8 years later

I was with my older brother walking to work. Naruto lazily put his hands behind his head, but still kept a sharp eye out for anything that could mean harm for either of them. My blond haired brother had become like this ever since that day, the day our parents were killed.

It was strange when I thought about it. Ever since Naruto and I took what we could out of the house and left, jumping from place to place, we were still followed. Every once in a while someone would attack us mumbling about us being dangerous and important, or something like that. From very early ages we had to learn to fight and protect ourselves against the people that chased us.

We didn't really know why they chased us, they just did. Naruto kept true to what our father told him to do; to protect me. But that didn't mean that I was just going to let my older brother get beaten up for no reason. So I asked him, more like forces him, to teach me the ways of fighting. Since we were Namikaze's it just came naturally to us.

What was really surprising at the moment was that we were able to stay in this small town, Konoha, for four months without anyone trying to attack us. For me it seemed like a miracle! I was able to get a job as a waitress to pay for food, while my brother decided to do odd jobs, like walking dogs or repairing roofs. We used the money that we got for things like food, clothes, water you know stuff like that.

We were now approaching the small dinner I worked at, Ichiraku Ramen. I straightened out my dark blue jeans and plain red tank top, along with my green crystal necklace I never took off. There was no uniform at Ichiraku's since they were a pretty laid back place. I checked to see if my hair stayed in the braid I put it in, sadly some strands were loose.

I was about to fix those strands but Naruto stopped me by saying, "Why do you need to look so perfect all the time Sakura-chan? You look fine to me."

I huffed, put my hands on my waist and said irritated, "I didn't ask you Naruto-kun."

He gave me a smile and said, "Just relax a little more will ya? It isn't like the old man is going to get at you for a few loose strands of hair."

Just then the door opened to reveal the owner of the dinner, and Sakura's boss. He laughed and slapped a hand on Sakura's back saying, "No need to look all perfect Sakura-san. You know my rules, no uptightness allowed."

I smiled looking at him; he was such a nice boss. I rubbed the back of my head, a habit caught from Naruto, and said, "Sorry sir, I always used to be like this, even as a child."

He waved his hand and said, "No matter, now time to get to work."

I nodded and said, "Have fun doing your odd jobs Naruto-kun."

He snickered at me and said, "Bye Sakura-chan."

I shook my head at him and walked in with my boss inside of Ichiraku's. It was a fairly small dinner; it had a couple of tables and chairs here and there, and a small bar. Since Ichiraku mainly served ramen and sushi it was a very low key place. The whole place was painted red with some black and white designs here and there. Though its size was small, it didn't mean that the business wasn't.

After getting everything set up I had opened up the dinner at noon. It didn't take long for people to pour in, and since I was the only waitress here that meant I was busy taking care of all the customer's needs. I pulled a single pink strand of hair that fell out of my braid behind my face and got the sushi and miso soup that was meant for an old couple at table five.

I walked over to them and smiled saying, "Anything else you need?"

The old man gave me a crinkly smile and said, "No thank you young miss."

I nodded my head and went back to give everyone else their foods and refills. I stood there for ten minutes, watching the people eat and to see if they needed anything. Everyone talked while eating, which was a dead ringer for me not to bother them. I noticed a man get up from a table and leave after paying his bill.

I walked over to the table and took away the man's bowl and glass, while also taking the tip and stuffing it into my pant pocket. After clearing and cleaning the table I looked back at the customers to see that they were all still talking and eating.

I sighed and smiled. I really hoped that those men had stopped following Naruto and I, since I really like this little town and all the people in it. It was a welcoming place where everyone knew each other and best of all there was little to no crime. The police force hear was very good, keeping the streets clean of evil doers.

Maybe Naruto and I were finally free to live our lives, instead of running from them.

The little bell ringed at the doorway, making me come out of my reverie. A man, probably at least six years older than me, walked in. His red hair was the first thing I noticed. It was almost as red as my mother's hair had been, except the man's was a darker shade than hers. And his eyes were a strange grey with some purple tint to them.

I then walked up to him and asked, "Is it only you today sir?"

The man smiled and said, "Yes."

I nodded and picked up a menu while saying, "Follow me please."

He complied and I took him to the table that I just cleared off. Setting his menu down and watching him sit I asked in a kind voice, "Is there anything I could get you to drink?"

He picked up his menu and said, "Just water please."

I nodded and said before walking away, "Oh and by the way, my name's Sakura."

He nodded and said, "My name is Nagato."

I smiled and then walked to the back to get him his glass of water.

That was strange, I thought to myself. Normally no one ever told me their name, it just didn't happen. This man though, Nagato, seemed to have no problem with it. Shrugging my shoulders I filled a glass with water and brought it to him.

