A/n: Well, I've recently finished 'Katawa Shoujo' (a FREE Visual Novel! Woot!), and now, I'm making a new fanfic on it ^^

Well, I'll tell you guys a few things now, so that later down the line (or really early in said line) you won't be asking to many questions:

Naruto WILL be pared with Hanako. This is set in stone and will not change. I've created his image for this fanfic to adhere somewhat to her own. Don't worry, Hisao will still be in this. He'll still be in the major events, but he'll typically be following Lilly's route.

This is probably the first time I've even attempted to write a slightly angst-y and depressing story, so don't be too hard on me: I'm not easily depressed so I dunno how to exactly go about this (suggestions would be welcome? They always are!). And I've never really played/watched/read anything that struck me that way...

Anyway, we'll be picking up from the start of Act 1 - "Gateway Effect", and moving on from there.

Key:

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Bold, Italic, or Underline – emphasis on something or a kind of name

.::Scene Change::.

Scars

Chapter I – New School...

There it was. The gates to the new school.

To tell the truth, he was kind of exited. He'd planned on getting out of his house for a while now. His parents had kept him home schooled since the incident, but the therapist deemed him healthy enough to go to school...

It was a different school, one that housed those with disabilities, but dammit, it was a change from his boring, lime green painted walls!

Uzumaki Naruto, or, what his name was to be while he was in the school, had been enrolled into Yamaku Gakuen sometime the past weekend. He was told all about the school, and part of the reason he'd been happy to go there was that he would get out of the house now...

...and they had dorms; which he'd excitedly agreed to moving into.

The more he was out of his house, the better.

And so, he stepped out of the Taxi with his mother, Uzumaki Kushina, behind him. He sent her a small smile, before walking off the rest of the block to the gates. The taxi driver was being paid to take his bags to his room, and his mother was the only one who knew where that was at the moment. He'd not bothered to find out what, he was too damn happy.

Well... he was happy on the inside. His face didn't betray any of that. His father had taught him well.

Namikaze Minato, the head of a somewhat powerful business, had taught his son to take over the family business when it was his time. He'd taught the boy all about emotional control, and as such, Naruto had taken to using it generously.

His mother wasn't ecstatic about it, but it was much to late to stop it. Minato had taught Naruto that when he was 7, and so, it stuck.

He didn't look completely emotionless though. He did show emotion, but for the most part, he had a blank stare.

And this was the face he wore when he came upon another student. From the looks he was giving the gate, he was probably just as new as Naruto himself was. So, when the other man had noticed Naruto, Naruto simply sent him a nod as he got closer.

He saw the boy flinch slightly, but ignored it. Probably just nervous.

He raised his hand when he was closer, in a small wave. "Yo."

The brown haired boy nodded back at him again. "Hi... you a student here?" He seemed to hesitate with the question, but, once again, it was ignored by Naruto. In reality, the boy was looking at the six strange marks on Naruto's face...

Indeed, there were 6, somewhat jagged, lines upon Naruto's cheeks. They appeared to have been made purposefully, but hurriedly at the same time. They weren't smooth, but had a bit of a 'zig-zag' to them. They weren't overly thick, but at this distance, Hisao could tell this much of them. He assumed that from probably 10 feet away, the marks would appear invisible against Naruto's tanned skin...

Naruto simply nodded at Hisao's question, then paused. "Well... I will be... I just got here." He said, pointing to the Taxi that was now driving off into the distance, his Mother no doubt in it too. He wouldn't drive away without her in it. They must have taken his bags to his room already... Which was quite a feet; they'd only been there 5 minutes anyway...

The other boy nodded, and seemed to relax. "Oh, that's good." At Naruto's raised eyebrow, he continued: "I thought I would be here by myself... The name's Nakai Hisao, by the way. Just Hisao will do..." he added at the end, probably not one for formalities.

Naruto nodded to him, and held out a hand to the boy. When the boy took it, he smiled, "Uzumaki Naruto. Just Naruto, too. Nice to meet ya, Hisao."

Little did they know; that marked the beginning of one hell of a friendship and school year...

.::Hallway – Class 3-3 Door::.

Making their way into the school, it wasn't long before they'd reached the doorway to Class 3-3. Surprisingly, it was both their own homeroom. They'd met their teacher on the way in, in the lobby. His name was Mutou Akio, the science teacher at Yamaku.

As Mutou paused to ask them both if they wanted to introduce themselves to the class, he was met with dual shrugs from the both of them, but just took that as a 'sure'.

Naruto, for his part, was only slightly nervous, compared to what Hisao's feelings towards the prospect looked like.

