A/N: WOW. UHM. So first off I just want to say I haven't written in over 2 years and I haven't updated this particular story in over 4 years...uuuuuhh surprise! I'm back! Honestly, I'm back because I now have the time. I've finished college, I'm freelance so I work from home aaaand yeah, I have plenty of time now.

ANYWAY. I have rewritten this story. I'm sorry but the writings of a young teenager is crap so I HAD to rewrite this. The plot is the same I'm just making it...better. I'm not sure if anyone from 4 years ago are still going to read this but for my new readers, ENJOY.

Also! If you don't know what ombrophobia means, you'll find out :D

OMBROPHOBIA

Chapter 1: First Day

...

"Naruto…" a warm hand gently squeezed mine, "are you ready for this?"

I squeezed back and sighed; quickly glancing out the window. I wasn't ready for this but I also wasn't a little kid anymore. I couldn't run away. Not anymore.

...

My problems began from before I could even remember. I lost my parents when I was two but that's not why I'm in this predicament now, no, it's how it happened that's affected me to this day.

I was 5 when my first 'attack' happened but at that time I was still in an orphanage, so there wasn't really anybody to explain to me what was wrong. I was a freak as far as anyone else was concerned. By the time I was ten I had lost hope in ever finding a home and accepted the idea of being alone…but then, a week before my next birthday, I met Iruka. He became a father to me before he even signed a single document. I was loved for the first time and wasn't pushed away when I had an 'attack'.

The first time Iruka witnessed one of my attacks, I felt embarrassed and ashamed. I thought for sure he would throw me back into the orphanage like the freak I was but to my surprise, instead…he understood.

It was then that I found out about my parents death.

I had never known much about my parents; all I knew back then was that they had died, plain and simple. But, Iruka told me the whole truth.

My parents were murdered.

On one particular rainy day my parent's life was stolen from them for no particular reason. Being nothing but a two year old at that time was probably the only reason I was left alive but not because they felt pity but because my weak, fragile body would have been useless in the cold, unforgiving rain, so I would have just died anyways. Why dirty their hands again when they could just let the elements take my life just as easily?

But, I digress, it was this fateful night that has stuck with me all these years. I might have been too young to remember much of anything but somewhere in my subconscious traces of that night stayed and has haunted me to this day.

...

"If you don't think you're ready…." I turned to look Iruka in the eyes and smiled.

"Don't worry Iruka, I can do this." Smiling back, Iruka gave me one last hug before I finally opened the door and stepped out of the car. This was my first hurtle.

In case anyone is wondering, this is my first day of school. No, not my first day of a new school year. This is my very first day of school…ever. I was starting my senior year at a school unknown to me.

The only kind of school I was familiar with was behind the walls of my home with Iruka. I had been homeschooled but when my 18th birthday rolled around I had, had enough. I wasn't going to trap myself anymore.

"Stay calm…just breath." I whispered to myself. My body shook but I shrugged it off as quickly as I could and looked up at the building that will now be my school and boy was it huge; I almost had the urge to turn back around and jump back in Iruka's car. Almost.

The school appeared empty but only because first class was already in session. I had woken up late, and by late I mean I purposely forgot to turn on my alarm clock. Luckily, Iruka had been kind enough to wake up early for me, so he made sure I got my sorry ass out of bed.

I inhaled deeply and marched up to the front doors. I wasn't afraid of going to school, although the building was a tad bit intimidating. My fears were because of what might happen while I was at school. Having an 'attack' would be trouble. Other people didn't react so kindly or as understanding as Iruka.

"I can do this!"

I gripped the door handle firmly and took one last glance at the sky.

"Just, please…don't rain…"

...

"We're getting a new student today."

Sasuke who hadn't been paying any real attention to his friends, finally turned to Neji, who had, at some point, leaned in close to him.

"A new student? In the second week of school?" He asked, a little more than skeptical.

"Yes, it is odd, but Kiba said he saw a blond headed, boy picking up a schedule at the front." Neji replied coolly as he motioned towards Kiba, who was sitting on top of his desk.

"I haven't seen him around and I don't remember him from last year, so he must be new!" Kiba added as he hopped down into his seat to lean closer to Sasuke, like Neji had.

"Hn." Sasuke turned away, losing interest in the conversation again. He wasn't a fan of gossip and he didn't really care about new students, so there was no point in discussing the matter.

"I heard, he's been homeschooled his whole life." At this new voice, Sasuke picked his head back up. Gaara didn't talk much but whenever he did it was usually always important. He never engaged in useless banter, only piping in when necessary a quality Sasuke greatly appreciated.

"Homeschooled…?" Sasuke was instantly intrigued. It wasn't everyday they got a student with such a…unique school background.

"He has homeroom with us." Shikamaru, who had just entered the classroom, interjected as he took his seat by the rest of the teens.

"How do you know? And where have you been?" Kiba asked grinning at the tired expression Shikamaru always seemed to have.

"It's much too troublesome to wake up so early for homeroom, so I slept in." He paused and laid his head down on his desk. "And I saw that blond kid in the hallway, probably lost, he's heading in this general direction though…" Shikamaru's voice faded away to nothing but a whisper and the other boys knew he was already fast asleep.

"You didn't think about helping him find his way to class?" Neji asked, though he knew the other boy was already lost to the world so he turned back to the rest of the group.

The classroom fell into relative silence, other students were busy actually working on their school assignments but the small group of boys didn't feel the need to bother with such trivial things. This was homeroom, a class they used to relax and ignore others and anyways the teacher was always late or in some cases never even showed up.

"This might turn out to be an interesting year after all." Sasuke whispered to no one in particular.

