FicWad

Jesus Christ- Brand New

Are you gonna be my girl- JET

Shiver

Two: I knew I wasn't going to like you

Konoha high differed greatly from my last school. It didn't remind me of a hospital or a prison or a mixture of both; an asylum. It wasn't cramped and sweaty and derelict. Instead it spanned over a sort of small campus with the cafeteria and gym in the middle, giving the impression of openness and freedom, with courts behind that, surrounded by old looking buildings which had served as accommodation for nuns in the past. One of the buildings contained the artistic subjects, another the three sciences, the third maths and English literature with the final being foreign languages, which was where the 6th form common room was. I later saw the latter was a large room with various low tables surrounded by rather large plastic chairs. Playing stations such as a gamecube and apin-ball machine, a stereo as well as a vending machine were scattered around the room. The space and privileges were exclusive to the 6th Form; the last two years of school. I belonged to the penultimate one and so was happy to know that I had access to it, as well as the small study-room and locker room attached, available to me in every break of free lesson to either study or chill.

I entered the school, following Tsunade's instruction past the almost empty hallways due to my earliness. The few people who were milling about looked at me curiously as I hummed softly in order to relax myself. The halls had clean smooth floors and walls that were filled with doors leading to classrooms. Where there weren't doors there were pictures or posters or notices. I felt alittle lost in the niceness of it all. It was as if Tsunade had read up on what schools should be like and followed it word-for-word.

I finally reached a wooden door that said Registration Office and entered.

A young woman with short black hair behind a desk lifted her head and smiled.

"You must be Naruto," she said and I grinned, glad that I wouldn't have to wait around filling papers to prove who I was or what I was doing there. "I'm Anko."

"Yep! Nice to meet you, Anko!"I said, hitching my big, orange backpack up only to let it drop again against the small of my back.

"You too, Naruto. I'm glad you're early, that way Sakura can get you settled without making you late for your introduction session," she replied and it was then, as the name was mentioned, when something clicked.

"Sakura! The new student is here!" she then called backwards to where the office stretched to another room.

"Ok!"I heard from inside and I shifted my weight in expectation. The sound of acabinet closing was heard and then a girl of my age stepped out, making my smile widen at the sight. She was the same Sakura I had known four years ago. Her hair used to be strawberry blond but she had obviously heightened the pink for it was almost a bubblegum colour, cropped to shoulder length and drawn back from her large forehead with a black band. She halted as she saw me and then her own face split in a smile, light green eyes flashing with recognition.

"Naruto! I knew it was you, no one else would have that name!" she greeted, exiting the confines of the large desk and moving towards me. I laughed and pulled her into a hug.

We hadn't been terribly close friends in primary, but it had been near enough. Our class had been divided into groups and she had been in mine so that even if she had kept herself distanced like everybody else she had still talked and played with me. I searched memories of her and found a pretty little girl that had forsaken me most of the time, no different than anybody else except in my view of her, blinded by childish love.

But she seemed to have changed stupendously. Not only in her matured body but in her vibrancy and kindness as we moved through the buildings, asking me about my life in-between explanations. I laughed most of them off with some anecdote or joke, pushing the subject of discussion to her life.

"Oh, nothing really. Just here, pretty boring Iguess. I'm Deputy Head Girl, which is why I'm the one showing you around though I wanted to volunteer since I heard your name." She smiled. I grinned back.

"Glad you're my mentor then."

The School was swarming with people in pairs or groups, milling about as they squealed over new looks and stories as friends met up after a summer away. Girls were hugging and complimenting while the boys generally grunted or nudged each other.

"I'm sure you know but the first day we don't really have lessons. First thing we'll collect in the auditorium and they'll announce what groups we're in and stuff,"Sakura went on as we squeezed past people in the hallway. I looked around all the people in nice clothes and morocco braids and old-friends. I felt like Iwas a piece of a puzzle set down in the wrong box but didn't grow anxious at the feeling. A thrumming of exhilaration at the new world I found myself in.

