Looking back the beginning comes off as a little corny in my opinion – but PLEASE give it a chance and read on, it should get better(I don't want to say "it gets better" because then I sound really full of myself but by the sounds of what I'm saying now it comes across that I have no confidence in my writing and the story's no good lol) Please read it, hopefully you'll enjoy it and review if you like – Thankyou =)

Naru brushed her hair then carefully swept the long golden strands into a pony tail, smiling at herself in the mirror the whole time. She could hardly wait until the evening. Her sapphire eyes sparkled with joy and excitement – and love for Sasuke.

It was their one year anniversary.

After 12 months of pining after each other in their final year of middle school Sasuke had finally confessed his feelings to Naru. She had accepted them with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. They had then embraced each other tightly, wishing that time would stop and their moment would never end. Unfortunately the moment had to end, but over the last year Naru and Sasuke's love for each other grown stronger and stronger despite their personalities being total opposites.

Sasuke was subdued and serious, whereas Naru was stubborn and headstrong not to mention constantly hyper, but they both possessed a great understanding of each other and for what ones personality lacked, the other was sure to make up for it. Cheesy as it is, they completed each other and when they were together Sasuke opened up a little more and Naru slowed down and acted calmer.

"NARUUUUUUUU!" Yelled her Godfather Jiriya, "GET YOUR ARSE DOWN HERE NOW IF YOU WANT ME TO DRIVE YOU TO SCHOOL! I GOTTA GET THIS MANUSCRIPT TO MY EDITOR BY NINE!"

"COMING PERVY UNCLE!" Naru screamed in reply, grabbing her bag and rushing downstairs.

In the car Naru noticed her Godfather was looking at her strangely.

"What?" She asked, furrowing her brow in suspicion.

Jiriya shook his head.

"Nothing," he said, "you're awfully quiet this morning that's all – something on your mind."

Naru grinned widely.

"It's nothing bad," she said.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence, Jiriya concentrating on the road and Naru gazing dreamily out of the window. In her head she was replaying numerous different fantasies of what it could be that Sasuke had to tell her after school. She held her face in her hands and blushed wildly, thinking of the possibilities.

Yesterday Sasuke had cornered her looking serious, saying that he needed to talk to her and that it was very important. Naru was busy at the time, she had to go out and buy the ingredients for ramen that she had forgotten to get for her cooking club. She knew that Choji – the club president would kill her if she turned up without them, so she had no choice but to beg Sasuke to let it wait. He had looked uncomfortable and almost a little guilty he reluctantly agreed to tell her tomorrow, this had puzzled Naru but she chose not to dwell on it.

"Naru?" Jiriya started as she got out of the car.

"Hm?"

"If there is anything..."

"Really – there's nothing," she reassured him, smiling, "hurry up and get your weird ecchi-ecchi book to Tsunade, you know how pissed off she'll be if you're late again."

"There is nothing wrong with what I write" replied Jiriya stiffly whilst Naru laughed as she slammed the door shut.

*

"Good morning!" Naru sang as she bounded into the room.

"'morning" chorused her fellow sophomores in response.

"Morning Sensei! You're surprisingly early today!" Naru yelled waving madly at her home room teacher who was slouched at his desk, his face buried in one of her Godfathers perverted novels.

Professor Hatake looked up from his book and indicated to the clock.

"Naru," he sighed, "you are aware that the clocks went forward an hour last night aren't you? - you're the one who's surprisingly late today – get to your seat idiot."

Naru marched to her seat, chunnering abuse under her breath, most of which was directed at Jiriya:

"Stupid pervert of a Godfather – can't pay attention to when the clocks change... frikkin' idiot... I hope Tsunade punches you for being late..."

