ATTENTION! THIS IS THE SECOND UP DATE IN ONE DAY! IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE FIFTH CHAPTER GO BACK AND READ IT!

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Little Kimimaro was pretty confused when he woke up and found that Lu-chan was already gone. Because of this unexpected turn of events, he wasn't too sure what to do. He was the first to wake up out of Mei-san and Sakura-san because of a nightmare (he normally slept hugging Lu-chan so he rarely got those anymore), and he couldn't fall back asleep. Looking at the light through the curtains, he saw it couldn't have been past five in the morning. Well he supposed that was the reason he couldn't sleep. It was time for his body clock to wake up. Back when he was still with the clan, he was never allowed to sleep past half-past five.

The sound of the shower turning off drew his attention towards the bathroom, and a few minuets later, he saw Lu-chan appear in her full shinobi outfit. The long sleeved plain black shirt, the long black leggings which were tucked into her white low calve shinobi sandals and her trusty black gloves with the empty white circle on the top. She didn't notice that he was awake and instead continued drying her long white hair with the big fluffy towel and heading towards her backpack. He watched in silence as she extracted her kunai pouch and shuriken holster, clipping the latter around her waist.

Kimimaro wasn't stupid, far from it actually. Years of living in a cage in silence taught him to wait and watch all the events around him in order to draw the right conclusion. And he knew what she was doing. She was leaving. He didn't know why, nor did he really care, as long as she would take him with her. She was his light in his dreary dark world, and he wasn't about to let it go out. She was the only one in the whole world that he trusted, because even though he had attacked her and almost killed her once, she never once retaliated. Instead she told her cousin to calm down and understand that he was scared.

When he heard that Lu-chan was looking for him in the alley the first day, he had panicked, thinking it was another Kiri ninja sent to finish the job. So of course he was pretty shocked when she took him in her arms gently and teleported them to her inn room. Then she wasted no time in cleaning up, but he had panicked when she reached for his neck (in order to scrub the back of it) and she was stabbed the stomach and he flung her across the room, making the yellow eyed girl hit the wall hard and down in pain. Mei-san was seconds away from retaliating, but Luna quickly stopped the older girl. Luckily, Mei listened and had healed her wounds. It wasn't perfect, and they still needed to wrap a bandage around her middle. Kimimaro immediately felt bad for attacking and had looked even more dejected than before. Mei-san had completely ignored him, but Lu-chan had noticed and had calmly asked what was wrong whilst rinsing his hair, which had turned a dark gray from all days he had been sleeping in the dirt. The boy hadn't replied immediately, hesitant to do so but after a few beats of silence, he timidly inched forward and whispered an apology in her ear. He was pretty sure it was the first time he had ever used his voice (as a baby, he had to learn the hard way to keep quiet) so it was a tad bit hoarse and crackly, but at least it got the point across. The white haired girl had just smiled at him and said there was no need to apologize.

After that, he had taken one look at her and burst out sobbing softly, and he had latched himself onto her, refusing to let go for any reason. NO ONE had ever been so kind to him. Never in his life had anyone even smiled at him either. The poor boy had been kept in a small cage and only let out to go fight. If he misbehaved, then he was beat half to death and left alone. Luckily for him, he had fast regenerative abilities and it was never critical. He had never met his mother because she was killed during child birth, and this was also one reason why his father hated him. And his "baths" were just a bucket of cold water dumped over him to "get the smell out" as they said.

So really, the poor boy didn't have the easiest life in the world.

Being treated with such compassion and kindness was a new thing to him, and he was just so overwhelmed with emotion that his only reaction was to cry.

Luna had calmed him down gently and wrapped a towel around him (those things were very soft) and taken him to the bedroom. Once there, he vaguely took notice of the little pink haired girl sitting on the bed with a bunch of colorful sticks and an equally colorful piece of paper watching them, but he didn't really pay attention to her. Lu-chan had set him on the bed, much to his unhappiness, and she had dressed him up. While she did that, he noticed how her hands looked like and he tried numerous times to catch them with his own so he could examine them properly, but she constantly evaded him.

