Summary: For Sasuke, it's just another town. Only more people. What makes Konoha different? And what additions to his coven have been kept untold? A very vague summary. . It's AU, and I added one OC. Sorry!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! (Only Itachi's heart.)


To Sasuke, there never seemed to be anything 'natural' about making friends. He'd always had his coven at hand, but even then he wasn't exactly the loudest of them all. After his brother had made the order for the coven to scatter, Sasuke quit social efforts, period. It never seemed to matter, for none of the towns he'd moved from had been very loud or colorful in the first place. Maybe it was done purposely, for the younger Uchiha's sake. So he'd never be faced with too much discomfort. But if that were true, then why Konoha?

"Hey, Sasuke, are you there??"

Sasuke blinks, turning his head slowly and focusing on the pink-haired girl before him. "Sorry, I missed that."

Sakura shifts her feet, leaning dreamily against the schoolyard's front sign. "Well you've been here for a few weeks now, so I was--um--wondering if you--" she ducks, cheeks red. "Well, if you w-wanted to get a bite with me now."

"No," he blurts with the a slight tilt.

She inhales with a strange choking squeek, "O-Oh, I-I'm s-sorr--"

"Sorry, I meant," he sighs, alarmed at her reaction. "I--uh--"

"He's going to the abandoned garage with us," Shikamaru interrupts, posing boredum. "Right, Uchiha?"

"Sure," Sasuke's voice agrees awkwardly. "Sure, yeah. Sorry, Sakura."

"Oh, then th-that's fine," she laughs. The bell chimes ruefully. "I'll see you later!" With that she takes off, colliding into a group of friends.

"So Sasuke's coming with us?" a squinted Naruto says from behind Shikamaru.

Shikamaru shrugs. "I dunno, ask him. Haruno's voice just pisses me off. I think he agrees."

Sasuke grunts as reply.

"Hey, don't say that about Sakura-chan!" Naruto yells. "She's--"

"Alright, alright, settle down blonde boy," Shikamaru grumbles, starting to walk. "She's better than Karin."

"So duck-butt hair, you coming?" Naruto, following him, squints towards him.

With an inward shrug, Sasuke ensues the group. He glares, crossing his arms. "It's Sasuke. And sure, I'll come as long as it pisses you off."

"Oh yeah? Well, I bet it won't piss me off! I bet you I'll even love it!" he slams his fist onto his other palm.

"Who's the homo one?" Sasuke raises his eyes.

"Yo, shut up, Naruto," Shikamaru grumbles, looking around warily. "Dude, no wonder Hinata rejected you after high school started."

Naruto stands upstraight, suddenly, frown washing off. "Hey, Sasuke?" he says oddly.

"What?"

"Hey, you know, me and Shikamaru. We wouldn't mind if you wanted to bring, uh--" Naruto lowers his tone, "--Sakari."

"What's with the whispering?" Sasuke growls, a vein manisfesting at his left temple.

"Well, he doesn't want other guys hearing," a familiar face side-steps beside Sasuke's. "Takes away all the...fun."

"Sai," Shikamaru muses towards the newcomer, "you make it sound like she'd actually talk to Naruto."

"And why wouldn't she?" Naruto mumbles.

Sasuke laughs icily, bringing quick glances from Naruto and Sai. He covers up quickly. "Think of it this way," he says, "if she wanted to talk to, wouldn't she have done it a long time ago?"

Naruto crosses his arms. "Maybe she's shy."

Sai laughs pleasantly. "Naruto, you have no chance at all!"

"Why you--" the blonde rises "--I have a better chance than you!"

"Wanna bet?" Sai answers playfully.

"I don't like where this is going," Shikamaru says to Sasuke. "You might wanna give your friend a warning before those two spring."

"'Been thinking about it," Sasuke replies, kicking a pebble. "Where're we going anyway?"

"Shouldn't we blindfold him or something?" Naruto says to Shikamaru. "What if he blabs the directions?"

"Doesn't look like he has anyone to blab to." Sai smiles, tilting his chin. "Except Sakari-san."

"Good point," Naruto says quietly, crinkling his brow, wondering. "Yeah, show her."

Sasuke, pockets his hands. "She wouldn't care. Takes a lot to get her attention, or she just goes on dreaming or whatever she does." He watches his three companions pause on the sidewalk and slip into the shroud of trees to the right. "Wh--"

"Don't worry, pretty boy, it's not that far," Shikamaru calls from inside, high-stepping a steep hill.

