Hey all! I know, I'm late. Sorry! Anyway, enjoy these 3,058 words of chapter goodness. As for not updating... I blame lack of internet and computer access, IB, Cross Country, and World War II. By the way: I'm now a purple belt! Wooh! Check my profile for the latest updates :D

DISCLAIMER: I'd rather be sleeping than telling you who owns Naruto and all its characters.

STORY TIME!

Ino couldn't believe this was happening to her. No matter where she went, the whispers, stares, glares, scoffs, and jeers followed. Kids she had never even spoken to leered at her, when they once would have watched her with respect, admiration, and even envy. The blonde gripped her fine, pale hair, smooth, long strands slipping between her slender fingers. The whisperings were driving poor Ino insane! Everywhere they were! All over the place and no escape for Ino to go to to get from the bad talk. Ino gasped. She hadn't spoken, let alone thought a sentence structured like that in years. Since her family had emigrated from a small town on the border of Hi No Kuni, the young Yamanaka had learned that it was very important to blend in and only stick out in good ways. Her messed up, backwards, foreigner/country speak did not stick out in a way that could be viewed as positive under any light. These idiots at her school could not reduce her back to this! Ino had vowed never to be that shy foreigner ever again. Being vulnerable was asking to be targeted. She would find who had done this to her, who had made her think of things like this and make them to pay. They would regret the day that they tangled with a Yamanaka, because Yamanakas were the best at mind games. "мы увидим," she muttered, "мы увидим."

Meanwhile Kisame chuckled at the girl, "looks like Miss Thang isn't so tough after all. That's all bullies are. Cowards and fools with too much power."
"Don't be so cold, Kisame-sempai," his partner scolded, "we don't know what her life is like. She might have been cruel to Naruto, but she is still human. She didn't deserve to be hurt this badly."
Kisame shook his head, "you're still so naive, Tobi."

With a determined look on her face Ino walked to her classes with her head held high and when she went to lunch, the gossips on the sidelines were invisible to her. She was a woman on a mission.

"Oh, what a surprise. To what to we owe this pleasure, Miss Piggy?" a brown haired boy wearing odd purple face paint sneered.
"I know what you did," Ino said, inwardly bristling at the unpleasant nickname.
"I didn't do anything," Kankuro shrugged, unconcernedly taking a sip of his chocolate milk. Ino slapped the milk carton out of the brunette's hand, spilling it all over Kankuro's black t-shirt with two semicircles in the center (one deep rouge and the other a pale yellow). "What's your problem, pig?"
"You and your damn rumors, that's what's my problem! You stupid jerk! I know it was you and your stuck up snob of a sister. You think you're better than everyone else because you're rich! You aren't the only ones with money-" Ino raged, turning red in the face.
"That is not why I'm better than you," Kankuro mumbled quietly, standing up, "I'm better than you because I'm not a bully, a follower, a coward, or worst of all, a dirty border hopping sand woman!" The whole room went silent.
Ino gasped, "why you-!"
"What are you doing here?" a brisk, feminine voice cut the silence.
Ino merely closed her mouth and glared at Temari, "nothing. I only forgot I don't talk to idiotic, cowardly, crud-talking, racists who like to play with rumors and tell stories." Angry beyond reason, Ino stalked off.
Temari turned to Kankuro, "what was that about?"
"Nothing," Kankuro muttered bitterly.
"You took that too far, Kankuro," Tenten glared.
"What! Did you see the way she and her little friends tore Naruto up?"
"No. But what you said still wasn't right. My mother was an immigrant from Suna," the bun haired girl stood up to leave.
"I didn't mean you, Tenten!"
"You didn't have to," the female brunette left without another word. Pale eyes watched her go.
"Kankuro,"
"I know, Neji. I really screwed up. I shouldn't have said that."
"You should really watch what you say. I think we took revenge too far, this time."
"She's not mad at you," Kankuro stated pointedly.
"No, but Tenten did have a point. And she might be, Ino's best friend, Sakura, is Tenten's roommate," Neji informed his fellow brunette.
"What exactly just went down?" Temari inquired. The two boys only shook their heads.
"Some very dirty business," a boy with a black bowl cut said very solemnly. No one could disagree with Lee.