Mei-san came in after this and asked if he was talking yet and Lu-chan had answered no. Then she had introduced him to Sakura-san and told the young girl that they were like family now, and he needed to be treated as such. He was quite taken aback after that statement because he hadn't really expected it. The little boy had heard of the concept of "family" before, but he had never even dreamed that he could be part of one. After this, because he still didn't want to let go, Lu-chan had fed him delicious food (apparently it was called rice and curry) and he got to drink a very…weird tasting drink. Perhaps it was what they called "sweet" but he liked it a lot, and was allowed to have as many as he wanted, so he was pretty content. Sakura-san sometimes asked him questions, and he would reply with a nod or shake of his head. When he was lucky, she would give him one of her colorful papers and he would be so happy that he would smile. Mei-san as well was also kind to him and often brought him lots of food. He gathered that she had forgiven him.

But the person who was kindest to him was Lu-chan and for that, he would never leave her, and couldn't possibly beat the thought of she leaving him.

And that was why, he immediately stumbled off the bed when he saw her pick up her backpack and latched onto her leg like a leech, surprising the older girl and almost making her fall down.

"Maro-kun? What are you doing up so early in the morning?" Luna told him gently trying (and failing) to get him of her leg. "It's not even sunrise yet! Go back to sleep and get some rest."

"You are leaving," he stated. Luna ignored the declaration entirely, instead shocked that he had even said it out loud.

"Why are you leaving?" He asked confused. Luna didn't know what to say to him. The way he looked at her was heartbreaking!

"Kimimaro-kun, I need to go and find my friend," she told him gently. "I shall be back in a month at most. It is not a matter to concern yourself with. Mei-chan will be escorting you and Sakura back to Konoha later today."

A month! A month was a pretty long time, actually!

"Well then take me with you! I can be of use!" He pleaded desperately. He couldn't imagine a whole month without Lu-chan! Even if he had known the older girl for less than two weeks, he had become attached. Maybe "attached" was too weak of a word. More like devoted to her.

"Kimimaro, I can't," Luna declared firmly, and gently extracted the younger green eyed six year old from her leg. "You and Sakura need to take care of each other while I'm gone. I shall be back before you even notice I'm gone! Now let me go, little one, I must make haste if I want to leave the gates before the sentries change shifts. They are tired now, therefore inattentive and slow."

Kimimaro looked ready to cry, but he was visibly restraining himself.

"But I need you to do something for me while I'm gone," she said, crouching down in front of him and taking his in her hands, looking him straight in the eyes. He nodded shakily. He felt marginally better that he could at least do something to help her.

"I need you to take extra care of Sakura," Luna instructed. "You are very strong Maro-kun, and she is not. She is but a sapling, not even in bloom and therefore, very fragile. But she in turn will take care of you in her own way. That is how family works." The Kaguya nodded in agreement. He would protect Sakura-san with his life, if it meant he could help Lu-chan.

"Good. I shall leave now. Take care and listen to Mei." Luna then stood up and headed towards the window.

With one last smile in the snow haired boy's direction, she was gone, and the window closed behind her.

It had been exactly two weeks since then. Mei had woken up and they had set off towards Konoha at their fastest speed. Sakura had to be placed on the older girl's back or else she would not be able to keep up, as she couldn't even tree run. The red haired girl was pretty shocked when Kimimaro declined getting onto her back and instead ran at the same as she did. Sakura could not stop gushing about how cool "Kimi-kun" was and she had watched in amazement as he too flew through the trees. Eventually, after about four days, they made it to the village walls and entered through the hole. Mei had quickly made sure they were settled into the apartment before leaving. She couldn't stay for long and had to head back immediately to avoid being found out by Konoha. Or worse, her own village.