I set it down in front of him, and taking note that the menu was now closed in front of him I asked, "So have you decided on what you would like Nagato-san?"

"I'll just have the salmon rolls and miso soup please," Nagato said politely.

I nodded and took his menu saying, "Kay, it will be coming out shortly."

He nodded and I went back to put the menu away.

I gave his order to my boss and his daughter, who was one of the cooks, and went back to cleaning off tables and giving people their food and refills. Pushing the lone strands out of my face again I heaved all the dishes from a big group of people into the large sink into the kitchen.

The boss's voice then shouted, "Miso and salmon rolls are up!"

I went over to grab them and walked over to Nagato's table.

I put the food down and said, "Here you go."

His eyes smiled at me as he said, "Thank you Sakura-san."

I nodded and went back to work, doing the normal routine. I looked behind me to see that Nagato had already left, money on the table waiting to be picked up. I went over to the table and saw the amount he left on the table…let's just say it was a lot.

There was the money to pay for his meal, and then there was my tip. He left more money for the tip than for the meal. My eyes widened at the money on the table, thinking why someone would leave me so much money. There was at least fifty dollars for the tip.

Not exactly knowing what to do I took the money for the tip and put the rest of it in the register for the meal. If I ever saw Nagato again I would have to give him a big thank you!

My day then went on normally from there. It was now second nature for me to wait every table that I didn't even know that it was time to leave yet until boss told me to go. I said that I would help clean up but he smiled and said, "You worked hard today kid, go and sleep or something. I've got everything handled here."

I smiled, about to say thank you but the bell from the door ringed, cutting me off. I looked to see Naruto there with a smile on his face as he said, "Time to go Sakura-chan."

I nodded to him and said, "Thank you again boss!"

He nodded and said, "Anytime Sakura-san."

I then walked to Naruto and he led me out of the door and we walked to the park. The money we used was only for food, clothes, and other necessities which meant that we didn't have enough money for a place to live. So we lived in the park and hid our clothing behind bushes and things. Surprisingly enough, no one stole our clothing or even found it yet.

As we entered the small park, containing only a slide, small play set, and two swings, I went to sit on a patch of grass on top of the hill that held a cherry blossom tree. It was a great place to just sit and look at the stars that were now out.

As I laid down in the grass I heard Naruto fall next to me. We were silent, lost in our own thoughts. I broke the silence saying softly, "Naruto-kun…this is the eighth anniversary."

He gave a loud sigh and said, "Yeah I know. It seems as if it was just yesterday that Mom was yelling at me to clean up my mess and Dad was just laughing at her."

I smiled a small smile and said, "Yeah…I know that being sixteen should mean that I should be over it by now, but I still miss them."

I then sat myself up and pulled my knees to me chest. Even though I was still in a tank top, the nights here in Konoha were warm and welcoming. I just held myself for comfort.

I heard movement besides and felt strong arms pick me up and hold me against their chest. Naruto was now holding me close, comforting me like the amazing big brother he was. His holds or hugs always felt comforting to me, even as a child they were comforting during those first few years of confusion.

"Sakura-chan," his voice said softly, "I miss them too…I always will. We may not be able to change the past, but we can always try better our future. This place, Konoha I mean, seems like a great place to just start all over for us…we just need to find a place to crash."

I smiled at his attempt to cheer me up and said, "What would I do without you?"

He laughed and said, "No need to worry about that since I'm never going to leave you alone."

I snuggled closer to him and looked up at the stars saying, "Thank you Naruto-kun."

He held me tighter, putting his chin on top of my head saying, "Sure thing Sakura-chan."

We stayed like that for a while, me in his arms. We stayed silent and just looked at the bright little orbs of light in the sky. Those little stars were always so comforting to the both of us because we used to watch the stars with our parents. It was nice to think that they had become the stars and watched over us now, always keeping us safe.

I closed my eyes slowly drifting to sleep in my brother's arm; that was until I heard the sound of footsteps. My eyes shot open on instinct, and I felt Naruto's body tense slightly, but it probably wasn't visibly noticeable.

I looked to see someone walking on the sidewalk below us. He had on an orange swirl mask with a tuff of black hair peeking out on the top, he wore a black button down shirt and black slacks. He seemed like some strange business man, I mean come on who wears a mask in public, who was taking a break from work. But that didn't mean that we weren't suspicious, if anything we were on our guard just in case this man decided to attack us.

The masked man saw us and gave us a lazy glance, from the glance I could see that there was only one eye-hole in the mask, and his eye appeared to be red. That didn't seem too good. The man started to walk off, but he then did a double take on us. I could see his lone eyes glint as he walked up the hill to Naruto and me.