"Ino! There you are, do you have any idea what happened?" Karin exclaimed, rushing up to Ino. Ino stiffened when the redhead hugged her. "Ino? What's wrong?"
"Some people's kids..." Ino grit out through her teeth.
"Ino-chan?" Sakura approached her friends. She had been ready to tell Ino and Karin about her upcoming meeting with Temari, but it looked like something more important had happened.
"I don't want to talk about it," Ino said, freeing herself from Karin's grasp.
"But Ino-chan, you looked so-" Karin protested.
"Just don't," Ino said, her voice wavering as if on the verge of a sob.
"Did it have anything to do with Temari and Kankuro?" Sakura asked. Ino only glared at the strawberry blond girl. "Okay, sorry, I get it. I'll back off," the pinkette held up her hands defensively. Ino shook her head and walked off. Sakura turned to Karin, "what has her in a funk?"
"I think she had an argument with Kankuro, I saw him glaring at us a few minutes ago."
"Kankuro? What does he have to do with it?"
"I don't know, but rumors have been circulating about me and Ino, and I think our blondie found out who started it."
"What? Rumors about what?" Sakura was shocked, and a little surprised at herself for being so.
"Nothing of substance, just mean and nasty stuff, like that she's a harlot, or dirty. Stuff like that," the redette nodded.
"You know what Karin?" Sakura looked at her best friend.
"What?"
"You are so strange sometimes. You randomly throw in big words in an every day sentence," the cherry blonde pointed out.
"Your blonde is so strawberry it looks pink," Karin replied as if the fact made them even.
"It is not!"
"Well, maybe not. But now your face is," the younger girl teased.
"Oh shut up, you!" Sakura growled jokingly.
"This piehole only closes when it is occupied with pie," Karin stated seriously.
"Ew, that would mean you chew with your mouth open whenever you eat anything else!" Sakura made a face. Karin just laughed, glad to know she was able to cheer up at least one of her friends.

Naruto walked down the hall. It was lunchtime and he was eager to get to the cafeteria to eat. "Hey!" Naruto stopped and turned to see a blonde person with a pony tail and one bang rushing up to him. He wore a red hoodie and black jeans, not unsimilar to Naruto's orange hoodie and black jeans.
"Hm?" Naruto was a little confused. Girls rarely talked to him.
"My name's Deidara, nice to meet you!" The person eagerly shook his hand, a bright grin stretching across her face.
"Hi Deidara-san, my name's Naruto," the blond shook the girl's hand firmly, returning her smile brightly. "Are you new here?"
"Ah, yes. I just transferred here from... a ways away," the girl responded.
"Oh. What... brings you here?" Naruto asked, suddenly feeling very awkward.
"Reasons, reasons, maybe I'll tell you some day, kid," the blonde answered mysteriously.
Naruto glared at her, "who are you calling kid, lady?"
"WHAT!" Naruto grabbed his ears in pain at the screeching sound that attacked them. "I AM MOST DEFINITELY NOT A GIRL! WHAT THE HECK?"
"You're not?" the male blond wondered.
"No. I am not," the now calming other blond male responded.
"Sorry about that," Naruto scratched the back of his neck nervously.
"No problemo. Just don't call me a chick again," Deidara said lightly, scratching the back of his head.
"I won't," the shorter blond assured him.
"You're a bit on the short side, aren't ya?" the taller blond mused, taking the time to examine Naruto.
"I'm not short! I'm only fourteen!" he glared at the older blue haired, blond eyed trouble maker.
"Sure you are! You're just a baby," Deidara grinned, pinching Naruto's cheek. Naruto, in his irritation, forgot to be shy and swatted the older teen's hand away.
"I'll have you know I'm a freshman!" Naruto glared, his chest puffing up slightly with pride.
"I know!" Deidara chimed, happily ruffling Naruto's hair, "and to a wise old senior like me, you're just a widdle baby."
"I am not! And I can't believe you're a senior!" Naruto growled, ducking away from Deidara's hand.
Deidara just laughed, "Oh, but I am. Truth is an absolute value thing! Whether you believe it or not it's still true."
"Oh, what are you smiling at?" Naruto pouted, now feeling slightly grumpy and a bit confused at the older boy's wise sounding statement.
"Nothing. I can tell we're going to get along swell!" the taller blond grinned, throwing an arm around the shorter's shoulders and giving him a squeeze.
"I can tell you're going to give me headaches," said shorter blond grumbled only to receive a light chuckle in reply. He did have to wonder though-why didn't he feel the urge to shy away from this stranger? Generally people he didn't know too well made him feel self conscious and nervous, but this boy just made him feel irritated and amused. And confused.
"Oi, you okay there, little one?" Deidara asked, "you're spacing out on me."
"I'm not little!"
"But you were spacing out."
"Ha! You just admitted that I'm not little."
"Did not."
"Did too!"

