My Little Brother (Hidan)

Chapter 6: Surprises

Naruto skipped happily back to his apartment, overjoyed by the prospect of having a real friend. He didn't know why Mitsuki didn't immediately hate him. Hell, Mitsuki should have left the second he saw him. But no, he stuck around, asked his name, and didn't belittle him for his dream. Chouji, Shikamaru, and Kiba only stuck around because of their mutual dislike for the academy, nothing more.

Unlike Mitsuki.

Mitsuki stuck with him with his own free will. He seemed to enjoy Naruto's company as well. Naruto couldn't wait to tell Jiji all about his new friend.

But as he reached his apartment and saw his landlord waiting for him, the gravity of the previous situation crashed down on him. Naruto immediately remembered why he had stumbled upon Mitsuki in the first place.

Gulping, the blonde boy gathered up his courage and prepared himself for his punishment for being late. At least, for some unknown reason, he heals fast.

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Mitsuki felt his chakra before he even opened the door.

Cracking open his covered eye, he could vaguely see Gai-sensei's form hovering above him. He knew Gai-sensei knew he was awake so with a groan, the young jashinist got up.

"What's up, Gai-sensei?" Mitsuki asked as he rubbed his eye. In answer, Gai gave a blinding smile.

"Get up, my YOUTHFUL student! We're going shopping!" He shouted enthusiastically. Mitsuki raised a brow.

"Shopping? I thought we already did that yesterday?" He replied, sounding bored. In reality, the boy was actually excited by the prospect of going out. He also wanted to know more about Naruto, who he suspects was an orphan. But even if he's an orphan, the orphanage wouldn't allow him to be outside during that time of the day. Maybe Naruto doesn't live in the orphanage?

But if that was the case, Naruto should be with his adoptive parents, if he has one. Or maybe Naruto lives alone?

"Oh, yes we did! Today's shopping is for our groceries!" Mitsuki blinked. That made sense.

After Gai-sensei left him to change, he immediately got up and went to his newly-bought closet. Rummaging for a while, he settled for a dark purple shirt paired with matching red pants. As he took out the pants, an overwhelming thought showed up.

"This looks like something nii-san would wear."

Mitsuki shook his head. He's not about to feel depressed about his Onii-san. He will find his nii-san. He just has to bide his time.

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Mitsuki gave the bag a glare before looking up to the confused Gai.

"Gai-sensei, why the oysters?" He managed to ask without raising his voice. Gai gave a thumbs-up.

"Because, my YOUTHFUL student, they'll be our YOUTHFUL dinner!"Mitsuki's eye twitched.

"I refuse to eat the epitome of evil." Mitsuki sneered. Gai merely shrugged before gesturing for them to leave the shop. Mitsuki followed, sparing the bag of oysters on his hand one last glare.

"Why can't we just have take-out? They're better than oysters. Hell, everything is goddamn better than oysters." Mitsuki informed his guardian. Gai ignored him.

As they made their way back home, Mitsuki activated his Shinegan to eavesdrop on other people's conversations. Information is a necessary tool for a shinobi, at least, it was what nii-san reasoned with him.

He remembered how ecstatic Hidan had been when they realized the Shinegan can enhance his five senses, most notably his hearing.

It was a good advantage they have, being able to hear approaching hunter-nin before they were in range of a sensor.

Anyway, most of the things he heard from the civilians were gossip about everyday life. Which is why he was trying to eavesdrop on uniformed shinobi among the crowd.

They were in a crowded place in the market when he heard something that caught his attention.

"- s a demon boy." A quick glance to his left told him it was from a young woman with a child beside her, whispering to what Mitsuki assumed is her friend. She was inside one of the stalls so he was only able to catch the end of her statement.

Nevertheless, Mitsuki's curiosity was peaked. Demon boy? Well that was interesting. He had a lot of theories, all of which didn't made sense, considering the fact that they were civilians.

Mitsuki sighed. He'll think about it later. Right now, he should think about a believable excuse as to why he lost the bag of oysters when he will dispose of them.

Right as he was about to throw the oysters in a dark alley, he noticed a commotion in front of them. The young jashinist stood beside Gai as he tried looking over people's heads, cursing his short stature as he did so.

Finally, a gap in the crowd gave him a chance to slip through them. Seeing the scene in front of him, his curiosity and suspicions arose.

"Get out of here, brat! Scram!" A shopkeeper yelled down at a familiar figure down on the ground. Blue eyes glared back at the shopkeeper's own brown ones.

"What's your problem, dattebayo?! I have money to pay, ya know!" Naruto yelled back.

He was confused. Why won't anyone let him in any of their shops? It's not like he was going to steal anything. Like he said, he had money to spare.

The shopkeeper, however, merely sneered at the boy.

"I don't want your filthy money, you monster!"

Naruto flinched at the last word. He wasn't a monster......right? He stared down at the ground, head bowed. He tried to ignore the whispers of the villagers surrounding them as he blinked back tears. Dammit, he's not about to cry now.

The blonde looked up, fully intent on continuing his argument with the shopkeeper, when he suddenly froze.

Standing in front of him with his back to him and facing the shopkeeper was Mitsuki. Behind him, a certain bowl-cut jounin was staring at the silverhead with surprise.

Mitsuki took no notice of his guardian's surprise, choosing to stare impassively at the shopkeeper, who had stopped his insults when the seven-year-old went up to him. Mitsuki stared at him for a few more moments before finally speaking.

"Ya know, you're quite pathetic." He continued on, ignoring the looks he got from the villagers watching them a few feet away.

"Here we have a paying customer, who just happened to be the village outcast, that you threw out your establishment with no reason whatsoever. What's more, you called him a monster. Well, let me ask you something." He took a few steps nearer to the shopkeeper, his nonchalant look morphing into something darker.

"Have you looked at a mirror as of late?"

Ignoring the shocked looks and sounds made by everybody else, he turned around and walked towards Naruto, whose eyes had widened considerably, and held out his arm.

It took a while, where Mitsuki had the nagging suspicion that no one had ever offered their hand to the blonde before, but Naruto finally realized what that meant and gripped the offered hand. Standing back up, he gave Mitsuki a grin.

"Thanks, dattebayo!"

Mitsuki shrugged, obviously uncaring about the fact that he just took the side of the village outcast.

"What are friends for?"

Naruto beamed like a mini-sun.

Friends.