Biting his tongue irratatedly, Sasuke trudges after them. His legs jolt over the mound with ease. He follows the trio's swiveling path, ducking under thick branches and waving humming insects away. Dirt slips between the cracks at the soles of his shoes. "How the hell did you find this place?"

"We're almost there, pretty boy!" Sai yells blissfully, a light huff in his voice.

"Quit calling me that." Sasuke ducks under a green brush, feeling a light prickle as the thorns of a weed graze his ankle through dirty jeans. He tugs at another branch, edging around it and propelling himself forward; he looks up. "What the hell."

A giant rusty-walled building looms over the four boys, cracked windows lining the first and second floors, and the entrance's door collapsed before the front, half buried in vert growth. "Abandoned garage," Naruto says, hopping over the marred door and slipping inside. Sai follows with a grin, Shikamaru lumbering at his tail. Sasuke narrows his eyes, again looking over the rotting structure.

"This can't be stable."

Naruto's face appears again from the doorframe. "Relax, Uchiha. We've been coming here for a year."

"Why the hell's it even here?" Sasuke says uneasily. "Who wants a garage here?"

"I--" Naruto stops himself, eyes raising thoughtfully. "Hmm."

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke takes a careful step forward. "You never even thought about it?"

Naruto frowns, voice trailing. "I just never got to it."

Shikamaru voice carries from inside. "It's just a beat up old storage place. It's perfectly safe."

Uneasily, Sasuke steps into the building, watching the ceiling warily as he enters. The wind ushers him in. "You come here for fun?"

"Is Sasuke scared?" Sai asks excitedly, atop a high windowsill. "Will his blood boil if he takes another step?"

Sasuke shoots him an annoyed glance, examining the interior. The entire floor is barren, excluding shriveled bits of cardboard and ajarred metal boxes and bottles. The stairs far across are half-charred, half-rusted, and their bottom half is missing. Sasuke looks up again, biting his tongue. "Fun."

Shikamaru takes a perch over a charred, slanted bench, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. Naruto leaps to the sill beside Sai's. "Well, you can sit."

Unsure, Sasuke strides to a clear wall, running a hand over it and kicking it twice. Satisfied, he leans against it, bringing one hand to knock away a bead of sweat.

"So Sasuke's in the group now?" Sai questions wistfully.

"What group?"

"This," Sai says, "all of us."

"Just you three know about this place?" Sasuke rests his elbows against the wall, twisting his fingers strangely.

"Got that right!" Naruto says loudly , his voice echoing higher and higher. "I found this place myself!"

"Wonder how," Shikamaru mumbles.

Sasuke continues, "You come here everyday?"

"Whenever we feel like it," Shikamaru says.

"Yeah," Naruto says, "and today we felt like it."

"I noticed."

Sai hums lightly, tapping the broken edges of the wide window. "So, Sasuke, where you from?"

Sasuke shrugs, buying a moment to think. "I move a lot. No parents."

"But you told Kabuto you had a sister!" Naruto cuts in.

"Or brother," Sasuke says calmly. "I said 'one sibling'."

"So what is it?" Sai asks.

He grits his teeth, looking towards the ceiling and beyond. Finally he says simple, "Doesn't matter, they're long gone."

"You mean, like one of the kids who leave their parents?" Naruto says. "An eman-emensi--"

"An emancipated minor," Shikamaru says brusquely, watching Sasuke.

Sasuke nods, letting the story flow. "It was a long time ago."

"He's like Sai!" Naruto exclaims.

Sai smiles blandly from his windowsill, arm wrapped around one knee. "That's right. My parents were such a pain. But my little brother..." Sai's composed face shrivels for a moment, darkening intimidatingly, even in Sasuke's eyes. "Well, he was just another dirty kid." His smile reverts automatically, and he exchanges a nod with each teen, as if brandishing the returned light.

"Sai's a fucking brat." Naruto cracks the knuckles along his left hand, a percussion-esque crescendo. "I'd give anything for parents."

"Easy, there Naruto," Shikamaru says.

"So what's wrong with you?" Sasuke nods to the boy.

Shikamaru returns his gaze. "I'm the only normal shit here. Got a mom and a dad. They're not half bad."

"I'm sure," Sasuke turns to watch the three. Shikamaru taps his finger to an unheard melody. Sai slides his pale finger over the window glass's edge, and Naruto scowls at the sun's showering rays. They seemed honest enough, different, and far more perverse than any of the other humans he'd ever dealt with. Sasuke runs a finger through his blue-black hair again, uneasy for lying. His back slides down the wall, and he lands into a relaxed seat on the floor. "I'm sure."