"Oh yeah that group thing. A little weird isn't it?" I asked. Sakura smiled, shrugging.

"It's supposed to be some old tradition from when the ninjas ruled Konoha. Being put in teams of three is supposed to balance you. The good thing at least is that almost everybody ends up being close friends with their team which means that even if someone is new like you they won't be cast out. Not that that happens anyways but- you know," she smiled sheepishly. I chuckled, nodding.

"Let's hope so, eh?"

I was just stuffing my bag with great difficulty in my locker when the bell rang. All the other 6th formers where either in the locker room with me, in the common room or late as they all began to move out in a large mass as a teacher started directing them loudly.

"Ok, let's go to the auditorium," Sakura said, motioning to me. I looked at her, surprised.

"Aren't you going to go with your friends? You showed me where it is so-"

"Don't worry about it," she laughed, cutting me off. "I saw most of them yesterday and anyway, you're my responsibility for the rest of the day until your own group takes charge of showing you around. And we have years to catch up on, don't we?" she finished with a calm smile as we walked towards our destination. Igrinned, shrugging happily at her attitude. It seemed she had gotten prettier and nicer with the years.

People around us were still taking notice of me, pointing and shrugging and shaking their heads in what I guessed was a declaration of the lack of knowledge they held about me. A lot of the people greeted or chit-chatted with Sakura briefly as we swirled onwards like a demented marching band towards the gym, one two one twonetone.

"Through here, quiet down, go to the front, don't sit at the back. Fill up the seats," a boy with long, thin brown hair was saying, directing the mass through an open double-door.

"That'sNeji, he's a prefect. You can apply to be one on the last year of school if you want," Sakura explained, pointing to the guy I had been looking at.

"Don't think that's the job for me," I laughed. Sakura shrugged, smiling, finally filing into the auditorium where we took our seats at the packed front. I was beside a chunky, friendly looking boy who smiled at me and greeted Sakura. The room was wide with a high ceiling, filled with dull red seats in rising order so that the stage was at the bottom of them like in a theatre. I imagined aperson sitting in each seat and crashing a symbol at the same time, and how much noise they would make. Then I thought about crickets and questioned if their sound would crawl into me with their little legs and fill me until Iburst.

"Settle down, settle down!" a man was saying, ripping me away from my musings. I looked at the source of the voice and saw it was a tanned, fairly young looking man with kind features ruined by a long, thick scar across the base of his nose and extending to his cheeks horizontally. I wondered how he had attained such an injury.

"That's Iruka," Sakura whispered as the teenagers around us fell silent with a few giggles and murmurs.

"Thank you. Now, welcome to the new school year everybody!" he greeted from the front. Some people muttered sarcastically whilst someone else whootedloudly, causing laughter to bloom and with a look from the man at the microphone everything fell silent again. I hummed quietly for a few seconds before Sakura glanced at me.

"Thank you for that, Kiba. Now..." and the man went on to talk about how we were in Alevel now, the rules and regulations and opportunities like competitions and Young Enterprise and other stuff I wasn't going to enter. I had never been the academic type. I was an average student, didn't excel in anything except music and that was because it was the only subject I was interested enough in to put in the necessary work.

"Any questions?" Iruka said finally.

"Yeah, when the fuck is this gonna end?" a guy to the right of Sakura grumbled lowly. I threw him a look and saw he was skinny and almost petit with straight hair cut choppily to his shoulders of a strange light-blue colour.

"Now, what you're all probably eager to hear, I'm going to announce your three-person teams which will last you the next two years. All year-involving projects will require you to work with your teams. No, you can't choose your own. No, you can't swap partners except in very special circumstances. If you don't like the people on your group then you will learn the purpose of this system: to learn how to get along with people you don't choose. To learn the meaning of teamwork. And try to keep commentary to the minimum please,"he sighed. He had obviously been through this process many times before.

"Right, ok, for the first year your team will be assigned a number. Don't forget it.

