As the class ended, the younger ones headed for the door where they presumed Konan would be picking them up. They all stood outside the school quietly waiting for her as the other's filed out of the room. They watched as Kichona headed out the front gates with Totsu, the other boys sticking around, however.
They soon approached the younger children, specifically Gaara. Tsuyoi stood in front of the much smaller boy, and it was only then that the older students noticed how truly sickly the small child looked. How had he beaten the number one student?
Gaara didn't inch away as he noticed the other move to stand in front of him, instead of looking up at the blue-haired male. Neji did grow a bit nervous at the looming of the older teens however and frowned. He moved so he was between his older classmates and the younger children, a bit of protectiveness coming over him. Sasuke mimicked the movements of his slight rival, so both boys stood to guard in front of the others.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at them while Neji asked "What do you want?" defensively. He noticed the slight frown on Tsuyoi's face as the tall blue-haired male knelt down so he was on their level.
"We mean no harm. I just came to tell you all that your power is impressive. Though, I noticed Gaara's struggle to hid his killing urges." eyes sweeping over to the young boy. "I don't care if you beat me, I don't care if you become stronger than anyone else in the village. But know this, if you decide to release the killing intent on Kichona or any of my friends for that matter, you will have all of us to deal with."
Gaara hid a grimace at that, nodding slightly. Tsuyoi continued, "I'm not threatening you specifically, that stands for all of you. None of you will bring harm to anyone else in the classroom." Shurui nudged him a bit and he continued, "I hold no grudges to you all, it is simply a fact. I hope we can all become friends over time despite the age gap. It's rare for this town to see new faces, let alone so many children."
Tsuyoi's face softened into a smile once his point had been made, Neji and Sasuke remaining between them protectively. Shurui nodded in agreement, "Yes, we don't get many new villagers let alone someone as young as you guys. How did you even get here, and where from? Did your guy's parents all decide to move away together or something?" he questioned with a smile.
Naruto was the one to answer for them, smiling brightly up at the green-haired man. "We're all from Konoha, except Gaara. He was visiting from Suna with his dad for a kage meeting. Then Konan and these other guys came up to Sasuke-teme and Gaara. Sasuke didn't have parents so she was going to take him. But Gaara got mad and tried to kill her for messing with him, and I had to stop Gaara from killing her because sometimes Shukaku gets a little pushy. So then the guy she was with said to just take us all so she did."
He was babbling on and on by now, Sasuke and Neji gaining an embarrassed blush to their faces while Gaara frowned at the talkative boy with a sigh. Here he'd been hoping to keep Shukaku a secret. Hinata glanced over at Gaara with worry, not wanting him to be upset. Naruto seemingly didn't notice a thing, of course. "So then we were leaving but Hinata saw us and was worried we were being kidnapped so she told Neji and he came up to us and told them to put us down because he had to listen to her because she was the heir to the Hyuuga clan so that means she's in charge of him."
Neji glared at Naruto as this point was made, noting he needed to teach the other some educate when it came to sharing other's personal information. "So then Itachi, that's Sasuke's older brother who had disappeared after doing something bad, told Konan they would bring Hinata and Neji along too because the leader of their clan was mean. So then we all were brought here and Konan said she was adopting us all." he smiled.
Amai raised a brow, "Konan-San as in the woman who runs this entire village along with Pain-Sama?" he blinked. "You're saying she pretty much kidnapped you all to make you her children? Won't your parents miss you?"
Naruto shook his head "No, no. I and Sasuke don't have parents anymore. Plus Neji, Hinata, and Gaara's guardians are all a bunch of jerks." he pouted at the idea before adding with a smile, "Konan is super nice and so is everyone else we live with now."
Hira put a hand up to his chin in thought, leaning down as if to inspect them. "I think you're missing the main point, Amai." he rolled his eyes at his friend. "So let me get this straight. You were the heiress to the Hyuuga clan." motioning to Hinata who nodded shyly "You were the bodyguard to the heir so presumably you're a prodigy to the clan." glancing at Neji who gave a firm nod. "You're most likely a prodigy of the Uchiha since from what little I know about the Uchiha, they don't get their Sharingan until usually thirteen or so," he noted looking to Sasuke who gave a light but slightly pained nod. "Then you're presumably the son of the Kazekage and the vessel of a tailed beast?" Gaara nodded quietly at that.
