Rin Age Thirteen

Three days... That was how long he was able to keep the café job... three days. That had to be a new record. How pathetic was that! He hadn't even reached the halfway mark for a week! Damn manager hadn't even bothered with his first paycheck, apparently taking the money for damages. Damages his ass, the only thing he had done was spill coffee on a costumer, accidentally he might add. Even then he was fairly sure he had been deliberately tripped. Rin huffed angrily as he stormed down the dirty sidewalk. Pedestrians, sensing his rage, were wise to give him a wide berth as he passed. It was turning out to be an awful day.

Rin's normal layback attitude was nowhere to be seen today. He was on a warpath (more like an exceptionally long walk to blow off steam before the inevitable lecture/disappointed he would be subjected to upon returning to the monastery.) and nothing would impede him. A couple of bullies hopped out from an alley, shouting obscenities, and shaking their fists. Some dramatic poses were made an elegant backstory or two thrown in and a declaration of war stated. Months of choreography and planning probably put into that very moment. Rin passed them without a word or second glance.

"Damn that Okumura..." The boss muttered as he collapsed down to his knees, a cloud of depression hanging over him.

His minions surrounded the boss, tears in his eyes as they insulted Rin's apparent 'poor taste for hard work and dedication put towards his demise. Rin felt a vein pop as he listened to their idiotic ramblings. If it was any other day, perhaps he would have gone along with their antics, perhaps even have complemented their 'hard work and dedication towards put towards his demise. Today was just not a good day and apparently, those bullies did not realize you don't mess with Okumura Rin on a bad day. After several more rousing speeches, their boss was marching up to him.

"Hey, Okumura, today is payback time!" The boss said with a firm hand placed on Rin's shoulder.

The boss had just been about to throw a punch when he was faced with the glare of an incredible pissed off teen. A dark aura seemed to surround Rin as the leader scurried back several feet.

"Y-you know what!" He stuttered shaking with his lackeys, "Let's call it even... I-I want to get on the train before... before rush hour hits."

With that rather dismal closing act, the bullies were off, scared witless by the demon Okumura. Rin watched them go with a sweat drop, what a bunch of weirdos. Turning around to continue his walk he came face to face with a smiling blonde man. Rin jumped back with a surprised yelp, his heart racing, surprised that someone was able to sneak upon him. He could normally tell when someone was trying to get the jump on him.

"W-who the hell are you!?" Rin shrieked, attempting to recover his nerve.

Rin looked closer at the person who had almost startled him witless. The man seemed to be slightly taller than him, surprising since he seemed to be in his early twenties. Several groceries where being held in his arms, but that was not what caught his eye the most, nope. The guy had an orange jacket on. Rin's eyebrow twitched; he was snuck up on by a guy wearing fucking orange. If possible, the guy smiled wider, crinkling the whiskers on his face. Huh, that was strange, three weird whisker-like lines on each cheek.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo!" The guy, Naruto, shouted, "That had to be the most hilarious thing that I have seen all day!"

Rin faltered, anger, and surprise forgotten.

"You should have seen their faces, 'ttebayo!" The blonde snickered, "That glare was almost as scary as Sakura-chan's!"

The blonde shifted his groceries onto one arm, one that Rin noticed was strangely covered in bandages. With one arm now free the strange man began to drag him along down the street.

"I have to introduce you to Sakura-chan, 'ttebayo!" He laughed.

Unable to retrieve his wrist from Naruto's surprisingly firm grip, Rin had no choice but to follow him as he rambled about how similar he and this Sakura-chan person were. He was honestly slightly scared of this blonde; he had never met a person stronger than him before. Not to mention depending on how one looked at this, he was kind of getting kidnapped. After several blocks of speed walking Naruto finally stopped. Carried by momentum, he crashed into his half-assed kidnapper. Rin sighed, what an awful day.

"We're here!" Naruto said in a sing-song voice, gesturing to a sign.

Naruto had stopped in front of a rather large gap in between two large apartment complexes. It was too large to be an alleyway but too small to be anything else. There were several shops and vendors both attached and extended from the building with only enough space for a single car to fit in-between. Looking up at the well-kept sign the blonde was pointing at, Rin read it.

Shinobi Shopping District

"Ninja?" He muttered questioningly.