"Team one..." name after faceless name was listed off without surname, most followed by a strained silence whilst other people groaned or yelped happily as areaction. I listened for my name and hoped they hadn't left me out because Iwas new, though I doubted Tsunade would have let that happen.

"Team 6; Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo with Orochimaru."

"Oh shit no, I'm not teaming up with that slut. And who the fuck is Jugo?" the blue-haired boy from before said loudly. I concluded his name was Suigetsu through process of elimination. Most of the year turned to look at him, some laughing, others frowning, before our eyes were drawn to who I guessed was Karin; a slim girl with a piercing in her bottom lip and red, thick-rimmed, rectangular glasses that looked good in contrast with her dark long hair.

"Shut up you freak. At least I don't file my teeth into points so to be kinky when giving out blow-"

"That's enough!" Iruka bellowed. I almost jumped at the suddenness of the noise. The image of a pure, untroubled school I had had was quickly disappearing.

"I said I wanted no commentary. You will work with the partners chosen for you. Suigetsu, Karin, stay behind after the talk. And if you say another world you'll earn yourselves the first detentions of the year," he growled. As nice as he seemed, the guy could sure pull off the pissed off look.

"Whatever,"I heard Suigetsu grumble. Beside me Sakura rolled her eyes at him.

"Now. Team Seven; Naruto," I sat up straight, "Sakura," we looked at each other, grinning, "and Sasuke, you're all with Kakashi."

My expression froze. Sakura's eyes widened and she blushed.

"Sasuke? Sasuke Uchiha?" I hissed at her. She smiled dazedly and nodded as some girl one row back said Shit!. My mouth fell open.

No.

Way.

I faced forwards again, mind racing. I didn't know what to feel. Sasuke had been the closest thing I had had to a friend when I was in Konoha's primary school, but in a completely unconventional way. We would fight constantly as I defied the cold exterior he had attained at such an early age. It's sad how cruel children can be and I was full evidence of how victimisedthey can make a person feel, but Sasuke had been something else. Everybody in my primary school had seemed to have a common reason to reject me, as if somebody had pulled them away and warned them of me, of who I was related to, of the way I lived. But Sasuke Uchiha had seemed to find a whole other reason to dislike me and that had been refreshing as much as it was depressing. But Ihad bonded with the boy quickly. Maybe it had been because we had both lost our parents, maybe because we would never give up. But the day I left Konoha it was him that I had been thinking of.

The talk finally ended at Team 10 with me deep in thought about Sasuke, meaning there must have been 30 people in my year.

"Now if you can all go out one row at a time to M6 where you will be directed to aclassroom to meet you mentor, please do so quietly. Suigetsu, Karin, come here."

A roar of chatter built up once again as people moaned or squealed about their groups.

"I'm glad we're in the same group," I said cheerfully to Sakura, who smiled in return.

"Me too!" she enthused, clapping her hands. I grinned at her, having been slightly worried that she would be disappointed to be lumped with the new guy when she could have been with someone in her friend's group, though by the look in her eyes when Iruka had mentioned Sasuke I imagined she wasn't too disappointed in that front either.

My theory was confirmed as soon as we saw Sasuke, once we had seen what room to go to and began to move away.

"Oh- Sasuke! Over here!" Sakura shouted suddenly, startling me. I looked to where she was waving to see a boy with dark hair spiked at the back and long bangs at the front turn around at the sound of his name. Dark eyes on a pale, handsome face that was calm and passive looked first at Sakura and then locked with mine as he paused in his walk, hands in the pockets of three-quarter length jeans, topped with a plain black T-shirt.

"Sakura,"he greeted. "Naruto. It's been a while." His voice was low and rich, a sound I could imagine singing, /shouting/. But it was flat, almost emotionless. He remembered me but he couldn't care less about seeing me again, it said.