Sakura had immediately taken Kimimaro on a tour of Konoha. The little boy was dragged to and fro by the little girl and they were given many presents and lots of street food by vendors who had been captured by their innocent cuteness. The white haired boy had never seen a village as big and bright like Konoha! Plus it had so many trees! That was the reason it had taken them so long to find it. The whole village was completely covered by trees. You couldn't even find the giant village walls easily. And it was just as bad on the inside, you wouldn't pass by a street without at least seeing two of the giant plants.

They had lots of fun the first week and to Sakura's immense joy, Kimimaro had even whispered a few words to her. The little boy didn't talk much but she didn't really mind. That was all part of the package called "Kimimaro".

But eventually, Sakura remembered her dream and her promise to her onee-chan, prompting them to spend most of their time training. At first she was amazed at Kimimaro's fighting prowess when he shadow spared, but really got to her was the fact that he could make his bones come out of his skin and act as weapons! At first, she couldn't stop staring at the spot on his arm where the long white bone had come out, and Kimimaro had become very uncomfortable with her staring. Eventually, he had just given her a long rod and she had examined it the whole day and constantly poked and prodded at him at random intervals. The white haired boy's kekkei genkei was called…the Shin-something. The little girl couldn't really remember it at the moment, but it was pretty cool.

She had practiced her Suna style taijutsu and was getting better at it. Kimimaro had offered to spar with her and she had accepted gladly. Obviously, she was nothing compared to him as he was about tokubetsu jonin level, but it still helped. He pointed out the faults in her defense and helped her adjust them accordingly. She also practiced the chakra exercises her sister had given her and had asked Kimi-kun to help her adjust her weights every three days. He had also taught her how to climb trees and walk on water. She had once asked him where he had learned all of those things but he had remained silent and changed the subject. At home, they survived on Umeboshi onigiri and the occasional sandwich because it was the easiest thing to make. They would shake it up sometimes and make plum sandwiches and fill the onigiri with jam or sandwich meat. It tasted very nice. One time, the two of them had tried to make pancakes, but it hadn't really worked out that well, and they turned out to be half burned globs of pancake batter. They also overdosed on ice cream, as Sakura had left a brand new jumbo tub of vanilla before they had left and Kimimaro had taken quite the liking to it. They stayed up late and watched lots if TV and woke up late. The white haired boy had experienced many new things during that time, like many more flavors of what Sakura called "cold drinks", and he also once tasted a chocolate glazed doughnut.

Needless to say, he was very happy that day.

During those two weeks, they became very close too, and Kimimaro had taken to calling her "Saku-chan" instead of "Sakura-san" like he used to. They did once go to the playground, but the two didn't like it, stating it was too noisy and the other kids were stupid. Though, it was understandable when you thought about how mature they were for their age. They often also went to the library, and the librarian would look at them in shock when she saw the two reading chunin level tomes the whole day. Occasionally they would both fall asleep and she would place a blanket on them. The library was open twenty-four hours because of the occasional shinobi or civilian scholars who would stay all night to study.

Kimimaro still had abandonment problems; he wouldn't let Sakura out of his sight for more than five minutes, and his contact problem was still there. He would either always be playing with the little girl's hair or her hand, much to her amusement, and whenever she laughed, he would just give her the most clueless look in the world, not getting the joke. The little girl had also once asked him about the markings on his face. Why the red marks under his eyes were steadily getting darker each day and why he had one red dot on the left side of his forehead. He had explained to her that it was the signature of his clan and would continue to develop for a while. It didn't escape her that he had avoided going into detail about it, but eventually let it drop.

Two months passed by quickly and they often wondered where Lu-chan/Onee-chan was but they tried not to voice their thoughts often.

Today, they were once again in their hidden training grounds practicing. They had been there since sunrise and hadn't even notice time pass by. Now they were taking a break, just laying down in the middle of the grassy clearing.

"It's almost winter Kimi-kun," Sakura said to him softly. "Do you like winter?"