His blonde guide just looked at him with sparkling eyes as he ushered him into the shopping district. This was a surprise; Rin had assumed he was going to get dragged into some creepy ally or a rundown building. He had a low opinion of people who wore such a bright color casually. He was also quite shocked by the fact that he had never heard of such a shopping district. The place seemed well run, so it must have been doing pretty well. He had never walked this way, so perhaps it was just slightly less popular than other places. There was always a chance that it was a place that was more popular locally, as well. Rin also couldn't help but notice the abundance of help wanted signs.

"Come on! Where almost there!" Naruto wined, literally dragging him from his awe of the place.

The shops seemed random and unorganized, but the entire area was giving off an aura of tranquility. There were shops selling, poisons as well as flower shops, weapon shops, ink shops, scroll and book shop, shogi shop, restaurants, a small looking fish market and so much more. It was slightly incredible. Suddenly the grip Naruto had on his arm was released, sending Rin stumbling. They had stopped in front of a small show, colored with a light green. A small sign named it Konoha Medicinal Shop. Naruto jumped to the door of the shop with a slight skip to his step. He began to open the door while speaking to Rin.

"Come on! You have to meet–" Before the blonde could finish, a fist was thrown into his face.

Thankfully, the orange idiot had placed down the groceries before attempting to open the door. The blonde was sent flying nearly halfway across the street, he skidded a couple of feet before finally stopping, motionless. A woman with vibrant pink hair stepped out from the shop fist raised and a scowl across her face.

"Naruto you idiot!" She yelled storming across the street and grabbing the unresponsive blonde by the front of his jacket.

She began to slap him awake. Rin just sort of stood, utterly terrified, on the sidelines.

"Why the hell did you leave your post! That idiot clown almost broke in!" The pink fury screeched.

Naruto let out a scream as she continued to pummel him. Escaping her grasp momentarily the blonde stumbled over and hid behind Rin. Rin pulled his arm away from the terrified orange idiot.

"Sakura-chan! I was getting groceries! I have to eat! Ya know!" Naruto defended, "I only took so long 'cause Shino wanted bug food. Do you know how many shops have bug food! NATTA! I also believe that serving everyone who lives here is also in my job description!"

The pink-haired girl paused, considering the blonde's defense for a moment before sighing. Glancing at the pile of discarded groceries she relinquished and lowered her fist. Rin felt a sense of relief wash over him. That was one scary woman.

"Fine, you're off the hook..." She said before eyeing him with a raised eyebrow, "What did you bring back this time? Is it human?"

Naruto began to laugh at the joke, but Rin felt a strange feeling crawl up his spine. The women hadn't phrased it as a joke, she had seemed quite serious. Eyeing the smirk on her face he figured maybe it was just him.

"Ne, ne. This is Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan this is... Wait, what is your name?" Naruto asked.

Rin sweatdropped at the question as Sakura smacked him over the head. With the now incapacitated Naruto, Sakura walked over and bowed.

"I apologize for the stupidity of my comrade." She sighed, "Names Haruno Sakura, sorry for the bad impression."

Rin nodded his head.

"My name is Okumura Rin, and don't worry about it Sakura-san."

Sakura looked him up and down. Rin felt a small blush as she began her examination of him. After a second, she looked back at her downed friend. When she turned back around, she had a frank expression on his face.

"He dragged you all the way here... didn't he." Sakura questioned.

He shrugged with a pout. It wasn't dragging, he had decided to fallow Naruto... it was his choice. He could have escaped whenever he wanted. Sakura sighed and growled irritated. Walking over to Naruto she stood over his downed form. With a grim expression she kicked him in the stomach. The blonde let out a pained gasp.

"Uncool Sakura... uncool." He muttered, "I think Kurama felt that."

Sakura let out a snort and helped him up.

"Well if you don't want to be punched and kicked, don't drag strangers home." She replied simply.

Naruto quickly nodded his head in agreement. Sakura turned back towards Rin with a smile.

"Rin-kun, as an apology, we will give you one thing from this entire shopping district, of your choosing." She said.

Rin stared at her in shock. Anything he wanted from the shopping district!? There seemed to be almost endless possibilities! His eyes landed on a simple sign resting in a window of one of the shops. Sakura did say that they would give them one thing from the shopping district. An excited grin spread across his face.

"How about a job?" He smiled.

Authors note:

Feel free to bypass that probably unimportant information!

1. I update when I want. I love writing and I will attempt to stick to some form of a updating. Probably one chapter per week, but take that with a grain of salt.

2. As for pairings... you'll see!

3. This is going to be a mostly lighthearted fic. I do enjoy drama though ;)

4. Some of cannon dead are still dead, and others...

4b. BWAHAHAHA FORESHADOWING