Naruto Uzumaki is a 16 year old boy with eyes as blue as the sky and blond hair that could envy the color of the sun. Fox-like whiskers traced his cheeks.

It had been six weeks since Naruto had contact with school and his peers, apart from the occasional visit from his friends Kiba, Lee, Shino, and his old teacher Iruka. Aside from them, he spent the whole summer alone in his flat.

It was finally the second of September, the day Naruto had dreaded throughout his entire summer break. It was the day Naruto started his last year at Konoha Boarding School. He hated that place more than his loneliness. He had endured the name-calling, beatings, and death threats for the past four years and he really didn't want to have to for another, but the thought of this being his last gave him enough courage to face his final year of hell.

The morning he dreaded came, and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Naruto headed into the bathroom to brush his teeth. As he looked up into the mirror, he could still see the scars he had acquired over the years, the physical and the mental. Naruto never did understand why he was the butt of everyone's jokes, the one nobody could stand, the one everyone ignored.

Even his friends would abandon him when trouble started; they feared that if they were associated with the "loser" they would be tormented too. Naruto didn't blame them; he would never wish his kind of pain and suffering on anyone, not even his archrival, Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke hated Naruto with a passion, though Naruto could never understand why. But what bothered him even more was the fact that he couldn't hate Sasuke. Strangely enough, Naruto liked Sasuke a lot more than the thought; in fact, he loved him. Every thime Naruto saw the Uchiha, the same question would run through his mind. 'How could I love someone who hates me so much?'

It was 8:30 when Naruto arrived with his suitcase and school bag; he wanted to get there half an hour before anyone else came so he could get himself settled in. Fortunately for Naruto, he shared a cabin with his three friends, and it was the one furthest away from the school so Naruto felt safe once he got in. However, the trouble facing Naruto was walking past the other cabins and the thick forest, but Naruto didn't mind. He knew his safe haven was right at the end of the dangerous walk.

Nine o'clock came and the other student began to arrive. First to arrive were Naruto's friends, followed by a certain Uchiha and his gang of popular students- the very stuck-up and arrogant Neji, and the dangerously quiet Gaara, not to mention the annoying fan girls led by the obnoxious Sakura. Naruto was hated by all of them or so he thought.

Throughout the day, Naruto had been teased and taunted. At lunch someone chucked a carton of milk at him. As 3:15 rolled by, Naruto found his eyes watching the clock.

'Fifteen more minutes… Fifteen more minutes, then freedom.'

"Naruto, Naruto... Are you even listening to a word I said? NARUTO!" screamed Kakashi-sensei.

"Huh? Yeah of course I am..." replied Naruto.

Kakashi gave the blond a critical eye. "Then what did I say?"

"15 minutes left?" The blond gave his teacher the best sheepish smile he could muster.

Kakashi gave an exasperated sigh. "Naruto, it's only the first day, and already you're not paying attention. After the bell rings, I want you to see me, understand?"

Angry, frustrated, and embarrassed, Naruto stood up, throwing his chair back, which consequently smacked into Sasuke's table, and walked out of the classroom.

"Naruto, get back here now!" Kakashi yelled at him, but the blond had taken the liberty to ignore his teacher.

Naruto angrily slammed his fist onto his locker. He was so sick of this. He just wanted it all to end.

Just then, the bell dismissal bell rang, and Naruto saw Sasuke and his cronies race out of the class room, the thunderous expression on their faces directed towards him. He knew this was bad, so he fled for the boys' bathroom, hoping to lose the angry mob, but he had no such luck. Neji and Gaara stormed into the bathroom kicking down every door until they came across the cubicle Naruto was hiding in.

"What do you want with me?" Naruto asked.

"When you caused your little commotion in the classroom, you pushed your chair into Sasuke's!" Neji growled.

"Aww… Did I hurt your precious Sasuke-kun?"

Neji grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved Naruto against the bathroom wall. "Don't get cocky with me, you little piece of shit!" The Hyuuga was just about to hit him when a sharp voice cut in through the brouhaha.

"Oi, leave him to me."

Neji turned around to see Sasuke confidently stride into the room.

"But Sasuke…" Neji began.

The raven glared at his friend. "I said leave him to me!"

Neji let go of Naruto as Sasuke got closer to him, Sasuke rammed Naruto back into the wall causing the blond to cough up some blood. Naruto was absolutely frightened.

