Naruto stepped off the bus to enter the Konoha High School. Kids were bustling around trying to get to class before the bell rang. He lifted bright blue eyes at the school but was knocked into. He slowly turned his head to see who knocked into him but the crowd was too thick. He sighed and shuffled forward, not concerned about getting in on time. He passed the open gates and sauntered over to the steps of the building sighing with relief that everybody had disappeared through the double doors. He walked slowly, unconcerned about getting in trouble.
He fingered his phone in his pocket as he walked to class, knowing that someone would text him and debated on turning the ringer on so when someone did call him, he could disrupt the class.
He got to his classroom, but didn't go in. He looked around the hall as though to find something that would delay his entrance into class. The blue lockers seemed to mock him as they didn't have to go and learn and get a job. They just sat around doing nothing but hold peoples stuff in the usually cramped gray hallway. He reached his hand forward to open the door and jumped because someone had opened it.
"U-Um h-hi," a black haired girl stuttered as she looked at the silent and motionless boy. "I-Iruka-S-Sensei asked m-me to come get y-you," she finished with a blush.
Naruto nodded but didn't move. The black haired girl tilted her head to the side confused.
He decided to use this moment to speak, "You're in my way." His voice was rough and irritated and he to hold back on what he was going to say after that. had
She blushed a deeper red and went back to her seat. By now the whole class was watching but Naruto just ignored them and walked over to his seat by the window.
"Naruto," a voice from the front of the room said. "If you keep coming in late, you're going to get suspended."
Naruto looked up at him, his blond bangs getting into his eyes. "Great, an extra day to sleep in. This school keeps getting better and better, Iruka-Sensei." His tone was sarcastic and the said man flinched at it as Naruto's bright blue eyes locked onto his own brown ones. He resisted the urge to turn away and ran a hand over his brown pony tail.
"Naruto," Iruka started, "It would also help if you respect your female classmates. Especially Hinata-san." His eyes were watering from the mini-staring contest and he forced himself to look away so he could teach.
Naruto stretched back as he looked around the room. The walls were covered in quotes and he re-read most of them for he always read them and ignored Iruka while he was teaching.
He then shifted, so that his chin was on his left hand so he was looking to the right and out the window. The view wasn't very interesting, especially in the morning when it was foggy out. It was the teacher's parking lot and all he would see were teachers bringing their stuff into the school. He sighed in boredom waiting for the bell to ring.
Iruka suddenly slammed a ruler onto his desk to get everyone's attention. Naruto jumped, his eyes wide and panicked as he looked around for the source of the noise. For a second he was six years old and was getting hit by his step-father, the only father he had known at the time. His heart was racing and he tried to stop breathing so the man wouldn't hear him or hit him again. In a flash it was over but he was still shaken up by it.
He looked around fearfully, and then bolted from the room with one thought in mind, 'Gotta find a safe place.'
He ran through the hallways and up the stairs his mind blank, as he went up to the roof. He pulled the door open and heard it slam shut behind him as he felt the cool morning air on his face and slip through his clothes.
He stopped in front of the door for a few minutes breathing heavily, and he reflected on how he had acted in class. It was obviously a reflex, although he was doing a lot better than before. His reactions were purely of survival and he knew that his Step-father had integrated into his system after all of the years of abuse he had suffered from him.
When he had first started going to Konoha High, he would react to every little noise although school had been a refuge to him before his step-father had died. Now that he was away from all of the abuse, he was terrified about his step-father coming after him even though he was obviously dead.
He walked over to the railing and leaned against it looking at the view of the city and the forest beyond it. He looked down at the ground and wondered if anyone would miss him if he jumped.
He felt something wet slide down his cheeks but he didn't move to wipe it away. After a while, he heard footsteps and knew that he didn't want to be caught crying by one of classmates. He wiped his eyes dry and looked out at the view his body tense with anticipation of the unknown person coming his way.
He heard the door open, and close softly and knew that whoever it was wasn't going to hurt him. His suspicions were correct when the person moved slowly, their footsteps seemingly echoing on the concrete and standing near but not too close to him and looked straight ahead as well, waiting for him to speak.
He recognized him as one of the people in his class, but he didn't know his name. He looked at the long black hair and the girlish face with gentle brown eyes.
"Who are you?" He asked turning away to look at the view.
