Summary: The new transfer student at Konoha's Fire Academy is making both friends and enemies her first week, but she isn't exactly a brand new face around here. Watch out, Konoha, Haruno Sakura's back!

Chapter 1: Saints and Sailors
Waiting here with hopes the phone will ring
And I'm thinking awful things
And I'm pretty sure that few would notice
And this apartment
Is starving for an argument
Anything at all to break the silence

Twelve Years Ago

2000 April 12

A little girl with a head of pink sat in the passenger seat of her mother's car with her hands and face pressed up against the window. Just a few feet away stood a little boy with a head of red clutching onto their father's hand with his left hand and her pink and white rabbit in his right. They both wore sad expressions while their mother looked out over her shoulder, waiting for traffic to pass by so she could pull out, and their father had his head down and his eyes closed.

As the car began to move, the boy took a step forward, seemingly wanting to run after the car, but was held back by his father's grip. At the same time, the girl fisted her hand and grabbed the boy's brown and red scorpion, never losing sight of the little boy as the car drove away.

The little girl's mother and father had gotten a divorce a couple days ago after her mother had gotten sick and tired of his verbal abuse and drunken nights. He was a corporate lawyer and had many stressful and alcohol-filled nights, never being able to ignore its allure. Sure, he would apologize the night after when he was sober and was ashamed of what he would do or say, but she couldn't take it anymore. He even started staying at a motel on some nights to avoid the accusation in her eyes, the fear and confusion in his children's eyes, and the shame reflected in the mirror by his own eyes. Eventually, the two agreed to a divorce and began fighting for custody of their children.

She argued that she was better fit to raise their children since she was their mother and could provide a stable and safe environment for them. He argued that he was better suited to raise them since he was the one to earn an income in the family and that she couldn't very well raise two kids on whatever was left in her savings account. After a month of their battle, the judge saw that a boy would be better raised by his father and a girl would be better raised by her mother and so ruled for Sakura to be with her mother and for Sasori to be with his father with him providing some money to her to raise Sakura. With this, the two parents and the two siblings were separated.

The two would keep in touch for the next couple of years when their parents would call the other for a birthday or Christmas before they could operate the technology on their own. Soon they used their cell phones to send messages and pictures, no matter how infrequent, knowing that they still loved each other and were still family, regardless of the distance between them for Sakura only had one brother and Sasori only had one sister. Even though their father would remarry and give Sasori stepsiblings, they could never replace Sakura in Sasori's heart.

2003 January 5

"They're finally here."

"Did you meet them? Are they nice? If they're mean to you, I'll beat them up for you, Sasori!"

Sasori smiled at his sister's words. All three of his stepsiblings were all older and much bigger than Sakura was. She was so adorable sometimes. "I think I can handle myself, imouto."

Their father had met a woman this past year and started a relationship with her, eventually marrying her and now they were going to live together. She had three children from her previous marriage and they… were different from what Sasori had imagined.

He had tried avoiding meeting them the entire time their parents were dating. He didn't want Sakura to think that these kids were going to replace her and he wasn't all that interested in meeting them anyway. The girl, Temari, was older than him by a year. Kankuro and Gaara were a year and two years younger, respectively, than him. The youngest liked to keep to himself, so Sasori didn't think they would have any problems. The girl though… she was so loud and bossy. Kankuro, though, was alright. The boy had taken a liking to his puppets and made him promise to show him how he made them walk across the table.

"Ne, Sasori-nii, I have to go take a bath now. I'll talk to you later! Remember, I'll beat them if you need me to!"

2004 November 8

"Happy birthday, Sasori-nii!"

"Thank you, Sakura-chan."

"Sasori-nii, did you get my card?"

"Yeah, I did. It's really pretty! You musta worked really hard on it."

Sasori looked at the card his sister sent him for his 11th birthday. She drew a giant birthday cake on the front and draw a bunch of balloons in the shape of his face in the background (well, they sort of looked like him with the red hair). Inside, there was a picture of a boy and girl sitting together encased in a pink heart. There was a message written in cursive on the right panel with Sakura wishing him a happy birthday and telling him that she loved him. Both she and their mother signed the card (he knew that Sakura wrote his mother's name for her since she didn't seem to care about him anymore; he tried not to let it bother him) just like they had every year.

"I'm glad you like it, Sasori-nii!"

2005 January 23

"Good morning, niisan!"

"Morning, imouto."

"Hey, what's wrong? You sound sad."

"Karura-san passed away last night…"

"Oh no! What happened to her? How's daddy?"

"She got in a car accident and died before they could get her to the hospital. We're having her funeral in a couple days and… I just needed to talk to you to get my mind off of it."

"Oh, well, let me tell you what happened in school today! There's this boy named Suigetsu in my class and he can be such…"

Sasori just listened to the sound of his sister's voice, not paying attention to what she was actually saying, and his thoughts drifted off to what he didn't want to tell Sakura.

His stepmother had been driving Gaara home after visiting his uncle, her brother, Yashamaru when it happened. It had been Gaara's birthday and she agreed to drive the two hours it would take to visit her brother since Gaara missed him so much. It had been raining heavily and she, having always been a cautious driver, had been driving slower than normal to make sure she and Gaara would be safe.