In a distant location, Itachi shook his head at his friend's antics. He hadn't expected Naruto to open up to Deidara so quickly. Itachi wondered if Naruto recognized Deidara at all, even if it was only at some subconscious level. Meanwhile, Kyuubi grit his teeth, but kept his facial expression neutral while he resisted the urge to rip his earbud out.

Elsewhere, another two unknowns were watching the scene as well. "How did the Akatsuki get an inside guy on the job so fast!?" Tobi exclaimed as he stared at the monitor of his surveillance device unbelievingly.
"Because they are a widespread spy network with many resources. Did you forget who that kid's parents were? It would be more surprising if they didn't have security all over that boy. It's amazing none of us knew his location until now. How we no one found him here for nearly a decade I'll never know," Kisame shook his head in wonder.
"But if they were keeping him safe like this, then wouldn't they keep from searching for him until they were sure they could get him before us? It'd be terrible if they were to accidentally lead us to him. They probably focused more on keeping us off his trail. I don't think he stayed hidden for eight or nine years, I think they weren't looking for eight or nine years. Do you think they let us find him on purpose?" Tobi inquired.
"Who knows? It could be a subplot to connect to him so that he trusts a few of their members and then they wait for us to make a move. Then when we kidnap the boy he obviously knows that something's going on and will think we're the bad guys. Then they swoop in and save him, solidify the idea of mistrusting us in him and then take it from there. That prevents him from finding out who they are and either disbelieving them as a whole or distrusting them for not revealing themselves at the start: leaving the door wide open for our side to manipulate him," Kisame remarked.
"If that's the case then..." Tobi's face lit up, he grabbed Kisame and rapidly whispered in Kisame's ear.
"But what if..."" Kisame started. Tobi whispered some more and Kisame nodded, a grin spreading.
"Tobi, sometimes you are so freaking brilliant!" Kisame said in a hushed tone, buzzing with enthusiasm.
"Uh huh!," the young villain nodded, "Tobi is a good boy!"
"We both are this time, kid," the navy haired man replied.