Not really. He absolutely hated that season. When he was still with his clan, it was spent in that cage, freezing and shivering in that dreary underground cell with only a flimsy fleece blanket to sustain him. He had learnt to circulate chakra throughout his body to keep him relatively warm but it didn't help much.

But all he replied with was a soft halfhearted grunt.

"I don't really," The pink haired girl told him, watching a cloud that looked like a bunny hop by. "It's way too cold and that mean man never bothered to really buy me any warm clothes. I always wondered what the other kids found so fun about it. I would always watch outside the window as the made shapes and snowmen and threw clumps at each other."

Kimimaro remained silent as she expected him to, and she too lapsed into silence. And that was how the two spent the next hour, just laying there under the sun.

"Oh, I'm sorry," a lazy voice said. "I wasn't aware there was someone else here! I'll just go cloud gaze somewhere else then."

Both Sakura and Kimimaro turned their head to see a pineapple haired boy turning to walk away.

"No! Wait!" Sakura exclaimed after him. "Come lay with us! That's what we're doing!"

The brown eyed boy paused and regarded them for a while, before finally deciding and moving towards them in order to lay in the middle.

"I didn't think other kids liked to cloud gaze," he said after a while.

"We didn't think so too," Sakura replied, turning to look at him. "The other kids are too noisy and stupid."

"I know," the young genius agreed. "They're just so troublesome. It's much better to be quiet sometimes."

Kimimaro was a little less weary of this stranger and relaxed a bit. He didn't seem all that bad.

"Exactly. What's your name?" Sakura asked him.

"I'm Nara Shikamaru." He replied turning to her as well. She smiled at him and introduced herself as well.

"My name is Haruno Sakura and he's Kaguya Kimimaro-kun," she informed. "He doesn't talk much, so don't mind him. But he's really nice! I'm six and he's seven." Her birthday had passed the previous week, as did Kimimaro's, and they had celebrated by eating lots of ice cream.

"Ah. I'm seven too," he said, turning back to the sky. "I can see some indentation marks on that tree over there. Were you training?" He noticed it along with their dirty bodies as soon as he had entered the clearing. He was a tad bit peeved that someone else had discovered his secret hideout after half a year of not coming, but he supposed they weren't so bad. It could have been worse.

"Er…yeah, actually," she said. "But please don't tell anyone, it's supposed to be a secret until we enter the academy next year. You're in the academy aren't you?"

The Nara nodded in reply and the little girl accepted his reply in silence.

They spent the whole day like that, just talking a bit, and Shikamaru would occasionally ask Kimimaro some yes or no questions to which he would reply with a motion of his white clad head. At first, Shikamaru told them that he thought they were siblings, and Sakura replied that they were, and the white haired boy had smiled after she said that. Eventually, the clouds turned into stars and they eventually parted ways. Sakura told him that they were there every day if he ever wanted to come back. He didn't reply and just promised her that he wouldn't tell anyone that they trained there.

"I already knew that silly!" Sakura had told him, giggling and he too smiled.

"I've finally found you, it seems," a girl's voice said into the cave.

"Well look who it is! It's Shiro-chan, yeah!" A jovial voice exclaimed. Ah, Deidara...The sun in her world…the apple of her eye…The moon to her ocean...

The bane of her existence.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that Wiggle-kun!" She exclaimed, closing back up the cave with a few hand seals.

"Not until you stop calling me that, yeah," he pointed out. Luna just rolled her eyes and walked deeper into the surprisingly well lit hideout. It looked like a house all on its own too, with the lounge being the first room from the entrance.

"Never," she declared and plopped down next to the clay molding blond.

"Tch. I had to try, yeah. And to what do I owe you pleasantly surprising but unexpected visit exactly?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her. That's when the white haired girl remembered all she had gone through and her anger returned full force.

"Two months!" She exclaimed, thumping him over the head. "That is how long it took me to find your idiotic behind! What the bloody hell were you thinking, going rogue like that?!"

