I looked at the kitchen with disgust at the mess I had made. Once again I thought I could cook. The cake that I tried to bake now looked like a burned flapjack, and reeked of oven heat. There was cake mix all over the counter and icing littered the floor. Menma was going to kill me, was I could think. Shit! I had fucked up again.

Well it wasn't long before the smoke detectors also chimed in on my failure, there loud glaring alarms were sure to wake to my brother.

I hear him fiddling in his room, and within seconds he had opened the door. "Naruto, what the hell, man?"

I roll my eyes and tell him, "Go back to bed, man. I'm fuckin' on it."

"I told you, you can't bake." Menma proceeded to walk into the kitchen. That's the thing I hated about my brother sometimes, besides the fact that he's my twin. He was so pushy and assertive. Sure I wasn't the cleanest, but didn't give him an excuse to treat me like a child.

"Weren't you sleep." I said to his as grabs a towel and cleans the mess I made. He's black hair is slopped on his head and there are black circles around his eyes. He doesn't get much sleep without his pills, which I was sure he didn't take. Menma probably spent most of the night playing online video games.

"I tried." Menma said. "So this is what you try to do for our birthday, burn down the house." Our birthday was tomorrow.

"Well I wanted to get you something, but hey I lost my wallet yesterday at that party." I scratch my head, nervous, and give a cheerful smile to my brother. "You should come out with us tonight."

"You know I don't leave the house." Menma said.

"Well it's time you did. You haven't left the house since dad…" I trail off knowing that Menma had not left this apartment in three years, when they first moved here for college. He had been diagnosed with had agoraphobia, and the farthest he would go was to balcony for fresh air. "I know you're scared, but I come home everyday."

"That's your decision, Naruto." Menma said. "Everyone can't be like you. Some of us know how to bake a cake." He hummed as he threw my excuse for a cake in the garbage. "So what are you doing today?"

"Nothing much…" I begin. "Probably going to school then I'm going to drink myself to death. Maybe I'll come home."

"Oh you're going to bring another guy home?" Menma asks.

"Yeah. If you had blonde hair maybe we could pull a switcheroo." I smile at him. "Or maybe I can find another set of twins who are interested and have a brother who also doesn't leave the house at all."

"Who says I'm interested in guys?" Menma asks.

"Your porn search history." I chuckle. "Ever heard of private tabs?"

"You went through my laptop?" He asks.

"No. You told me I could use yours last week while mine was getting fixed remember." I reminded him. My computer was always breaking down, I should probably call mom and ask for a new one, but I didn't talk to mom much. It wasn't that I didn't like her, I'd just forget to call. Who wanted to talk to their mother everyday, especially after a long night at a college party, no mam.

But Menma, on the other hand, talked to her everyday. Any chance he could get to call mom, he would. Personally I thought it was annoying, because mom would never let me forget it. She'd always say "You never call, you need to be more like your brother."

"Maybe we could find you someone. Do they have an online website for people with agoraphobia?" I asked. I was very concerned for my brother. He had not had a real relationship with another human being since high school, and that was with a girl who was obviously lesbian. At least as far as I could tell. I had always been good at guessing people's seculaity, I have had a 99 percent success rate, although I think it's one hundred. I know Neji Hyuuga likes cock. I know it.

"No they have no such thing, I don't think." Menma said. "Although that would be a great idea."

"Well I'm sure there's online websites where you can find nice guys or girls…" I chuckled after saying girls. "To hook up with, or go on dates, or ones who like to have dates at their boyfriends houses with home cooked meals."

"Naruto I'm fine." Menma said. "I have my video games and I have Desperate-Soul-Eater to keep me company, fanfiction, you, and stuff. I have stuff that will keep me busy. I don't need a relationship."

"Okay. Okay." I back off. "I'm not saying that relationship will solve all your problem, I'm just worried is all."

"Naruto. We're twenty two years old. I don't need you to be worried about me. I already have mom down my back about living my life despite my disability." Menma said. "I don't want to go outside. I'm happier inside. I go out to that terrorist, isn't that enough."

"But you only go out for two or three minutes then you come back in." I sighed. "Maybe if you stayed out there a bit longer."

"Naruto I don't want to talk about this right now. Aren't you going to be late for class?" I look down at my watch. "Shit." I grumbled. "We'll talk more later." I go and grab my things.

"Sure we will." Menma called.

I tuck my things into my bag and head off to begin my day. Class was always a bore. "By Menma happy birthday." I said to my brother before I left.

"Happy Birthday." Menma said.

Walking down the hall I notice the door next to my apartment open. Someone new is moving in, I think. And on cue I see men carrying in boxes. Who will be our new neighbor I wonder? My last neighbors were quiet. For the longest I wondered did someone actually live there, until I met the old woman.

