Out of Her Sight and Out of His Mind

He walked out of the school with his foster father. The older man had been carrying a suitcase filled with papers he needed to grade.The boy hadn't exactly liked the idea his foster father was a teacher at the high school. Sasuke felt as though he was going to be watched everywhere he went knowing that. They both slid into the car as his guardian started the engine.

"How was your first day? Meet anyone interesting?" The grey haired man looked to him with a raised eyebrow knowing he had. A certain student kept asking about him during his fourth period class.

"Hn," The teen shrugged rolling down the window and pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. The older man just sighed. He knew just how difficult teens could be, but he felt like this one was going to be a challenge that he was going to enjoy. The younger boy next to him proved to be just like him when he was younger, before someone had showed him how to mellow out.

The raven silently stared at the end of his burning cigarette. This wasn't exactly what he wanted at the moment, but it took away some of the edge he felt throughout the day. At least this guy was better than the last family. He didn't pretend, he didn't do anything, but force him to be in school and eat. After a few minutes they had reached their home. Sasuke went straight to his room with his book bag and sat at his desk.

The room was fairly nice. A lot nicer than he'd been used to. Mostly he got hand-me-down furniture from other kids, but these were brand new. He could even smell the new paint in the room and the carpet had felt as though it had just been replaced. Both had been different shades of blue.

After about an hour or two the elder man came into the room.

"Oi, we've been invited to dinner by a friend of mine. Get ready, c'mon. We're leaving in about forty-five minutes" The older man just smirked closing his eyes as he did so.

"Hn, fine," The boy got up from his seat walking past his guardian and went into the bathroom. He turned on the water letting it get hot and from the closet in there he grabbed a towel placing it on the toilet next to the tub. He then closed the door and locked himself away from the rest of the house.

After Sasuke was finished getting ready, dressing in more casual and comfortable clothes, both he and his guardian left the house. Only a few minutes later they came to a house slightly larger than theirs. Sasuke stared at the house curious as to who lived there. The engine of the car turning off pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Please, behave yourself. Just in case." The older man asked in a somewhat bored tone. Obviously the man knew something he didn't and he raised a brow to this. He knocked on the door turning away from the brooding teen. As he did this a dog barked for a moment before stopping and loud, bounding foot steps could be heard from behind the large, honey colored, wood door. Laughter then ensued earning a sigh from Sasuke. Happy people was the last thing he wanted to see for the day.

The raven was surprised and confused at who opened the door. It was Shina's brother. His blue eyes had shone the laughter he had just started to hold back as he answered the door then replaced with ultimate joy. His lips growing into an even larger smile, if that was even possible.

"Kakashi!!" He smiled hugging the man with excitement then turned to Sasuke with bewilderment. "So Sasuke's your new kid." He laughed earning himself a quirked brow from the raven haired teen in front of him. He placed fists on his hips and Kakashi pushed passed the hyper active blond playfully and for the first time Sasuke saw his new 'father' almost flat out smile. Sasuke dead panned staring at Kakashi.

"Oi, Sasuke you ok? You got really pale all of a sudden." The blond raised an eyebrow in curiosity and concern. Sasuke calmed himself once he knew his expression gave him away.

"Hn," Was all he let out. Naruto only folded his arms and lightly chuckled shaking his head. He moved out of the way of the door.

"C'mon in," He then invited and walked inside. The darker teen only followed reluctantly. The two walked into the kitchen where their guardians were. And older man with long spiky white hair sat at the kitchen table while Kakashi leaned against the counter nearest the table sipping a hot cup of coffee. Upon entering the spacious room a dog began barking and growling viciously, scaring Sasuke out of his thoughts. A calm voice stopped the dog immediately.

"Renton, enough boy. It's ok." Sasuke looked to the floor. Shina was laying next to a bandaged German Shepard who was still growling while staring at him. "Sorry Sasuke, Renton just doesn't like boys... I don't know why though. Him and Kiba get along fine so I don't understand why he doesn't like others." She explained while still trying to calm the dog. The old man at the table then spoke.

"Damn dog can't get within a foot of 'im and he starts growling at me. I've been taking care of that dog since day one." He shook his head. "It's truly a wonder you can take him anywhere Shina." Said girl chuckled.

"Now do you see why I don't usually have any boyfriends Jiraiyah! Renton here scares them off!" She smiled brightly rubbing the back of the dogs head and he licked her check as she closed her eyes.

"Then maybe he is good for something...." The old man mused and Shina only sighed shaking her head. In all honesty she was basically his little girl. He'd practically raised her so he couldn't help but think that, she may not have been related to him by blood like Naruto was but he didn't want no boy taking her away from him. Shina then got up and Renton whined, earning himself a smile and a quick rub on the head, and she cautiously walked over to Jiraiyah and hugged him around the neck.

"No one's going to take your place or how I feel about you Jiraiyah." She smiled and he gently hugged back giving a slight sigh and a grunt. Suddenly the blond headed boy walked into the kitchen with a smile.

"Oi, Jiraiyah, Shina I'm heading out with Kiba and the guys now ok?" Shina almost frowned and stood up from hugging her father.

"What you're not staying for dinner?" She questioned, hoping that the guy half of her friends would come in as well to say hi or stay for dinner. Lord knows there was enough. Naruto walked towards her giving her a tight hug.

"It's ok we'll have dinner here tomorrow night, but we've been planing this all week imouto." He cupped her face in his hands placing a kiss on her forehead and patted the top of her head. "I'll be home later."

"No later than 11:30. It may be a Friday night, but I don't want you bringing yourself home at no one in the morning. I'll ground you longer." Jiraiyah scolded. Naruto saluted and nodded abruptly. Sasuke could only watch at the strange exchange.