The blond haired twelve year old winced and rubbed his aching head pitifully. "I got bored, yeah! Old man Onoki was getting on my nerves with his 'Don't do this!' and 'Don't do that!'. I couldn't even perform my art without getting nagged!" The blue eyed boy threw his head back in despair from just thinking about it. The white haired girl rolled her sunshine yellow eyes and asked herself why this boy was her best friend not for the first time.

"So that gave you enough reason to bomb the Kage tower and the whole village?" She asked him mockingly.

"Yes it did!" He defended. "Everyone must see my beautiful art, yeah! I shouldn't be hidden away from the world."

Luna just sighed heavily and lay her head on his shoulder, watching him mold the wet clay into whatever it was that he was making. "I was quite sure that you were going to be the next Tsuchikage."

He snorted derisively and looked at her like she was crazy. "Do you honestly think I'm the type to sit in an office all day to do paperwork? It's like you don't know me at all, yeah!" He cried, feigning hurt. The white haired girl laughed at his antics but otherwise said nothing.

"Why did you not come to visit me again?" She asked after a while. Deidara just sighed and wet the clay a bit more with the water in the bowl next to him then shifted a bit.

"Being a new missing-nin is hard, Shiro-chan…" he told her, smiling a bit. "I haven't left this cave for weeks because a hunter-nin got my leg real bad, yeah."

Luna looked at him aghast and finally noticed the bandage around his right leg. Luckily, he had just changed it before she had arrived, so the white haired girl was saved from the gruesome sight of the bloodied and occasionally yellow patches.

"So why did not go to my brother then?" She asked him, confused. Deidara just shook his head, making his long yellow hair land on her face which was still on his shoulder. She was too lazy remove it.

"If I did, would you come with me?" He asked. Leave it to him to bring up his favorite topic at the worst possible time.

"Deidara…" Yes, the blond had had a crush on her for as long as she could remember and he still hadn't given up. Sometimes she found it quite sweet. Other times she just found it annoying.

"Hai, hai…I know your answer, yeah. So what have you been up to?" He asked her, changing the subject.

"Me? Well," she elaborated. "I've temporarily moved to Konoha. Taken in two kids and one of them is my new weapon. I've also just convinced the Kazekage to sign an alliance with us and have become close friends with his son."

Deidara immediately became angry after he heard what she said. "And do you like his son?" He bit out, obviously jealous. Luna smirked in amusement at him and instead fanned the flames.

"Oh, yes. I quite fancy his son," she exclaimed, pretending to be starstruck. "He really is just so cute!"

"I see," Deidara growled out, pressing the clay harder than necessary.

"Yes, his five year old son is just too cute!" She exclaimed then burst out laughing as realization dawned onto him. He shoved her, not really angry, but mostly embarrassed.

"Don't do that, yeah!" He cried out, cheeks red.

"Oh Deidara, you know you are the only boy for me!" She said and winked at him playfully. The blond smiled, his ego boosted.

"Well anyway, it seems like you've been busy, yeah," he said, curiously. "How long are you going to stay?"

Luna thought about it for a while then she turned to him with a smile. "I shall stay for a week. But only because you are injured and I am a very kind person," she said cheekily.

"Still using your formal I see, yeah. You sound like some noble," he mocked her, causing the other girl to pout childishly. "'I shall stay for a week.' Ugh..."

She really had missed him. He was the only one in the world who could get her to act so childish in the first place.

What's this?! Two Updates in one day?! Oh my, she really is spoiling us!

Hey~ Sup...Back again(I expect many reviews for this!)

Anyway, this is a fluff chapter! Fluffiness galore!

Lol, yeah. Anyway, next chapter is the last before we start the Genin arc so yay!

But as I keep on saying, my chapters would be nothing without my AWEEEEESOME BETA!

REVIEW!

Bluetopianprincess^.^