"Hey, Sasuke. How's it going?" I asked, alittle awkward, a hand at the back of my neck. A strange feeling came over me, as if becoming detached from the scene. A sort of Deja Vu as I was surrounded by people from my past in a new place. The unsettling feeling made me retreat inside myself for amoment, an electric guitar in my mind.

Jesus Christ that's a pretty face

The kind you'd find on someone I could save

If they don't put me away,

It'll be a miracle.

"Fine,"he said shortly. I snorted.

"Sounds riveting," I drawled. Sasuke threw me a narrowed sideways glance.

"I see you're just as immature as the day you left," Sasuke observed. Sakura, looking surprised, looked at him, caught in the middle as we walked together; he having waited for us in what I was sure was nothing more than a show of artificial politeness. I glared at him.

"I see you're just as much of an asshole," I retorted. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at me, as if I had said something incredibly stupid. I huffed.

"Hey, guys, calm down. What are you even fighting about? Isn't this the first time you see each other in like four years?" she frowned. I shrugged, linking my hands behind my head so that my short-sleeved orange shirt hitched up a little, showing the edge of my frog-patterned boxers. My elbow skimmed the top of Sakura's head but I noticed Sasuke was still taller than me.

Bastard.

"Ok then, here we are!" Sakura announced, opening a scratched wooden door to reveal an average looking classroom decorated with book-report posters and cheesy signs like, learn from your misteakes, misteks, mistakes.

"So how's this Kakashi guy then?" I asked, sitting on one of the desks and looking around, Sakura choosing a seat and Sasuke to stand, leaning against the wall.

"Late.Always. He's pretty cool though; isn't unreasonable for deadlines and stuff. Bit of a perv though, he always carries around smutty books with him, though he's not allowed to read them in lessons anymore," Sakura said, grimacing. I grinned,

"Yeah? How do you know they're slutty, eh Sakura?" I smirked. She looked at me, surprised, before narrowing her eyes mockingly.

"Shut up. They have a big red stop sign on the front cover, not to mention they're called Come Come Paradise," she snorted. My laughing came up short as I heard the name before my grin grew wider.

"Come Come Paradise? I know those!" I said before thinking. Sakura's eyebrows shot upwards and even Sasuke glanced at me.

"Figures,"he snorted and I glared at him, blushing.

"I didn't mean it like that! I know the author!" I clarified loudly. Sakura laughed.

"Sure Naruto, whatever you say," she said flippantly, turning the tables on me."But...I've always wanted to know, are they good?" she asked, looking at me curiously. I was surprised by her interest but shrugged.

"No, they're boring as hell," I said. She grinned.

"So you /have /read them!" she accused. I groaned, lying back-down on the desk and covering my eyes. Damn.

"I know the author!" I whined, making Sakura laugh harder.

"Hm. I glad you all seem to be getting to know each other nicely," a new voice said. Sakura's laughing stopped suddenly and I propped myself up to look at who I supposed was Kakashi. I stared.

He was very strange-looking.

For all I could tell he was young, in his early thirties at the most, but his hair was a white that was practically silver, shooting up to the side quite spectacularly. Half his face up to his top lip was covered by a tight black cloth and to top it all off he had a scar running down his right eye.

"Woah, what happened to your face?" I blurted. Kakashi turned coolly towards me and I snapped my mouth shut, instinctively raising my fingertips to my own, whisker-like scars marring my cheeks.

I was a pro at first impressions. Bad ones, that is.

"I knew I wasn't going to like my team," the teacher sighed. I frowned. Sheesh, that was a little harsh. Sakura spluttered. Sasuke snorted. "Naruto, Sasuke, grab a seat," he ordered, looking quite bored with the whole situation. I complied, sliding into the seat the wrong way around so that I could lean with extended arms over the back of the seat, straddling it. I watched Sasuke cross the room and raised my eyebrows in confrontation when he surveyed my position with his eyes.

"As you know by now, my name is Kakashi Hatake. I'm going to be your mentor for the next two years, so you're going to have to learn to work together." I glanced at Sasuke as he stared impassively on.

