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“Are you a leaf?” He asked of both of them, despite not phrasing it right. The girl with the hilarious hair and the boy with the fangs on his face both looked to each other in confusion, before fang-face just turned to him and pointed at his headband. Oh, he was wearing a headband. That meant he had to be a leaf.

“Okay.” He replied, walking towards them. Kiba scooted down the bench towards Sakura as Naruto moved to sit down. Sakura briefly noted that Kiba was sitting a lot closer to her than he was to Naruto now, but didn't really blame him. This Naruto guy was kinda weird.

“I've seen you before.” Naruto said, leaning towards Kiba with squinted eyes as if examining him closely. Kiba leaned back in response, unsure what to make of this.

“Uh, yeah...we have class together everyday.” He replied. Naruto pulled back, but was still staring at him inquisitively, he then turned slightly, giving Sakura the same look.

“And you. I think I've found you.” He said, suddenly pulling a small pouch off of his belt and putting it on the table.

“Found- wha?” Sakura was confused. It only got worse when Naruto opened his pouch to reveal it was full of leaves. If that weren't strange enough, Naruto was now digging through the leaves, treating each very delicately as he carefully examined them, occasionally holding them up and sending the two of them glances as if he were comparing the leaves to their faces. Correction: Very weird.

“Aha,” Naruto suddenly exclaimed, pulling out a pair of leaves and holding them up triumphantly, “I knew it.”

He put one down in front of him and held the other up to the light, rotating it slowly as he stared at it.

“This is you,” He suddenly said, holding the leaf up and pointing it at Sakura. It was a strange leaf with two points, rather than the usual one.

“Two points. It's like two leaves in one. But it's not. It's still one leaf, just strange. But the two parts are so different. When I first found it, I thought it was like any other leaf. One half standing out straight from the branch proudly, but the other half just sat back in the shadow of the first, like it was watching. Waiting. I didn't even notice it, not until I looked closer. Two halves of the same whole, but still so different.” Naruto spoke, half to Sakura and half to himself, still holding up the leaf the entire time. He seemed to be done, however, and slowly lowered the leaf to the table, as if afraid to harm it. He then picked up the other, and pointed it at Kiba.

“And this is you. Two leaves that share the same stem, not the same as hers was, but still connected.” He began, looking both at Kiba and Akamaru, “looks like you, doesn't it?”

Kiba didn't respond, so Naruto just continued.

“People may think they're different, but I can see they're the same. They were identical once, the same bud. Though they grew apart, they grew together. They aren't reflections of each other, but compliments. You can tell, if you look close enough. Can't you tell? They're the same.”

He held it out to Kiba, clearly expecting him to check it and verify his theory. He held it there motionlessly, staring intently at Kiba the entire time. Finally, Kiba nodded his head as a sign of acknowledgment, at which point Naruto collected both leaves and carefully put them back in his pouch. As he did so, Kiba and Sakura simply stared, dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

“You're both similar in a way,” He suddenly continued, “complex leaves. Not typical. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but that's what it is. You're strange. Get used to it.”

“Ah, you're all here. Good.” Sakura and Kiba turned to the source of the new voice like it were their savior, happy for something to change the unusual atmosphere that had filled the room.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3699722/5/But_for_the_Grace_of_God