University of Konoha (Modern Naruto Various)

Chapter 6

I hadn't waited outside for long when I saw a black sedan pull up. I noticed Deidara driving and Sasori in the passenger seat. Deidara waved me over and I slid into the backseat of the car. "Did we keep you waiting? I told Deidara we should of left sooner. I hate to keep people waiting," Sasori said. "It's ok. I wasn't waiting long." "I told you my man. We were fine," Deidara replied in a relaxed tone. Sasori didn't reply back. "Asami, the rest of the Akatsuki are excited to meet you. This is the first time we've had someone new over in a while," Deidara told me. "Really? I didn't know that." I was excited but I was nervous too. What were they like? Will I be able to get along with them? I took a deep breath to try to calm myself down. No point in getting really worked up before I even meet them. Deidara had told me that they were having pizza tonight and I was invited to eat with them. He told me that there were six other official members of the Akatsuki and one other unofficial member. The drive ended up being short and we pulled up in front of a big two story house. There was a sign on the lawn saying it was the Akatsuki fraternity house but other than that it looked fairly normal. We all got out of the car and I followed Deidara and Sasori to the front door. Here we go. I took one last deep breath to steel my nerves before Deidara opened the door. "Hey everybody, we're here!" he yelled. "Well it's about damn time!" I heard a male voice yell. I followed Deidara and Sasori into what looked like a sitting room area. The t.v was on some sort of football game and the couches surrounding it were filled with people. I recognized the silver haired man and brunette from my English class and I saw the man with the half scarred face. There was also a man with orange hair with a girl with purple hair sitting next to him. I saw two other men that I didn't recognize. One had dark eyes and dark hair in a ponytail while the other one had dark blue hair and a strange slightly blue tint to his skin. They all looked to me as we entered the room. I tried not to let my nervousness show and smiled at them. "Alright, everybody get over here and in a line so I can introduce you," Deidara yelled. "Why the hell should we do that? Why can't we just sit here and be introduced?" the silver haired man yelled. I recognized his voice as the one who spoke earlier. I got the feeling that he was the Hidan that Deidara had warned me about. "Just get in line and shut up," the brunette next to him said. They all got up and formed a relaxed line going from right to left. "Ok, let's start with our leader," Deidara said as he pulled me to the orange haired man on the right end. "This is Pain. He is the one that started the Akatsuki and leads our group." Pain smiled at me and stuck his hand out. I shook it and said, "It's nice to meet you Pain." "Likewise," he replied. Next, was the purple haired girl. "This is Konan. She's Pain's girlfriend and has been with him since he started the fraternity. She's the unofficial member I was talking about since girls can't be members of fraternities. She lives in an apartment nearby but she comes and hangs out with us fairly often. Both her and Pain are seniors." Konan smiled gently at me. "It's nice to have another girl around. I was just thinking I needed a girlfriend to do stuff with." I smiled back. "I can imagine it gets intense with all these boys. I'd be happy to help keep them in line," I teased. Konan laughed. "Oh I like her. I think we're going to be good friends." Deidara pulled me to the next two. "This is Itachi and Kisame. Itachi's a junior and Kisame's a senior." I shook hands with both of them. I looked at Itachi. "Are you Sasuke's brother by chance?" "You have a sharp eye. Yes, I am." I nodded. I could see the resemblance. Next was the silver haired man and the brunette. "This is Hidan and Kakuzu. They're both seniors." I was right about my guess on who Hidan was. "You guys are in my English class," I said. "No wonder you looked familiar! Damn, I thought I saw you somewhere before," Hidan exclaimed. "He's the one I warned you about," Deidara told me. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Hidan glared at Deidara. "What do you think, idiot? That you cause too much trouble," Kakuzu told him. Deidara just sighed and pulled me to the last person in line who was the man with the scarred face. "Last, but not least is Obito Uchiha." I blinked in surprise. "O-obito?" I whispered in shock. I had locked eyes with Obito who was looking just as shocked as I was. I barely heard Deidara as he told the rest of the group my name and grade. "Asami?" Obito said confusedly. "Hey, do you guys know each other or something?" Deidara suddenly asked me. "A long time ago," I whispered.

