Ok, hi all, Ri-Chan here! This oneshot was written to clear a writer's block that i had, so this may be rather stupid, still, if you like it than enjoy. Review if you want to...
He always saw them. Hiding in the shadows, seemingly watching him. At night, when he woke up, covered in sweat and screaming from the red beast that haunted his dreams and gave him nightmares, they were there. Hidden by the shadows, faces covered by masks, each and every one different, all that of an animal. Watching him, always around, never leaving his side. But always hidden, almost impossible to spot.
They didn't seem to hate him, unlike the cold and hostile people that surrounded him in his everyday, glaring. Whispering. Staring. These masked people gave off an almost friendly aura, reminding him of companions, guards. They gave him strength, knowing that there was someone, some where, that felt differently from everyone else. They gave him strength to smile that carefree, half-fake smile and saunter through the streets as though nothing was wrong.
"Who are you?" One day, he gathered the courage to talk to them.
"What is your name?"
"Why are you always around me?"
But all he received was silence. He didn't understand. Why would they just stare at him, and never speak? Was the friendliness that he thought that they gave off only an illusion? His confidence began to waver, diminish, but he never ever let it show. He was the resident prankster of the village, loud, cheerful.
When he turned eight, these masked people simply disappeared. It was as though they had never existed, here now, but gone the next second. By then he was already deep in the darkness known as loneliness and depression, seemingly without any way to escape. Those masked people, did they truly like him? Did they not? Why were they there in the first place? But their unseen friendliness, true or fake, would act as a lifeline for all those years that he spent in the darkness, no matter how fragile it was.
He would always hold on, till that day, when he would introduce himself as Naruto Uzumaki to Team 7, for that day was when he began to see a way out of the darkness.
It's ridiculously short, yes I know, but i have no idea what else to write, if you have any suggestions, please review and tell me, or pm me.