However, a car from behind decided that she was driving far too slow and tried to overtake her. The road only had two lanes – one for them and one for opposing traffic – and the driver had been stupid enough to forgo checking to see if there was a car in the other lane. When the truck had been heading towards his car, he veered over to the right where his stepmother was and pushed her car off the road and down a river embankment. She didn't make it.

He knew that Gaara blamed himself for it, but he also knew that he, Temari, and Kankuro blamed the other driver, not their little brother. The boy was only 9 and had the boy been a bit more open, he was sure he would've treated Gaara like he would treat Sakura since they were the same age. He could only hope that the boy wouldn't take it too hard on himself.

2009 March 28

"Happy birthday, imouto."

"Hi Sasori! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for the necklace! I waited until today to open it and it's so pretty! I'm going to wear it every single day!"

Sasori smiled at his sister's excitement. He had managed to save enough money after skipping lunch a couple times to buy a necklace for his sister's 13th birthday and he was glad she liked it. It was of a silver dinosaur with their mark engraved on the back. Sakura had come up with the mark a couple years back, deciding that the two siblings needed some sort of cool insignia just for them. It was an S slanted to the right with a black line bisecting it. She had been playing around with the symbol for infinity and wanted to include an S for their names and came up with that. Now it was on virtually everything they gave to each other.

"You don't have to wear it every day, just don't lose it."

"Sasori! Come help me with dinner!" yelled out Sasori's stepsister.

"Ok, hold on! Sorry, Sakura, I have to go. I'll talk to later, ok?"

"Ok, Sasori. Bye!"

2010 July 23

"Hey Sasori! What's happening?"

"Hey imouto. I… I don't know how to tell you, but…"

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you ok? Is everyone ok?"

"No… that's what I need to tell you. Father died."

"…What? No! Are you sure? What happened! How could he have just… no. You're lying, right? It's not true!"

Sasori didn't want to have to be the person to tell Sakura that their father died, a victim of a hit and run. He and the other two people in his car had been found in a ditch, left for dead. As much as he hated his father, he never let Sakura know how bad their father really was. It was better if she still thought of him as the kind, doting father from her childhood.

He knew that his stepsiblings had hated his father following the death of their mother. He… changed somehow. He was no longer kind or loving towards any of them and, honestly, he scared all of them. He usually left him, Temari, and Kankuro alone, singling Gaara out for the brunt of his attacks. It was like how his father had been towards his mother before the divorce, but so much worse.

His father and his lawyer had fought hard to ensure that the man who caused his second wife's death would never step foot into society again, staying in a maximum security prison cell forever. However, once the trial was over, his focus turned to Gaara and he blamed Gaara for her death as well.

He would tell Gaara that he didn't love him, that no one did, not even his mother and that's why she left the world to be rid of him. Sometimes when he so drunk that he would black out, he would turn his verbal assaults into physical ones. It would always happen on nights when Temari and Sasori were gone, sometimes Kankuro too, and Gaara would never say anything, would never tell on their father. Even though his siblings told him that the accident wasn't his fault, he always secretly believed that it was and to hear his stepfather telling him that… he thought he deserved the punishment.

One night, though, Sasori had gotten out of soccer practice early and skipped tutoring because he had hurt his leg in practice. When he got home, he saw Gaara huddled in a corner and his father stood over him, whipping Gaara with his belt. He knew his father was gone, based on the strong stench of alcohol on his father's breath and tried to wrestle his father into his room. When he came back outside to Gaara… it was terrible.

Gaara sat there looking out the window, not caring about the welts on his legs or that Sasori was there looking horrified. Sasori called Temari, told her to come home immediately, and set out to clean out Gaara's wounds. When he tried talking to Gaara to see what he had done to make their father so angry, he found out that this had been going on for at least six months now and no one had known.

Once Temari came home after picking Kankuro up from his club activities, the three of them tried to comfort Gaara and convince him that he, in no way shape or form, deserved this. From then on, they made sure that Gaara was never left alone with their father and Temari swore that after she graduated high school in March, she was moving out and taking them with her.

March finally came around and, true to her word, Temari did move out, but wasn't able to take Gaara with her because, even though she was considered an adult, she had no means of supporting both her and her brother. She went to school for the first term and started working as soon as she could and picked up more hours once summer vacation started. Now, maybe she would have a chance to take Gaara. Maybe Gaara would get a chance to heal.

Sasori had also decided to move out as soon as he could and get a job so he could support himself and Sakura, but didn't think that was possible due to his father's tight hold on the three boys. He had already begun making plans on what to do now that his father was gone to reunite with his sister. He would have to work in secret since he was still a high school student, but he would do it.

He had to.

2011 December 25

"Merry Christmas, Sasori-nii!"

"Merry Christmas, imouto. Did you open your present yet?"

"I did, but this is the first time you've sent money instead of a gift. Did you forget to get me a gift or were you too lazy?"

