A/N: Hey guys, this is my first fanfiction, and I hope I don't do too terribly! I've had this idea stuck in my head for a while, and I just had to let it out. I tried to be original, and I'm very sorry if this has already been done! I might not update extremely frequently, but I will try. Anyways, enjoy the fic, don't flame too much, and if you'd like, you can tell me if you have any idea's for this story! I already know the basics of where this is going, but ideas could certainly help if I can fit them into the story. Oh, and constructive criticism is always good, and I don't mind flamers, not everyone can like a story right? Thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This applies to the entire fanfiction.

Full Summary: Her green eyes stared into his blue, whispering "It can't be you…" When Deidara and Sakura were children, during the chuunin exams they meet, and become the best of friends. What happens when years later during the rescue Gaara mission, they meet again?

"Speaking"

'thoughts'

'inner sakura'

.:*:. – break

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Chapter: 1

Deidara was bored. He at surveyed his surroundings, seeing nothing interesting, just trees, his classmates, more trees, elite ninja, trees… Oh, and did he mention trees? The children just ahead of him chatted away, ignoring him completely. Not that he cared, he preferred to stay as far away from those idiots as he possibly could, and they had no intention of letting him join in the conversation. He had more of a chance of talking with ANBU ninja that protected and surrounded them than with his peers.

They had been walking for three days now, and Deidara wanted nothing more than to finally be in their destination, the Leaf Village. His entire journey consisted of staring at the surrounding forest, bored out of his mind, having to listen to the conversation of his classmates ahead of him.

"Did you hear about Umi? She-"

Deidara tuned out immediately. All they talked about was gossip and boys. He longed for conversation that didn't revolve around how hot he or she was, or what that scandalous girl did, but none of them could ever offer it to him. Even if they talk without boring him to death, they would most likely ignore him for the favour of others. His hands could be thanked for that.

He looked down at them, bringing his arms up and staring at his palms, and they did nothing but smile back at him. He couldn't figure out how they were useful to him, other than being able to create works of art with almost no effort.

Deidara sighed and lowered his hands. 'Oh well,' He told himself. 'one day I will find a use for them, something that will make them wish that they didn't treat me like garbage.' He smirked at that thought. Deidara longed for the day that he could prove everyone wrong. That he was worth something, and to show them all that he wasn't just dirt on their shoes.

He sighed again, and shoved his hands into his pockets, remembering how he was stuck in this mess in the first place.

The chuunin exams were happening again in Konoha, the leaf village. Because Iwa, his village, and Konoha still weren't on the best of terms, the Tsuchikage decided to, to gain the trust of the Hokage, select five of the top students in the ninja academy to travel with the aspiring chuunin's to the chuunin exams.

Deidara was one of those top five. In fact, he was number one of those five.

Now, Deidara couldn't say he wasn't excited to go to Konoha. No, far from it actually. He was extremely excited to see the village, the sites, the people, the food… Not that he would ever tell anyone of course. Being only nine years old, Deidara had never been anywhere but his home, the Earth country.

So, Deidara kept walking. After all, there were only a day or two more of travel and then at last they would be in the village hidden in the leaves.

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As soon as the gates of Konoha came into view, Deidara could barely contain his excitement. Barely. On the inside, he was practically leaping for joy. Externally, it was shown by the smirk on his face and the slight bounce to his step.

They would be at the gates of Konoha in about fifteen minutes, and every minute Deidara considered torture. He was sick of doing nothing but staring at the surrounding trees, he wanted some excitement.

The next fifteen minutes practically crawled by, and when they were finally at the gigantic gates of Konoha, Deidara's eyes were huge in awe and excitement, and a huge smile was on his face. After all, he was still only a child.

'Wow,' He thought, 'I've never seen anything this tall before, yeah, other than the mountains at home of course, but always at a distance… This is amazing, yeah!'

The lead ANBU ninja spoke with the gatekeeper, and they were let in, and another ANBU escorted them to their hotel.

"Please do not start any fights, and abide by our rules while you are here." Stated the ANBU politely. "You are not allowed to leave the walls of the village, however you may wander the city as much as you like. All of the meals you eat here are free, just show them this-" He held up what looked like an orange bracelet, "and you will be able to eat anywhere you like. Enjoy your stay." The ANBU bowed and promptly left after giving each of them a bright orange bracelet.

"You heard him. Set up your room and such, and then you have permission to leave the building and wander as you see fit. However," He took up a menacing tone, "if I hear of even the slightest bit of trouble from any of you, you will regret it. You have no idea the amount of trouble you'll be in if you start anything." He turned his head around the room, and Deidara thought that that was his way of glaring at them all, considering they couldn't see his eyes with his ANBU mask on, "You may do what you like now." He said in finality.