'What is he going to do to me? How can I like him when he treats me like dirt?'

Sasuke signaled Neji and Gaara to leave, and like pets they obeyed his command leaving the petrified blond boy and the raven-haired boy alone. Naruto sank to his knees, terrified of what the other boy might do.

Sasuke bent down to Naruto's level and stared into Naruto's saddened eyes.

'Why is he looking at me like that? What does he want from me?'

By this time, Naruto was crying. "W...what....what are you.....going to do to me?"

As Sasuke stood up and headed for the door, he turned around and looked at Naruto's tearful expression.

"I'll see you later..." Sasuke smiled at the boy. It may have been a weak smile, but it was still a smile nonetheless. He left the room, leaving a very shaken Naruto on the floor.

Naruto sat up a bit and hugged his knees. 'What did he mean by "I'll see you later"? And what was with that smile? He never smiles, and his tone was different too.'

Suddenly, Naruto remembered that Kakashi-sensei wanted to see him. Shakily, he stood up, wiped his tearstained face and the blood from his mouth and ran back to Kakashi's room.

After an hour-long lecture about how he would never succeed in life unless he paid more attention in class, Naruto faced the daunting walk back to his cabin, but something was different.

It was quiet, too quiet. No one was running about the place. There were no flying objects aiming for Naruto's head. Suddenly, he remembered what Sasuke had said.

'This is his doing, isn't it? I bet he told everyone to stay indoors just to scare me!'

"It's not going to work Sasuke, you can't scare me!"

There was no answer, and Naruto began to panic. Whatever Sasuke was doing,, or what Naruto thought he was doing, was scaring the crap out of Naruto. He broke into a panicked run, his pace quickening as he headed for the forest that led to his cabin.

Once he reached the forest, Naruto suddenly realized just how fast he was going. 'Why am I so scared? I should be grateful that everyone is leaving me alone, and there is no sign of that Uchiha anywhere. I wish he was here though... Wait, what am I saying? If he was here he would've probably killed me by now... But he's so cute... and he was totally different today, like he actually cared. No one has ever done that before. But why him? Why now?'

While Naruto's thoughts engaged in a mental World War III, he walked on, never noticing another presence following him through the dense, dark forest.

He wasn't alone.

Naruto kept on walking until he found himself in a part of the forest that he did not recognize. He tried to familiarize himself with the surroundings , but the marked out path was nowhere to be seen. Where was he? He had spent too much time on his internal debate about Sasuke that he had got himself lost.

'Shit! What am I going to do?'

Suddenly, Naruto heard some twigs crackle behind. He quickly turned around to see the last person he wanted to see at the moment.

"What the hell do you want?" Naruto asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Well..." Sasuke wasn't sure what to say. 'Damn… How do I tell him? He looks scared. Should I tell him?'

"Well if you're not going to say-"

Sasuke moved closer to Naruto, only to have the blond retreat a couple of steps back.

'Damn it, he is scared of me. Maybe this was a bad idea.'

"Look Sasuke, I'm not sure what you want from me but if you're going to hurt me, let's just get it over and done with. I'm too tired to fight."

Sasuke took another step towards Naruto, but this time the blond didn't move. He just closed his eyes and braced himself for the impact.

'Oh I hope this doesn't hurt!' But the pain never came. ' Where is he? Why hasn't he hit me yet?' Naruto opened his eyes to see the raven leaning right over him.

"W-what... What are you..."

But before Naruto could finish, Sasuke pressed his lips onto Naruto's.

Naruto's eyes widened. 'What is Sasuke doing? Why isn't he trying to kill me? Well I'm glad he isn't- Hang on, do I really prefer him kissing me rather than him trying to kill me? What am I saying?!'

Sasuke could see that Naruto was confused about the kiss so he pulled back.

Naruto blinked twice to see the Uchiha flushing to a red that could even rival the tomatoes that he loved so much. "What was that all about?"

"I-I'm sorry, I should go," Sasuke stuttered. He turned around to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Earnest, onyx orbs looked back to lock with questioning, cerulean ones.

"You're supposed hate me remember?" Naruto spoke, his voice trembling.

Sasuke's eyes bored into their azure counterparts. "Naruto...I never hated you... I..." By now, his face was so red, Naruto swore all his blood had flowed up to his head. "I... I... Like you Naruto, I like you a lot."