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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~days later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CRASH

“Tobi, get back here!” Zetsu yelled, chasing the boy around upstairs.

BANG

“Damn brat, come back!”

BOOM

“I don’t even want to know what that was,” Pein growled, slamming his head onto the kitchen table.

“At least it’s a step towards Akatsuki,” Konan remarked, sipping her coffee.

“If nothing else,” Pein muttered, sitting up to drink his own coffee. “Tobi’s moved in, so that pretty much cements him being in Akatsuki. Plus, Itachi will more or less have to join now, since we took the brat off his hands.”

BAM

“But I still wish that kid would SHUT THE HELL UP!” To Pein and Konan’s surprise, everything went silent. A moment later, they heard someone coming down the stairs, and Zetsu soon walked into the kitchen, carrying Tobi over his shoulder. “Thank you Zetsu.”

“Whatever,” Zetsu growled, grabbing two bowls out of the cabinet and setting one of them in front of Tobi. “Tobi, please be a good boy for Pein and eat your cornflakes,” Zetsu requested, pouring a bowl of cereal for the kid.

“OK Zetsu!” the Uchiha chirped, munching happily on his breakfast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~later that day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deidara was walking down the hall, trying to hurry to his locker. He’d managed to forget his social studies book, and he had the one teacher in the entire building that actually cared whether or not you brought your book to his class. As he was about to turn the corner, he saw a group of upperclassmen gathered around a locker, with one of them smirking and holding something above his head. He walked closer, frowning as he heard what was being said.

“Give Tobi his mask back!” A small voice cried.

“Ya hear that? This little brat’s name is Tobi,” the ringleader remarked, smirking as his friends laughed. By now, Deidara could see that the ten called Tobi was backed up against a locker, hands covering his face, and the said mask was being dangled above his head.

With all the grace a person like Deidara could have, the blonde stepped forward, hopped up, plucked the mask away from the upperclassman, and pressed it into Tobi’s hands. “Here, un,” he whispered, taking off before the teens could come to their senses and retaliate. Tobi took the hint and was gone in a flash, leaving behind half a dozen angry teens.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Deidara arrived in his sixth period, he was surprised to find the boy he’d rescued earlier in the back of the room. “He wasn’t here yesterday; I guess he transferred in.” Shrugging to himself, Deidara took his seat beside the masked teen, waiting for the final class of the day to be over.

He was surprised when Tobi tossed him a note. “HI!” it read.

Looking up quickly to make sure the teacher was distracted, Deidara wrote a reply. “Hey.”

“Thanks for saving Tobi in the hall!”

Deidara smirked before writing his reply. “No problem. Tobi, right? I’m Deidara.”

“Hi Deidara sempai!”

Deidara raised a brow. “Sempai?” he wrote back.

“Deidara sempai saved Tobi, so he’s Tobi’s sempai now!”

“Fine. What happened?”

It took the masked teen a while to write down his answer. “Well, Tobi was waiting for Konan to show up, but she didn’t. And while Tobi was waiting, these guys came up, and took Tobi’s mask! They weren’t good boys like Tobi, because they didn’t give it back. Then sempai saved Tobi!”

Deidara shook his head. This kid was something else. Suddenly, something in the note caught his attention. “Konan? Konan Pacon?”

Tobi nodded, then began writing again. “I live with her and Pein and Zetsu!”

“Seriously?! She never told Sasori danna or me about you.”

“Who is Sasori danna?”

“Sasori is my danna. Not yours. And he’s a friend. Now why hasn’t she mentioned you?”

“Tobi moved in yesterday, because Itachi threw Tobi out!”

“That explains it. Now, who are Pein and Zetsu?”

“Mr. Iwa, is that a note?!” The teacher barked.

“Tobi, be a good boy and destroy the evidence, un!” Deidara ordered. The masked teen nodded once and popped the note into his mouth, chewing quickly before swallowing the paper.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, you have to meet Pein, Konan, and Zetsu out here, un?” Deidara asked, looking around.

“Uh-huh! That’s what Konan told Tobi,” the boy replied in his chipper voice that was already wearing on Deidara’s nerves. A flicker of movement caught Deidara’s attention, and he turned. Tobi noticed and looked to where Deidara was gazing.

