A/N: I got this idea when I was helping my dad rake leaves (And I've never raked leaves in my life XD)

Sasori has a last name just for the sake of the story. And Saso and Dei are both 10.

Warning: shonen-ai (Don't like? THEN CLICK BACK)

Disclaimer: I do not own anything!

Sasori Akasuna had just barely moved into the neighborhood.

The day they arrived at the new house, Sasori saw a person with long, raggedy blonde hair raking leaves in their neighbors' front yard.

"Mom, who is that?"

"He's probably a homeless boy earning money for his low-life family, Sasori. Don't speak to him."

"Yes mom."

Sasori was always taught that he was of a high class; he was never to speak to poor people.

But it all changed when Sasori was walking home from school one day.

"Hey look at his red hair! It's so ugly!"

"He thinks he's better than all of us!"

Sasori was used to the three bullies that always teased him about his hair and his family lineage. But he always ignored them, knowing that they were just jealous.

Sasori never knew that it would ever get out of hand though.

When Sasori got off of the bus, the three bullies followed behind him quietly. The redhead didn't notice them until he was pushed down and one of them took his backpack and dumped everything out.

"Hey, stop it!" Sasori yelled.

The leader, whose name was Hidan, put his hands on his hips. "'Hey, stop it!'" He mimicked in a mocking tone, "As if! You think you can move into this neighborhood and think you're better than everyone?"

"I am and you know it too!" Sasori said.

"Hidan, there's someone over there! We should run!"

"What?" Hidan looked up to see the small raggedy blonde standing with his rake threateningly hanging over Sasori.

"Leave him alone," The blonde said, his tone firm.

Hidan tried to play it cool. "Pfft, a rake! What could you possibly do–"

The small boy hit one of his comrades in the side, making him screech out in pain.

"Oww! Come on Hidan, I don't wanna get hurt!"

Hidan's two buddies ran off, leaving Hidan standing alone. He looked between the two and suddenly bolted after his friends.

Sasori stood up and dusted himself off. The small boy reached his hand out but Sasori swatted it away.

"I don't need your help," Sasori seethed as he looked at the blonde's attire. His jeans were ripped in multiple places, mud smudges all over his tennis shoes, his shirt was way too baggy for him and half his hair was tied up in a pony tail while the rest was knotted in several different places. He had on a navy blue coat that went down to his kneecaps and his bangs drooped over his left eye, giving the boy a creepy air around him. "Especially from someone like you."

"Why do you think you're better than me?" The boy asked quietly. "I'm no different from you."

"Yeah you are! You're dirty, weird, homeless and you go out and rake leaves cause that's all you're good for!" Sasori ran off leaving his backpack and pencils scattered on the sidewalk. The blonde watched as the redhead ran to his house and slammed the front door behind him.

The small boy stared in his direction before he looked back at the backpack and everything that was scattered around it. He bent down and began to gather all of the pencils and paper up and putting it neatly back in the bag.

"I wish I could go to school."

The next day Sasori had to use one of his old backpacks since he dared not go outside again to get all of his stuff. Hidan and his goons barely made eye contact with the redhead and that was how he liked it.

Sasori went through the school day and got off the bus without any trouble. When he walked through the door, he saw a large, old navy blue coat hung up on the coat rack. Sasori's heart pounding in panic, hoping that the homeless kid wasn't in his house.

The redhead walked cautiously into his house and saw his grandma in the kitchen unpacking dishes.

"Granny Chiyo?" He questioned.

"Yes, child?" She said in her croaky voice.

"Does there happen to be a blonde kid here at all?"

"Yes, his name is Deidara. He brought back your backpack while you were at school and said you dropped it when you got off the bus. He's been rather helpful round the house, I might say. I asked him if he would rake our yard. That willow tree just isn't letting up, and with your parents at work all day, they wouldn't have time to do it, and I'm certainly too old–" Sasori had stopped listening to his grandma. He went and peered out the window, just to see Deidara raking their yard.

Sasori scowled. Now the little homeless kid knew where he lived!

"Why don't you go help him? It'll be good for you."

"But grandma, he's homeless. Mom told me–"

"Oh, pish-posh. Your mother has always been like that. Try talking to him, you two might become friends."

"I doubt it," Sasori muttered. He opened the screen door and cautiously walked outside and went to the edge of the walkway before he stopped and watched the blonde rake leaves.

He looked rather peaceful; a small smile on his face as he went through the motions of raking leaves into one big pile. The blonde suddenly noticed Sasori out of the corner of his eye and his head snapped up.

"Hello," He said quietly.

"What are you doing here?" Sasori asked, folding his arms.

"I brought your backpack back, and your grandma asked–"

"Who cares what my grandma said! You shouldn't be here, you're homeless!"

The boy seemed to lose his patience. "I'm not homeless. I have a family, you know."

"Really? Then why are you always wearing the same clothes? And doing a servants work?"

"Because I'm trying to raise money."