Deidara gulped. He sure as hell wasn't going to do anything stupid while he was here; he could only imagine the horrors that would lie in wait for him back in Iwa, or with the ANBU, if he ever even thought of it.

The blonde quickly chose a dark brown walled room with a single bed and dark furniture as his own, unpacked everything into the small dresser and closet, and added a few personal touches to the room, seeing as it would be his for the duration of about six weeks. He added a few of his paintings to the walls, and re-arranged his room to his liking. He surveyed his room, finally satisfied with the layout. He quickly exited the building with his pack filled with money that he had been saving, as well as a few other random things, ready for what may await him.

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Sakura raced through the streets of Konoha, as if the devil itself were on her heels. And in her eight year old mind, it was. She smiled as she ran, looking behind her to yell at the two young boys that were chasing her.

"You'll never catch me, Keigo, Haru!" Her face morphed into a playful, mocking one, and she stuck out her tongue.

The two boys looked at each other and smirked, speeding up and racing after the pink-haired girl, laughing as they did so.

Her eyes widened as she saw them catching up to her. 'Darn, I can't let them catch up to me!!' She thought frantically, speeding up. She looked over her shoulder to see where the boys were and smirked as she saw they were falling behind. 'Chyaa!!' Shouted inner Sakura. 'We'll show them!'

Her thoughts were immediately cut off as she smacked into something. Hard. Sakura realised then that it was not a good idea to run at full speed through the streets of Konoha and not watch where she was going, especially in the crowded areas. Luckily whatever she had smashed into had fallen over with her, and she landed on something soft, yet hard 'That makes NO sense. But it's true.' She thought, as she painfully lifted herself up, pushing down on whatever she landed on with her hands.

"Ow, that hurts yeah!"

She froze, her eyes widening when she heard the voice of what sounded like a young boy. Quickly, she looked down to where the voice was coming from, and frowned when she say light blue eyes staring at her, amused.

"Ahh! Gomen! I didn't mean to run into you!" She nearly shouted, "Here, let me help you up."

The boy with honey blonde hair and blue eyes smirked at her and grabbed her offered hand, pulling himself off the ground. He dusted himself off with his hands as Sakura watched him.

"Maybe you should watch where you are going next time, yeah." He huffed.

"Umm, sorry about that," She laughed, embarrassed, "I was too caught up in a game of tag that me and a couple of my friends were playing." She looked around, and saw that Keigo and Haru had finally caught up to them.

"Hey, you should watch where you are going next time Sakura." Laughed Keigo.

"Yea, you wouldn't want to bowl over a little old lady next time." Giggled Haru, laughing at his own joke.

The two boys high fived at their 'victory', oblivious to the rage of their female friend, not noticing until it was too late.

Sakura smashed them both over the head. "You're just jealous that I'm faster then both of you." She smirked as the boys deflated and grumbled, rubbing the painful bumps that her fist had put on their heads. 'That's right! Never mess with us, chyaa!' Inner Sakura yelled in triumph.

Sakura turned to the boy that she had run into, an apologetic look on her face. He was still staring at her, seemingly amused by her anger at the two unfortunate boys.

"It's ok, yeah. I'm Deidara; it's nice to meet you." He smiled at her, and stuck out his hand.

Sakura smiled at the other boy, and grasped his proffered hand, shaking it lightly.

"I'm Sakura. It's nice to –" She was about to take her hand back when something wet pressed up against her palm. 'Is that a tongue?!' She screeched in her mind, pulling her hand back immediately, staring at her palm.

She heard the boy laughing to himself, and looked up to stare confusedly at him.

She let out a confused, "Was that a tongue I felt?" and watched as he held up his hands to show her that there were mouths on his hands. Mouths. She felt her jaw drop as she stared at his hands, awed.

"You have mouths in your hands?" Sakura practically shouted at him.

He looked nervous and almost afraid, as he nodded in answer to her question. Sakura reached over and poked the mouth on his left hand.

"That's so cool!" She exclaimed, grabbing his left hand and inspecting it, excitement written all over her face.

"R-Really?" Deidara asked in disbelief as she tapped on a tooth.

She looked up and stared at him as if he was stupid. "Of course, stupid! It isn't every day that you meet someone with mouths in their hands! They're fascinating."

The nervous grin on his face slowly grew to a full blown smile that reached his eyes. 'Thank you.' He thought to himself. She was the first one he has ever met that was his age to be fascinated by his hands. Normally they would look at them and walk away in disgust. Sometimes they'd even run. His inner musings were soon interrupted by the voice of one of Sakura's friends.