Hira gave a thoughtful look before glancing at Naruto "So were you just in the right place at the right time or do you have some sort of odd little quirk? I'm not saying those reasons I said before are the only reasons you were adopted but it would be likely." he analyzed.
Amai frowned at him, knocking his friend over the head. "Hira, that's rude. They're just kids and are excited to be in a new home. Don't spoil their fun." he scolded sending them an apologetic look for Hira's bluntness.
The medical ninja huffed a bit at the other, glaring lightly to him. "I was just asking. But seriously kid, do you?" he asked with a tilt of his head.
Naruto put a finger to his lip as if thinking before shrugging slightly, "Kisame said I have the nine tails in me, like Gaara but with more tails." he spoke easily, Hira raising a brow. So that knocked out any possibility of them taking Gaara and Naruto for no reason. Seeing the warning look from Amai however, he dropped it.
Neji looked at the younger boy and scolded "Naruto, you can't just go around saying things like that. Gaara can protect himself, you can't. Keep that information to yourself. It'll get you killed." he glared. Sasuke nodded, mimicking the Hyuuga's firm nod.
Naruto only shrugged at them, unaware of the danger he put himself in by speaking of the nine-tails. Hira waved it off as he assured them "Don't worry, none of us have anything against the tailed beasts. Well, Totsu has some bad history with the two tails but he's too timid to do anything and he would never blame a host for its demons doing. After all, it's not like it was you who destroyed the leaf village. It was the demon. It would be illogical to hate you."
Tsuyoi added with a frown "However, your friend is correct. You shouldn't let others know if you can't protect yourself. I won't lie, that might be a while since your abilities are raw. Some people will take advantage of that."
Suddenly the mood brightened however as Shurui got an idea. He smiled, "I know, we all like training at Amai's house on Saturdays. Why don't you guys come to join us this weekend if Konan-San saids it's okay?" he asked with excitement.
Amai sighed at his friend "Shurui, don't invite strangers to other people's house!" he scolded. Honestly, how impolite could his friends be!?
Shurui asked with a pout "So you're saying they can't come over to train with us?" he raised a brow. He knew this wasn't what the other had meant, but it was fun to tease him none the less. Amai's face quickly turned a pink as he glared at the green-haired male.
"That isn't what I meant and you know it. Of course, it's fine with me," he assured them. Neji nodded a bit to the other, knowing they would need to ask Konan first of course. Amai blinked "By the way, the school's been out for ten minutes or so now. We usually walk home but you all can't know your way around town yet if you're so new. Is someone coming to pick you up?"
Sasuke scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, glancing at Neji. Was someone coming to pick them up? Were they supposed to walk back on their own? These fears subsided however as they heard Deidara's voice coming through the school gates. "Hn, brats. We're here to pick you up." he greeted, dango hanging out of his mouth.
Tobi rushed towards them, lifting Hinata up and cuddling her to his chest with a coo "Tobi doesn't think your brats! Tobi loves you!" he assured them. Hinata let out a squeal as she was lifted, Neji reflexively moving to kick the older male in the shins.
The masked man squealed, setting Hinata down in favor of gripping his poor leg. That Hyuuga had some strong legs, damn. Tobi whimpered "Tobi was being nice to Hinata-Chan! Neji is so mean." he pouted, the older children were taken aback. These were two of the men responsible for taking part in raising their classmates? They were so immature...and rude.
Deidara headed over and let out an annoyed sigh "Tobi is also the reason we're late. Just had to get some dango on the way here." he muttered with a shake of his head.
Naruto beamed at this however and looked up at the older blonde "Can we get some dango on the way back? Please?" seeing Deidara's glare he pleaded more, giving him the one weapon he knew would always see him through his childhood. It was on that day Deidara met his greatest--and only in his opinion-- weakness. Naruto's puppy dog eyes. The younger blonde swayed slightly on his feet as he asked "Please?"
