Sorry that it's a little late! I made it a little longer to make it up to you all!

...

They had finally reached the mall. The last mile it had started to drizzle and even at the end it even full on rained. They ran the last couple of paces and laughed at the other's wet hair and face. For a moment they stayed by the entrance, catching their breaths. The sliding doors went open and closed again, letting hurrying people in who also tried to avoid getting too wet. Some of them had brought an umbrella though, which Sasori and Kimberly had forgotten.

When they had rested enough, Kimberly pulled Sasori away from the entrance and towards the escalator. They stood before the moving stairs and Sasori kept staring at the steps coming out of the ground. He had never seen anything like this before and it freaked him out. Where did a thing like this lead him to? A row of people stood behind the two, tapping their feet impatiently and some even started yelling obscenities towards them. They really needed to start moving, otherwise they might get chased by an angry mob.

'Come one, Sasori. There is a good store with men's clothing upstairs. Get on the escalator. It's not going to eat you,' Kimberly hissed, pushing Sasori forward.

He took a hesitatingly step forward and it was like his foot got pulled away from the rest of his body. Right until he placed the other food next to it and his whole body glided up. Kimberly let out a sigh of relieve and stood beside him. The redhead was looking around with a smile on his face. He thought that this was actually kind of fun. The floor got farther away and the people almost looked like ants. Okay, very large ants, but he could imagine them being ants, right? It would be fun to squish all those ignorant people under his shoe.

'Don't forget to step of the escalator at the end,' Kimberly reminded him. He looked forward again and saw the end nearing. His heart started racing and he felt very nervous. Would he be in time to step of the escalator? He didn't want to fall over and look like an idiot. What would the ants think of him then?

He placed his foot forward and stepped of the moving stairs without a problem. He felt like he had accomplished something. He had survived the escalator without a scratch on him! They needed to celebrate this! But first they needed to buy some clothes and Kimberly was already pulling him towards some sort of store.

The store stood full with clothes racks and it was almost impossible to find a path through it. Also the music was very loud and annoying and why was the girl behind the cash register looking at him funny. He was only here a minute, but he already hated shopping for clothes. They better be done here fast and go somewhere else. He didn't want to be here much longer, but Kimberly seemed to have something else in mind as she went from rack to rack.

She picked out some pieces and threw them over her arm, only to go to yet another rack. Was this ever going to end? Sasori whined in his head. But then it got only worse. The girl from behind the register came towards them and asked if she could help with anything. And then Kimberly said she was looking for some new clothes for him and it couldn't be too expensive. The girl then started picking out more clothes and Sasori already dreaded the time when he had to put everything on. Couldn't they just buy it and be done with it all!

Apparently they couldn't. He even asked, so there was no turning back now. He was already standing in the dressing room, stripped to his underwear and holding up a pair of black jeans. They seemed way too tight. How was he ever going to fit in this thing? He inserted one leg, then the other and he pulled them up. He already liked his other pants better than this pair. He could zip up the pair of jeans, but it didn't seem as loose fitting as his other pants.

Kimberly peeked inside the dressing room to see how far along Sasori already was and when she saw he wasn't even wearing a shirt, she stepped in. He covered up his chest with his arms, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. Why would she just step in like that?

She looked at how the jeans fitted and even started fidgeting with it. What the hell was she doing? He could dress himself properly, thank you. 'The jeans look good, so we're taking them. As for a shirt.' She glanced around and picked a green t-shirt out of the bunch. 'Here, put this on,' she said with a smile. He took the shirt from her and put it on. When he was fully dressed, he looked kind of shy towards her. He really wasn't sure how this was supposed to go. He usually only bought clothes when another pair had ripped and it only had to move properly. He did prefer the color red, but he wouldn't mind wearing another color. Still, red was better.

Kimberly made him step out and let the girl take a look too. She approved as well and somehow they bonded over this whole little thing. Why were they so happy about dressing him? Girls were very weird.

They made him try on a lot of other clothes and he had insisted on taking a red t-shirt as well. What? He needed something he actually liked. He already had to go through life with way too tight pairs of jeans. According to Kimberly they weren't even that tight, but he found them tight enough. If there were tighter jeans than he would be talking with a squeaky voice.

When they had finally decided on what Sasori needed to buy and what would stay in the store, Kimberly send him after the girl and made him pay by himself. She was folding up everything in a nice pile and then put everything in a plastic bag. In the mean time he was counting out every cent and put it on the desk.

The girl was looking at him out of the corner of her eye and it started to freak Sasori out. He needed to get away from here and it needed to happen now. She gave him the receipt and he was about to leave with the bag, when she stopped him. 'Hey, can I ask you something?' she asked. He waited for her to continue, glancing back over his shoulder. 'Do you want to go out with me?'

She asked him out on a date? That had never happened before. If you didn't count the strange encounter he had with Jenny where she invited him to do something else… He didn't count that time. But why would this girl go out with him in the first place? She looked okay, just a bit weird with the piercings in her face. It reminded him of Pein a bit, but he was sure she wasn't that weird. He just couldn't go out with a girl he barely knew. He would have to explain everything again and who knows how this girl would take it. And there was something else holding him back, but he ignored that bit of feeling.