"What the heck are those?" A horrified Haru asked, disgust written all over his face. He started backing up, as though he was afraid of Deidara.

"Yeah, are you like a freak or something?" Keigo exclaimed, his expression mirroring the one that his friend wore.

Deidara looked around nervously. This always happened. People were disgusted by the mouths on his hands, and treated him like a freak. He would be lying if he said it didn't hurt, or that he didn't care. Very few people treated him like a human being because of his hands. He said nothing to the two boys, and instead looked at Sakura, wondering what she would say, if anything. She had stopped poking and prodding the mouth on his hand, and her finger was frozen in mid-air. Deidara took this opportunity to get a good look at her. She had short, shockingly pink hair with short bangs that covered her forehead. She had bright, inquisitive green eyes and a button nose. 'She's very pretty.' He thought before he could stop himself, and blushed at the thought. She was wearing a loose brown-green t-shirt, with light brown shorts that almost went to her knees. On her feet, she wore dark brown sandals.

His thoughts were cut short when one of the boys, Haru, opened his big mouth again.

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing? Get away from him! That guy's a freak! Who has mouths in their hands? Come on, lets go, away from him!" Haru practically spat the words, hatred written all over him.

Ouch, that hurt. Deidara winced, and looked over at Sakura, and waited for her to leave him, like all the rest. She was still frozen in place, and he could practically feel the rage radiating off her. He closed his eyes, and waited for her to yell at him, for one reason or another.

He started to turn away, wanting to be gone before they had a chance to say anything else, but was stopped short. Sakura was still holding his hand. Deidara turned to her, shakily opened his eyes, and to his amazement, her rage wasn't directed at him, but to her friends.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked in a scarily sweet voice, scaring the wits out of Haru and Keigo.

"W-Well, Sakura-chan, this guy is obviously a freak, and -"

"No," She cut Haru off, "Deidara is not a freak, or a monster, or anything like that! He is a person, and if you think that he is a freak for something that he cannot control," She lifted up his hand for them to see, "then I don't think I want to be friends with you."

Haru and Keigo looked at her in shock and disbelief, and then in anger.

"Fine," Spat Keigo, "we don't need you." With that, he and Haru glared at them both and walked away.

Sakura sighed and turned to Deidara, who was staring at her with a shocked expression, his eyes wide and his jaw slacked.

"Y-You didn't have to do that, not for me, yeah." He said, shocked by what had just happened. No one had ever defended him like that before. Sure, the teachers at the academy told the kids to stop picking on him, but they didn't really care, and were only doing their job. He didn't have any parents, he never has, and he lived on his own. He always has.

"Yes, I did. I like you," At this Deidara smiled, "and you don't deserve to be treated this way." She said simply.

"But, you barely know me! And those were your friends, yeah!" Deidara told her, extremely confused by her actions. She barely knew him, and yet she was fighting for him against her friends, when by all means she should take their side and shun him as well. While he was confused, he was also glad. It hurt when they called him a freak, and he was used to that. He wasn't, however, used to someone standing up for him, and that made him feel light and happy inside, and he hoped that she would stay.

"Well, if that is what Haru and Keigo really think, then I don't want to be friends with people like them. Besides, they weren't real friends, just some people I play with sometimes." She smiled at him, a smile that reached her eyes. "But I like you, and I think we are going to be really good friends." She squeezed the hand she was still holding.

Deidara stared at her, and a smile lit up his face. Suddenly a strange urge came to him. He decided to roll with it. He jumped on her, and hugged her fiercely.

"Thank you, yeah." He whispered to her.

She was startled at first, but hugged him back. After they pulled away, she took in Deidara's appearance. He had medium length blonde hair that parted on the left side of his face and gave him a mini side bang, and the rest of his hair was up in a high pony tail. His almond shaped eyes were light blue, and while they should have felt cold and icy, they were anything but. He wore a v-neck black t-shirt with a mesh undershirt beneath it. His baggy black pants went to his ankles, and he wore black ninja sandals on his feet.

"Well Deidara, I've never really seen you around before, do you live on the other side of the village or something?" Sakura asked, pushing her free hand, her left, through her hair. Her right hand was currently occupied with his left, and she didn't think she would be getting it back anytime soon. Sakura was surprised, not because he wouldn't let go, but because she felt that she didn't want him to let go, and it was something she wasn't used to.

"I'm not actually from Konoha, yeah. I'm from Iwa. The chuunin exams are here, and the Tsuchikage decided that in good faith to Konoha that five of the top academy students would travel with the genins here, yeah." He said proudly, smiling at her as they walked through the marketplace. "We are here for about a month and a half, and then we head back to Iwa, yeah." That last part of his explanation saddened him, and he got quieter as he talked.