Deidara was at a loss, and Tobi watched his partner closely to see what he would do. After all, he needed to keep track of how close the other members got if worse came to worst and he had to extract the demons, killing them in the process. I necessary evil, he deemed. Deidara looked away roughly with an annoyed voice, "You're all so bothersome. Fine. Hn, but don't get used to it." he growled.
Tsuyoi nodded to his classmates and spoke on account of all of them. "Well, then we'll see you tomorrow everyone. Good luck with the school work." he bid them farewell, heading off with the others towards their houses.
They nodded goodbye to the older ones, Naruto looking up at Deidara curiously. He thought for a moment, unsure of himself, before deciding it couldn't hurt to ask. He lifted his arms up and asked with a sly smile, "Up?"
Deidara sighed in annoyance, but was unable to refuse the little blonde's request. He lifted him up, setting him on his hip with a light 'Hn' of irritation as Naruto wrapped his arms around his neck, nuzzling up to him sweetly. Tobi, of course, had to ruin the moment, pulling out his camera in excitement. Before Deidara could stop him, the masked man had snapped a photo. "Ooo! Deidara, you look like a mother! Mommy Deidara!" he cooed.
The blonde in question sneered at him, temper rising as he growled "Shut up Tobi! Rip that up, now. I'll blow your ass up-" he threatened, eliciting a light gasp from Sasuke and Naruto alike. Naruto glared at him, and Sasuke crossed his arms.
Deidara blinked as Naruto scolded him. "You two be nice. Deidara, Nagato-San said no more grown-up words, and you aren't a grown-up. So none of that, nuh-uh." he frowned at the fifteen-year-old who felt incredibly odd with the boy's command.
Tobi moved to tease Deidara about his behavior but Sasuke interrupted him. "You be nice to Deidara! Deidara is very handsome! Tobi is being a bad boy." he scolded, remembering his mother explaining how fragile men's egos could be.
Tobi pouted a bit at this, but Deidara just sighed. Really, these children were either brave or stupid. Possibly both. He shook his head back and forth, and they headed off. Hinata and Neji held Tobi's hands so they wouldn't be lost while Sasuke held Deidara's and Gaara stood tucked decently close to the blonde's side. The redhead was in a great mood, proud of himself for the first time in a while.
As they headed into the dango shop, Deidara huffed and sat down. Tobi sat across from them, the kids piling onto the picnic table while they waited on a waitress to come to them. A woman soon came over notepad in hand. All of them ordered sweet dango with the exception of Deidara and Sasuke, who both settled for Mitarashi Dango, preferring the salty taste to the overly sweet traditional kind.
While they waited, Deidara noticed the younger blonde looked particularly less energetic than usual. He still smiled and made it seem like he was happy, but he also looked a bit sulkish in the process. Deidara leaned on his elbows ideally, huffing at the little boy, "What are you so sulky about?" he quirked a brow.
Naruto shrugged and looked away, trying to dismiss it. Neji answered for him. "He's probably sulking because he didn't get to fight today at school. Sensei said there wasn't much point since he doesn't have any ninja skills," he explained, earning a glare from Naruto.
Deidara quirked a brow. The kid had absolutely zero ninja skills? The older blonde scoffed. "If that's why then stop your sulking. You're going to the academy now so you'll get better. Not to mention you're living with nine amazingly skilled ninjas, plus Tobi. I'm sure at least one of them will pick up training you when you're older."
Naruto perked up a bit at this, and Deidara noted "Hn. The leader seems to be taking a shine to you. Maybe he'll even oversee your training if you're lucky enough. Though, that's a long way away if so." he commented before taking his dango from the waitress and plopping it in his mouth, similar to the others.
Naruto's mood now seemed lifted, and Tobi questioned "You all were doing your placement test? What rankings did you all get?" he hummed out curiously. After all, the school system for their village was not a very easy one.
Neji thought for a moment before he spoke, a bit shamed he and his cousin had come in last. They would need to pick up training together again so they didn't make fools of themselves. "Gaara got first place. Sasuke got fifth. I got eighth. Hinata got ninth. Then Naruto got eleventh."
Deidara nearly choked on his dango. "You got first place?" glancing at the little six-year-old who nodded slightly with a light smile. "That's good. I'm sure you'll be a good ninja one day." he nodded in approval as they all finished.
