheekbones and he shuffled back.

"I-It's nothing! Really, you can just keep it and give it back whenever you—" He smacked into his truck— "ow—want! Yeah, uh, Casey's probably waiting for me at home so I should—I—I'll text you later! Have a good—good... McDonald's?"

Pfft—

She pushed down a bout of laughter as his flush spread down to his neck. "Good luck at the game tomorrow."

"Thanks! I, um, I'll see you later!"

::

Sakura wandered up the guest bleachers at Northeast High's football field and settled into a seat as far back and as far away from the other visitors as she could. Deidara's exhibit ended a little bit ago and the after party wouldn't be for another couple hours, and as excited as she was to watch a hall full of drunk adults, Northeast was only a couple blocks down from the venue. Shino already got pulled somewhere by Deidara, and Kiba was probably well on his way to sneaking into the security room to mess with the cameras.

As long as she got back before Hidan chugged the first champagne bottle, nobody would mind that she up and disappeared.

It was half-time, though, and Northeast was up by six points.

The rabbit's foot hanging from her hip jostled as she shifted in her seat—a South High staple that was sold at the gas station around the corner for five dollars a faux-furred foot. Students and teachers always wore them to games, the cheerleaders had them on their skirts, and all the school athletes kept them on their duffle bags.

Laughter echoed up from somewhere down to the left and she glanced toward the stairs where a group of Jackrabbits in the all-black uniforms were messing around on the stairs as they slowly made their way down them.

And when #29 just so happened to raise his head and look up and over one shoulder, his eyes went wide.

She raised her hand and waved.

Leon raised his hand and missed the next step, crashing into the person in front of him and sending that guy, himself, and the other guy that tried to grab him down the last few steps and into the fence.

Sakura hid the bottom half of her face behind one of the orange sleeves of the sweatshirt she wore to stifle her own laughter.