When he entered, he let his eyes sweep over the classroom without a care in the world. He spotted a few of the students that appeared they needed to be here, and thus, confirmed any hidden doubts he had about the school, not that he had many.

A tanned girl with a left hand ending in a stump, covered in bandages. A pink haired one that seemed much too happy to be here; and not far from her a dark haired girl with glasses. He saw some hand movements between them for a second, but brushed it off.

And the last noticeable one was in the middle of the room, sitting in the back row. One side of her hair grown out to cover the right side of her face. Though it didn't seem to work completely, as he could still see the endings of... scaring? He couldn't quite tell, and to cover up his confusion and curiosity, appeared to just let his eyes sweep past her.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed her relax ever so slightly, and filed that thought away for later...

"Please welcome our newest classmates..."

The sound of Mutou's voice broke Naruto from his thoughts. Had he missed important information already? Damn... way to start the year. As the class clapped for them, he and Hisao bowed. Where as Hisao's seemed very stiff, Naruto simply offered a short and relaxed one.

When a silence ensued, he subtly elbowed Hisao in the side. His justification for making him go first?

Nakai came before Uzumaki.

The boy sent him a withering look before he started with a quiet 'ahem'.

"So... I'm Nakai Hisao... My hobbies are reading and soccer... I hope you'll take good care of me as a new student..." he offered at the end.

Naruto continued where Hisao left off, and took a small step forward. His face was passive and calm as he spoke. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I have plenty of likes and dislikes... I have some hobbies... and I've no real dreams..." He finished lamely, but his eyes said he intended too.

Ahh... thanks Kakashi-nii...

At the silence that followed his introduction, Mutou broke in with his own seating.

"Hisao, Naruto, we'll be doing group activities today." Mutou started, gaining not only the boy's, but the class's attention. "Why don't you both go over to Hakamichi." He pointed to the dark haired girl and the pink haired one, the latter waving at them...

Mutou added at the end. "And Naruto, your seat will be by Hanako." He pointed to the only other open desk in the room, by the purple haired girl in the back row.

As Naruto looked over, the girl was nervously staring at both of them, but looked away when she was caught. Back to her work.

Naruto nodded to Mutou, but made his way over with Hisao, who looked a bit confused next to the two girls.

As he neared, he raised his hand to the girls, and nodded to Hisao. "Yo..." he drawled off, and from there, just simply took a seat on Hisao's desk. All the other chairs having been filled. He ignored their conversation, until the pink haired one began to talk to herself while signing to the other girl.

So the dark haired one was deaf? Well, it would explain why she was here and why the other girl was translating with hand motions.

Naruto and Hisao turned their heads to look at each other for a moment, a 'you-have-to-be-shitting-me' look, before turning back when the girl called out two nicknames.

"Hi-chan, and Na-chan!"

Naruto looked over to her, and faintly heard Hisao whisper 'Hi-chan?'.

From there, the girl simply nodded and said that 'it fit pretty well, right~?'

Naruto grunted and shrugged at the girl, but it seemed to obtain a good reaction from her, as she simply laughed dramatically. She started to sign to the other girl again, and it ended pretty quickly. He still couldn't see their hands moving though... damn they moved fast.

"Shi-chan wants to let you both know that she's Class Rep, and if you have any questions, to ask her."

Naruto absently noted that they couldn't 'ask her', but kept it to himself and berated himself for thinking that.

When both of them were quiet to her explanation, she almost attacked Hisao to be rid of it.

Naruto ignored them once more, and instead, took a look around the classroom. Most of the other students were partway through their assignment, but he noticed his eyes drifting towards the girl in the back again. She seemed to be working intently, and was nearly done already with the assignment.

He tore his eyes away from her before he was noticed, and found that Shizune was starting to become annoyed with them.

They soon began to do the work as well.

.::After Class – Lunch Brake::.

The tour that the two girls had given was surprisingly peaceful. Naruto half expected Misha to start excitedly pointing to every room and talking about them, even the one's that she had no clue even existed. But she didn't, and instead, they went to the major areas.

However, just before they'd left class, Mutou had called up Naruto when the work was finished.

.::Flashback – Just Before Class Ends::.

Naruto noticed Mutou waving at him to come up to his desk, and with a quiet "pardon me", to the other three, he made his way up through the groups of students.

When he got there, Mutou took him to the door of the class, but just stood by it.

"Naruto." Mutou started. "The school knows about your... difficulties." he man tried to be as polite as he could, but it just ended up being awkward. Naruto simply nodded to the kind teacher to relieve his conscious.

"We know you have problems with it's side effects. If you ever feel the need to just leave the classroom, feel free. Nobody will stop you and you have free reign to go to either your dorm, the bathroom or the Library."

