Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series or any of its characters.


"All the men of faith,
And men of science, have their questions.
Could it ever be on Earth,
As it is in heaven?

Oh to see it with my own eyes.
Oh to see it with my own eyes."

-Local Natives, Wide Eyes


In Itachi's office, Naruto sits with both of his feet firmly in the seat of a swivel chair as he contorts to study the new contraption. As he bends to grip the legs of the chair Sasuke argues with Itachi. Deidara and Madara, Sasuke and Itachi's uncle, stand beside each other in the doorway as an audience.

"He wrecked our shower!"

"He's disoriented. Have some sympathy, Sasuke. You wouldn't know how to use a shower either if you tumbled head first down a mountain." Itachi defends.

There it was again, that pang in his chest. Sasuke turns his head to observe Naruto who is in his own little world.

"What are we going to do about him?" He asks, deflated.

"First, we need to get him cleaned up." Itachi says.

"How? Take him out to the backyard and hose him down? You saw what he did." Sasuke says, exasperated.

"I'll help him!" Deidara pipes, the sleeve of his yellow sweater slipping down as he raises his arm.

Itachi looks back at Sasuke and offers him a small smile. "See, no worries."

Sasuke sighs and rubs his temple. Itachi is acting like a child that has found a stray puppy. Deidara roams over to Naruto and his work as nurse in the Pediatrics Ward at the local hospital comes in handy as he manages to get the boy out of the chair. Everyone appears to handle Naruto's actions in their own way. Itachi defends him, claiming that the fall has made him disoriented. He has always been protective of his patients.

After getting over the whole, Naruto totally destroyed the upstairs shower thing, Deidara stays calm and says little. Keeping a positive attitude. ;.Madara, utters nothing other than a chuckle at Naruto's antics. He is undeterred by the shower in need of repair or ignorance or what a swivel chair is. His eyes that watch Naruto's movements are calm and almost understanding.

Deidara escorts Naruto downstairs, past the living area, to the other side of the house where awaits another long hallway. A bathroom is discovered behind a door to the right.

Once they are inside, Deidara closes the door and places Naruto's clothes on the counter. A fresh pair of white boxers, a white button down shirt, and grey cargo shorts that don't fit Sasuke anymore.

Naruto stands and stares at the stream of water until Deidara instructs him to undress. Which he swiftly does without care. He goes to stand in the shower under the stream of water, looks around, and then looks at Deidara with furrowed brows.

"Wash your body." Deidara says with a smile. He hands Naruto a washcloth and points to the bottle of soap.

Naruto unfolds the washcloth, blood and dirt now beginning to melt down his body and his thick hair sticking to his neck and forehead. He shakes the bottle then flips the cap, a large amount of soap pours out and Naruto quickly turns the bottle upright.

Putting the bottle down, he purses his lips and curiously folds the washcloth. Foam oozes through the cloth. He begins to gently press the cloth across his arm and watches as the dirt is scrubbed away. He then begins to vigorously scrub himself from his neck to his toes. When he is done he looks expectantly to Deidara.

"What next?"

Deidara puts his hands on his head. "Hair." He points to the shampoo bottle.

Naruto plucks the bottle from its spot, brings the bottle above his head, and uncaps it. A waterfall of shampoo falls onto his head and with his eyes closed Naruto clumsily sets the bottle down, the bottle falls to the bottom of the shower. Naruto with the same vigor as before begins to clean his locks. Soon, none of his hair becomes visible as suds dominate his scalp.

Deidara laughs. "Rinse, Naruto! Rinse!"

Shuffling forward a bit, Naruto lets the water cascade down onto him as he continues to work his fingers through his hair. Once all the shampoo is out Naruto looks at Deidara once again.

"Is there anything else left to do?"

"Just conditioner and you'll be done." Deidara replies as he points to a bottle matching in size to the shampoo bottle but differing in color.