The black haired boy turned slightly to Naruto, "We've been classmates for about three months now and you still don't know my name?" He asked, his soft voice breaking the tense silence that had erupted after Naruto's rude question.
Naruto shrugged looking over at him. "I don't make it my job to know all of my classmates. I have other things to worry about you know," he said his voice showing irritation.
The boy stuck out his hand and said, "I'm Haku." Naruto looked at the hand in disbelief. Someone wanted to know him and perhaps be his friend?
He reached over and shook Haku's hand while saying, "I'm Naruto." Now that that was done, he looked back out and asked softly, "Why did you come up here?" In a voice a little higher than a whisper.
Haku smiled gently, "Simple, you intrigue me."
Naruto looked over in disbelief, "How so?"
"The fact that you're always alone and you don't seem to mind it. Tell me, do you have someone important to you?"
Naruto looked out at the city and closed his eyes, picturing the one person that had helped him out of the mess he was in.
"Yes," he answered after several minutes with a slight smile on his face.
Haku looked at him and he smiled as he heard the predicted answer form him. He may not have had the important person for long seeing as his face and eyes were ones that told people that he was independent, but that was what made Haku worried, he was used to depending on himself and not other people. He looked behind him and turned around and started walking over to the exit.
He turned as he reached the door and told him, "Iruka-sensei is worried about you, you know that right?" And with that he left Naruto in his own thoughts.
Naruto frowned, unsure about what to think about that statement. He didn't want to make anyone worried about him more than necessary, he could take care of himself, the last ten years of his life had proved that.
He walked over to the door, unsure about whether to go down or not. He knew that he was going to be teased by his classmates, since they liked to feel superior to the ones weaker than them.
He turned the handle and walked back to class.
He walked back into class the moment the bell rang, so his classmates didn't really notice his return as they were leaving. He went to get his bag and walked up to Iruka's desk. He waited silently for his teacher to notice him and when Iruka finally did, he jumped and put a hand over his racing heart.
"Give me a warning next time you do that okay? I don't want to have a heart attack. I'm not even thirty yet!" he exclaimed.
Naruto gave a small smile and laughed under his breath for a moment then his face turned serious. "I just wanted to apologize for earlier," he started, the words sounding fake in his ears as though he didn't mean them when he really did. "For disrupting the class. I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry," he finished with a bow and looked his teacher in the eye.
Iruka didn't know what to make of it but it seemed like he was sincere with his apology and he smiled, his kind brown eyes lighting up. "I accept your apology Naruto. Now, I think you should also apologize to Hinata-san. If you don't, I'll make sure the cafeteria doesn't serve you ramen for a whole week," he lied, using the boy's infamous addiction to the salty food as blackmail.
Naruto's eyes widened but he smiled and hitched his bag onto his shoulder. "I'll do it by the end of break," he promised, while thinking that he didn't want his teacher to worry about him.
Iruka watched Naruto leave, a slight frown on his face as he wondered about Naruto's behavior. Was he acting like that so he wouldn't worry about him? He sighed and looked for Naruto's home information, which he got from the students on the first day of class. Perhaps now was a good time for a home visit and a talk with his father.
Naruto walked quickly, with only five minutes remaining of the fifteen minute break the students got after their first block class which was an hour and half long.
He looked around, silently cursing the once empty halls. He started running and almost ran into someone who was hurrying to their next class because the warning bell had just rung. He quickly apologized and looked around knowing that he only had minutes to spare before he had to be in class.
Finally, he caught sight of a girl with long black hair and he crossed his fingers hoping it was her, and ran over to her almost knocking her over.
He stopped and looked at her face and felt his stomach sink. Wrong girl, now what was he supposed to have for lunch?
He quickly apologized to her and started running to his next class just barely making it in time to his second block class.
He slid into class and groaned as he remembered that his teacher was Copycat Kakashi, who, it was rumored that he used past students excuses to tell the class. Sometimes they knew that they had been taken from a student in the hall from his excuses that went like, "Sorry I'm late. I was making out with my bo-girlfriend before class started," with an eye curve as a smile.
He had also forgotten that his teacher was notorious for being late. At least fifteen minutes late to be exact.
He heard someone sit down next to him and he quickly looked over not wanting to talk at that moment.
"Hello, I see you made it to class, Naruto-san," Haku said quietly, smiling slightly to show it was a joke. "Will you be running out on this one as well?"
He glared at the other boy until he realized that he was joking around with him, "Yeah, I think I'll make that a regular thing. What do you think?"