"Let's start with introductions then," he said lazily, as if we were a bunch of primary-schoolers.

"Introductions? Just our names?" Sakura questioned. Kakashi looked at her.

"Your name...what you like, what you don't. Your hobbies. Your dreams. Stuff like that." We stared at him. "Go," he said. Sakura shifted in her seat, looked around. I tried to think. Desperately tried to think mydreamydream but came up with chunks of music, with purple notes, with my mother singing in the twilight overlapped with the Red Mad and his grins of smoke and diamonds with the trembling roar of organs for fingertips.

"Why don't you introduce yourself first?" I said sceptically.

"Me?"it was like he was trying to pull off surprised but became bored half-way through. "Well...I have no intention of sharing my likes and dislikes," he started off.

"Pfft," I snorted, which he ignored.

"My dreams? Well..." he stared into space for far longer than could really be considered normal. "As for my hobbies," he said without finishing his sentence. I rolled my eyes. "I have lots of hobbies."

Well that was useful.

"Yeah, like being a pervert, apparently," I grumbled. His eyes turned towards me and it was a little disconcerting how he seemed to glare at me without changing expression.

"Hehe...Anywho, I'm Naruto Uzumaki." I said, turning to my other two teammates. Sakura smiled encouragingly whilst Sasuke seemed to ignore me. "I like music...and ramen. Idon't like...jerks. And expensive shit. My hobbies are..." I thought. "Painting," graffiti, "Singing and playing instruments," making noise with pans and glasses since I couldn't afford an instrument, "and eating ramen." I grinned. "As for my dream..." I paused again. I hadn't had a dream for years. I would go to bed, sleep, scream, sweat,wake up. And as for an ambition...as much as I loved music, it had always been enough to listen to it, or to play it to myself. Ididn't want to be a musician. I imagined myself in different ridiculous positions. Like a rodeo boy, or a milkman, or a clown. I wondered if I would make people laugh or cry.

"...Naruto?"I heard Sakura say. I turned towards her.

"Huh?"

"You've...been staring into space for like a minute," she said worriedly.

For far longer than could really be considered normal.

"Oh!"I laughed, "Sorry, I space out a lot. Er..." what had I been saying?

"Your dream, dobe," filled in Sasuke. I shot him a glare. Dobe?What the fuck, he still remembered that? When we were still in primary, he had found out my parents had been half-Japanese and decided to nick-name me in the according language.

"Shut it, teme," I growled. "And my dream...Be head police." It simply came out. Kakashi hummed in interest before turning to Sakura who had been staring at me.

"Oh!Er, my name is Sakura Haruno. I like reading and hanging out. I don't like hypocrites and violence. I do volunteer work at Brownies with kids as well as the Woman's Refuge and do boxing. My dream is becoming a doctor," she said. I was immensely impressed, if a little worried.

Boxing?

"I see." Kakashi then turned to Sasuke who was sitting rigidly in his chair. He looked straight-on as talked.

"I dislike more things than I like," he started. I rolled my eyes, imagined him in a Mr Happy suit and giggled. "My hobbies...aren't important. And the word dream is useless. I have an ambition, and that is to capture and condemn one man to the death sentence." The silence that followed had its hands around our necks.

"Interesting..."Kakashi said. Yeah, more like depressing. "That was all very interesting," he went on. "But that's enough for today. We'll meet up tomorrow at mentor time, which is after every lunch for half an hour except for Tuesdays, which is assembly. I'll give you your first project then," he said, and turned to leave.

"A project? Already?" I moaned. Sakura looked over at me as Kakashi, ignoring me, walked out of the classroom.

"It'll be something we have to do together. It'll be fun," she smiled. I grinned, leaning over the back of my seat with my arms crossed over the edge.

"Hey, anything that lets me spend some time with you is ok with me," I smirked. I had had a heavy crush on her when I was young and though my feelings had changed it wasn't because she was any less attractive.

