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No one liked her. Everyone despised her, hated her, bullied her even though she never did anything to them. She was different. She wasn't interested in what the other girls were like; boys, make-up, shopping. She liked “unusual” things like video gaming, reading, watching TV series. She preferred wearing black clothes, skinny jeans and band t-shirts but that didn't mean she cut herself like everyone seemed to think.
She didn't have any friends, she was alone.
That is why Sakura started to talked to him. For as long as she can remember, they have taken the same bike riding route to and from school and recently it had turned into a race of who could get to school first.
The blonde hair boy studied her curiously when she didn't walk off once they arrived. "I'm Sakura." She mumbled to him, studying her shoes like she'd never seen them before. He smiled.
"I'm Deidara, yeah!" he said and held out a hand. Sakura paused a moment and just as he was going to put his hand down she reached out and shook it. She noticed a strange image on the palm of his hand which looked a lot like a mouth.
"They're tattoos, yeah.” Deidara explained when he noticed her looking at it. “It's a family tradition to have mouths tattooed on your hands. My parents have got it too." he stretched out both of his hands, palms up, showing the tattoos of mouths which tongues poking out.
Sakura smiled, understanding what he was saying as her family had a similar tradition. "That sounds a bit like my family, but we have “Inner Strength” (精神力) tattooed on our forehead when we turn 16."
Deidara's eyes flickered up to her bare forehead."You haven't gotten yours yet?" he asked.
Sakura shook her head. "No, I turn 16 in two weeks." She said excitedly a bright smile on her face. She couldn't wait to get the tattoo!
Deidara smile when he heard her excitement. "You sound very excited."
She laughed. "Yep!"
They fell silent. Deidara had a thoughtful look on his face as he studied to younger girl. "You are different to what I expected." He decided after a moment.
Sakura frowned."Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asked, worried that she'd done something wrong and now he wasn't going to like her.
Deidara laughed at the question. "It's a good thing. Definitely a good thing."
Sakura and Deidara started talking, finding out that they had a lot of common interests: books, games, tv shows, music. Every day they would ride to school, travelling side by side and talk about all sorts of random things. However as soon as they arrived at school and crossed through the gates, everything changed and they acted like they didn't even know each other. Sakura went back to being alone and being bullied and Deidara went back to being one of the popular guys.
Sakura would constantly be bullied about her strangeness, abnormally large forehead and her "emo-ness". When she turned 16 and got her tattoo, the taunting got worse. Sakura was starting to wish she never got the tattoo. The only good thing about the tattoo was the fact Deidara was there with her when she was getting it.
"Oi! Forehead!" someone called out to her as she walked through the quad.
Sakura sighed and turned around two face her two main tormentors, Karin and Ino.
She masked her face, showing no emotion."What do you want?" she drawled. She can't let them know what she was feeling, then they would
Karin smirked and shoved Sakura. "You have such a large forehead! It could be a billboard!" she teased.
"Billboard brow! Ha-ha!" Ino laughed.
Sakura just kept up a blank face. Karin got annoyed at this.
"Stop acting like you don't care." She growled out and shoved Sakura. Sakura stumbled back and fell to the ground with a sickening thud. She let out a brief cry of pain.
Her cry gained the attention of everyone else in the courtyard and they all started laughing, Karen's and Ino's were the loudest, echoing through the quad.
"Ha-ha, she does care!" Ino laughed.
Karin smirked and sneered at Sakura. "We all know you care about the fact that you have no friends. Not one single friend. No one."
It hurt, like a stab through the chest. She didn't have any friends... except... "Yes I do." Sakura mumbled, reassuring herself. She does have a friend!
"Huh? Did you say something?" Karin asked arching a perfect red eyebrow mockingly. Sakura kept quiet which made Karin angrier. She leaned over and shoved Sakura's face into the dirt.
Sakura whimpered, the dirt cutting into her face, blood welling up. Karin smirked triumphantly.
Ino started laughing again. “No one's going to help you! You are alone!"
Sakura couldn't handle it. Something inside her just snapped. She did have friends, Karin and Ino knew nothing about her! "I do to have friends!" she shouted at them and started to look around for Deidara. There was a chance he would ignore her, and if he did, she would understand. It would hurt, but he was the most popular student in school.
She shuffled away from them and tried to stand up to look for him better. Her gaze flickered around looking at the faces of her fellow peers – all of whom were quiet, shocked at how far Karin and Ino were taking this. Karin pushed her to the ground again. She landed on her ankle strangely and a crack echoed through the silent quad. She screamed and curled up into a ball, sobbing softly.
I'm alone... She realised, he wasn't going to help her. He didn't come to help her. She closed her eyes, ready to meet her fate... whatever it may be.
Karin and Ino stood there snickering at her and calling her names: pathetic, loser... Then a shadow loomed over them, rolls of anger directed at them. They fell quiet, their smug faces morphing into ones of fear. In front of them stood the most popular guy in school, and he was angry.
"Leave her alone! She didn't do anything to you, so why are you bullying her?" he growled.
Karin pouted. “She started it!”
He raised his eyebrow at them. "All she does is keep to herself and avoid bullies like you. You go around targeting her because you know she isn't going to fight back. It's pathetic." he was pissed. Karin and Ino slowly started to back away, scared of him. “Piss off!” he yelled and they ran.
Sakura, having heard everything that happened, opened her eyes.
There stood Deidara, a bright smug smile on his face and his hand stretched out towards her. She gave him a sad smile wincing as he helped her up off the ground. Everyone watched the duo in shock, as he helped her walk to the Front Office to get her ankle check out.
"Thanks." Sakura muttered to him.
Deidara smiled at her. "Your needed help and help is what I gave you. Plus, you're my friend- my best friend. Everyone at this school are fakes and pretend to be my friend. I was actually thinking of moving until you decided talked to me." He explained.
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." Sakura smiled. "Until I decided to talk to you."
Deidara smiled. "Yep, and now because we are friends, you will miraculously become the most popular girl in school!” he cheered sarcastically and started to laugh at her disgruntled face.
Sakura groaned. "Great! Just what I wanted!"