Deidara raked a hand through his blonde hair as he stared down at the paper in his hand. His blue eyes flicked between the paper and the building, then he shook his head.
"This can't be the place," he muttered, but he knocked on the door always.
An older woman opened the door, a young child perched on her hip and a cigarette dangling from her lips. A small girl clutched the hem of the woman's dress.
"Yeah?" she grunted. "What do you want?"
"Uh, yeah, I'm here to pick up my cousin…" Deidara trailed off and shuddered as cigarette smoke floated along the wind into his face.
"Naruto?" the woman guessed. "Yeah, we got him. Real shame to lose him. Great kid." She sighed. "You wanna come in?"
"N-no thank you, un."Deidara cringed as the small girl cringed. Not the kind of place you would want to raise your children. "Can I just have Naruto?"
The woman grumbled and took a drag off her cigarette. "Naruto!" she barked, making Deidara tense. Man, this lady had a voice on her.
A young blonde appeared almost out of nowhere. "Yes, ma'am?"
"Someone's here to see you."
The woman stepped aside so Deidara could see his cousin. The young boy stared at him with wide eyes, then his face lit up with recognition.
"Deidara-niisan!"
Naruto leaped forward and wrapped his arms around Deidara's waist. "Hey, Naruto, un."
"Are you here to get me away from this place?"Naruto whispered. Deidara grinned.
"Of course! I can't let my favorite cousin down, un!"
Deidara glanced up at the woman.
"Why don't you get your stuff, Naruto, dear?" she said, and Naruto shuddered before nodding and running away to pack.
Deidara stood as the awkward silence washed over him. His cell phone vibrated in his jeans pocket, and he gratefully fished it out and pressed it to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Deidara."
Deidara smiled at the sound of his boyfriend's voice. "Hey, Itachi. How are you, un?"
He could practically hear Itachi's smirk. "Great. How's Naruto?"
"Packing his stuff right – never mind, he's standing in front of me, un."
Deidara pulled the phone away from his ear. "Ready, Naruto?"
Naruto nodded eagerly and Deidara turned to the woman. "Thanks for—"
"Don't thank me," she snapped. "I just owed Jiraiya a favor. Take Naruto—"
Deidara had already pressed the phone back to his ear and steered his young cousin down the sidewalk.
"We're on our way home now, Itachi," Deidara said, slinging Naruto's backpack over his shoulder. "See you soon."
"Okay. Bye, Deidara."
"Bye, Itachi."
Deidara slipped his phone back in his pocket. "So, Naruto, how are you doing?"
"Great!" Naruto frowned. "Well, sort of."
"What do you mean, un?"
"I miss Mommy and Daddy…"
Deidara stopped by a trash can. That's right. Naruto's parents had died in a car crash barely a month ago. He had stayed with is godfather and his wife for a while, before they got called out on something major. They had no choice but to drop Naruto off at a foster home until Deidara could come pick him up.
"Hey, it's okay, un," the older blonde said. "I miss my parents, too," – mentally, Deidara snorted. He hated his parents – "—but you have to start fresh. This is your chance to make new friends, un."
Naruto grinned. "I guess you're right.
Deidara laughed. "I'm always right."
/\/\
Itachi greeted them when they got home. Deidara said nothing at his boyfriend's mysterious absence from work. Itachi was the owner after all; he could do what he wanted. Besides, he probably came home early to pick up Sasuke anyways.
Itachi smiled down at Naruto. "Hey, Naruto, remember me?"
"You're Sasuke's big brother." Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Is Sasuke here?"
"Yeah, he's in his bedroom." Itachi pointed down the hall. "You'll be staying there until we clean out the extra room."
Deidara's face pinched at the words, but neither male noticed; Naruto was busy looking around the apartment, and Itachi was calling to Sasuke.
"Yeah, niisan—"Sasuke was cut off as Naruto lunged forward and tackled him in a hug. "Naruto?"
"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto grinned. "I haven't seen you in forever!"
"…I just saw you a month ago."
"That's way too long, though!"
Sasuke was dragged off by Naruto, and Deidara turned to his boyfriend. "What do you mean we're cleaning out the extra room, un?" he exclaimed. "That's my work room, un!"
Itachi shrugged. "If you want to keep it so badly, we can make the boys share. Sasuke sure won't like it, but…" he trailed off.
Deidara shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't care where they sleep! As long as my work room stays, un!"
Itachi laughed. "Sure. Did you sign Naruto up for school?"
Deidara froze in the middle of taking off his shoes, Naruto's backpack sliding down his shoulder. Itachi scowled at him.
"You did not forget to sign him up."
"Maybe it slipped my mind…"
"Deidara!"
"I'm sorry, un! I'll go do it right now!"
Deidara dropped Naruto's backpack and shoved his feet back in his sneakers, grabbing his keys and dashing back out the door.
Itachi rolled his eyes with a sigh, turning to walk into the kitchen. Might as well start dinner.
/\/\
Deidara took a short cut to Sasuke's school, racing through the streets, hopefully fast enough to get there before the principal left the school.
"Tsunade-san," he panted as he finally reached the school. The secretary looked up at him with bored eyes, her dark hair loose around her face. "Is she still here?"
"Yeah," Shizune muttered, leaning back in her chair. "She's still here. You just made it."
Deidara bolted past her and into Tsunade's office. The older blonde glared up at him.
"What, Deidara? I have work to do!"
"You need to let my cousin into school," Deidara clutched his side as he gasped for breath. No more running for him…
"Why should I?"
Because Itachi would kill me if Naruto's not in school by tomorrow, he thought. "Because Naruto is Minato Namikaze's son," he said aloud, grinning in satisfaction when Tsunade wordlessly stared at him for a long time, then reached into her desk and extracted a packet of papers.
"Fill those out and bring them in tomorrow morning. He can follow Sasuke around for the first couple days," she said, shaking her head. Deidara grinned and accepted the papers. Man, it paid to be related to one of the richest families in Japan.
A/N: This story is dedicated to puppy100. She wanted a story where Deidara, Itachi, Sasuke and Naruto were a family. This is what happened. I really like where this is going…I feel happy. Yay! So if you can review…maybe I'll be even happier…