Sasori could hear the pout in his sister's voice and he let out a chuckle. "No, I did not forget. It's money to rent a truck to bring your stuff to Konoha."

"…Wait, bring my stuff to Konoha? Why would I bring my things there?"

"Because you're moving here to live with me."

"… WHAT? Seriously? Wait, wait, are you being serious? You can't joke about things like that!"

"I'm serious. I have enough money now and I want you to come back and live with me. You can go to high school year once you pass the entrance exam in February and you can go to college with me. You said that you wanted to get into University of Konoha, didn't you? I thought it'd be a good idea for you to transfer here then too."

Sasori knew that Sakura was smart, very smart, and he wanted her to have a chance at a future, one that she wouldn't get in Oto. He had his reservations about the town and wanted Sakura out of there. Hopefully she would feel the same.

"Wow oh my gosh that means I have to start studying now! Wait, how am I gonna get to Konoha to take the test? It's 5 hours away and I don't have a car! They're really going to let me transfer in? Just like that?"

"It's ok, I took care of it. I talked to the headmaster and she agreed to send a test packet to your school and have someone monitor you while you take it. You need to talk to your headmaster and set up the transfer papers though. Does that mean you want to move over here then?"

"Yes! Absolutely yes! Oh my gosh this is so cool. Thank you so much, Sasori-nii! I promise, I'll ace the exam! You just watch! I'll get the highest score!"

Relieved that his sister agreed to his idea, Sasori let himself relax a little and listened to his sister go on about how she was going to study. Finally, she would be back here with him.

"Oh… but what am I going to tell the others? We were planning on finishing high school together…"

Sasori knew of some of Sakura's friends. She was always regaling him with stories of their adventures, though sometimes he felt like she wasn't telling him the entire story when it came to them. She wouldn't even tell him their names. He dismissed it as her desire to have him accept them and so kept the stories as positive as possible.

"I'm sure they will understand. Go talk to them about it."

"Yeah, I'll do that. I'm going to see Kimi and Jiro tomorrow so I'll bring it up then… Anyway, how have you been! I haven't talked to you in so long since you had to study and stuff."

Sasori began telling Sakura of the grueling hours in the library studying for his classes as well as the hours spent in the art rooms finishing his final projects. They spent almost an hour exchanging stories before Sakura left, wanting to pull up study material for the entrance exam.

It had taken Sasori two years and three part-time jobs to earn enough money to support himself and now Sakura. He had been very frugal with his spending, almost as bad as his friend Kakuzu, but now he could afford to bring Sakura back. Sakura was finally coming home.

2012 March 28

"Good morning, niisan!"

"Good morning and happy birthday, imouto. Are you already packed for the drive tomorrow?"

"Yepp I'm pretty much done. The boxes are by the door ready for the U-Haul guy to come pick it up. I can't believe this is my last day here, and I'm finally 16!"

"Ahh I know. I wish you were already back here so we could celebrate together."

"Aw don't worry, niisan, we get to celebrate birthdays and holidays together from now on! This is my last year with my friends and I wanted to celebrate with them. Plus I want to go get my license!"

Sasori smiled at his sister's excitement. He wasn't sure how good (or bad) of a driver she was, but he still wished her good luck on passing her exam.

"Yeah, yeah. Deidara and I will celebrate with you once you're here. Good luck with your test later. Don't run anyone over," Sasori said in all seriousness.

"Mah you're so mean sometimes, niisan!"

2012 March 29

Today was the day. Sasori's sister was moving in today and Deidara wished that the girl would just be here already so that Sasori could stop glaring at the TV and angrily pressing the buttons on the remote. He knew that Sasori was horribly impatient and had a terrible temper on top of it, but seriously, the remote didn't do anything!

"Danna. Can you just pick a channel, yeah? Or give me the remote? You're flipping through them so quickly that my head's starting to hurt, yeah!" Deidara was sitting on one side of the couch wearing a pair of slim denim jeans and a maroon v-neck shirt.

Sasori, wearing a pair of black slim jeans and a black zip-up jacket on top of a plain white shirt, slid his already narrowed eyes over to his roommate who had crossed his arms and started scowling at him.

"You know I don't like to wait."

Deidara just threw his hands up in the air and rolled his eyes. "She's not even late, yeah. She said she wouldn't be here until 2. She still has 20 minutes, yeah."

Sasori ignored his roommate and went back to flipping channels. Deidara, having had enough, let out a heavy sigh and went into the kitchen. Maybe he could fill the time with some food, especially since Sasori stocked the kitchen up in anticipation for his sister's arrival.

As Deidara pulled out the bottle of milk, a bowl, and the box of Cheerios (it is never too late to eat cereal; it is not just breakfast food, yeah!), he began to think of his past year when he first met his roommate. Deidara had met Sasori the previous year in a retreat sponsored by the Hachimure School of Art, one of the colleges at the University of Konoha, over the summer.

The university was divided into nine different schools, each school with its own discipline and focus. There was the Ichimure School of Law, Nimure School of Business, Sanmure School of Architecture, Yonmure School of Social Sciences, Gomure School of Medicine, Rokumure School of Science, Shichimure School of Humanities, Hachimure School of Art, and Kyuumure School of Technology.