Naruto squirts some into his hand and works the conditioner through his hair. Then he steps out of the shower and grabs the towel, beginning to dry off without need of instruction.

"This is nice," Naruto says, lifting up the towel. "Usually I just dry by air."

As Deidara turns around from turning off the shower, he blinks as he observes Naruto's face.

"You know," He says with a smile as he hands Naruto the clothes "You look pretty good without all that blood and muck on you."

Naruto doesn't reply to this, he simply diverts his gaze as he begins to dress. Without all the "blood and muck" there is a better view of his face. His thick blonde hair is slicked back, showing that he has a heart-shaped face. His wide blue eyes seem to glow and his full lips are shaped so that even when he is not smiling it faintly looks as if he is. His tan skin is blemish free and appears soft to the touch. He has a small nose and chin. On each of his round cheeks there are three thin, evenly spaced scars.

Once he is dressed they exit the bathroom and head for the kitchen which is to the right from the front door.

"Take a seat." Deidara offers, smiling in Naruto's direction as he opens the freezer door.

Naruto sits on a stool by the island and watches as Deidara pulls out some TV dinners and walks towards him with them.

"Do any of these look good?"

Naruto's face at first is neutral as he looks at the three TV dinners being offered to him. After he seems understand what is being offered to him, he wrinkles his nose.

"Okay…" Deidara says as he backs away to put the TV dinners away. "I'll take that as a no."

The front door audibly opens and closes and Kisame enters the kitchen.

"What's happenin'?" He greets with a grin, gazing at the room's occupants. "Lookin' good kid." He comments, noticing Naruto's clean appearance.

"I'm trying to find something for Naruto to eat."

"Alright." Kisame turns his head and plucks up a bag of potato chips. Then goes to offer that to Naruto. "How about that?"

Naruto looks down onto the bag with stern eyes, as a parent would when scolding a child. Kisame withdraws the bag.

"I don't think he wants it."

From his spot over by the cupboards, Deidara shakes his head. "He doesn't need to be eating potato chips anyway."

Soft footsteps are heard and Sasuke rounds the corner into the kitchen with a basket full of tomatoes. He observes the others.

"What's going on?"

"I can't figure out what to give Naruto to eat."

Sasuke walks over to the sink and sets the basket down. He pulls a small plate from a cupboard, washes a tomato off, and cuts it up. Then offers it to Naruto.

Naruto tilts his head for a moment, then picks a piece of tomato up and places it in his mouth.

Deidara silently does a victory dance in his mind. Even though it was Sasuke who got Naruto to eat something. While Naruto eats the tomato, Deidara and Kisame engage in a conversation. Sasuke puts the tomatoes away and after glancing one last time at Naruto, he exits the kitchen and goes upstairs.

Finished with the tomato slices, Naruto pushes the plate away and looks to Deidara and Kisame who are still talking to one another. He turns his head to gaze out the window over the kitchen sink and then quietly slides off the stool, his bare feet make no noise as they hit the tiled floor. Before he can get past the kitchen's entrance, Deidara's eyes flicker over to where Naruto is.

"Where are you going?"

Turning his head, Naruto replies "Outside."

Deidara furrows his brows. "I think Itachi wants to see you. You know where his office is."

Slowly, Naruto turns his head back around and begins to take steady, graceful steps towards Itachi's office. As he walks down the upstairs hallway, Naruto begins to hear voices. They become louder as he approaches Itachi's office. He stops in front of the door that is open wide.

There within the room stands Itachi and Madara. Itachi appears perplexed with one hand on his hip and the other in his hair. Madara seems calm and knowing as he stands with his shoulders back, his head tilted to the side, and his eyebrows slightly raised.

"I could have sworn he was dead." Itachi says, dragging his hand through his hair.

Madara's lips stretch, not as if he is smiling, but as if he were to shrug. "Maybe he was."