Naruto then stood up; I then stood up right next to him, refusing to hide behind him like some scared little girl. Naruto then inquired in a neutral voice, "Is there anything that I can help you with?"

The man said in a high pitched voice, "Yes, Tobi saw you necklaces, and they are very familiar to Tobi. Can you tell Tobi where you found them?"

I stared at the man openly, wondering why the hell he was talking in third person. That was just strange, just like that mask and eye of his.

Naruto got instantly defensive and said, "What's it to you?"

I gave my brother a look and then said to Tobi, I assumed that was his name, "They're our parents, nothing special."

Tobi voice then got deep as he said, "Hand them over please."

Naruto put a hand in front of me, which kind of pissed me off, but I knew that he meant well. Naruto then growled, "No sorry, now would you please leave."

Tobi shook his head and said, "Not until you give Tobi the necklaces."

I then got defensive and said, "Sorry, but these are very important to us, now would you go."

Tobi sighed and said in his deep voice, "I was hoping to avoid this, but you leave Tobi no choice," Tobi then pulled out a gun and pointed it directly at me, "give them to Tobi now or I shoot your sister here."

What was going on? All the people that had been following us and attacking us didn't have weapons, but Tobi had a very real gun in his hand. Maybe he wasn't with the guys that were chasing us. No, that didn't seem right either.

Naruto growled, "Put the damn gun down and do not point it at my sister."

Tobi didn't put the gun down, instead he cocked it saying, "Last chance."

I could see his hand move towards the trigger, Naruto must've saw as well because he pounced forward and attacked the masked man when the shot went off. Instead of hitting my head, where Tobi had it pointed, it grazed my left arm instead. I shouted, feeling the stinging sensation running down on my arm.

I could see Naruto was now rolling around with Tobi on the ground, trying to get the gun out of his grasp. Tobi then punched Naruto in the face with his free hand, making Naruto loose his balance. Tobi, seeing the small lose in balance, took advantage of it and knocked Naruto towards me.

I gripped my arm as I shouted, "Naruto-kun are you okay?"

He shook his head, still recovering from the punch. His eyes then widened as he looked at my arm bleeding out and yelled, "What do you mean 'am I alright'? You're the one who got hit from the bullet, are you alright, did it sink into your skin or-"

I cut him off saying, "It only grazed me, so stop your worrying."

Naruto stood up slowly and then Tobi then said, "Surrender now, Tobi really doesn't like to use Tobi's guns."

"Then don't use them!" I shouted, still gripping onto my bleeding arm, hissing from the pain.

"Tobi can't do that," the masked man said deeply.

Naruto then looked straight into my emerald eyes and said, "I got left you got the right, kay?"

I nodded and said, "Yup."

Tobi seemed to get confused as he said, "What does tha-" But he was cut off by both Naruto and me punching him in the face, me from the right and Naruto from the left. Just because my left arm got hurt didn't mean that I couldn't hit with my right arm.

Tobi then fell backwards and rolled down the hill, gun falling from his hands. I huffed and once again clutched my arm saying to Naruto, "We need to get out of here now."

All he did was nod and take hold of my right shoulder to lead me down the hill and onto the streets. We ran, making sure to not run into anyone. But really who would be out at midnight on a Monday?

We ran a little longer before we stopped to sit beside a building in the alleyway. We were now deep in the city of Konoha, the street lamps being our only source of light. I sighed as I sat down, extremely tired from being up late and almost getting shot in the head. My arm had almost stopped bleeding but I still held onto hit just in case.

Naruto then ripped the bottom part of his orange shirt off and wrapped it around my arm gently while asking, "Are you alright Sakura-chan?"

I nodded tiredly and said, "Yeah, what about you, I can see the bruises on your arms and face. And I bet there are some on your legs, but your jeans are covering it."

He then said seriously, "I think a bullet graze is worse than a couple of bruises."

I sighed and said, "This means we are going to have to leave again right?"

Naruto looked down as he finished wrapping up my arm and took a seat next to me on the pavement. He ran a hand through his unruly blond hair and said, "Yeah, we don't want to run into that Tobi guy again."

I nodded sadly and said, "How much money do you have on you, since we can't go back and get our stuff we hid in the bushes."

He put a hand in his pockets and pulled out his money. After counting it he said, "About $45.00, what about you?"

I got my tip money out of my pocket and counted, after I was done I said, "I have $115.65."

Naruto's eyes widened as he said, "How the hell did you get all of those tips?"

I shrugged and said, "Some guy gave me fi-"

I was cut off by footsteps coming our way. Naruto and I shot up, expecting it to be Tobi again. We saw a man cross under a streetlight and walk over to us. We were about to make a run for it but the man called out to us and said, "Wait!"

Naruto was tugging my hand, still trying to run away from the man. I stopped knowing the voice; I heard it today at Ichiraku's.