The two had met at the retreat where Deidara was a participant and Sasori, being a first year at Hachimure and a participant the previous year, was one of the retreat counselors, so to speak.

The first night, all of the participants were split into different groups and Sasori ended up being Deidara's group leader. Everyone was asked to introduce themselves and share an interesting detail to the group. Deidara, having the belief that true beauty and art could never really be captured and happened only in brief instances, instantly clashed with Sasori, who believed Deidara was an utter fool since art could only truly be called art if could last forever.

The two would be caught in heated debates and discussions over the duration of the retreat, each believing that their definition of art was far superior than the other's definition. Despite only trading insults and criticisms, the two became friends over their differences and their passion for art. When Deidara found out that he been accepted into Hachimure and shared the news with Sasori, the two decided to try to find an apartment to live together since they would be classmates anyway. Luckily, one of their seniors knew the landlord of a nearby apartment building and they managed to secure an apartment for the three of them. And it was easily affordable! He and Sasori decided to share the first room, let Sakura take the second room, and use the third room as a studio of sorts for them to store their supplies. It was a fairly nice arrangement for them and they had just moved in three weeks ago.

He knew that they would continue to butt heads for the rest of their lives, especially now that they shared the same living space, but he looked up to Sasori. The guy was really dedicated to his work, to his "art", and that passion was definitely something Deidara could understand. Plus, Sasori turned out to be a pretty good friend, when he wasn't being impatient or angry, and looked out for Deidara when he could. He made sure to keep Deidara on track when he had to study for the entrance exams to improve his chances of getting accepted. Now, Deidara would try to help both him and his sister. He owed the guy after all and the two sort of knew each other anyway. Turns out Sasori's younger sister and his younger sister had been friends and had been over to his house a couple times before she moved away; now, their older brothers were friends as well. He hadn't heard her say anything about Sakura the last couple years, but he recognized her by her hair when Sasori had shown him a picture.

Just as Deidara finished his cereal and began washing the dishes, he heard Dashboard Confessionals' Saints and Sailors from the living room – Sasori's ringtone for Sakura – and thanked Kami that she was finally here to end Sasori's bad mood.

"Deidara, I'm going downstairs to help her move her stuff in," Sasori called out while pulling on his shoes.

"I'll go help you, yeah."

The two went and took the elevator down from the third floor down to the first. Deidara could only roll his eyes again at how impatient his Danna was. He kept tapping his fingers against his arm and staring at the top of the elevator where the numbers were displayed. When the doors finally opened for the first floor, Sasori bolted into the lobby and out the front doors with Deidara leisurely walking behind him with a smirk on his face.

'Danna can be so crazy sometimes, yeah.'

As he walked out, he immediately saw Sasori hunched over someone with his arms wrapped tight while standing in front of the U-Haul truck. Stepping closer, Deidara saw Sasori finally letting go of his sister and ruffling her hair, making her laugh and swat at his hand.

"Imouto, I'm glad you're here," Sasori said with a small smile on his face.

Returning the smile, Sakura said, "Me too, niisan. Now, are you gonna help me with all this stuff or am I gonna have to do it myself?"

"You know I will. Deidara came to help us as well."

Sasori stepped back and Deidara got a better look at her. She was wearing a pair of grey shorts with a long mustache print black tank on top, probably only wanting to wear something comfortable for the long ride. She looked good, for being 16 and being related to Sasori-danna. He waved at Sakura and with a grin said, "Took ya long enough, kid."

Sakura rolled her eyes and walked closer to Deidara. "Oh you know how I just love making you guys wait for me," she said and punched Deidara in the arm.

With a pout, Deidara cried, "Ow! Start pulling your punches, yeah, they hurt."

With another laugh, Sakura turned out and waved her hand dismissively at him, "Oh don't be such a baby; it couldn't have been that bad. Now, c'mon, there's a lot of stuff and I'm hungry!"

Sasori shook his head at his sister and friend before glancing at Deidara and motioning with his head over to the truck.

"I got it, yeah. Whatever the princess wants."

A few hours later, Sakura was laid out haphazardly on her new bed in her new room in her new home. She was tired from the trip and the moving of boxes and the banter with Deidara and her reunion with her brother and her phone constantly going off with messages from her old friends in Oto. She just wanted some peace and time to sleep, but if Sasori had his way, she wouldn't have any of that for a few more hours.

The look on Sasori and Deidara's face when she rolled her motorcycle out of the U-Haul had been hilarious. She did tell Sasori that she was taking her driver's test, but he probably thought she had planned on driving a car. A small car. With four doors. And windows. He was so silly sometimes.

She and her friends had obtained money in a… not so proper or legal way for the last two years. She never prostituted herself, sold drugs, or stole from anyone who needed the money, but sometimes the Sound Five would hire themselves out for odd jobs or would steal from other gangs. They lifted cars for dealers sometimes too and eventually she earned enough money to purchase a purple and black Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R. Both she and Tayuya had a fetish for these motorcycles and the latter had her own silver bike. They were the girls' babies.