The six teens from earlier were in the parking lot, advancing towards the two of them. “Hey boss! Those are the two from earlier, right?”

“Yeah, you’re right,” the ringleader said.

Deidara frowned and took a step back. “Tobi, get ready to run, un,” he whispered.

“Oh no,” the leader replied, smirking as the teens circled the two freshmen. “You guys aren’t going anywhere.”

“HEY!” the eight teens looked to see a pissed looking Konan and Sasori hurrying over. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Konan demanded, glaring up at the leader.

“Nothing that concerns you, so beat it.” He turned back to the blonde and the Uchiha, only to have Konan grab his hair and yank his head backwards. “OWW!”

“I’m still talking to you,” she growled, releasing him so he could turn around.

“Yeah? Well I’m done talking to you,” he retorted, grabbing her by the front of her shirt and shoving her backwards to trip and crash to the ground.

“Konan!” Pein and Zetsu had finally arrived just in time to see Konan get shoved down. Pein immediately rushed to his girlfriend’s side. “You ok?”

“I’m fine. Just a little scratched,” Konan replied, holding up her palms. Small droplets of blood were already leaking through the scraped flesh.

In the midst of the confusion, Deidara and Tobi were able to break free, and quickly rushed to Zetsu and Sasori. “We need to go, un!”

“Deidara has a point,” Sasori remarked. “They’re going to kill us.”

“No they’re not. They’re going to be pushing up daisies.”

“Huh?” Tobi asked, voicing the artists’ unasked question.

“Have any of you ever seen what happens to someone that messes with Konan?” Zetsu asked calmly, a knowing smile creeping across his face. The teens shook their heads, and Zetsu smirked. “Then just watch.”

Pein walked towards the group of thugs, a grim look on his face. “You bastards harmed Konan.”

“Tch, what are you gonna do about it?” the leader asked.

“This,” he replied, punching the teen in the gut, forcing him to double over so Pein could kick him in the face. As that one was down, he moved on to the next one, flipping him and stomping down on his ribcage.

The three freshmen watched in fascinated horror as the pierced teen took down the entire group without so much as getting a scratch on himself. “Wow, un.”

“Word of advice; don’t hurt Konan,” Zetsu remarked, smirking as Pein dislocated a punk’s shoulder.

By now, the entire group was on the ground, groaning and, in some cases, bleeding. He stepped over several of the fallen thugs and grabbed their leader by the collar, pulling his face close. “Let me make something perfectly clear,” he hissed. “You do not ever touch Konan again. You do not look at her, walk within ten feet of her, or even breathe in her general direction, or so help me, it will be the last thing you do with your insides on the inside. Am I clear?”

“Y-Yes sir,” the teen stuttered.

Pein smirked and allowed the boy to flop back down onto the ground. “Good,” he said, walking away.

“Don’t you think that was a bit much?” Konan asked, dusting herself off.

“No such thing, sweetie,” Pein replied, kissing her on the cheek.

The two of them climbed into the car, followed by the Zetsu and Tobi. “Guys, we can give you a lift,” Konan called out. A moment later, Deidara and Sasori were inside the car as well. Fifteen minutes later, Deidara was dropped off at his house.

The blonde walked inside. “I’m home, un,” he called out, not surprised in the least when he didn’t hear an answer.

He walked into the kitchen, where he found dual sticky notes on the fridge. The first read, “Deidara, my meeting’s going to run late. Make some ramen for dinner. Mom.”

The other was shorter, only saying, “Son, I’ll be out late. Dad.”

Deidara rolled his eyes and flipped on the radio, before walking into the pantry to make ramen. He hadn’t seen his parents face to face in three months now. At least the radio made good company.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasori pulled the mail out of his mailbox and walked into his grandmother’s house. The Akasuna flipped through the papers (mostly bills) before seeing a brightly colored postcard in the bottom of the stack.

His grandmother had written again; apparently, her trip around the world had landed her in Peru, and the place was so fascinating she simply had to extend her trip a few more weeks, meaning she wouldn’t be back for eight months, at least.

Sasori merely rolled his eyes and tossed the colorful postage onto the ever-growing pile of letters and junk mail Chiyo insisted on sending him. Like he cared if she ever got back or not.

Oh well. Time to reheat the pizza in the fridge and turn on the evening news.