Naruto kept tugging my hand whispering, "Sakura-chan we need to go, now."

I shook my head as the man ran closer towards us and I whispered under my breath, "Nagato-san?"

The man then came into our sight, now only a few feet away from us. It was indeed the nice man from earlier with the red and hair and purple tinted grey eyes.

He looked at us and said, "Sakura-san, I thought that was you," He then looked at both at me and Naruto closer and said, "Why is your friend covered in bruises, and your arm bleeding, are you alright?"

Naruto stopped tugging my hand and asked, "You know this guy Sakura-chan."

I nodded at my brother saying, "Yeah, we can trust him don't worry."

Naruto looked a little reluctant, but let go of my hand then then walked to stand beside me protectively.

Naruto then inquired, "We got in a little scuffle, nothing to worry about."

Nagato shook his head, his red hair shaking at the action. "That doesn't look like nothing you two," he said defiantly, "I won't leave until you tell me what happened."

I looked at Naruto and said, "I don't think that it would hurt to tell one person, he might be able to help."

Naruto frowned saying, "I don't know…"

I just shook my head at him and ran a hand through my braided hair, now looking at Nagato saying, "We were attacked by a man named Tobi who had an orange swirl mask on."

Nagato's eyes lit up as he asked, "Did he talk in third person?"

Both Naruto and I were startled by this question so Naruto just said, "Um, yeah he did, how did you know that?"

Nagato then crossed his arms saying, "I met the man once and I don't trust him," he then examined us further and said, "how old are you two, and what are your relations, you both kind of look alike."

Naruto answered, "I'm 17 and Sakura-chan is 16, we're brother and sister."

Nagato nodded and said, his voice laced with care, "Do you need me to walk the two of you home, just in case that man decides to hurt you again."

My eyes hung low as I said, "We have no home, we are just going to go to the next city like usual."

"You're orphans I presume then," Nagato said, arms still crossed.

Naruto nodded and stepped closer to me saying, "Yeah, our parents were killed eight years ago. We tend to get chased a lot so we just jump from city to city, what's it to you?"

I elbowed Naruto with my good arm and hissed, "Be nice to Nagato-san, he is only trying to help us."

Naruto and I then proceeded to have a glaring contest. We barely registered Nagato's voice saying, "I live and work at an orphanage, how about you two come with me?"

Naruto then stared at Nagato dumbly, and I just looked at him with curious eyes. Naruto then said, "No thanks, we tend not to stay in one place for too long."

I protested and said, "Naruto-kun, what if he can help us, I mean…we can't keep on doing this forever and you know it."

"But Sakur-"

"No," I said strongly, "remember what Mom and Dad always told us, to look out for each other. Well you have always been looking out for me, now it's my turn so shut up and accept Nagato-san's offer."

Naruto looked into my eyes hard, looking for any doubt within them, he saw none. I held my ground; I had a strong feeling that this red haired man would be able to help us. Plus I would like to actually sleep in a bed after sleeping on the grass for eight years.

Naruto sighed knowing that he couldn't persuade me, so he said, "Fine, but as soon as it seems unsafe we are leaving Sakura-chan."

I nodded and then looked at Nagato saying, "We will come with you Nagato-san."

Nagato smiled and then walked closer to us saying, "I'm glad, I hate seeing kids like you on the streets; I used to be one until the Akatsuki Orphanage found me. Believe me when I say you are going to love it."

I nodded as he walked ahead of us and we followed. Nagato then spoke up saying, "Once we get there we will take care of your arm Sakura-san, and your bruises Naruto-san. Then we will give you some fresh clothes and let you sleep."

Surprised that he would do all of that for us, I asked, "Why are you being so nice to us?"

Nagato kept walking forward, not looking our way as he said, "Because you two remind me of how me and two of my friends used to be; alone on the streets, protecting each other."

We kept walking behind him after he said those words. It was nice to know that he understood our situation, and he would take us in so quickly. Plus he knew this 'Tobi' man, maybe he knew a way to help us.

I had a feeling that The Akatsuki Orphanage seemed like a nice and welcoming place. As I walked with Naruto by my side I knew that no matter what we would stick by each other's and protect one another. Hopefully things could get only better from here on out right?

~Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just the plot

And there is ch. 2! I know some of you must be thinking that it might end up being a NagatoxSakura, but I'm sorry for I will never write one of those. If there is a pairing in here it will be ItaSaku (I love those two together!)

And see how long it took for me to update that is because I only got three reviews people. I know more than three people subscribed to my story (thank you to those that did!) so that means I could've had more reviews…

Anyways thank you to those that reviewed and subscribed, makes me very happy :D

Please review and I will magically update faster instead of being lazy!