Ah that reminded her that she still needed to check her messages from them. It could wait though, she was just so tired…

Just as she closed her eyes and hoped against hope that maybe the two would leave her alone in here, she heard Deidara call out for her to join them for dinner. Letting out a groan, she got up and maneuvered around the boxes in her room, deciding to leave her phone in her room to get some sort peace. She could get around to the messages later.

When she got closer to the kitchen though, she had to admit whatever was in there smelled fantastic after not eating anything substantial since breakfast and everything that happened today.

She couldn't help the small trail of drool or how wide her eyes became once she saw what was on the table. She knew that Sasori, having lived on his own for the last three years, had to learn how to cook to survive, but she didn't know he was capable of cooking what sat before her now. Maybe it was just the hunger talking, but everything looked simply divine and she wanted to eat all of it right this instant! Those dumplings were just calling out to her to eat!

Sasori had to chuckle at Sakura's expression. It was like she hadn't seen real food in days after being stranded on an island. He only made a couple dishes tonight, not thinking that moving in Sakura's things would take so long and taking up time to cook. He made some dumplings, fried takoyaki, miso soup, and dakon. He didn't have a particular preference as to what to eat, but he hoped that Sakura would like what he prepared.

The three sat down to eat and Sakura kept glancing at Sasori and the food as if she was asking if she could eat. Deidara, either not noticing or ignoring what she was doing, started eating right away. At this, Sakura soon picked up her chopsticks and started going at the dumplings.

'I guess that's what was making her drool so much then,' Sasori thought making sure to add more dumplings to their meals.

They ate with only the sounds of them chewing and their chopsticks hitting their bowls for company, Deidara and Sakura having seemed to be particularly hungry while Sasori ate at a more sedate ('And normal,' thought Sasori) rate.

"Sasori, those were the best dumplings that I've had in a long time. I don't know how you did it, but keep doing it!" Sakura beamed at her brother and patted her stomach.

"You should try his oden, yeah. He makes the best bakudan ever," Deidara stated, grabbing another piece of dakon.

Finally wanting to have some time to really talk to his sister, Sasori asked, "Do you need any help with unpacking, Sakura? Or do you want to go on a tour around Konoha for a bit? It's barely eight."

"Mmm I guess a tour wouldn't be so bad. I don't really remember anything from when I was four and I wouldn't want to get lost…"

"I remember you telling me about your lack of direction," Sasori said with a chuckle.

"Hey, it just takes me some time to find my way! Nothing's wrong with a detour as long as you end up where you need to be," Sakura shot back with a pout on her face.

"As long as that doesn't mean you're chronically late, yeah," warned Deidara.

At Sakura's look of confusion wondering what that had to do with being lost, Sasori told her, "We had a teacher who would always 'get lost on the road of life' and show up late to class. All the time." At this, Sakura had to laugh at Sasori's grimacing face. Oh yeah, she definitely knew about his lack of patience.

"Sometimes he wouldn't show up until the last 15 minutes, yeah. Let's hope you don't get him this year."

"He teaches at Fire Academy?"

"He teaches Literature there. You'll know him when you see him. He's always carrying around a book," replied Sasori.

"Well, he sounds like an easygoing teacher, so maybe it won't be too bad?"

Deidara scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Wait until you meet him, yeah. Anyway, why don't you show Sakura around, Sasori. I'll do the dishes since you cooked, yeah."

Agreeing to his friend's suggestion, Sasori got up and grabbed his phone and keys. "We shouldn't be too long, Deidara. I'll bring my keys just in case." Turning to his sister, Sasori said, "You should grab a jacket. Konoha gets cold at night in March."

Nodding to what her brother said. Sakura went into her room and pulled out a grey We The Kings jacket that she got from when she went to their concert two years back. It was her favorite jacket since it had holes in the sleeves for her thumbs and a pocket for her iPod. She grabbed a pair of sandals, waved bye to Deidara, and went into the elevator with Sasori.

"How do you feel about being back, Sakura?"

"I guess I'm kind of nervous. I didn't really get to say goodbye to anyone when we moved so I only really know you and Deidara, but you guys won't be at school with me. I'm glad to be out of Oto though, even though I'll miss my friends."

Sasori had always been afraid for Sakura's well-being while she lived in Oto. He knew that the town was more ghetto than not and didn't hear very good things about what was offered there. A majority of the people living there were involved with gangs, drugs, or something illegal and he was relieved that Sakura hadn't gotten caught up in that. He didn't know why his mother would take her all the way to Oto since it was so far away, but he was glad that at least she had been safe.

"You can make new friends here, imouto, or meet your old friends. Deidara told me that Ino's over at Fire Academy so you can at least see her."

"Yeah, maybe!"

Soon they were walking out on Konoha's streets with Sasori pointing out some important building or street in hopes that Sakura wouldn't get too lost around here.

"Over here is Fire Academy. It's only a block away from home. Do you think you'll be fine walking here?"

"Yeah, yeah, niisan," Sakura replied while rolling her eyes. "I'm not that bad with directions. I'll be fine."