At the Uchiha house, or the front door rather, a young, blond adult stood picking the lock. He threw the door open, grinning broadly at his achievement and strolled in, closing the door behind him as more of an afterthought. Humming to himself, the boyish man dropped his messenger bag on a kitchen chair and proceeded to raid the pantry, cabinets and fridge for a good snack. A black haired lady just so happened to pass by while the young man was standing on top of a phone book placed on a kitchen chair, rummaging through the cabinets. "Oh, hello Mikoto-san! I'm just ah...looking for a snack."
"Itachi hides his pocky in the empty coffee cannister on the left," she replied, as she walked off into the house with a basket of her laundry (as she makes a point of not washing her sons' laundry).
"Thanks Miko-obaasan!" He cheered, sticky fingers already reaching for a certain Uchiha prodigy's treasured snack.
"Sure thing, Dei-kun," a faint echo from the halls reached Deidara's ears. The cheeky blond smirked to himself as he continued to search for food.
When Uchiha Itachi entered the house, he found a very happy blond with a mouthful his pocky stirring a mug of chai tea and eyeing a plateful of tomatoes. "How was your day at school?"
"It was great! I met Naruto and everything," said blond replied, his voice slightly muffled by the food occupying it. He swallowed and took a sip of tea, "how was jail?"
"You mean class. And it was fine. Kyuubi was pissed that I left him to surveillance all by himself, but he can deal and an International Baccalaureate college is a very educational experience. You'll be coming back to CA soon," the raven replied, taking a stick of pocky from the box in Deidara's hand.
"I know that, Itachi, but high school is so nice and easy! I'll get to sleep all the time! Hey, what's with the stale face?" The temporary high school student blinked.
"What's sleep?" the Uchiha monotoned.
"That thing that you'll do as soon as we finish our snack!" the oblivious one replied.
"We...?" Itachi asked, nearly blushing at the idea of sleeping with someone else.
"Yeah. You and me. You're gonna curl up slightly on your right side and I will get nice and comfy laying on my tummy, probably draped over you. And since weird things happen when we wake up asleep, we'll probably wake up in a really awkward position that we'll never speak of again," Deidara said honestly, unaware of the oddness of his statement.
"Right," the long haired raven simply went to the cupboard to get some coffee, chewing thoughtfully on a stick of pocky.
"So, why's Kyuubi-chan all out of sorts about surveillance on his own?" Inquired the clueless blond.
"He didn't want to recruit Naruto-kun, you know that. And the fact that he couldn't pester me to pass time probably irritated him," Itachi repressed a shudder at the redhead's near violent reaction to finding out he'd be working solo.

"What the hell man? You're abandoning me for school? Seriously? You get out of work for this? I didn't even want to do this crap, but Deidara insisted and you just went along because you thought you could win his favor and now you're ditching? Do you even care about the kid? You suck, you know that?" Kyuubi's voice raged through the phone, cracking from sheer volume.
"...don't yell at me because you dislike the situation. You know I have to go, and it wasn't as if sending you in would have been a good decision. Honestly, no matter what position you ended up in you would have complained. Don't even try to convince anyone you'd rather be in class or trying to make nice with Uzumaki-kun." Itachi hung up and slid his cell back in his pocket, shaking from the verbal lashing. Was he really such a monster?

"...Itachi? Everything alright?" Deidara's concerned voice broke the awkward silence.
"What? Oh, the coffee's done," the weasel noted, his voice a hair's width away from wavering. Itachi stiffened when he felt arms around him and asked, "Deidara...? What are you-?"
"I'm giving you a hug. You obviously need one, geez. I'm not stupid, I can tell when you aren't okay."
"Oh...okay," the raven replied a little weakly before twisting out of his friend's grasp and pouring himself a cup of coffee before retreating to the other side of the room.
Deidara ignored the other's cold response to his affectionate gesture and went back to the table to finish off his tomatoes. He glanced at the other boy before him and took a moment to observe: Itachi was leaning against the wall, dark eyes fixated on the equally dark liquid in his cup. Slim strands of hair escaped his ponytail, framing his face, the shorter pieces towards the front and center of his head bending to touch his forehead. The most striking thing Deidara noticed was the sad, distant expression hidden under Itachi's blank and empty stare. The normally cheerful blond placed his dishes in the sink and began to wash them in silence.

"Why did you ask about Kyuubi?" Itachi broke the quiet.
"What?" Deidara turned his head and the upper half of his body to face him.
"You and Kyuubi are so close, wouldn't you have known what was up with him? So why did you ask?"
"Oh, ah, it's nothing big. Kyuubi's just... a little less sharing lately. More irritable and cranky. Best to give him his space when he gets like that," the blue eyed boy replied almost emptily. He set the dishes in the dish drainer and made his way to the hall, "I don't know about you, but I'm gonna go and see if I can get some of that sleep." Itachi pushed himself off the wall, dumped the remainder of his mug in the sink before rinsing it and placing it among Deidara's plate and mug. Having done this, he followed the artist to his room.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and don't mind the shortness! The last scene was thrown in there to develop the complex relationships that are supposed to exist between the characters. Kyuubi is acting all funky, Deidara's being weirdly friendly with Ita-chan, Itachi supports Dei one chapter, but pushes him away the next. Oh what does it all mean? Who knows! Depends on what I want to do with it. I'm keeping things ambiguous for now to leave my options open.