Tobi left the money, humming as they all started towards the main house. As they entered, the kids quickly dispersed. Neji went to his bedroom, tugging Hinata along with him. Gaara made a beeline for Sasori, while Sasuke headed towards his room. Naruto wound up heading to the top floor.
Neji closed the door behind him, frowning heavily at his younger cousin. He pulled the pack of homework out, Hinata mimicking him as he spoke. "We should start our homework. We need to work hard to be better." sitting down on his bed. His voice was firm, but his eyes were nowhere near as hard as they had grown used to being.
His ego had taken a huge blow today, and he wasn't sure how to handle it. Usually, he was the best. The prodigy. So to hit so low on a ranking was painful. He felt as though his ninja skills had been amature in comparison to the others. He was working on mimicking the dotted lines for the letters and sighed. He supposed she was giving him a basic introduction packet to see how developed his skills were.
Hinata noticed the slight shake to her cousin's shoulders and the stressed look on his face. She reached over, hesitantly. She wrapped an arm around him in a hug, already having figured out what was wrong. After all, even if his cousin played the part of a humble protector, she knew the other had quite the pride in him. "Neji-Nii-San, don't worry. You went up against Gaara, and he's the one who hit the highest mark even above the elder classmen. You just had a hard match. You're still an amazing ninja." she smiled, her admiration clear.
Neji seemed to calm down a bit at this, sighing. "You're right. I'll just have to do better next time." he shook his head back and forth. "We both will. We'll do the Hyuuga clan name proud," he assured himself more than her.
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Sasori was working on a puppet when a little ball of red hair bounded towards him. He was a bit startled as he saw Gaara sit beside him, a proud smile on his face as he held onto his teddy bear which he had reluctantly been convinced to leave at home for the school day. Sasori raised a brow as he continued to wire the puppet. "You enjoy school?" he asked.
Gaara nodded in excitement, announcing proudly to the other "I got first place in the whole class, and I didn't hurt anyone too bad." he smiled. Sasori smiled slightly at the other, though his mood dampened. If the child was this excited at not killing his opponent, he could only imagine how many had died at his hands. How much blood was on this boys hands, despite his hidden sweet nature.
The little redhead had made a few rude comments to the other members or sent deadly glares, but he had restrained himself from killing any of them yet. The fact they were all S-Class ninja probably helped too so it would be harder to harm them than average citizens. Despite the rude comments and few glares he gave, Sasori could tell he was a sweet boy hiding behind harsh actions. Mainly, because Sasori had done the same thing when he was young and freshly left his grandmother.
It was odd, but Sasori felt the need to protect the boy. Rationally, he knew he would become a ninja and would shed a lot of blood in his life. However, he wanted this bloodshed to be with reason. He didn't want the sweet little boy to become a shell of himself as Sasori had become. He wanted to give Gaara what he himself could never have-- a good childhood where he would be raised and even loved. He didn't want him to turn out as he had.
"That's great Gaara, you did very well. I'm proud of you." he praised the boy, Hidan raising a brow at the normally brutal and sadistic member from across the kitchen where he was watching the entire conversation. These kids really seemed to be getting attached to the Akatsuki, and it wasn't one-sided either.
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Sasuke headed to his brother's room, opening the door. After all, at his old house, he went into whatever room he wanted without warning since he was alone. Unfortunately, this was not the case here. His eyes widened the size of baseballs as he saw his brother.
The ravenette was leaning on Kisame's chest, very much asleep. The shark ninja had his arms wrapped around him but was focused more on Sasuke at the moment. Both had their coats removed and laying on the other bed, Itachi wearing his normal undershirt and loose pants. Kisame wore a pair of shorts but was shirtless. Sasuke flustered as he made eye contact with Kisame, quickly looking down in embarrassment.
Kisame raised a brow at the flustering little six-year-old. Did a kid that young even understand there was something more than friendship based on their position? "What are you looking at, kid?" he prodded ideally, not bothering to remove his arm from Itachi's head where he was lightly stroking his bangs. He did, however, use his water to press the door shut behind Sasuke.