She threw her bag down so aggressively that the content of the bag burst out onto the floor and she had to spend the next few minutes awkwardly retrieving her various possessions from around the room. Kiba, her best friend who was sat in at the desk adjacent to hers was stuck in uncontrollable fits of laughter. He choked and spluttered as Naru recovered one of her tampons from under Kakashi's desk, her head bent in mortification. Meanwhile, two rows back, Sasuke sat quietly contemplating. A dark realisation seemed to spread across his perfect featured, distorting them in sadness. As Naru walked back to her seat, she caught his eye and thoughts of the uncomfortable way he had been talking to her yesterday returned. She tried to shake off the foreboding feelings that had stated to engulf her, but even as she let her mind be conquered by other thoughts over the course of the day – it was still there, taunting her.

"Oi Naru" Kakashi-sensei called as she attempted to sneak out of the classroom at the end of the day.

Naru slunk over to him, sending him wounded looks and puppy-dog eyes.

"Sensei~" she whined pathetically, "is there any way you can let me go~? I have to meet Sasuke~"

Kakashi raised his eyebrows. After a moments hesitation he slowly said:

"Your Godfather's new book – I want it before scheduled the release date. You promise to get it me – I let you go."

Naru hid her smirk behind her hand, so easy! She thought and hurriedly agreed to his terms, dashing out of the classroom before he had a chance to change his mind.

*

"Sorry to keep you wait-" Naru stopped, surprised to see Kiba standing next to Sasuke.

"Kiba? What're you doing here?"

Both boys shifted uncomfortably on the spot – neither one meeting Naru's eyes.

"He was waiting with me," Sasuke finally said.

"Oh," blinked Naru, seemingly satisfied, "shall we go, Sasuke?"

Sasuke gave a curt nod in reply and after Naru waved goodbye to Kiba, the two of them walked to the benched picnic area where they and their friends usually gathered for lunch. Naru approached their regular bench with the intention of sitting down, noticing that Sasuke possessed no such inclination she remained standing.

"Naru," Sasuke said solemnly, "we need to talk."

"is it about my anniversary present?" Naru laughed, but stopped abruptly at the sight of the expression that befell Sasuke's prominent features.

"Our anniver- no!" he slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"I was only kidding!" Naru blurted, "I didn't get you anything either, I know how much you hate things like that."

Sasuke gave her a penetrating look.

"Naru, I'm sorry."

"What? About forgetting our anniversary? Don't worry about it – it's so unlike you to be so strongly affected by something so trivial. When two people are so deeply in lo-"

"I'm transferring classes."

Naru gazed at him for a moment.

"W-What? When?" she asked timidly.

"Tomorrow."

Naru was quiet whilst processing this sudden new information.

"Is that what's been bothering you?"

He nodded.

Naru laughed and slapped him on the back:

"You idiot! As if that's going to change things between us! We'll still see each other at breaks and lunch and-"

"It's over Dobe."

Naru froze. She must have misheard him. That can't have been right.

"A new class, a new start. During the time that I have been seeing you my grades and rate of improvement has fallen dramatically. I'm getting further and further behind Itachi in the line to the Uchiha family business. When he was this age he was already studying at a university level – the gap is still widening, I must beat him and as long as I'm with you I'll never catch up!" Sasuke inhaled, his eyes burning with hatred for his older brother and the shadow that he was forced to live in. "Principle Orochimaru-sensei has agreed to give me extra tutoring in return for me doing the same for his daughter Karin – she's in the class I'm transferring to, that way it'll be easier and I'll waste less time doing pointless activities."

Naru stared at him, tears rolling silently down her oddly marked cheeks, her chest heaving with silent sobs. So time with me was wasted? She wanted to shout- but the huge lump in her throat prevented her from doing so.

He looked at her for a long moment, his eyes were cold and distant.

"Goodbye," he said in a hollow, empty voice before walking away without looking back.