Just then the door opened.

...

I wasn't used to this, at all.

So far, in my life time, I have spent most of it at home. Never leaving except when I had to go to the doctor or when Iruka wanted to take me out to eat and even then I only left the house when certain 'conditions' were met.

And so this school, this completely new place I had never been in, was giving me a sensory overload.

I managed to find my way to the front office and in my daze I didn't even notice that I had been given my schedule and had zoned out the lady's instructions on how to find my class room.

So, here I stood, in a hallway so large and vast that I was already lost.

The school was massive; rows upon rows of lockers were lined on every hallway, making them seem almost completely identical. I was lost in a maze I had no hope of escaping. I was seemingly alone but every now and then I could hear the faint slam of a locker door, an echo from a distant hallway.

Only 3 minutes must have passed and already I felt myself going mad.

I heard footsteps from behind me and caught sight of another boy. Thank the lord. I wanted to ask him for help but he didn't even seem to notice me. In fact he didn't even look awake; his eyes were closed for Neptune's sake! Like a zombie he trudged along and I stood there staring, like an idiot, until he disappeared through a door at the far end of the hallway.

Frowning, I looked back down at my schedule. I had homeroom, first hour, in room 104.

Staring up at the numbered doors on either side of me, I realized I was actually heading in the right direction, go figure. Going with my gut, I went down the hall to the door the sleepy boy had gone through.

On the door, in bold letters, was engraved 'Room 104'.

"This is it." A sudden wave of nervousness hit me as I reached for the handle.

"No turning back." Gripping the handle I stilled to take in one last deep breath.

"Stay calm…just breath." I opened the door.

...

The staring was….excessive.

I peered at the desk at the front of the room that I assumed should have held an instructor of some sort but found only an empty chair.

"Uhm," I faced the class, "Hi? I'm Naruto and I'm new here…where's the teacher?"

Silence filled the classroom and I swore if no one said anything in the next second I was gonna go back home, no regrets.

Luckily for me a boy with red, triangular shaped, facial tattoos stood up not a second later.

"Ah, don't worry about the teacher, he's not gonna be here for awhile," the boy grinned, "come over here and sit with us blondie!"

He made an exaggerated motion towards himself and the group he stood by which only really succeeded in making me feel like he was trying to coax me over like a puppy.

Nevertheless, there didn't appear to be any empty desks anywhere else, so I didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

As soon as I was within range, the boy with the strange facial tattoos threw an arm around my shoulders and tugged me over to an empty seat.

"Welcome to Room 104, blondie." The boy sat down in front of me, his grin widening.

"My name's Naruto-"

"I'm Kiba," He cut in, "this here is Neji; the sleeping one beside you is Shikamaru, you might have seen this jackass already. Behind you is Gaara, and last but certainly not least, Sasuke." His hand, which had been casually pointing to each boy, came to a stop in front of Sasuke and Naruto couldn't help but look.

The guy was handsome, there was no point in denying it but it was the look on his face that really threw me off. As soon as my eyes landed on his face I was met with a hateful glare.

Panicked, I tried to recall what I might have done to deserve such a look but seeing as we've never met I came up blank.

'What the hell is his problem?'

"Don't mind him, blondie." Kiba said, and I secretly thanked him for the chance to finally break eye contact with the glaring boy. "Sasuke's like that, you'll get used to it."

Said boy flung his pen at Kiba, and I couldn't stop the laugh when the pen hit him right between the eyes.

"So, Naruto, is it? There's a rumor that you were homeschooled before coming here?" Neji, asked inquisitively. I turned to the boy and was caught by his stare. His eyes were sharp and mesmerizing and a pale white I had never seen before. Was everyone at this school so strange?

"Yes." I finally managed to answer. "That is true. This is actually my first day in a proper school."

"You seem pretty normal for someone who was homeschooled. There must be something wrong with you, hm?" Kiba interjected, head tilting to the side.

"What?" I could feel my face heat up. Anger, embarrassment and fear ran through me. Had I been found out already? Was the word FREAK printed on my forehead? Was it that obvious? "Nothing is wrong with me!" I angrily whispered. I could tell the whole class was attempting to listen in so I wasn't going to make it easy for them.

Kiba laughed, "I'm only kidding, blondie."

"My name is Naruto." I gritted out.

"There's no point reasoning with him Naruto. You can't teach and OLD dog new tricks." Neji said with a smirk, Kiba looked especially offended. The look on his face made me laugh for the second time in only a few minutes.

The bell rang.

"He didn't show up again." Sasuke sighed as he got up, followed by the rest of his group.

"Wait? Class is over, what happed to the teacher?" I hadn't even had a chance to take off my bag when already I had to go looking for my second class, oh joy.

"Kakashi has a habit of never showing up sometimes, you'll get used to it." The black haired boy shrugged his bag over one shoulder and left.

My list of things I have to get used to was quite full and after this first class I had a feeling I was going to need more room.

The class cleared out quick and before I could even ask where to find my next class the room was empty.

I groaned and ruffled my hair as I stared down at my schedule. Calculus, room 303.

Having no clue where to begin looking, I slowly got up and headed toward the door. Stay calm and breath...it was going to be a long day.

"HEY!" Startled, I almost dropped my bag when I saw Kiba pop back into the room.

"What?" I asked nervously, surely he was gonna beat me up now or something.

"I almost forgot you're new here." He laughed and reached for my schedule. "Do you need help finding your next class?"

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding and smiled.

"Please."

Everything was going to be okay.

A/N: I'm a little rusty but hopefully it wasn't too awful? Reviews would be lovely!