Hoshigaki

A New Outlook

Naruto stumbled as he skittered backwards, his shoulder meeting his front door with a solid thump with his mouth sputtering in surprise. "Ha—you—what—um—uh—heeeeey...?"

Sakura cocked an eyebrow, looking much like her father when he found something interesting. "Good morning to you too, Uzumaki." She shut the door behind her, locked it with her key, and started down the metal staircase. Naruto blinked a few times before physically shaking himself out of his stupor and quickly made his own way down the steps after fumbling with his own lock.

"H-Hold up!" he called. She didn't slow down, but cast an inquiring look over her shoulder. "You're Sakura, right? From the Academy? In my class? For the last, like, five years?"

"Yes."

"Oh." They walked in silence for a little while before he decided to speak up again. "So you moved in next door, huh? Does 'at mean you don't got any parents neither?"

"Don't have any parents either," she corrected inattentively. "And yes, I don't. Any more questions for me, Uzumaki?"

Naruto hummed as his face scrunched up in thought. He'd never really talked this much with Sakura before. In fact, he never really talked to her at all during the years they'd been taught. Her and the dude with the dog were gone at least half the time, and when they were in class, they paid as much attention as he did. Which was nada. So he peered up at her curiously, miffed that she was at least a few inches taller than him. "A couple a' years ago in detention—didja really punch Ami in the nose?"

Sakura snorted and allowed a small grin. "The reason why she was gone for a month was because she didn't want anyone to see her 'broken and bruised face ruining the gods' version of perfection!'." Her imitation made her raise her voice to a nasally octave and threw Naruto in for such a loop that he barked out an incredulous laugh before slapping his hands over his mouth and reduced himself to poorly concealed amusement. Her lips quirked up a tad higher at that until they stopped at a fork in a road that each led to a different set of training grounds. "We split here. You're part of Team Seven, right?"

"Yup! And you're... uh..."

"Eight," she finished with faint traces of amusement. Turning left towards her path, she threw up her hand in a casual wave. "See you around, Uzumaki."

He stared after her blankly with a strange expression on his face. But just as quickly as it came, it left, and he cheerfully waved at her back. "Dattebayo! Bye, Sakura!" Naruto ran down his own path, past the trees and the shimmering streams of light that filtered through the leaves.

::

"There's something about you, hm. I just can't put my finger on it."

It was the customary quiet at Akatsuki's cavern hidden in Wind Country. With the meeting over and nothing much more to stick around for, only two pairs lingered behind. Deidara, one of the four remaining, idly tossed a ball of clay from hand to hand.

Kisame glanced up from the kunai he was sharpening. "There's lots of shit about me, kid. What's got you so pegged?"

"I'm not a kid, un."

"Coulda fooled me," he grinned. His pointed teeth glimmered in the low light. "So. What's this something?"

Deidara frowned and pointed. "That. That exactly, un."

"Not followin', kid."

"It's just—ugh, how the hell are you so friendly, hm?" he groaned. Ever since Deidara was 'recruited', he resolved himself to be in the company of some of the morally inept people the shinobi community had to offer. On top of being strong, ruthless, S-class criminals, there was no way they could be remotely pleasant without a twist; Sasori had a respectable craft but was a nightmare, Itachi was a fucking dick, Hidan was an unstable fucking dick, Kakuzu was downright mental, and Kisame—