"Oh… Well then, I guess we gotta make the time you're here great then, eh?" Sakura smiled at him, saddened that he wouldn't be here forever, but promising herself that they would have lots of fun during their stay. "I'm also a top student at the academy, now that you mention it," She stated that proudly, standing a little taller, "but this year for the chuunin exams they decided that they needed all the help they could get for the activities, and school is on hold for the next seven weeks or so." She bounced excitedly at that, happy that they got a break from school. "So, that means, we can play together everyday, and I can show you around! What do you say?" She looked towards him hopefully, suddenly afraid that he would reject her, which she knew was stupid, but she couldn't help but feel anyways.

He stared at her in disbelief, not trusting his ears to have heard the right thing. She wants to see him everyday? That can't be right… but then again, she did stand up for him against her friends… So he just opted to stay silent, and stared at her for a few moments.

Sakura was starting to get nervous, he didn't reply, and was just staring at her, the look on his face suggesting he didn't believe her.

"Well? Do you want to or not?" Sakura asked again, this time a little nervous and impatient.

Deidara snapped out of it immediately at those words.

"Yes!" He almost shouted at her, "Of course I would! I'm sorry I just stared, I didn't believe my ears when you said that you actually wanted to play with me every day…" he trailed off near the end, waiting to see what she would say.

She rolled her eyes at him, and hit him lightly on the shoulder, smiling a bit.

"Of course that's what I said. I meant it when I said I liked you. Do you not have friends where you live?" She asked lightly.

Startled by her question, Deidara thought about it. He really didn't have anyone at home that he could call his friend; he barely had anyone that he could call an acquaintance. No one really spoke to him, and he preferred it that way, seeing as the only other option that was ever presented was hatred and scorn. So, to answer her question, he shook his head, and muttered a tiny 'No'.

Sakura's eyes widened with his answer. She didn't actually expect him to say no, she thought he was just a shy boy. Now that she thought about it, the reactions he had to the things she said should have told her from the beginning that he wasn't well liked. Sakura felt stupid. She mentally smacked herself, 'We made a pretty big mistake, huh?' Yes, she agreed silently with Inner Sakura, yes we did.

After giving Deidara's hand a slight squeeze, she smiled at him and said that she would be his friend, if he wanted that, and was promptly cut off by another tackle-hug.

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After their hug, they went and explored Konoha. Sakura showed Deidara everything, from the Ichiraku ramen where they had lunch, to the great Hokage tower. They went to the parks, the markets, everything. The sun was almost gone by the time they were finished for the day.

They talked and laughed, played and just had fun as only children could. Deidara talked about his art, and they had many arguments on what true art really was. Although they didn't agree at times, they still had many things in common. Deidara couldn't be happier than he was, and he was sad to find the day ending. During the time he was with her, he soon found out that while Sakura was a year younger then him, you could only tell by body. She was extremely mature for her age and very intelligent for a seven year old. Sighing, he knew he had to be back at the hotel by nightfall, but he didn't want to leave so soon.

Sakura saw Deidara's sad look towards the setting sun, and felt herself sad as well. After giving her head a shake, she knew that she would see him again tomorrow, and felt much, much better.

"It's getting late, Deidara-kun, I have to be home before nightfall. I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked hopefully, a smile on her face.

"Same here, I have to be back at the hotel soon, yeah. Meet at Ichiraku tomorrow morning?" Deidara agreed happily.

"Alright, see you tomorrow!" Sakura gave him a quick hug, and with one quick look over her shoulder, disappeared into the throng of people.

As he watched her leave, Deidara was very glad indeed that he had come here. Smiling, he turned around and ran to hotel, afraid he might be late.

As soon as the sun went down, Deidara burst through the door of the hotel. The lead ANBU looked at him for a few minutes before going back to doing whatever he was doing.

Relieved, Deidara went to his room, changed into his fluffy white pyjamas, and lay down on his bed. He closed his eyes, and the last thoughts he had before drifting off to sleep were of a certain pink-haired girl.

TBC.

A/N: And there you have it, the first chapter of You Found Me. Good? Bad? Horrifyingly terrible? Something that you wish you could throw in the garbage can, douse in gasoline, light on fire, and throw it into the deepest pit on earth? Lemme know!

Translations:

Gomen – sorry

Konoha – Leaf village

Iwa – stone village

-chan – suffix on the end of a girl that you like, or young boys name.

-kun – suffix for the end of a boys name