Sasuke jolted lightly as the door shut behind him, eyes still remaining on the floor, his hands folding behind him. "N-Nothing," he muttered, curing the waver in his voice as he spoke. He heard Kisame's long sigh but said nothing.
"Sasuke, come here." the bulky swordsman commanded. Sasuke slowly inched forward a bit but came nowhere near close to where Kisame and Itachi lay. "Closer." he took only a few inches forward before Kisame growled lightly. "Don't make me get up and come to you."
Hearing this the boy quickened his pace so he stood beside the bed, head still down. He wasn't sure what kind of person Kisame was yet, so he was wary, but he also knew he was definitely stronger than him so there was no use in making him angry by trying to run off. Kisame asked "Sasuke, do you know what I and Itachi were doing?"
Sasuke bit his lip, glancing down further, mentally curling into himself. "I dunno," he muttered, not sure what they had been doing but guessing by the way Kisame had been looking at Itachi that it was not platonic love.
He physically jolted back when Kisame put a hand on his head, ruffling his hair. The shark ninja chuckled deeply at him, smirking a bit. "Tch and Itachi saids you're fierce. You're about as threatening as a kitten." he shook his head back and forth before returning to his original point. "Sasuke, do you know why Itachi is laying on me?" the small boy shook his head back and forth. "It's because he's my partner, romantically," he explained.
Sasuke asked curiously, slowly lifting his eyes to look over his brother. "Romantically? Like mother and father?" he questioned, remembering the use of the word when describing a wife and her husband. "But your both boys." he pointed out in confusion, never having heard of a husband and husband due to it being so taboo.
Kisame looked at the small one firmly. "Yes, like a married couple. We just aren't that far yet. What we're called is 'boyfriends', but it's not something we want others to know. Being in a romantic relationship means making each other happy. It doesn't matter if its two boys, two girls, or a boy and a girl. Alright?"
Sasuke thought for a moment before nodding a bit. That made sense to him. He asked suspiciously "You make my brother happy, right?" not wanting his brother to be unhappy as he had recently begun to forgive the older Uchiha. After all, if he was willing to kill their entire clan to protect him, he must love him.
Kisame smirked at the boy's suspicions. "Of course, I do my best. Now, you'll keep this a secret, right? Having others know would make both of us very unhappy. You wouldn't purposely make us upset would you?" he noted, needing to know no one would get confirmation of this. The other members would never let him live it down and there would probably be a few dead villagers because of their loud mouths if they found out.
Sasuke nodded seriously. He wanted his brother to be happy.
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Naruto headed into Nagato's room slowly, asking "Can I come in, Nagato?" not wanting to upset the man who had agreed to be his friend. After all, he only really had Gaara and Sasuke as his friends before then so he wasn't completely sure if friendship could be lost easily or not. He didn't want Nagato to hate him, he wanted to hear about his clan and be able to stay close to the older Uzumaki.
Nagato agreed easily from his chair, waving him over weakly. "Of course. Come here, my boy." he smiled painfully. Konan was really the only one allowed up in this room in the Akatsuki, and she was usually busy in the village or sorting out other matters so it was nice to have some real conversation with another. He couldn't exactly go downstairs with his body the way it was.
Naruto smiled and bounded over to stand by his chair, grinning as he spoke. "Guess what? We went to school today and had to introduce ourselves, then the other students did the same. They're all really big though, they're mostly teenagers. We all had to fight to see who was the top-ranking and Gaara got the top out of everyone! He's really strong. Sasuke got ranked five, then Neji got ranked eight, and Hinata got nine. I think Neji is upset he got such a low score. I got the lowest though because I got automatically placed as eleven since I don't have any ninja training so it would have been pointless for me to try. Deidara said I'll get better. Oh! The others also invited us to go hang out at Amai's house this Saturday to train so we're going to ask Konan. And Deidara took us to get Dango too! It was really good-"
He babbled on and on, enjoying having someone to come home to talk about his day too. He also knew he would need help with that packet, so afterward he would make sure to ask Nagato about that. He seemed like a pretty smart guy to Naruto.
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Sasuke sat down at the desk in his bedroom, deciding to start the homework since Itachi was asleep at the moment. On Kisame. Sasuke would have to make sure to ask his brother about that. It didn't look very comfortable. Why not just use a pillow?
