Sunny Side Up

Disclaimer: what do you mean I don't own Naruto? I've got them right here. Waves fish cakes Please read the whole chapter; I swear this guy isn't an OC!

It was a bright sunny day in Konoha, the kind of day the village was famous for. All around people were going about their lives. Buying, selling, walking, talking, and just generally enjoying themselves. It made him happy to see that Konohagakure was just as friendly a place as he had been led to believe… yeah, this village hidden in the leaves seemed like just the place to settle down after that… fiasco that was the last village.

The man looked around, his long blond hair catching in the wind. Some people where staring, but that was to be expected. It wasn't everyday you saw someone with a dark green, high-collar coat in the middle of summer. Even though the man didn't exactly appreciate the stares he was getting, he did his best to ignore them and left his coat on. Besides, the shinobi armor he had on under it would have been worse.

The first thing to do, he decided, was to get some new clothes. Then he would find a vacant shop to buy, preferably one that could double as a house for him to live in… yeah… that sounded good. With that, he could practice his art and trade in peace. How hard could it be to start up business as a potter?

Just then, the 19 year old was jolted out of his thoughts as a yellow and white blur narrowly avoided running him down. It took him a moment to realize that the blur was actually a kid. A kid with bright spiky blond hair and a smile that somehow looked, well wrong. That is to say wrong in some way other than the fact that it was threatening to split the kids face in half….

It wasn't until he saw the two full grown men chasing the kid that he realized what it was that had had been bothering him. In spite of the kid's overly large smile, it was obvious that he was scared shitless . You could see it in his eyes. The kid wove through the crowd almost running over half the people, in one case even sliding between a startled young lady's legs in an attempt to lose his pursuers. That didn't work very well for the little guy, though. The two men chasing him managed to keep up with him, even if some of the boy's maneuvers caused them a bit of awkwardness.

All in all it was quite an amusing sight and the man was about to continue going about his business when one of the men shouted something he couldn't ignore.

"You damned demon! When I catch you I'm going to wring your neck!"

The man's words brought a flood of memories to the man's mind. Memories he had tried to forget.

"How could you invent such an ugly jutsu!"

"Just look at yourself! You're more demon than man now you fool!"

"You're not my son. My son isn't a monster"

With those memories came ones of the boy's terrified eyes.

"Stupid conscience", the man said under his breath before moving after the boy and his pursuers.

Naruto wouldn't have said he was afraid, he would have yelled about how he was going to be Hokage and how a Kage was never afraid, even though he would have been lying. All he did was steal a loaf of bread, so he would have something to hold him over until the next support check from the Hokage arrived tomorrow.

However, the two men chasing him seemed to see it as a big deal. So he stole a little bread. So what? It wasn't like they didn't have more. He spared an idle moment to wonder who was watching their stand if both of the owners were chasing him. He then ducked around a corner into an alley.

That was a mistake. The alley was a dead end. Behind him, he heard the two men enter the alley. He turned to face them and backed up until he was almost touching the wall. They were sure taking their time getting it over with, They approached him slowly and the larger of the two cracked his knuckles. Then suddenly without warning, the other lunged forward, fist raised. Naruto cringed and waited for the blow to connect.

Thud.

The blow had connected, but not with Naruto. Naruto opened his eyes to see what had happened. He was surprised to see a man wearing a dark green coat that reached his knees, black cargo pants, and what appeared to be some strange variation on standard ninja sandals standing between him and his attackers, the baker's fist caught in one gloved hand.

That was all Naruto had time to register as the man blurred into motion. The baker gave a startled gasp as he was pulled forward by his fist, and a second later the newcomer's knee flashed forward, slaming the baker in the gut. The man spun on his still grounded foot, dragging the startled baker around in a complete circle before tossing him into the larger man. Both men hit the ground hard.

Naruto blinked. The whole scene had only taken less than a second. The man turned to Naruto, and Naruto couldn't help but notice that he too had blond hair and blue eyes.

"Are you alright kid?" the man asked. Naruto could only nod in response. The man turned back to the two villagers who had gotten to their feet.

"Who the hell are you?" one shouted.

The only response he got was "Catch, yeah?" as the man threw a bluish-white object at him. Reflexively, the larger of the two did just that and stared blankly at the small object for a second before it exploded into a cloud of blue-green smoke.

Before Naruto knew what was happening his savior had grabbed him around the waist and leapt off the ground, off a windowsill, then off a fire escape, and suddenly standing on the roof of the three-story building that had made up the alley's left wall. He knelt down next to Naruto and looked back down into the alley.

The man was admiring the results of his little toy, watching as the two men on the ground were trying to figure out what had happened, when he felt eyes on him and remembered the kid.

The boy was staring at him, eyes wide, and for the first time the man noticed the dark whisker-like lines on his face. The kid continued to stare at him, as if waiting for him to grow another head. It was somewhat unnerving….

"…What?" he asked, trying to figure out what the kid was looking at. The kid opened his mouth.

"THAT WAS SOOOOO COOOOOOL!!!" The words practically exploded from the boy, and despite the volume, Deidara couldn't keep the grin off his face.

"Art's a blast, yeah?"

((((((((((AN))))))))))

Told you it wasn't an OC. Well I wrote this because of how many adoption fics there are out there and the lack of fics with Deidara. Depending on the response, I might continue it, but I have absolutely no clue on pairings.