"Maybe I should walk you your first day, just in case?"

"Oh KAMI, no. That's so embarrassing! I'll be fine, I promise!"

With a chuckle Sasori reached out to ruffle Sakura's hair again. "If you can lead us back home, then I'll consider letting you walk by yourself."

Sakura crossed her arms and glared at her brother. "Oh that's not fair. You should show me at least one more time so I get it. And you're definitely not walking me to school!" she cried with a huff and puffed out her cheeks, daring him to suggest otherwise.

He just couldn't get enough of his sister. Was she always this adorable? Was this what he was missing out on for the past twelve years? Pulling her in for a side-hug and dragging her back home, Sasori told her, "Alright, I get it. Let's go back and try to remember where we're going this time. If you get lost your first day, I'm going to let Deidara walk you to school for a week."

Sakura let out a snort at this and freed herself from Sasori's arms. "Like you could get him to. I'll just tell him to take a hike once we leave the apartment."

"You underestimate my power, imouto."

"I think you just give yourse- Oof!"

Sasori and Sakura hadn't been paying attention to their surroundings and someone had run into Sakura, causing her to stumble back and fall on her butt with something fuzzy, yellow, orange, and black lying on top of her.

"Ugh, watch where you're going, you fucktard!"

Sasori had been walking over with a scowl on his face to get the boy off of his sister, but paused at what just passed her lips. 'Did she just call someone a fucktard? Where did she even learn that type of language!' He could watch as his sister rubbed her head where she hit it against the fire hydrant and try to push the boy off of her. It was only when he saw the boy trying to get purchase on her legs to push himself up that he remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

"Get off of my sister. Now."

The boy quickly jumped up off of Sakura at the sound of Sasori's voice and spouted off apologies while bowing.

"I'm so, so, so, so, so, so sorry! I was in a rush to get home and I didn't see you there," he said while rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

Sakura looked up from where she still sat with a glare. She closed her eyes thinking, 'why me?' before saying, "It's fine. Just don't do that again." Sasori pulled Sakura onto her feet and she dusted herself off.

"I promise, I'll be more careful from now on!" the boy said, adding in a few more bows.

"Yeah, yeah. It's cool." Sakura looked up to see the boy staring rather intently at her with his eyebrows all scrunched up. 'What's wrong with him now? Am I bleeding somewhere or something?' thought Sakura and started patting herself to see if there was a wound somewhere. Looking back at the boy, Sakura was also caught up in her thoughts. 'He looks kind of familiar though...'

"SAKURA-CHAN! You're Sakura-chan, right? Where have you been! You just disappeared and you never came back to the park!" the boy exclaimed while getting closer to Sakura, jumping up and down in excitement.

'Sakura-chan? No one's called me that since…'

"Naruto?"

At his name, the boy started lit up with a big smile and hugged Sakura. "Yeah! I was afraid you forgot me for a second there. It's been so long!"

Sakura, having remembered that the boy had quickly attached to her back when they were younger just as he was doing now and the times they played together, hugged him back. Sasori couldn't do anything but look between the two knowing that he was missing something here.

"I just back to Konoha and was walking around. I'm sorry I never came back to the park to say bye."

Stepping back, Naruto said, "It's fine, I'm happy you're back now!"

Sasori cleared his throat to get their attention and stared pointedly at Naruto then at Sakura, waiting for an explanation.

"Hi there! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Are you Sakura-chan's friend?" Naruto asked, still holding onto Sakura's shoulders.

"I'm her brother. Are you going to let go of her?" Sasori asked, narrowing his glare even more, telling the boy – Naruto was it? – to let go of his sister this instant.

Naruto let go of Sakura at her brother's tone and rubbed the back of his head again. "Sorry, I just missed her," Naruto said, with a grin back on his face.

"Hm," came Sasori's reply, a little bit at ease with the lack of contact between the two.

"Oh, Sasori, be nice! Naruto used to play with me when Mom would take me to the park."

Sasori gave Naruto another look at what his sister said. He knew that she was picked on a lot when she was younger, both here and in Oto, for her pink hair, forehead, and not being "quite girly enough" for the other girls. Ino had befriended her soon enough, but the fact that this boy had ignored the other kids and played with his sister earned himself a few respect points.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan didn't pick on me like the other kids. She would go on the swings and play hide-and-seek with me!" Naruto now had an even bigger grin and a look of appreciation directed at Sakura.

Now that surprised Sasori. Well, maybe not. Sakura probably didn't want Naruto to suffer like how she did when other kids picked on her and ostracized her, so she befriended him, like how Ino befriended her. Being alone together was better than nothing, right? Maybe the kid wasn't so bad if his imouto picked him as a friend.

"I see. I'm Sasori, Sakura's older brother." Sasori stuck his hand out for Naruto to shake, which he took and gave a firm, if very exuberant, handshake.