He shook his head back at forth at this, deciding he would just have to ask later. For now, he needed to work on this homework. He had never been to school, but his brother had made sure he was prepared to before he left.
Sasuke knew all the basic skills needed for school. He could read, write, count, and think logically. That's all you needed, right? He did the first few pages, which was simply writing. You traced some letters on a dotted line, then wrote it on the opposite blank page yourself. He did this easily enough, his handwriting surprisingly clear for a six-year-old.
The writing went on for an entire three pages. One for numbers, one for letters, and one for symbols. Once he finished that, the next section came up. It said to put a mark next to every word he could read out loud. He opened his mouth and began, "Kunai. Jutsu. Senbon. Sword. String. People." stopping to look at the next word, barely getting it out. "Com-fort-able. Comfortable. Feb-Feb-rary. Febrary?" he scowled, unable to say it.
He supposed it would be easy enough to go ask for help from one of their caretakers or even one of his friends, but he couldn't do that! When Itachi was his age, he made perfect marks in all his base subjects plus ninja subjects. Sasuke knew he'd look like he was dumb if he had to get help. He also didn't want a bad mark, either though. He sighed heavily. Let's see.
Naruto probably didn't know either, and even if he did everyone in the house would hear him laughing if Sasuke needed help. Neji was older and would probably know, but he couldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing either. It would be humiliating. Hinata was younger plus had a stuttering problem, she couldn't help. Gaara maybe? Gaara wouldn't tell anyone or tease him for not knowing.
He stood, inching downstairs until he spotted the redhead with Sasori once again. He inched over, hiding half behind a wall and waving Gaara over towards him quietly. Gaara noticed him and stood, heading over to him. All the while, Sasori and Hidan pretending not to notice.
Sasuke leads Gaara up to his room and shut the door behind him. Sasuke put his back to the door as he spoke, glancing away. "I need your help. But you can't tell anyone. Kay?"
Gaara looked curious but nodded, holding his bear at his side as he asked, "What do you need?" not sure why it had to be a secret or what he wanted.
Sasuke pointed towards the homework book as he spoke. "How do you say Febrary?" blushing a bit at his inability to say the word. Gaara looked over the book thoughtfully before shrugging at Sasuke. How was he supposed to know how to say it? Sasuke's face scrunched in aggravation. "Stupid packet, why's it so hard?"
Gaara flipped through the pages. "It has lots of things we shouldn't know yet. It looks like it's just to see where we're at. Why don't you ask your brother or Neji?"
Looking devastated, Sasuke shook his head back and forth. "I can't get help from them, they're smart!" seeing Gaara's look of not understanding why this was a problem, he added. "They're really smart. So if I ask for help I'll look stupid. Itachi got perfect scores on all his work when he was in the academy, and he didn't get any help. I can't ask Neji because he'll think he's smarter than me." he spoke stubbornly.
Gaara thought for a moment before offering shyly, "I can ask Sasori how to say it, then tell you?" not sure why he was offering. A small part in him, he realized, didn't like seeing Sasuke so distressed. The boy had never been mean to him or fearful of him despite his tailed beast. So seeing him so scared of failure was odd. It brought back waved of displeasure for Gaara, but it was...different than usual.
Usually, he hated seeing others afraid, and so he silenced their fears with his sand. He still wanted the fear to be gone, but for some reason, he didn't want to kill Sasuke for being nervous. It was odd, and apparently, Shukaku picked up on his lack of hate for Sasuke's expression. He could hear his voice nagging in the back of his head, and gripped his head between his hands.
He didn't want to kill Sasuke, even if he was only pretending to be his friend! He had been having such a great week so far, he didn't want his surprising accident free streak to end. He just wanted to pretend that everything was alright, just for a little bit longer! Sasuke's voice brought him back to reality. "Gaara-! Gaara please stop-!"
Looking up, Gaara realized his sand had a crushing grip on Sasuke's legs. He saw a bit of blood mixing in with his sand, and immediately forced his sand back. No! He didn't mean to hurt Sasuke, he hadn't! Now everyone in the hideout would hate him, and Sasuke would be afraid of him.