"Aye-aye Pervy Sage!" He half laughed walking out. The old man called after him in an agitated voice.

"You better watch it Nartuo!" Kakashi shook his head.

"I guess that's what's to be expected of his son." He again showed that half smile that almost shocked the raven earlier that day. Shina sighed knowing where their conversation was going.

"C'mon Sasuke we don't want to listen to these old farts talking." She cautiously made her way to the quiet boy having a bit of trouble finding him. When she did she latched onto his arm and he flinched. "Sorry, it's just easier for me this way." She whispered. "Renton. Up. Come." She said then and the dog behind her got up slowly and began following as she lead Sasuke out of the room and up stairs.

He found himself being lead through the kitchen to a small hall then up some stairs. He was tempted to ask where he was being dragged to, but soon found out. It was her room. At first he wanted to protest, but curiosity got the better of him and he let himself be dragged in. Sasuke was surprised when he walked into her room, expecting to see a bright pink room with all the girliness of it as well, but he got something totally different. It wasn't far off from his own.

She had two black walls across from each other while the rest we're a darker shade of blue. All of the walls had writing on them with silver or metallic type markers and sharpie's. She had a few jars of markers as well. Her furniture consisted of only a bed, a desk, two dressers and a chair or two.

The room wasn't decorated much at all. There were a bunch of stuffed animals in one corner of the room though. Probably the only extremely girly thing in the room. He also noticed a massive CD collection on one of her dressers on the other was a stereo. On the desk against the wall near the bed that was neatly placed in another corner of the room there were small sculptures. They were all abstract with no actual shape to them, but the arabesque in them made them fascinating to look at.

"So now that we're away from them, how are you?" She asked sitting on her bed pulling the quiet boy out of his curious gawking. She hadn't even noticed he was doing it which he found to be strange. Suddenly Renton walked into the room slowly and laid himself down next to the bed near Shina's feet. He growled lowly in his throat at Sasuke. She frowned gently nudging the dog with her foot.

"Renton, no." Immediately the dog stopped. Sasuke raised a brow.

"Is he always so obedient?" The girl he spoke to smiled, glad she got more than one word out of him. Silently she was thanking Renton for sparking his interest. She shook her head.

"Usually the only time he listens is when he has his harness is on, but since him and Naruto took that spill down the stairs almost a week and a half ago he's been very cooperative." She answered. Sasuke nodded in understanding his mouth forming an 'ah' gesture, but something caught his attention.

"Harness?" He turned to her and away from the CD collection he was just browsing. Shina nodded.

"Yea he's my seeing eye dog. He's got this harness I put on him so I have an easier time walking around." She explained. Finally something clicked in Sasuke's brain and now he felt really dumb.

"Oh, so you're blind?" He bluntly asked. He thought she would have flinched at it or something or would have been offended by him being so blunt, but she kept her smile and nodded. "Were you born blind?" He couldn't help but ask. He'd never known anyone who was blind before and wanted to keep asking questions for the knowledge. Shina shook her head and answered.

"No. My mother did this to me." She explained, though she hadn't even seemed phased by this statement. His eyes widened and then he schooled his expression remembering something from lunch that day. He hooked thumbs into his pockets.

"So, can I ask why you have those scars on the sides of your head like that?" A wave pain and memories washed over Shina, emotions plain on her face and he saw all of it. "You don't have to tell me."

"Um, no it's fine." She paused taking a breath. " When I was about 5 my mother had come home from a bar with her friends and I hadn't gone to bed yet. My father stayed awake with me because I didn't want to go to bed without her. She got angry with me and smacked me. My father had tried to reason with her when she had gone into the kitchen and brought out the rolling pin." Again she paused and he could almost see where this was going to end up. He was almost about to stop her so he didn't have to listen to her cry and then be blamed for it, though when she began speaking again the thought of that hadn't been so bad in the end. "My dad tried to take it out of her hands, but she had knocked him a few good times with it. He was on the floor behind her as she came for me. I was able to get away from her for a second to hide. She screamed while looking for me. 'You filthy bitch, stealing my own husbands attention away from me. I always knew you were no good!'

"I was behind the couch and I could hear my dad get up and try to calm her down, but she had beat him a few more times before he grabbed the rolling pin from her. She just grabbed the letter opener from the table next to the front door and stabbed him. He fell to the floor and I could see the blood dripping from his mouth as he stared at me. That's when she found me, because I couldn't stop sobbing. She grabbed me from behind the couch and punched me in the face. After that I fell unconscious. Three days later I woke up in ICU. Apparently after she had knocked me unconscious my eyes were still open and she thought she killed me and she didn't want me looking at her anymore so she tried to take my eyes out, but since she wasn't even close to being sober she failed. My father had enough strength to stay alive to call the cops and make sure I was ok at the hospital. As soon as the cops and the paramedics got there he died and I was an orphan." Sasuke had been amazed. Not once had she cried and not once did she even sound angry at what her mother had done.

"How can you forgive her for what she did to you?" He asked. "If you ask me that's just the cowards way out." He said harshly and walked out of the room slamming the door shut. Shina flinched at the loud noise and lowered her head shaking it.

"It's a lot better than living with all of that hate pent up inside of you." She said to herself not knowing Sasuke still heard her outside of the door.

In the kitchen both Kakashi and Jiraiyah heard the commotion upstairs. Kakashi just shook his head. The older man looked at him with a questioning look. They then heard a second door slam.

"Looks like you've got an interesting kid on your hands there Kakashi." Jiraiyah only chuckled and his younger friend just shook his head both knowing the ill tempered teen had left.

"No, I think those two will be interesting together. "