Naruto knew of Sasori at the very least. Sakura used to tell him about her older brother when they would play, like how if he was there with them, he would definitely yell at those kids and tell them to be nicer and how he loved her and she loved him. Naruto had always been slightly envious of Sakura's love for her brother. He wanted her to talk about him the same way; she always spoke of him with a big smile and wild hand gestures. She had been his first real friend and she had been special to him. She was the cutest girl that he had ever seen and at four years old, he just wanted to have her around. When she stopped coming to the park with her mom, he was devastated. His only friend was gone and he didn't know how to find her.

Looking up at the sky, Naruto remembered that he was supposed to be home by now otherwise he'd be in trouble.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, I gotta get home, but I'll talk to you soon, ok? Do you want to meet up sometime or something to catch up?"

"Oh, yeah, sure! I'm living in an apartment near here. I still have to unpack and then get ready for the entrance ceremony for school though. Here, give me your phone."

Naruto patted his pockets for his phone and gave it to Sakura. "Where are you going to school, Sakura-chan? Maybe we'll be classmates!"

"I'm going to Fire Academy down over there," she replied while entering her number into Naruto's phone.

With a big grin, Naruto told her that he was going there too and that he would definitely help her with whatever she needed.

"I can tell you all about the teachers there and all the good hiding spots when you wanna ditch class."

At this, Sasori let out a low growl, obviously displeased that he would even suggest something like that. Sakura will not be ditching class.

Naruto gave a nervous laugh and waved his hands in front of him. "I'm just kidding, kidding! I mean, good spots to study and stuff. Right, Sakura-chan?" Naruto looked over to her for help appeasing her older brother.

Sakura called her number from Naruto's phone so she would also have his number and gave him back his phone.

"Of course. I knew what you were talking about," she replied with a sweet smile, knowing that he meant his original statement and not the one amended for Sasori's sake.

Naruto smiled back at her and said goodbye to the siblings, running home and promising that he would see her soon.

Sakura waved back and turned to her brother. "He's interesting, ne?"

"Hm."

With a roll of her eyes, Sakura lightly hit Sasori's arm and started walking back home. "Oh be nice! He was one of my first friends and he doesn't seem to be angry with me for leaving. Maybe I'll see him tomorrow if I'm done unpacking."

Sasori followed behind her, making sure that she would turn when she needed to and go straight when she needed to, and was content that at least she had someone else to take care of her when he couldn't. As long as she was happy, then he was happy to let her do as she pleased.

"Leave that until tomorrow then. We should hurry back. Deidara might've blown up the kitchen by now."

Sakura could only laugh at that, knowing what she did about Deidara's "art" and hurried back home.

Naruto was running as fast as he could back to his house. He didn't realize how long he had been at Ichiraku with Iruka until Iruka went home to his wife. Then he had bolted down the street to get home and had literally ran into Sakura-chan. He was really happy to see her again and excited to hang out with her again. Even though it had been twelve years since he last saw her, he still remembered his first friend.

It had taken him two weeks to come to terms with the fact that she wasn't coming back to the park anymore. For a while the other kids had left both of them alone with an insult from time to time when they would pass by instead of the hits and objects that would be thrown. They weren't going to hit a girl and Naruto wouldn't have let them anyway. Plus, when Ino would come play with them, the kids would steer clear of them completely. Afterwards though… Naruto would avoid the park altogether.

It took him another couple minutes to reach his house and he already saw his friends sitting outside on the steps waiting for him.

He hadn't always lived here. Before, he had been at an orphanage where the other orphans would pick on him. He could never escape it. If it wasn't kids at the orphanage, it was kids at the park or the mall or school.

Eventually, he resorted to pulling as many pranks as he could on both the nuns who ran the orphanage and on the teachers and kids at school. It wasn't until his guardian, Jiraiya (AKA Ero Sennin, the perv), adopted him four years ago that he stopped fooling around. Now, he lived here with Jiraiya and his wife and on those very steps were his friends giving him murderous looks for making them sit outside in the cold.

"Oi, Naruto! What took you so long, dumbass?" Naruto's friend and former prank buddy Kiba looked at him with a frown on his face. He didn't know why Kiba was complaining anyway… he always wore that warm, furry brown jacket. Plus he had Akamaru!

"Dobe, hurry up and open the door. Shikamaru already fell asleep." Naruto's best friend and forever rival Sasuke stood against the railing with his hands in his pockets and started kicking their other friend, Shikamaru, to wake him up.

"You guys will never guess who I ran into today!"

"Was it the President?" asked the fifth person of their group, Chouji, who was also swatting at Sasuke's foot to save Shikamaru from some bruises.

"Was it your brain?" Sasuke asked with a smirk on his face.

"What! No, teme! I saw Sakura-chan today!" Naruto exclaimed while opening the door and taking off his shoes.

"Sakura? Is she back?" Shikamaru asked, finally opening his eyes, getting up off the floor, and thanking Chouji for saving his ribs.

"Yeah she was walking around when I ran into her. She just moved back and she's going to Fire Academy with us!" Naruto shouted from the kitchen.

"I wonder if she remembers us. We only saw her a few times when we hung out with Ino. What do you think, Shikamaru?"