"Oh, shut up," she laughed, rolling her eyes, though I noticed with glee that her cheeks were slightly flushed.

"So, what now?" I asked, resting my head on one of my wrists.

"Er, we should go to the common room. I can introduce you to everybody, they won't be long,"

"Great."

We got up, following Sasuke who was already exiting the door.

"You want to eat with us today?" Sakura asked at his retreating back. He turned his head slightly but kept walking.

"I already have something to do," he replied shortly. I narrowed my eyes.

"Don't be too friendly now, someone might die of shock," I drawled. Sasuke shot me alook over his shoulder.

"It rivals your intelligence, doesn't it. Or, should Isay, lack thereof," he smirked that damn smirk. What instrument would that stupid smirk be? An eerie, mocking finger around the edge of a wine glass.

"Shut up, teme!" I shouted. I heard his snort from behind.

"Oh, smart one," he retorted sarcastically. I clenched my fists.

"Ok, break it up. Jeez, what is up with you two?" she demanded, glaring at me and then at Sasuke's back which was still moving away.

"So, Naruto, I didn't know you sang," Sakura said, cutting through my frown. I turn a grin at her.

"Yeah! Loved music since the day I was born," I replied and spontaneously started clicking my fingers, skirting around her so I was walking backwards whilst facing her.

"So 1, 2, 3, take my hand and come with me
because you look so fine
and i really wanna make you mine."

I started singing. Sakura's mouth opened in surprise as she blushed, looking like she wanted to laugh but wasn't sure if she was supposed to.
"I say you look so fine
that I really wanna make you mine."

I winked at her
"Oh, 4,5,6 c'mon and get your kicks
now you dont need that money
when you look like that, do ya honey."

I drawled, halting in my steps so that she came closer to me and had to stop walking as well.

"Watcha think?" I asked through a wide smile, her face apace away from mine. Sakura spluttered, lifting her hands to clap feebly.

"You-sing very well!" She squeaked, looking surprised. I laughed, scratching the back of my head with one hand as I moved away from her, settling beside her so we could walk.

"Aw, thanks," I replied.

"No, really, you do! That rasping...edge thing was..." she trailed off.

"Hot?Sexy? Orgasmic?" I filled in cheekily. Sakura narrowed her eyes at me, still blushing.

"Nice!I was going to say nice," she insisted. I laughed loudly.

"Riiiight..."

"Oh...shut up."

In front of us Sasuke took a corner and for a second our eyes locked and something seemed to jump between us. Animosity, only deeper, stranger.Something sparked inside me, surprised at the look.

"Over here," Sakura said, pulling me away from him, down another hall. Sasuke walked away without looking back.

OoO

"I am /starving/!" A boy exclaimed. I had been flicking through the few CDs the common room held whilst Sakura chatted with a few girls in the year above when people started streaming in. Apparently it was break-time already.

I followed the hungry guy with my eyes, taking in his over-grown, shaggy brown hair that reached his shoulders in a mass of strands, pupils that were so small it gave him an animalistic look. He was wearing a blue T-shirt that said I Like It Doggy Style in large block letters. He practically lunged at a bag settled on the seat next to mine and took out ameaty sandwich, eating almost half of it in one bite.

Rolling drums and a baritone saxophone with a high-pitched whistle to go with his T-shirt.

"Oh. Hey, you the new kid?" he said, finally turning to me after managing to swallow.

"Yep, my name is Naruto Uzumaki," I told him. He grinned.

"Welcome to the pack, then. I'm Kiba."

"Kiba, I hope you're not slobbering all over the new kid already," a female voice said from our side. I turned to look at the blond girl, hair pulled in a high pony-tail with a side-fringe. Mascara-rimmed blue eyes looked ruefully at Kiba. She had long summer-tanned legs fractionally hidden by a blue miniskirt, a pop-artish, tight strappy shirt over her front, which hitched up at the slightest movement to reveal a strip of skin over her stomach. Then her gaze settled on me as Kiba grumbled something under his breath.

