Alright, I'm probably setting myself up for disaster here but I really don't care. I couldn't wait to post this story. I really couldn't. I might regret this later considering I have two other stories I'm writing at the moment but oh well, soon enough I'm going to have a lot of time on my hands so this'll keep my brain occupied.

Anyways!

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, just the plot to this story.

Please leave a review, favorite, and follow if you enjoyed.

S Lyubov'yu,

Casper.

The blond ninja drew a frustrated hand through his sweat dampened hair. He had been sent on a solo mission by Leader to do a little spying on a remote village near Iwagakure. He knew in the back of his mind that Leader had ordered him to return so close to his old village just to piss him off, but he held his tongue and didn't argue. Orders were orders, you didn't get a choice in the missions you took. If you were given a mission, you did it without question and sucked it up. It didn't stop it from sucking though.

As Deidara slowly made his way towards the village he was supposed to be scouting out, mind wandering to prototypes for new explosives that he was still yet to finish swimming through his head. He almost wished Sasori was with him just so he would have someone to argue with, he let out a sigh. It sucked not having anybody to talk to, whether it was just arguing or not. The blond just liked to talk, it wasn't just because he like the sound of his own voice, he was just a talkative guy. And he did kind of enjoy the sound of his own voice, we all have our niches, right? The blond continued down his path to the village, he had been given strict instructions not to use his bird to travel to the village, he wasn't to draw any attention to himself before he had finished his search. Once his mission to gather information was complete, he could fly to his hearts content and rest his aching feet.

About an hour later, the village came into view. As Deidara drew closer to the village that was the object of his mission, he could hear shouts and screaming from a distance but ignored it. He wasn't here to stop arguing couples from fighting or protect any kids from being punished for stealing. None of that was remotely his problem. He quickly made his way through the gates of the village, nobody even bothered to question what he was doing in their little village once they caught a glimpse of his cloak. It was rare for a village not to know who the Akatsuki were, which kind of came in handy. But it had its downfalls too, but oh well. Life went on. It was about as good as any missing nin could get in this day and age. The work wasn't always the most pleasant and having to take orders from a ginger with a God Complex did get kind of tiring, but it was better than constantly being on the run from just about everything. Deidara had lived as the mouse in a deadly game of cat before and he refused to be forced to run and hide ever again. At least being a member of a well-known organization like the Akatsuki had a few bonuses.

Deidara found his way to the tavern he was supposed to be getting this so called useful information from and grimaced as the smell of pure filth filled his nose. He pushed the stench that was currently assaulting his senses out of his mind and made his way towards the counter, ringing the little bell the laid there, signally that he needed assistance. He heard something rustle in, what he assumed, was probably the back room. He heard a muffled cry and a man giving who ever had cried out a sharp order to shut their mouths before they paid dearly. Deidara heard something hard thud against an unforgiving floor before he shook his head and tried to ignore whatever the the person in the back was doing. What went on in this town was still not his problem and he wasn't in any hurry to make it his business. He just wanted to get the damn information and leave this disgusting excuse for a village. When the man he had heard talking just before round the corner to go to the counter, Deidara raised an eyebrow in question before taking in the mans less than appealing appearance. The man had to be in his mid to late forties with greasy slicked back graying hair. Deidara resisted the urge to cringe in disgust at the smell of filth and body odor radiating off the man in waves. His suit was as greasy as his hair, the blond missing nin guessed that the suit had once been white and pristine. Instead of its grungy brown color that it now held. He raised his eyebrow in question once more at the man when he didn't answer the blonds questioning stare the first time.

"No need to worry about that, sir. Just a useless rat needing to be punished.", the tavern owner assured before glancing at the cloak the man before him adorned.

"I'm here for the information that was promised.", he recited calmly, getting straight to the point, trying his hardest to ignore the small moans of pain he could hear from the back room.

'Leave it alone, un. Focus on your mission!', he mentally berated himself.

The tavern owner nodded before reaching underneath the counter and drew out a small stack of papers, handing them to the blond after making sure it was the correct stack.

"It's all there.", the man stated, gesturing to the stack in the blonds hand.

Deidara nodded and turned his back to exit the tavern when he turned and saw that the man was gone as quickly as he had came. Just as he was about the shrug off the mans behavior, he heard a sharp crack and a pained scream coming from the back room once again. Frowning, Deidara went against his better judgement and made his way back towards the counter and stepped behind it. Now he was curious, just what was that man doing to the person in there? Though he had defected from his village, he wasn't a heartless monster. He rounded the corner only to have the stack of papers in his hand fall to the ground.