As he vanished around the corner Naru's tears continued to fall with no sign of stopping, she found her voice and began to wail uncontrollably. The cries resounded throughout the school grounds, forcing Sasuke to use a wall to support himself as he tried to keep his own pain inside. He clenched his fists and bit down hard on his lower lip – but his eyes betrayed him. Bitter tears poured out of them, he slid to the floor and covered his face with his hands. He did not know how long he stayed like that, but when he finally looked up the sun was descending onto the horizon turning the sky ultraviolet. Naru was long gone – Kiba would have escorted her home, he thought smiling bitterly whilst staggering to his feet. Well, that had been his intention anyway. He only hoped that he had not misjudged Kiba's character. Kiba was not the type to take advantage someone when they were feeling so vulnerable. Then again, people did idiotic and out of character things when they were so hopelessly in love as Kiba was with Naru. Sasuke had seen the way Kiba looked at her, always looking at her. Looking at her like she was some sort of precious treasure that could break at the slightest mishandling. Might he try and catch her on the rebound? It would be so easy for him to win her affection!

No. Kiba would never do anything like that, he wouldn't ever do anything that had the slightest chance of Naru getting hurt as a result of it.

The thought had crossed his mind though.

As Naru had rushed into his arms in a state of total despair, holding on to him so tightly that he struggled to breathe Kiba could not help but think about it.

"N-Naru," he choked, pulling her back by her shoulders.

She looked up at him with her eyes brimming with tears, he pulled her close to him – the sight of her like this was unbearable for him.

She clung to his hand the whole way as he guided her home. She resembled a small child the way she used her free fist to nuzzle her eyelid and how she pouted and snivelled at the ground.

Her front door had bee open and as they walked in they could hear Jiriya talking to his editor over the phone:

"Yes, Tsunade I know it does wonders by taking years off your face – but that's no excuse to be two hours late for a meeting because you were getting botox." Jiriya saw Kiba and Naru stood in the doorway and winked at them, he took the phone away from his ear and put his hand over the mouth peace, "Thanks to Tsunade's surgeon's blunder with her botox application Tsunade didn't realise that I messed up the meeting times!" He laughed, but then stopped abruptly noticing that something was wrong.

"Jiriya-san," Kiba began, "Na-"

Naru snatched her hand away from Kiba's grasp and then sprinted to her room with her head down. Once inside she flung her body against the door slamming it shut and then once more, burst into tears. She managed to stumble to her dressing table and sit in front of it. Looking up into the mirror she recoiled at her reflection. The person inside the looking glass was a complete stranger to Naru. Her cheeks were pale and tear stained and her lips were white from being clamped together so tightly whilst trying in vain to hold back her cries. Her blue eyes that normally shone with vitality were now dark and lifeless with a shallow wrinkle between her eyebrows where she had screwed them together. One long strand of hair was sprawled across Naru's face, she pulled it behind her ear and her mind went back to a day just under a year ago, where she and Sasuke had sat on the edge of her bed staring at the two of them reflected in that very same mirror. They had looked at each other, then at the mirror again, laughing and full of giddiness. Sasuke had been stroking her hair, bringing the tips to his lips and then brushing it softly against his cheeks.

"What are you doing?" Naru had asked the Sasuke in the mirror.

He smirked shyly at the Naru in the mirror.

"You look beautiful with long hair," he had replied.

She grinned back shyly, bringing her knees up to her chest and buried her head in them in a fit of bashfulness.

Naru plunged her hand into her bag, reaching around frantically inside. Her hands suddenly closed around a pair of scissors. She pulled them out and started hacking violently at her hair. Long clumps fluttered to the ground littering the floor, turning the dark carpet golden. She then slung herself face down onto her bed and stayed there weeping until she feel into an uneasy sleep.

Her throat was dry and scratchy when she awoke, she tried to speak but only a small croak came out. She was handed a glass of cold water and gulped it down gratefully. Her vision was blurred though tiredness, but her Godfather's face slowly came into focus. His expression was kind and concerned.

"What time is it?" she murmured.

"You slept a whole 24 hours Hun," Jiriya said, eyeing the wild tips of her untidily bobbed hair.

The rest of which, she noted, had been cleared away. She felt the back of her hair gingerly and rubbed the nape of her neck which now felt naked and exposed.