Haku looked quickly to the whiteboard as though the answer would appear there. "You know, you shouldn't skip class," he told him, looking at the overhead projector now.
"Um, I was joking," Naruto told him slightly pouting. "And why aren't you looking at me?" He asked looking hurt, feeling ignored.
Haku looked at him, "You know that you're a mystery right?"
Naruto frowned trying to figure out why he would ask that. He looked around almost wanting Kakashi to show up so he wouldn't have to continue with the conversation. He didn't see him so he gave in and asked him why he would ask that.
Haku gave a small smile and watched as Kakashi walked into the room.
"Let's talk about it during lunch, okay?" he asked softly, the loud calls of 'Liar' almost drowning out his soft voice.
Naruto nodded, puzzlement written over his face, as he turned to listen to Kakashi talking about some kind of complicated algebra equation he didn't care about.
He spent the whole class ignoring Kakashi and when the bell rang he jumped because he was so focused in his thoughts about what Haku meant. He scowled at nothing in particular and stalked off to his next class which was study hall.
He walked into class and sat down in a seat and took out his books when he realized he had no idea what he had for homework since he hadn't paid attention in Algebra and hadn't bothered to ask Iruka for the assignment, so he took out his iPod and selected a song and mouthed the words as he laid his head down in his arms on the table. He sighed as he realized that this was the first time since he transferred to the school that he had an actual conversation with a classmate even though it was a bit awkward.
He picked his head up as he felt someone looking at him, "I'm awake," he told the teacher, who had been looking at him, after taking out an ear bud.
The teacher frowned at him and told him, "If you don't have any work to do then read a book. You can sleep when you get home."
Naruto nodded as he got up to get a magazine from the bookshelf. He got halfway there when he realized that Hinata was in the same class as him. His heart thumping with anticipation he walked up to her table where she was studying with her friends Sakura and Ino. He looked over Sakura once, her pink hair reminding him of clouds in a sunset and looked at Ino whose blonde hair, much different than his own, reminded him of the sun.
"U-Um, Hyuuga-san, can I talk to you in private?" He asked quietly, his voice shaking because of nervousness. Ino and Sakura immediately broke out into whispers as soon as they walked out of earshot of the rest of the class.
"Y-Yes?" Hinata stuttered, as she lifted her head to look at him. Her face flushed red as the implication of the situation hit her. Surely he wouldn't ask her out, right? Not after the rude way he treated her that morning, but still her heart was racing of the prospect to Naruto asking her out.
Naruto scratched his head trying to figure out a way to apologize to her now that she was right there in front of him. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again. He did that a few times until he finally mumbled something.
Hinata leaned closer positive that she heard a "sorry" in his words but wasn't sure so she politely asked him to repeat it.
Naruto's face was red from embarrassment but he spoke louder and told her, "I'm sorry I was rude to you earlier this morning, Hyuuga-san. I know you didn't deserve it and my only excuse, as lame as it is, is that I'm not a morning person." He stepped back because he realized that while apologizing he moved closer to her than what he was used to with girls. After all, he never had any experience with talking to one so he wasn't sure if she was going to accept his apology or not.
As for Hinata, her heart that was soaring in the clouds not to long ago, fell and disappointment settled into her heart. She looked at Naruto and saw his face tense with the possibility of rejection. She realized how hard it was for him to apologize and smiled slightly at his attempt, "I accept your apology, Naruto-san. I appreciate it that you went out of your way to apologize to me." She said, or rather tried to say formally as she was taught by her father when she was younger, her mouth stumbling over the words so it came out a jumbled mess.
He only nodded as though he understood and he walked away quietly although Hinata could have sworn she heard a "thank you" coming from him. She walked back to her friends who were looking at her expectantly and sighed when she shook her head no before they could ask what that was about.
Naruto flipped through the magazine he grabbed and looked at it while daydreaming about ramen. He looked at the clock and saw that it was almost lunch time and while he wanted to have ramen he was nervous about meeting up with Haku, because he wasn't used to talking to people his own age and although he was curious about why Haku was intrigued about him he was almost afraid to find out. The bell rang and he slowly got up and walked to the cafeteria.
A/N: This fic is going to revolve around both Naruto's and Hinata's lives. The next chapter will be in first person pov with Hinata describing her feelings for Naruto and her life beyond school and her crush.
Please review.