"That's a given–"

"It's for my mother. She's ill, and she needs to go to the hospital. We can't afford it, so I'm trying to earn enough money so I can take her. After she's better and there's extra money, I might go buy her some flowers."

"Flowers? What for! They don't last very long. Why buy something when it's going to die? Why not have something that'll last forever?"

"Because," The blonde paused, "fleeting things are more treasurable. If something lasts forever it loses its' value."

A gust of wind rolled by, making the blonde's hair fly everywhere and some of the leaves fly past Sasori's face.

"Why don't you help me?"

Sasori's eyebrows furrowed. "With what?"

"Raking."

"The leaves?" The blonde nodded.

"No way! I have better things to do."

"Like what, sit in your room all day and watch me?"

Sasori grumbled under his breath as he walked towards to the boy.

"If I help you, will you promise me that I can do something about–" He motioned to the blonde's get-up, "this?"

He smiled. "Sure."

"But first," Sasori said as the blonde handed him an extra rake, "what's your name?"

The boy smiled brighter, "Deidara!"

XxXxXxX

Sasori helped Deidara rake for hours, learning how to have team-work just how to rake leaves and have a good attitude towards things. He learned more about Deidara himself, and his family. It turns out that Deidara lived a block away from him but in a very run down house with only his mother. His dad had left them when they were broke and owed money to the government, leaving his mothers illness to get worse and Deidara to try and earn enough money for a hospital bill.

"So what do you do when there's no more leaves to rake?" Sasori asked as he piled leaves into a garbage bag that Deidara was holding.

"During winter I cut fire wood for people or babysit. Year round I just feed peoples animals if they go out of town or I just help clean their house."

"How long have you lived here?"

"My entire life."

"Wow, that's boring." Deidara playfully pushed Sasori.

"That's not nice. I suppose you've moved a jillion times?"

"You know it!"

Deidara stuck his tongue out at Sasori and he laughed.

"Hey Sasori have you ever gone leaf jumping?"

"What's that?" Sasori questioned.

"Well," Deidara quickly made a giant pile of leaves and made sure Sasori was watching. He leaped into them, making the entire leaf pile crash down. Deidara's head popped out from the top of the pile. "That's what you do!"

"You just jump in leaves?"

"Yup!"

Sasori skeptically made a leaf pile of his own and looked at Deidara who was still lounging in his pile. The redhead jumped in the pile, expecting to land on the hard ground but surprisingly the leaves made it cushioned.

Sasori stood up, making leaves fall off of him from everywhere. He shook his hair out as Deidara laughed at him.

"What's so funny?" Sasori snapped.

"Your face! It looked like you thought you were gonna die!"

Sasori blushed in embarrassment. "Well I've never done this! How was I supposed to know what happened?"

Deidara didn't answer as he just kept laughing. He suddenly gasped and jumped up. "I have an idea!"

"What?" Sasori was on full alert.

"We should make a huge pile of leaves and jump in together!"

Sasori's eyes lit up. "That's a good idea!"

The two scurried around the yard gathering all the leaves they could to put it into a large pile. They looked at each other and nodded, clutching the others hand and jumped as high as they could, landing in the soft pile of leaves.

Sasori's mother and grandmother watched the two boys laugh and jump in and out of the leaves over and over again. His mother sighed and folded her arms.

"He finally has a friend," Chiyo said, her fingers intertwined behind her back.

"Yes, but I would have preferred it would've been someone of more class…"

"Oh, I'm sure Sasori will do something about that. You know him. He got that trait from you, after all."

"Yes, but he's getting so dirty out there. His clothes will be ruined."

"Oh, let him be a child. You force so many rules onto him that he never gets to have fun. Let him and Deidara be friends without any interferences, alright?"

Sasori's mother sighed and smiled. "Alright. Just this once."

Over the next year, Sasori and Deidara had become good friends, and Deidara earned enough money to be able to pay for his mother to go to the hospital. Her illness was cured, and all the extra money Deidara had earned went to new clothes and his mothers' medication.

Deidara was enrolled in school when his mother got a high-paying job, and Sasori's mother stopped fretting about who her son was hanging out with. Deidara had gotten a haircut, making his eyes more visible and the sadness that hid deep inside his eyes slowly disappear. His house got new improvements, and Sasori was finally allowed by his mother to go over to Deidara's house.

Sasori decided to start helping Deidara with his yearly acts of service around the neighborhood; such as babysitting, feeding animals, cleaning houses, and of course raking leaves.

An entirely new set of trials was presented to Deidara and his mother when their father returned, a billionaire with all of the government loans paid off. His reason for leaving them had been he felt worthless, so he decided to travel around the world, just gathering money and getting all sorts of jobs and slowly paying off the borrowed money he owed.

Deidara caught on quickly in school and was one of the best students. He made new friends, but Sasori still remained his right hand man.

All throughout the year, the fake flowers Deidara bought for his mother never wilted.

A/N: Thank you for reading and please review!^^

~Kir