'I'm sorry, I have to pass,' he said politely. He smiled kindly at her as Kimberly had taught him and walked away again.

'You better be quick with the other girl then. She might lose interest if you don't ask her out soon,' she yelled after Sasori. He blinked at her words, acting like he didn't know what she was talking about, but he did. Did he really need to ask Kimberly out? He couldn't just do something like that, right? He wasn't even sure how to do such a thing. And she made it obvious that they weren't that close when she didn't want to talk about her parents with him. Maybe this was the solution! If he asked her out, she might start talking more. A date could solve every problem he had so far.

He left the store and glanced around in search of Kimberly. He needed to time this right, otherwise he would just look like a fool. She was standing in front of another store looking through the window. Sasori stood beside her and did the same. He saw all these wooden creations and he felt and immediate urge to go inside. He needed to see all the beautiful things others created and then tell them what they did wrong.

This time he pulled Kimberly into the store instead of the other way around. It was a small but very crowded store, with stuff that is. From the ceiling hang loads of wind chimes, some big and some small. Some simple and some decorated with flowers and birds, carved into the wood. They had little statues of animals and some very big ones, too expensive to just simply buy. Sasori was looking at the little puppets they had standing on a shelf. Kimberly was looking at the small wooden bears, but already went to the next shelf filled with little wooden ballerina's. She really had no idea how you could carve those things out of wood.

She walked over to the place Sasori was standing and followed his eyes his to the different puppets. Sometimes he smiled a bit and sometimes he looked horrified at the little creations. She wasn't what Sasori saw in those things. To her they all looked pretty, but she really didn't know what she was talking about. He was the expert of course.

Suddenly he picked on up and walked over to the old lady behind the cash register. She wasn't really paying attention to the store, but gave Sasori a big smile when he went over to buy something. Kimberly wasn't sure why he would buy anything since he didn't have any use for it, but it was the first thing he decided for himself. It was good if he could do stuff on his own.

Sasori had a short conversation with the woman while she kept pointing at Kimberly and smiling brightly at the redhead. Whose face was now was red as his hair by the way. It looked very cute, but Kimberly wasn't sure why he was blushing in the first place. What were they talking about?

The left the store, Sasori carrying his plastic bag full of clothing and a new small paper bag with the puppet inside. He was still blushing, but said nothing, so Kimberly decided she should say something. 'Care for something to eat?' The redhead turned towards her and gave a slide nod. Enough for Kimberly as she pulled him towards a fast food restaurant. It would be greasy and not very good for you, but she was craving something like that right now. She was hungry and hadn't eaten anything like this in a long time. Sometimes you just need it, you know.

Kimberly ordered Sasori to stay at a table and the redhead did as he was told, sitting down quietly. He watched her leave and when she was out of sight, he opened the little brown bag and peeked inside. He had bought it for her as a thank you. He just wasn't sure when he was supposed to give it, but he had to do it before she was going to ask about it. He would look so foolish then and he needed to avoid that.

He crumpled up the bag again and glanced to the side. Kimberly had ordered something and now waited for the food to arrive. He just realized she was again paying for his diner. He really needed to give her this puppet now. He needed to show her he could do things for her too.

She got the food and walked with the tray towards Sasori. She was stopped by a sweet voice saying something behind her back, but loud enough so she would hear. Jenny was also in the diner and said something about her getting fat due to all the greasy food she ate. It wasn't true, Kimberly knew that, but it still stung. Especially when after that she said, 'wait, you can't get fat. You'll end up as your parents and we know that those addictions keep you from getting fat in the end.' It was like the floor was taken away from under her feet and she was falling down miles at a time. She knew Sasori had heard and she just wanted to run away.

She went over to the table fast and she threw the tray on the table. A fry went into her mouth and she started eating so she wouldn't have to answer any awkward questions. Brown eyes were focusing on her, narrowing once in a while. He didn't know what kind of addictions, but apparently everyone knew except him. This wasn't fair, why wouldn't she just tell him?

He opened his mouth to say something, but Kimberly cut in already. 'It's nothing, okay? My parents gamble a lot and that's why we lose so much money and when they have money, they buy booze. So they are alcoholics and gamblers. My brother and I have been taken care of ourselves for a long time and that's why we both work. We buy our own food and we wash our own clothes.' She shrugged her shoulders and acted like it was nothing. She ate some fries again in the mean time.

'What about you not wanting to spend time with your mother this morning?' Sasori asked, not letting this slide so easily.

Kimberly sighed loudly, letting Sasori know she really didn't want to talk about this. 'My mom feels lonely all the time and forces my brother and I to spent time with her. Meaning she wants us to join her in the casino and learn the tricks she and my dad use. We don't want to end up like that so we stay away from them as much as possible. They're not abusive or anything and I still love them, but it's tough taking care of myself when I'm just a kid. It shouldn't be this way.'

Sasori's hand went over the table and he laid him on top of hers. She flinched at first, but didn't take her hand away. He didn't say anything, no helping words or telling her that her parents sucked. He just looked at her with his hand on her hand. It felt comforting and it was all she needed in the end.

Characters © Masashi Kishimoto

And did you expect this? Yeah, you probably did... It's hard to stay really original...XD Still hope you enjoyed. Especially the part with Sasori on the escalator;)