"I could call Tsunade to come fix that up for you," Jiriya said gently, "you know, before school tomorrow?"

Naru realised that this was her Godfather's awkward, round-about way of checking whether she felt that she could cope with going into school the next day. She attempted to smile at him – but her sorry endeavour only filled his eyes with more sadness. She stopped and nodded weakly instead. Jiriya looked a little relived at this, he had no idea how to cope with a depressed teenage girl for a whole day alone together.

Tsunade took one look at Naru's face and hair, then ordered Jiriya to go out and buy every piece of chocolatey confectionery he could find and a family-sized tub of ice cream.

"The best medicine," she assured him.

Whilst he was out, she set to work on Naru's misshapen birds' nest of a hairstyle. She evened up the ends and then layered it, making the jagged mismatched strands seem deliberate and stylish. Overall she did a great job, Naru even gave her a genuine smile as Tsunade held the mirror up to her face.

The rest of their evening was spent curled up together on the sofa whilst engrossed in the dramatic story lines of numerous teen-dramas as they shovelled ice-cream and candy into their mouths. Jiriya watched them in horror. Wanting to stay in the room so he could keep and eye on Naru, he had been forced into the corner of the room and was uncomfortably bent over a novel, occasionally sent out the room by Tsunade to restock the ever shrinking mountain of snacks.

*

Naru stood outside the classroom staring at the door with grim intent, she inhaled deeply before she grabbed the handle and slid open the door. The atmosphere of the room became quiet and awkward on her entry. Apprehensive eyes fell upon her, rested there for a moment then quickly looked away before settling there once more. Paranoia seized Naru as she walked stiffly to the back of the room where Kiba was stood, she used her arms to envelop her torso and make herself smaller. Whispers began to circulate all around her making the air around her thick and heavy. She gave sharp intakes of breath as it became difficult to breathe. She clutched her chest which had become tight and grabbed onto the nearest desk for support. Kiba dashed towards her using his arms to shield her from the voices. He pulled her to the back of the room, where he had been stood previously.

One girl said in a loud drawl:

"Oh my god~ Have you seen what she's done to her hair?"

He shot her a murderous glare making her shut up immediately. Hinata, Sakura and Ino rushed over to help Kiba comfort their friend. Choji looked up from his post-breakfast snack whilst Shikamaru continued slump over his desk and drool in his deep sleep.

"I'm okay" Naru said weakly with a worn smile. Her four friends wore matching expressions of sympathy, the three girls threw their arms around her in a tight embrace whilst Kiba stood beside them awkwardly wondering whether he too should participate in the hug.

"All right, everyone in you're seats," called Kakashi-sensei as he entered the room.

Naru found her desk and settled down in her seat, noticing to her utter bemusement that Kiba was no longer sat in the seat adjacent to her. Instead a lean, dark haired boy was neatly arranging the contents of his satchel out onto the desk. Naru peered over at the sketchbook that was hanging out of the boy's bag at an angle.

"Sai..." she read quietly to herself, she could not read the boy's surname.

Sai looked up and Naru jumped back into her seat in embarrassment.

"Er-" she started, but then was cut off by the boy's face - it was almost identical to Sasuke's.

"You must me Uzumaki-san, It's nice to meat you- please call me Sai."

Naru was disarmed by the boy's closed eye smile, he looked so much like Sasuke, but then completely different. His face was a lot paler and although Sasuke rarely smiled, his smile seemed a lot more real than the one Sai wore.

"N-Nice to meet you," she stammered, doing her best to feign a smile.

"Hmm," he said, opening his eyes and cocking his head to one side:

"that face doesn't suit you" he noted pointedly.

Naru's eyes popped open in silent rage, before she was able to utter a response Kakashi beckoned for silence and started the lesson.

*

"WHAT DOES HE MEAN "THAT FACE DOESN'T SUIT YOU"?!!?!? THAT BASTARD – GYARRRHHHHH – IT'S NOT LIKE HE KNOWS ME!!!!!!!! I'M SO PISSED OFF RIGHT NOW!!!" screamed Naru, kicking a can that was lying on the ground and sending it flying across to the other side of the courtyard.

