'Mmmm… S'warm…'

Lucien hugged his rucksack closer, nuzzling his face into the use-softened canvas fabric.

Hmm… That was strange…

…Why did he have his pack in his bed? Come to think of it, his bed felt very firm… Rough, even. Like- His eyes snapped open.

'Like bark.'

He looked around.

'Oh shit…'

He was in a tree. On a limb, to be exact. About- he glanced down- twenty five feet up.

…Greeeeeaaat.

A loud voice shouted something a ways away. Lucien's ears pricked and he squinted through the warm patches of sunlight and clusters of green leaves, trying to see who it was. The voice grew closer, until he could tell what it was saying.

"AHHH! SASUKE! I bet I can find that plant TWICE as fast as you! NO! THREE times as fast!"

Another, quieter, almost condescending voice replied, "It's an herb, loser."

Now a female voice. "That's right, Naruto! It's an herb. Only someone as immature as you wouldn't know that."

"I can still find it faster than him!"

"You couldn't distinguish one plant from another if the right one came up and bit you in the-"

"I CAN TOO, SASUKE! WATCH ME!"

'Whoa… Kid's a little competitive…' Lucien could hear someone crashing around the base of his tree, apparently searching for the herb they had been talking about. There was a low, "Hn," from the quieter kid and then he heard rustling and shuffling in that direction, too. So, the loud one had managed to ruffle the other's feathers, hm? And where was-

"Hey, isn't this it?"

-the girl… 'That was fast,' he thought, peering down through the branches. He jerked back with a strangled gasp as a pointy metal blur shot past his nose, embedding itself in the trunk of the tree. He stared at it, uncomprehending. It… Looked like some sort of… Knife? Dagger, maybe? A whizzing sound jerked him back to the present and he leapt back just in time to avoid two little star-shaped weapons with holes in their centers.

They missed him and hit the trunk, but Lucien had forgotten he was in a tree and leaping backwards had set him squarely…

In midair.

Branches whipped his arms and sides as he plummeted downward with a muffled yell, still clutching his bag to his chest. An orange-and-yellow blur shot past him, but he paid it little mind as he scrambled for a handhold, finally catching a thin branch. It snapped under his weight, but slowed him down a bit, and he slammed belly-first into a thicker branch below it with a low wheeze.

Gasping and groaning, he started to push himself up with his arms when that same orange blur landed in front of him. He raised his eyes. A tanned, whisker-marked face, unruly blond hair, and very blue eyes stared back.

A short pause. Then-

"Who're you?"

Lucien's eyebrows shot skyward. Was any of this supposed to make sense? The blonde didn't seem to expect an answer to his own question, because a split second later he was rubbing the back of his head and grinning sheepishly at the dark-haired teen.

"Heheh… Sorry. I thought you were spying on us."

"Er… That's… Okay. Um…" 'Why would I spy on some kids picking plants?'

The blonde grinned again, standing up on the limb, which was about seven feet off the ground. Lucien sat back against the trunk and loosened his death-grip on his rucksack.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki! What's yours?"

"Uh… Lucien Hunt. Nice to meet you, I guess."

The kid beamed and suddenly hopped off the branch. Lucien yelped and made a dive for him, but the kid landed easily at the base of the tree. He hadn't stopped grinning. Until, that is, a black-haired boy who looked about his age (they appeared four or five years younger than Lucien himself, making them about twelve) materialized from the shadows of the forest and muttered, "Sakura found it, loser. Let's go." He froze, however, when he saw Lucien climb down from the tree and land nimbly behind Naruto.

Black eyes (or where they very, very dark blue?) narrowed before he hissed, "Who're you."

It seemed to be a demand more than a question, and his pale hand was twitching toward a pouch strapped to his leg. Before Lucien could answer, Naruto bounded forward, dragging the curly-haired boy along.

"This is… Uh… Loo-shen. I found him in the tree!"

"I didn't ask you, Naruto! Get away from him! He could be a spy!"

"He is not, Sasuke! He couldn't even catch himself when I threw shuriken at him! He's not fast enough to be a ninja!"

Whoa! Freeze and rewind! Did he just say 'ninja'? He must have looked dumbfounded, because 'Sasuke' lowered his hand and resorted to merely glaring at him and offering a suspicious "Hn."

"Saaaa-suke! Where are you? Naruto?" That was the girl's voice, a moment before she burst through the trees. Lucien stared. He couldn't help it. She had pink hair. Not dye pink. Pastel-flower-petal-even-her-eyebrows-are-pink. The blonde beside him bounced excitedly.

"Sakura! Look! I found this guy stuck in this tree! His name's Looshen!"

The girl, who also appeared to be around twelve, stared at him for a moment, before smiling, a faint blush in her cheeks, and holding her hand out for him to shake.

"I'm Sakura. Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too…" He took her small hand and shook it, smiling dazedly. 'Might as well go with it…'

A small noise made them both look over at the boys. Naruto was nudging and glaring at Sasuke, who was beginning to twitch before he hissed, "What, loser?"

"Introduce yourself," Naruto stage-whispered back. Sasuke glared at him and said nothing. Sakura sighed and spoke up.

"That's Sasuke." Lucien looked back to her and swallowed a grin. She had her hands clasped in front of her and her jade eyes locked adoringly on the stoic boy.

"Well, it's been… Interesting… But I should get going. You see, I'm a little lost, and-" Naruto leapt forward, latching onto the curly-haired boy's hand and crowing, "We'll help you!" Noticing the glares of his… Friends?... he huffed and said, "Whaaat?"

Sakura stormed forward and promptly smacked the blonde atop his head.

"We're supposed to meet Kakashi-sensei, you dork! Did you just forget about the mission!" Jumping in surprise at the sweet-turned-sour girl's mood swing, Lucien edged back a bit, waiting until she'd retreated a fair distance before pulling Naruto to his feet.

"Owww… Saaaakuraaa… Kakashi-sensei doesn't even know we found it yet! And besides, we can't just leave him here!"

"Uh, actually, I can just-" Sasuke cut him off, speaking up for the first time since his little spy-ninja paranoia trip.

"The loser's right. We should bring him with us and let Kakashi figure out what to do with him." Lucien twitched. 'He makes me sound like some troublesome pet, or something. A real charmer, this one.'

Sakura beamed at Sasuke, ignoring Naruto completely, and grasped Lucien's hand in both of her own, saying, "Please come with us, now. Kakashi-sensei will help you." He couldn't help but grin back at her warm and gentle smile and follow her away.

Naruto bounced up beside him and began chattering away about… Something or other… And Sasuke followed behind them. Lucien didn't have to glance back to know he was looking at him, but he did it anyway. He was right; Sasuke was watching him with cool, calculating black eyes. He pretended not to notice and adjusted his bag over his shoulder, continuing to follow Sakura and half-listen to Naruto.

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A/N: Constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not. Thanks for reading!