"Hey there! I'm Ino" she smirked. I smiled back.

"Yo. Naruto."

People were filling the seats making a circle around the low wooden table where bags and packed lunches were already scattered. I looked around, feeling a little overwhelmed at the sea of strange faces, looking at me curiously.

"Kiba, you...you forgot this," another girl said, going up to the boy. I looked at the newcomer and found the opposite of the blond in her. She had skin that seemed not to have tanned very much over the warm months and startling grey eyes so light they looked white. She was dressed modestly in a flowing, ruffled lilac skirt and a nice shirt frilled at the edges. I knew her...

"Oh!Thanks Hinata," Kiba said, and it clicked.

"Hinata! Hey, we went to the same primary school!"I exclaimed, leaning towards her eagerly. She had been incredibly nice to me back then, even though I hadn't paid that much attention to her quiet ways.

She jerked towards me as Kiba stepped out of the way and suddenly halted, eyes growing wide.

"Na-Na-Naruto!"she stuttered. From the roots of her hair to her neck her whole face flushed brightly red.

"Yay! You remember me!" I laughed.

"Hinata, are you ok?" a new guy asked, clad with a high-collared shirt and some baggy jeans, dark hair and small sunglasses reminiscent of John Lennon. Hinata kept on spluttering until she seemed to run out of air and turned to flee.

"Erm...is she always that shy?" I asked sceptically. I remember her constant stutter and blush but not to such an advanced level.

"What's up with Hinata?" yet another guy said, but I noticed he was the large, slightly chubby boy who had sat beside me that morning. We smiled at each other. Beside him was an Asian looking boy; slightly dark skin, almond-shaped eyes and hair pulled in a tight pony-tail, making it stick up in the air like a brown palm-tree, who sighed profusely whilst keeping a slightly concerned look in his eyes.

Everybody was looking at me.

"Er..."

"Oh!Guys, I see you've met Naruto!" Sakura suddenly interrupted, and I turned to her gratefully. She smiled back and proceeded to introduce everybody. Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, InoHinataChoji, Trumpetclarinetbongos, name and face and name. I picked up singularities in each face, joined them with the sound of their name so I wouldn't forget.

"It's nice to meet you, Naruto," Ino said, crossing her legs on the seat beside mine.

"Thanks!Its nice meeting all of you as well, you've all been great. Specially Sakura, she's been showing me around dutifully all morning," I complimented. Sakura shrugged it off with a smile.

"So, where do you come from?" Choji asked, munching away methodically through alarge bag of Doritos.

"Whirlpool City. It's really wet there but at the beaches are great...if a little dangerous," I replied.

"Yeah? Why you move?" Kiba questioned. I tensed slightly but waved it off.

"Got bored and stuff. How is it like here? You guys like it?" I derailed casually.

"Yeah, it's cool. No beaches but great parks."

I hummed contently but stopped a little short when I saw the guy named Shikamaru, slumped in his seat bonelessly, looking at me with interest. I avoided his look as if his gaze could interpret my secrets, but when curiosity and paranoia made me look back he was staring at the ceiling, yawning. I relaxed.

I was going to have to be careful about what I said about my past. Pretend the last four years never happened. Avoid getting close enough to be burned. But it was ok. I was used to playing with fire.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A/N

Another chapter so soon! You guys must totally love me by now. Huh?huh:D

Anywho, this chapter was really quite fun to write (especially Karin andSuigetsu :3) although a little wearing. All the meeting people and therefore description of their physical selves puts me on edge because I've always thought it was one of the trickiest things to write, since it's so easy to turn into Mr Boring-Pants with lists of colours and hair extensions and clothes co-ordination. As well as the set-out of the school (a parody of mine) I didn't want to make it too confusing.

So, tell me how the chapter turned out.

Hot?

Sexy?

Orgasmic?

Oh, no, wait a minute baby, that's yet to come ;)