She was a sweet woman and she took a liking to Menma and brought him cookies every time she baked. Sadly she went off to go to a home, I needed to go visit her sometime. I should make a mental note of that.

Once I came out of the building the sun covered every inch of me from head to toe. I always loved the sun, and that's probably why I'd acquired a tan tent to my skin. My brother's skin was always more fair since he spent much time indoors. That's something I thought about often. Menma never got to get much sun inside of that place. Sure he'd get some because he'd go on the balcony for a moment or two, but other than that he'd stay in the house.

I strolled down the block and met Sakura at the end of the block. She was my classmate. She had the brightest pinks hair one could find. I'd known her since pre-school. She's the nicest person I'd ever met, but she also can be very stubborn. On the bright side she's a very persistent girl. That's why she was the best performing nurse in our major. I've never seen anyone give so much of themselves to something.

"Naruto. How are you?" She says with a wave. We began a stroll down the street.

"I've been swell. You?"

"Naruto. I've had so much work. My god. Isn't your head swimming with so much homework? My god. It thought Tsunade said she was kidding when she said this would be a difficult semester, but between this and my internship at the hospital it's killing me." Since Sakura was young she always teetered back and forth when she spoke. "Anatomy is the worse."

"I know."

"God. I would drop out if I didn't love it so much." Sakura said.

"Yeah. You gotta love it." I offered.

"What's wrong?" Could she since my low spirits. I'd just been feeling down about Menma. I can't force help onto my brother, but I hated to see him so wasted away in that room.

"Nothing."

"You seem unusually low in energy." That was true. Usually I was talking non-stop. Usually no one can make me shut up. "Are you sick? Did you not do the homework."

"I did most of it." I did try to do all of it, but I fell asleep and missing a couple won't kill my grade.

"Naruto. You've got to be better with your assignments. You don't want to be on Tsunade's bad side." She takes a breath.

"Of course." There's nothing worse than being on Tsunade's bad side. She was our professor and head of the nursing department. She is very kind, but she can also make life very difficult. She was also very serious about nursing.

"I mean you have to think of those kinds of things Naruto before you decide not to do an assignment." Sakura sighed. "You saw the way she chewed out Kiba on saturday." Kiba was studying to work with animals, but he shared in their anatomy class.

"Yes." That was a terrifying scene. Kiba actually cried. Of course I'm nervous, but there's nothing I can do. I haven't done the assignment.

"I can't let you look at my notes because that would be academic dishonesty and I'd rather not be kicked out of school." They take plagiarism very serious at our school. So serious that it's kind of annoying. Honestly I missed the highschool days where no one cared about sharing answers and teachers cared and were lenient. Now it seemed no one really cared.

It's what they call "real life." Real life is hard and no one cares if you fail because it's all your fault. That's real. That's true. And that Sucks.

"WE can buy sometime and you can do it before class maybe. Just be a little late. At least you'll have the assignment done. It isn't due till the end of-"

"Sakura. It's alright." She was stressing me out. "I'm cool. Just chill out."

"I don't know how one can be calm at such a time…" Sakura sighed. "I'll send a prayer your way and I hope everything goes well." Sakura smiled.

"Thanks and I'm sure all will be well. Now tell me about something else."

"Like what?"

"Your parents? How are they?"

"They are fine. My mother is a neat freak. She came to visit last weekend and was upset because my apartment was junky. I mean that's not my fault." Sakura said. "Sometimes she's so inconsiderate. I'm a nursing student with little time to even eat anything except for ramen let alone clean anything."

"I understand the struggle. I swear to god I would change my major if we weren't in our third year." Naruto shrugged.

"I love nursing. It's a passion."

"Do you want to be a doctor? Tsunade thinks you should."

"Yeah. I thought about it, but paying for med school is horrible. All the bills and if nursing is this hard, imagine what being a doctor would entail."

"It's all in the luck of the draw, I guess." I didn't know a single thing about becoming a doctor expect that it would take too long. I could personally never…

"It's your birthday tomorrow." Sakura chirped as we crossed the street. The streets were usually dead today. Sure there were a decent amount of people that if you'd never lived in a city you'd say that it's crowded, but for someone who'd been here for the last 3 years it was unusually slow.

"Yep." I smiled. My birthday is a special time for me, but I'm also sad I can't spend it with my brother. I rather not stay inside.

"You'll be the big twenty-one." Sakura beamed.

"I know. That means that I'll be drinkin without you, eh?"

"No way." Sakura wasn't turning twenty one till March. She talked about how she wished could buy her own wine, as she said it relaxed her. "I can't believe that I'm like the only one who isn't twenty one. Kiba, Lee, Temari, Ino, and Gaara are all twenty one."

"Ino is not twenty one." I laughed. "She doesn't turn twenty one till september."

"What?"

"Yes. She uses a fake ID."

"Well the more I know."