They had gathered in Naruto's room waiting for him to bring drinks and some chips. Shikamaru basically collapsed on Naruto's bed, Sasuke sat in Naruto's desk chair, while Chouji and Kiba sat on the floor.

"Yeah, the troublesome girl. At least she wasn't as loud as Ino," sighed Shikamaru.

"Oi, oi. Who's Sakura? Was she in our class?"

"No, Kiba. She moved during kindergarten. She went to school with Shikamaru, but she was friends with Ino so we used to play together. She had bright pink hair, pretty hard to forget," Chouji sad.

"Pink hair? Man, her parents must've not liked her or something."

'A girl named Sakura with pink hair? No way, did she follow me here or something?'

"Nah," replied Naruto. "It was her real hair color. Her brother's a redhead but she somehow wound up with pink hair," passing out the sodas to everyone.

'A red-headed brother… it couldn't be. What was she doing here?'

"Still sounds rough. Can you imagine having pink hair?" Kiba shuddered at the thought of a pink-hair Naruto and Kiba running around. They would have been pranked instead of doing the pranks.

The others agreed. They were definitely happier that she ended up with pink hair and not them.

"Anyway, I'm probably gonna hang out with her tomorrow when she's free. Do you want to come along? She's new and she should have some friends!" Naruto looked at the four of them with a determined face, hitting his hand with his fist to show it.

"Ah how troublesome. If she doesn't mind then I'll come."

Chouji shrugged, "Yeah, I don't mind either. Nothing to do until school starts again. Do you think we should tell Ino?"

"She probably doesn't care anymore," replied Shikamaru, sounding more forlorn now than before.

"Yeah, you're probably right… What about you guys?" Chouji asked, trying to get off the subject of Ino.

"Yeah, I wanna meet pinky!"

Sasuke was too caught up in his thoughts trying to remember if she told him of any plans to move to Konoha or if she was originally from here to miss Naruto's invitation. Naruto, fed up with Sasuke ignoring him, walked over to him and smacked his head.

Sasuke glared at Naruto and asked, "What was that for, dobe?"

"I asked you a question! Do you want to go meet Sakura tomorrow with us?"

"Hn. I'm busy."

"Like what, pulling the stick out of your ass?"

"Nice one, Kiba!" Naruto said and gave him a high-five.

"Hn. I have to drop by the school to turn in my transfer papers and go meet Itachi. He's coming home tomorrow and I'm expected to be home," Sasuke said with a scoff. He also needed to go see if this Sakura was the same one he was thinking of and if it was, he needed to talk to her.

"Oh, well you can meet her at school then! I'll text her now to see if she wants to hang out tomorrow." Naruto whipped out his phone and started texting her.

Sasuke decided to talk to Suigetsu and Juugo first and if anything, he could just show up and talk to her tomorrow. With this, he went and sat with the others who turned on Naruto's Xbox.

To: Sakura
From: Naruto
hey sakurachan its naruto! do you want to hang out tmrw? shikamaru, chouji, and kiba want to see you! do you remember em?

Naruto sent the message and watched Sasuke and Kiba playing Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Shikamaru already fell asleep, waiting for his turn to play, and Chouji was making his own commentary and sound effects when their fighters would land hits.

"I call winner!" Naruto shouted. Soon Naruto felt his phone vibrate and checked to see what Sakura-chan said.

To: Naruto
From: Sakura
Yeah that sounds ok. I already started unpacking so I should be done by the afternoon. When do you want to hang out and what do you want to do?

To: Sakura
From: Naruto
you can tell us when youre free. well show you around!

"Hey, Naruto! Your turn." Kiba tossed him the controller and Naruto proceeded to choose his characters. He chose Phoenix Wright, the Hulk, and Taskmaster to battle against Sasuke's team of Super-Skrull, Dante, and Taskmaster.

Naruto eventually lost to Sasuke and called him a cheater. Sasuke just smirked in return and called him a loser. He glared at Sasuke before giving Chouji the controller and checking his phone again.

To: Naruto
From: Sakura
Sounds like a plan. I'll talk to you tomorrow then.

To: Sakura
From: Naruto
night, sakurachan!

Happy that he would get a chance to see his old friend tomorrow, he put his phone away and gleefully watched Chouji's Ryu destroy Sasuke's Taskmaster.

A/N:

I hope the whole thing with the different colleges wasn't too confusing! I basically paired the Japanese word for the numbers 1-9 with the Japanese word for school (mure) and picked some general disciplines. I just had to put 8 as art since Bee (Hachibi) raps so much.

I also picked the song Saints and Sailors by Dashboard Confessionals since I thought the chorus related to how I wanted to portray Sasori and Naruto in this chapter. Both are essentially waiting for Sakura to show up to fill the void in their lives. Sasori is literally waiting for a phone call to know that Sakura finally arrived and his protectiveness of Sakura might lead him to think something happened to her. Naruto, on the other hand, likes listening to her talk and it fills up what would have been silence with her voice.

By the way, Naruto's grammar mistakes in his text messages to Sakura are intentional. I know, it bothers me too.

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed the first chapter!

13/07/12

edit: 06/08/12