Flashback

"A​​sami, come here. We want you to meet someone." "Coming Daddy!" I called back. I put down the blocks I was playing with and ran to where my parents were. There were two other adults and a little boy with them. I hid shyly behind my mother's leg. "It's ok, Asami. These are our friends," Mommy told me. I peeked out from behind Mommy's leg. I noticed the boy was wearing goggles. "You look funny," I told him. The boy blushed and looked down at his feet. "Asami!", Daddy said in exasperation. The strange adults laughed. "It's ok Ryoma. I know she doesn't mean any harm," the man said. "How old is she?" the woman asked. "She's only six. How old is your son?" Daddy asked. "He's eight now," the woman answered. Daddy crouched down next to me. "Why don't you and him go play while the adults talk?" "Ok!" I said brightly. I walked over to the boy. "My name's Asami Kanashe. What's yours?" "Obito Uchiha," he told me with a small smile on his face. I smiled back and grabbed his hand. "C'mon, let me show you my toys!" I dragged him off towards my room.

Flashback End

"Hellooo. Earth to Asami?" I blinked as I noticed the hand waving in front of my face. "Oh, sorry. I guess I spaced out there." "Yeah, you were on a whole different planet, hn" stated Deidara. I looked back to Obito and smiled sadly. "I almost didn't recognize you without your goggles." He nodded. "Wait, Obito used to wear goggles?" Hidan questioned. "Yeah, he used to wear them all the time. Would never take them off," I said. Obito's voice was deep as he spoke up, "I had heard about your parents. My parents had taken their loss pretty hard too. I'm sorry for your loss." I nodded. "Thank you. I guess we just lost touch after that." I suddenly remembered that Obito had two other close friends. "How are Rin and Kakashi doing?" "Why don't you come sit down and we can talk," Obito told me. I followed him to one of the couches and sat down, facing him. I barely noticed that the rest of the Akatsuki had sat down as well and turned the t.v back on quiet. I didn't notice that most of them were more focused on me and Obito than the t.v. "Kakashi's actually a student here too. He and I are a part of the PAL's." "PAL's?" I questioned. "Peer Advocate Leaders. We're a group of mostly seniors who help the other classes. We also do some volunteering and stuff sometimes too. You should stop by our office sometime. I'm sure Kakashi and the others would love to meet you." "What about Rin?" I noticed a flash of pain in his eyes when I mentioned her. "She...died." I gasped and put a hand over my mouth. "I'm so sorry. When did it happen?" "A couple years after you left. Not long after my accident." "Is that how you got the...?" I pointed to my face. He nodded. "The scars? Yeah. We were playing too close to a cliff. The edge had crumbled out from underneath me and I fell. I ended up landing on the right side of my body and was pretty badly hurt. Not long after that, Rin got really sick and she...died. I was in a dark place for a long time after that." Tears had come to my eyes and I grabbed Obito's hand. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you when you went through all that. I'm sure it was really hard for you." He looked surprised. "I should be saying the same thing. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when your parents died." I shook my head. "It's alright. It looks like we've both had our share of pain." "Only when one has experienced the same pain can they understand another. But through the understanding of that pain, you can show kindness and create deeper bonds with that person." I looked up at Pain's words. I noticed that everybody was looking at us. I could see that everybody had varying forms of pain in their expressions. They all understood. I wiped at my eyes and smiled. "Then maybe in sharing our pain, we can each lessen our loads and feel a little lighter ourselves." Pain smiled back at me. Suddenly, the doorbell rang causing me to jump. "Alright, that's enough depressing talk for one night. Pizza's here!" Deidara yelled.