There on the dirty ground laid a girl no older than seven years old. The tavern man was mere inches away from bringing the piece of wood in his hand down on the girl again before Deidara snapped his hand out and grabbed the mans wrist. The man tensed his body and turned his head only to shudder in fear as his eyes met the blonds. Anger seemed to radiate off of the missing nin in waves. Deidara knew he shouldn't be getting involved in whatever it was that this disgusting man was doing but the blond didn't exactly condone beating on a helpless child. The fact that the child on the floor was making no move to move away from either male concerned him greatly. He offhandedly wondered if it was because the child couldn't walk or if the bones in her legs were damaged. He made a quick mental note to check her out once he was done with the filth he was currently restraining.

"The fuck to you think you're doing, yeah?", he asked harshly, tightening his grip on the tavern owners wrist. The man cried out in pain as the bones in his wrists shifted and cracked but Deidara didn't loosen his hold, he just tightened it further until his knuckles turned stark white due to the amount of pressure he was applying.

"She's just a freaky little rat that needs to be punished for her sins!", the man cried out in pain, trying in vain to break free from the blond ninjas hold on his wrist. The blond didn't even budge at his efforts.

"So beating a mere child within mere inches of her life is your version of justice? What's her crime, yeah?", the blond snarled. He glanced over at the little girl on the floor, noticing she hadn't said a word or made a sound since he had entered the room. He saw that she was still breathing, he let out a small sigh of relief, though he was still a little concerned about the fact that she hadn't moved away. He decided to finish this quick and get the kid out of there right away.

"Being born with those sinful things on her hands!", the man cried out.

"What things on her hands, yeah?", Deidara asked with a raised eyebrow, thinking back to his bloodline limit on his palms.

"Look for yourself!", was the answering screech.

Deidara rolled his eyes at the mans screeching before drawing out a kunai with his free hand. He had heard enough and the mans screaming was really starting to make his head hurt. He turned his body so it was standing in front of the girl, shielding her from the sight of the man. Once he was satisfied that the man was out of her sight, with one quick flick of his wrist, he slit the mans throat cleanly. He dropped the man from his grasp and turned to face the girl on the floor, dropping himself to his knees in front of her. She didn't even flinch when the sound of the mans body hit the floor, nor did she flinch when he lowered himself to the dirty floor in front of her.

"You alright, yeah?", he asked.

All he received was a pained whimper.

Deidara frowned and without a second thought he scooped the little girl up into his arms. His frown deepened when he felt her body tense in his arms but she made no move to try to wiggle free from his grasp. With a free hand he grabbed the papers he had dropped a few moments before. Once he was sure she wasn't going to try to squirm free from him, he raised himself back to his feet, being mindful to the fact that there was a good chance that she could possibly have broken bones. With a sigh and one last look at the dead man on the floor, the blond carried the little girl out of the tavern and made his way towards the village's exit. The walk to the gates was done so in silence, he was more focused on trying not the jostle the little girl being held in one arm.

When he reached the exit to the village he was stopped by the villagers at the front gate.

"Where are you taking that child?", they asked.

"Away from this disgusting village.", the blond growled before resuming his pursuit of the forest ahead of him.

The villagers didn't try to stop him and watched his retreating figure disappear within the tree line.

Once they were a safe distance away, Deidara tucked the little girl more firmly against his cloak before uttering a single word under his breath.

'Katsu!'

To his surprise, the little girl didn't even flinch when the sounds of her home being blown to bits reached her ears. He swore he almost heard a sigh of relief. He allowed a small smile to grace his lips before continuing onward towards their next destination.

Once they were a safe distance away from the village, Deidara looked down at the child sleeping soundly in her arms. He hadn't even noticed that she had fallen asleep until he'd looked at her, he supposed that she was already so quiet that it was pretty easy not to notice. He let out a small sigh when he took a better look at the state of the small child he was cradling in his arm. She was dirty, really dirty. Dirt and grime seemed to coat her skin in layers so thick that he couldn't even tell what color her real skin tone was, or what color her hair really was. She was thin, way too thin to be healthy. In short, the girl was completely emaciated. Deidara still didn't know what had compelled him to come to the small girls aid and was still curious as to what the tavern owner had been talking about when he mentioned something on her hands. Her hands were so thick with grime that he knew he wouldn't be able to look at whatever it was until she had been cleaned up. With that in mind, he made his way in the direction of a lake he remembered he had passed on his way to the village.