The door slammed open, Sasuke having been dragged closer and out of the way. Konan rushed in, followed by Pain. Konan immediately saw what had happened, it being fairly obvious because of sand which was over different areas on the floor and Sasuke's torn up legs. She headed over to Sasuke, gently lifting him into her arms. He was crying, his first instinct being to cling his arms around Konan's neck. He nuzzled his face into her shoulder, shameful of the tears in his eyes.
Konan held onto him, sitting down on the bed with him to lightly stroke his back in comfort. Meanwhile, Pain headed over to Gaara. The boy stumbled back, assuming the older man was mad at him. His sand formed a protective dome, trying to hide him. Pain tried to coax him out, "Come here Gaara, I just want to talk to you." seeing the boy made no move to come out, he assured him, "We aren't mad at you. You didn't do it on purpose, did you?"
By now Sasori had headed upstairs to see what all the commotion was about. He stood in the doorway, watching the situation. Konan was holding Sasuke, poorly attempting to calm him down, while Pain tried to coax a nervous-looking Gaara out. He decided he should probably try to help Pain since he wasn't any good at comforting either. He headed over, kneeling beside Pain. "Gaara, you need to come out so we can talk. We aren't mad at you, but we need to know what happened."
Slowly, much to Pain's surprise, Gaara lowered his sand. The little boy darted over to Sasori, hiding his small body in the puppet master's Akatsuki coat. Sasori had never actually touched the little boy due to his sand but lowered his hand nearly on a reflex to rub his back as the boy spoke. "I was talking to Sasuke, but then he gets nervous about something. I didn't mean to, I was just thinking about how it was weird I didn't want to hurt him. When people get scared I Shakaku usually tells me to hurt them but I didn't- didn't want to-" he murmured shamefully into the older's coat. "I looked up and his legs were all tore up- my sand was crushing him- I-" he began to panic slightly.
Sasori lifted him into his arms, shushing him lightly. "It's alright, I'm sure Sasuke will forgive you. You just have to say sorry once his legs get healed up, alright?" he assured the boy who nodded a bit.
One of Pain's other paths had gone to get Itachi, waking up the teen. He didn't even have time to be embarrassed as he heard Sasuke was hurt. He had stood up quickly, heading to his bedroom and fixing his hair on the way. He came in to see Sasuke leaning on Konan's chest tiredly, his face looking pained.
Itachi headed over to them, sitting on the bed beside Sasuke. His little brother looked over at him, hiding his face a bit in Konan's coat as Itachi moved to look at his leg. "Hm. Besides the tearing on the outer skin, it looks like the bones have been shattered severally." he frowned, knowing for a fact none of them had good enough medical ninjutsu to heal this.
He reached up, lightly running a hand through his little brother's hair. "It's alright, Sasuke. We'll get you bandaged up for now."
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Gaara watched as Sasuke's leg was healed up, his eyes focus on the other boy. Things had calmed down by now, Konan and Itachi wrapping up Sasuke's leg while Gaara stood against Sasori's side. It was odd, feeling guilty about hurting someone else.
It was understandable though since Sasuke was one of the few people he had some sort of bond with. The little ravenette looked over at him as he was finally wrapped up. His legs both looked terrible, and Gaara had a feeling this wasn't the time to poke at his injuries.
He felt Sasori's hand on his back and startled, the sand reflexively going to put pressure on Sasori's hand. The puppet allowed this, however, not moving it. The sand seemed to ease up on the hand at this, much to Sasori's surprise. It seemed the sand really did have a will of its own.
Gaara moved a few steps closer so he was in front of Sasuke, Itachi, and Konan watching him closely. Both noticed the look of immense guilt on him. Gaara inched forward, surprising the little ravenette as he threw his arms around him almost desperately.
Looking worried, Gaara spoke, "I'm so sorry Sasuke. I didn't mean to." he murmured, not wanting Sasuke to hate him. Usually, on the rare occasion someone survived his sand, they had new hate for him. He didn't want one of the few people who he had a decent bond with to dislike him.