Itachi's dark eyes dart to Madara's face. Quietly, Naruto moves away from the doorway and heads towards the staircase. Before he gets to the stairs though, one of the doors to the right opens and Sasuke comes into the hallway.

Sasuke looks at Naruto and in return Naruto looks at Sasuke.

"Hello." Naruto says, though he does not look Sasuke in the eyes.

There is a quiet moment, where Sasuke stares at Naruto and Naruto stares down the staircase.

"Have you seen Itachi?"

Naruto shakes his head no.

"Are you okay?"

In response to this, Naruto inhales deeply and rolls his head around to gaze into Sasuke's eyes with his own glowing orbs.

"I am fine, but I would like to go outside."

"Outside?" Itachi appears from the doorway of his office. "I am afraid I don't think that's a good idea today."

Naruto turns around to fully face Itachi. His brows are slightly furrowed and the look in his eyes as they stare at Itachi say, "I am suspicious of you."

"I will not go anywhere, I only want to be outside." Naruto persists.

"Not today, I'm sorry." Itachi says. "Sasuke, why don't you and Naruto go watch some TV downstairs? Sasuke?"

Madara who is leaning against the door pane of Itachi's office, chuckles as he steps forward towards Sasuke who appears to be daydreaming as he stares in Naruto's direction. Madara gives Sasuke's shoulder a quick shake and the teenager snaps out of it. He clears his throat and looks around, then up at Madara inquiringly. Madara points towards the staircase with his thumb.

"Go watch some TV with the blonde kid."

Both Sasuke and Naruto head downstairs towards the living room. A large semi circle shaped couch sits in front a flat screen television inside an entertainment center. Deidara sits on the couch with a laptop on his lap.

Sasuke motions for Naruto take a seat on the couch, Naruto at first stares at the piece of furniture, but then eventually sits. Sasuke sits beside him and lifts the remote to turn on the television. Naruto visibly jumps in his seat. Flipping through the channels, Sasuke settles on Criminal Minds.

Time passes by with the three of them on the couch. Sasuke watches the show and from time to time will observe Naruto from the corner of his eyes. Naruto appears more uncomfortable by the minute as he watches the television show. More so than when he was in the car. Deidara continues to pass time on his computer.

Deidara's computer makes a strange sound. "Oh!"

"What is it?" Sasuke queries.

"It just shut down. It won't turn back on." Deidara replies, looking worried and puzzled.

Kisame enters the room and plops down onto the couch beside Sasuke, he grabs the remote and begins flipping through the channels. As Sasuke begins to open his mouth to protest, the television's screen goes black. Startling the room's occupants. Kisame presses down the power button on the remote continuously, but nothing happens. Deidara gets up and presses the power on the television it's self. Nothing happens.

"First my laptop, now the TV." Deidara says with furrowed brows as he squats in front of the television.

"This place must be haunted or something." Kisame says as he lowers his head and peers around the area. Scouting for any ghosts nearby. "Whatever, I need food anyways." He says as he gets up and heads for the kitchen. Sasuke chuckles and shakes his head.

A few minutes later cursing is heard and Kisame comes stomping towards the living area.

"Alright, now the microwave isn't working. The microwave! How am I supposed to eat?" He huffs and stares at the floor a moment then his gaze lifts to rest on Naruto. His eyes narrow as he grimaces. Sasuke furrows his brows as he observes Kisame. Briefly he shifts his gaze to Deidara. Deidara's gaze is flickering from Naruto to Sasuke. He sucks on his bottom lip and shrugs, turning back around to fiddle with the television some more. Kisame is now officially glaring at the blonde on the couch.

Sasuke gets up and looks at Kisame as if he is mentally ill.

"First of all, you don't live here. Second, there is no way Naruto can be at fault for any of the things that happened."

"I don't believe that." Kisame says stubbornly as he marches over to the couch behind Naruto.

Naruto turns to meet Kisame's stare.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

Naruto gives a beleaguering smile. "Perhaps you should have let me go outside."