About a half an hour later, he felt the little girl stir in his arms. He slowed his walk and came to a halt when he felt eyes on him. He looked down and his single visible blue eye locked with two frightened jade green eyes. He tried his best to smile at her but he was sure it turned out to be more of a frown than anything. She looked at him pleadingly, almost as if to beg him not to hurt her. If he wasn't frowning before, he was sure that he was now.

"Don't worry, yeah. I won't hurt you. Let's get you cleaned up, yeah?", he said calmly, hoping to at least calm some of her fears. He received a small nod and began to walk once again after feeling her body relax once again in his arms.

After another ten minutes of walking, the lake he remembered came into sight. He stopped at the rivers edge and lowered himself to his knees to gently set the girl down on the grass in front of the waters edge, still being mindful that she could be injured.

"Can you undress yourself, yeah?", Deidara asked. He really hoped she would nod or at least tell him she could manage. The last thing he wanted to be mistaken as was a pervert. A child pervert at that. He almost sighed in relief when he saw her starting to remove the scrap of fabric covering her body but stopped when he saw a harsh flinch make its way through her body when she started to raise her arms above her head. He let out a sigh and grabbed the material from her, eyes closed, and lifted it off of her.

"I'll just give you a little privacy, yeah.", he stated before turning his back before opening his eyes.

He was about to relax when he felt a small tug on the sleeve his cloak and turned his head to regard the little girl. His eyes softened when he saw the lost look on her face. With another sigh he nodded and rose to his feet, discarding his long cloak and shoes before rolling up with black pants to his knees. He gestured for her to step into the water and waded in after her. He couldn't help but feel a small amount of relief at the fact that she was at least able to walk and that it didn't seem like she had any broken bones. Needless to say, it was a bit shocking that she wasn't sporting any broken bones. Especially after the scene that he had been about to witness back at that godforsaken tavern. With a small sigh, he set to work on cleaning up the small child that was watching him with timid eyes. He started with her hair first, he cupped water into his hands and let it wash over her grime slicked hair. He tried not to frown in disgust as the water left her body and hair in murky black streams. As more and more grime was washed from her hair and body, he found the color of her hair was a bright pink color, almost like a bubble gum like color. It wasn't what he was expecting in the least. Pink wasn't exactly the most common hair color. Especially out here in the middle of nowhere.

The next thing he noticed were the bruises that seemed to stretch across her body, as if her body was nothing but one gigantic bruise. His hands smoothed over the damaged flesh as gently as he could as he scrubbed the grime from her body. One thing he noticed was that he didn't actually mind having to help the little pink haired child, but not in a creepy way. It almost felt brotherly to him. He'd been an only child after all so sibling bonds were lost on him. He silently wondered if this was what it felt like.

Once he was satisfied that he had gotten her as clean as he could, he helped her out of the stream and quickly draped his way-too-large cloak over her tiny frame. There was no way in hell he was letting her put on the disgusting piece of fabric again. She slowly lowered herself to the ground and looked down at her hands and smiled at them before closing them into tight little fists and looked back up at the man who had saved her.

"So, kiddo, what's on your hands, yeah? The tavern owner seemed pretty spooked by whatever is on them, yeah."

The little girl froze and looked at him wide eyed, he could tell that she was hoping that he had forgotten.

"Oh come on, yeah. I've got stuff on my hands too, I'll show you what's on mine if you show me what's on yours, yeah.", he tried to bargain.

She seemed to think it over in her head before she gave a little nod and scooted a little closer to Deidara. She looked down at her lap and raised one of her hands out towards the blond man next to her. She unfurled her fingers and snapped her head back up at him when she heard him gasp in surprise.

Little mouths. She had little mouths on her hands. Just like he did.

The little girl looked at the blond with confusion etched on her fingers.

"Well I wasn't expecting that, yeah. Looks like we're the same, eh?", he smiled, showing her his own hand mouths.

The little girls eyes widened, she had never seen someone with the same ailment as she did.

"Looks like you're from the same clan as me, yeah. What's your name, yeah?", he asked, not really expecting her to answer.

But she surprised him for the second time in two minutes.

"Sakura."

Well there's the first chapter to this. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Along with my other stories Clash and Heartbroken, I will be updating this as often as I can.

Sadly I am moving this Saturday on the tenth so my updates might be a little more sporadic than I'm used to. Seeing as I will be without wifi. Sad face! But, I'm more than willing to type up the chapters on the computer and transfer the files to my mobile and update my stories that way. It's a pain in the ass but I'm willing to do it!

Please leave a review, favorite, and follow if you enjoyed!

Until Next Time!