Sasuke, after he calmed down from the original shock, hugged him back gently. "It's fine." he murmured. How could he be angry at him when he was so obviously guilty about it? Itachi let out a sigh as he looked at his little brother. It was good to see he was still innocent and at least mildly forgiving at heart.
Konan smiled a bit at the two, putting a hand on Itachi's shoulder. She knew he cared dearly for his little brother, and as such, she imagined he had been worrying over Sasuke. She didn't know his reasons for killing his clan, but she assumed they either had hurt Sasuke or were being cruel to them both. He didn't seem like the type to simply snap without thinking things through, so she imagined he must have had a good reason.
She doubted it would help to go to Itachi since he had told them their reason was simply that he wanted to test the limits of his power. Tobi had confirmed this. So she would have to go behind his back if she wanted to know. To Sasuke. But would he know? Or would she simply be opening up old wounds? She wasn't sure, and she didn't want to test it. She did have to wonder though.
Itachi gently stroked Sasuke's hair once Gaara scrabbled back to Sasori, remembering how he used to love it as a child. Perhaps this would still apply. Sasuke leaned into his brother's affectionate petting, reminded of a time far less painful. Itachi smiled tiredly. "Sasuke, since we don't have any good medics we'll have to keep you home for a few days while we go out and look for one, alright? Someone will come to help you in no time, I promise."
Seeing Sasuke's sad nod he sighed a bit. "If you're good while you're home, I'll even help you with your training sometime. Alright?" immediately his eyes brightened at that, nodding much for excitedly.
Sasori shook his head back and forth in amusement at Sasuke's quick mood change, patting Gaara's red hair. He felt the little one lean into his touch and sighed, lifting him. These poor kids all seemed equally touch starved. He smiled a bit as Gaara relaxed against his shoulder, looking tired. It seemed now that he had the ability to sleep because of Pain's rennigan, the boy's body demanded it.
Quietly heading out of the room, he brought Gaara to his room. When he tried to put the boy down however, he found him clinging to his neck. Sasori blinked, "What's wrong, Gaara? There's nothing to be scared of."
Gaara nuzzled up to Sasori as the older male sat on the bed. "He'll come out and kill everyone if I sleep. I like you. I don't want you to die." he muttered. Sasori rubbed his back, and the smaller couldn't help but be lulled to sleep. It had been so long since anyone had touched him, let alone so gently. So now that he had lowered his guard, he couldn't help but want nothing else but to embrace the warmth of another.
Sasori muttered gently, "Don't worry. I'm strong and so is everyone else here. We won't die. We'll protect everyone, including you." he assured the boy who slowly drifted to sleep.
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Neji and Hinata had heard the commotion but had stuck to their room. Hinata had been worried, but Neji had been quick to warn her off. They would only get in the way. Neji had trouble with a bit of it but ignored this. It was to see how much they knew, not who had the best immediate scores. Hence why he refused to help Hinata.
Hinata looked nervous. "But Neji, what if they get m-mad at me for having such b-bad scores? I don't want them to d-dislike me..." thinking back to the countless scoldings she received from her father when she couldn't handle a jutsu or didn't understand her study material.
She looked down, eyes welling up. They'd been so nice to her. Konan and Itachi had been holding her, Kisame was nice to her nii-san, Sasori was nice to Gaara, and everyone else had yet to be unkind. She hadn't been belittled once since she got to this new village, but soon they would all see how worthless she was. She rubbed her nose gently to her sleeve, disappointed with herself.
Neji's scoff pulled her from her thoughts. "So what if they dislike you? You'll still have me and our friends. If any of them are mean to you, just tell me and I'll knock some sense into them." he decided proudly.
Hinata blushed a bit, smiling as she heard this. She wiped away her tears, relaxing a bit. That was right. Her nii-san would always protect her from all the people who made her upset. Because he was stronger than any of them. Well, besides maybe her dad, but he wasn't here right now.
She continued with her work until dinner, happy at this newfound sense of relief. No one here could hurt her. Neji would protect her, she thought. Neji, on the other hand, felt fear welling up behind his brave scoffs. No way in hell he could take on even the weakest member. But he couldn't let them be mean to her either. He was her nii-san, her lifelong protector! It was his duty to keep her safe from any threats.