"He's kinda right though," laughed Kiba nervously, "I haven't seen you this animated since-"

Naru's face dropped a mile, Kiba mirrored her expression realising what he had done.

"Ah, Naru I-"

"Forget it," barked Naru perking up immediately, "UGHHH! Who does that Sai think he is?!"

Kiba smiled, glad to have the real Naru back on form, even if it was due to another guy's influence.

"Ne Naru-" he started but stopped seeing that Naru had become completely absorbed with something else. Sai was making his way straight across the courtyard in their direction. Seeing that Naru had noticed he was approaching, he held up a hand and waved. Naru blushed – not knowing quite what to do, she jerked her hand slightly in an almost half wave.

"Yo," Kiba greeted him as he came within earshot, Sai nodded at him and smiled.

"Hello – Inuzuka-kun isn't it?"

"Ah, Sai right? Just call me Kiba"

"Nice to meet you Kiba-kun," said Sai politely.

They both turned to Naru expectantly, she looked away wearing a disgruntled expression.

"Listen, Naru-san," started Sai moving a little closer to Naru so that she would find it difficult not to face him, "I'm sorry if what I said offended you. I just said what I saw – it my have came out quite bluntly, but what I meant to say was-"

"Just forget it!"

The was a surprised silence, both Kiba and Sai stared at her in shock. Naru felt her cheeks grow hot and was painfully aware of the fact that her voice was shaking uncontrollably as she spoke:

"Just forget it – it's ok... a misunderstanding..."

Sai smiled again, "does that mean we can be friends?" he asked sincerely.

Naru made no reply - once more her attention had been caught by something else, for clearly visible through the window she could see Sasuke standing alone outside the copying room. An impatient look was plastered across his striking features. She was instantly transfixed by him and luckily she could not be seen from where he was standing – he would only notice herself Sai and Kiba all gathered in the courtyard if he were to walk right up to the window and look straight down. His arms were folded tightly to his chest as he lent against the door frame obviously waiting for someone, Naru was curious to who. The door to the copier room slid open, revealing a slim girl with fiery hair and glasses who beamed with delight at the sight of Sasuke. Sasuke nodded at her in acknowledgement and took the pile of papers she was holding from her arms and started to walk until he was obscured from Naru's range of sight. The girl followed him immediately, holding on to the back of his shirt – something he would have never allowed Naru to do. Naru's stomach did a sickening flip. What if the reason Sasuke wanted to get away from Naru hadn't been for the sake of surpassing his brother but instead for the sake of somebody else. The sake of that mysterious redhead. Her heart plummeted from her chest leaving an empty but suffocating feeling in its place. She clamped her lips down hard, desperate not to let any sobs escape – at least not until she was alone. She squeezed her eyes shut, but it was useless, she could feel the tears building behind her lids.

"Naru-san," a firm voice interrupted her turmoil. Her eyes flicked open in surprise, a few shallow tears flew from her face but were ignored as they splattered onto the ground.

Sai smiled, "If you wouldn't mind, could you please show me around the school? I'm not too sure as to where I need to be directed for my next class."

Kiba sighed with relief, although he hadn't seen Sasuke it was glaringly obvious that Naru had noticed something that upset her, he was thankful to Sai for drawing attention away from her upset if not a little annoyed that he himself had not been able to come to her rescue.

"Naru-san?" Sai pressed.

Naru regained a little of her composure, "yes, yes of course."

She and Sai turned off towards the main building, completely forgetting about their third counterpart. Shouting in annoyance Kiba ran to catch up with them, Naru laughed whilst she apologised, unaware that now she was the one that was being watched.

"Ne," Karin pried the detached looking Sasuke, "Sasuke-kun! Ne, Ne! What are you looking at Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke turned away from the window and dropped the photocopies onto the Principle's desk.

"Nothing," he replied, stone faced, "Nothing at all."