Naruto simply nodded to the man, but kept his face indifferent. As Mutou sent his back to his group to finish whatever work they may have had left, neither noticed that someone was eavesdropping on the conversation, if only accidentally.

Hanako in the back watched Naruto's every step as he made his way back to the group, where he sat on Hisao's desk once more and remained there the rest of the period...

Naruto had felt a bit put out by that fact. He'd been told that the school did make exceptions due to the student's needs, but that was somewhat over the top.

Then again, he'd never been in a school like this before. He'd heard stories, but nothing ever like this.

He didn't complain though. His parents knew enough to give him his space when certain memories and feelings came back up.

He came back to the conversation when he felt Misha lightly kick his leg. They were in the cafeteria at the moment, and he was sitting across from Hisao, who was next to Misha. Next to Naruto himself was Shizune, who was staring intently at both him and Hisao.

When she made a sign, Naruto just turned to Misha. He didn't know a lick of Sign Language, and as such, didn't even try to figure out what she was saying. Misha took this as her cue to begin translating.

"Is there anywhere either of you want to go? Or anything you want to ask?"

Naruto looked at Hisao, who shrugged and pointed to Naruto. Naruto let himself think for a moment. Misha and Shizune had pointed out the bathrooms and Naruto already knew where his dorm room was (he'd gotten the key from Mutou).

So, he looked up and caught Misha's attention, but glanced at Shizune as he talked as well. "The Library. Yamaku does have one, doesn't it?" It was a rhetorical question, but he was answered with a positive anyway.

Naruto excused himself from the table near the end of the period, saying that he 'wanted to return and finish the last problem on the homework Mutou gave them.' With a wave to the girls and a 'fist bump' to Hisao, he was off and down the halls to his classroom.

.::Classroom – Just Before Bell::.

As Naruto entered the Classroom, he noticed he wasn't alone.

With a small turn of his head, he noticed the dark haired girl from the morning there as well. As he neared her, she seemed to glance up from her paper every now and then.

It was only when he'd taken his seat to her right that she seemed to ignore him. But he could see her tense as the minutes went by. At one point, he caught her staring at him from behind her long bangs on the right side of her head, but she quickly looked away from him when he met her eye.

Naruto let out a sigh, mentally of course, and turned his head slightly to her. He let out a soft smile, and tried to begin a conversation.

"Ne...?" When he saw her look over at him, this time with good reason too, he continued. "You're Hanako, right?"

He paused to let her answer. After a slight silence, he nearly missed her minute nod and slight bite of her lip.

Naruto smiled slightly wider. "Well, nice to meet you, Hanako-san. Name's Naruto." The girl offered up a smile of her own; abet a very small one, and nodded to him.

"N-nice to meet... you... too."

However, what little he had managed to get from her, was somewhat ruined when Misha crashed into the room. He noticed Hisao had entered before her and gave him a nod. The boy nodded back, before briefly shifting his eyes to Hanako, but looked away again after a moment.

For the rest of the day, Naruto could tell Hanako was glancing at him every now and then, but he just let her do about her business this time.

.::End of Class::.

As Naruto stood up to leave, he caught the tail end of Hisao's wave to him as he left with Misha and Shizune. Naruto simply nodded to him.

Hisao was definitely his first friend in this new place. He was sure they'd get along pretty well too.

As he was about to leave, he paused and turned to Hanako. The purple haired girl looked up at him when she noticed, an anxious look in her eyes.

Naruto simply smiled at her. "See ya tomorrow, Hanako-san." When he got a nod from her a few moments later, he was out the door.

Had he staid, he may have heard Hanako whisper: "...Tomorrow... Naruto-san..." before she'd gotten up and left to find a certain blonde female...

.::Naruto's Dorm::.

Naruto let out a sigh as he sat on his bed. His dorm room was pretty bland. He figured that all of them were, but he just liked to think that only his was.

He heard some kind of noises from outside, but by the time he'd opened the door, only Hisao was standing there. He could have sworn he'd heard another voice, but just sent Hisao a curious look.

Hisao sighed and pointed to the room labeled 117. "Some guy named Kanji. Strange one, he is..." Hisao trailed off here, and soon began to explain his conversation with Kanji, to Naruto. At the end, Naruto had an amused smirk on his face.

After a bit of teasing, both retired to their rooms. While Hisao had a somewhat fulfilling sleep, Naruto was up till about 1:30 am, before his mind finally let him rest...

.::Next Day – Library::.

Today Naruto was in the Library. He was supposed to be in class, but he'd not felt it today.

It wasn't because he just didn't want to go to class. In reality, he somewhat did, but he woke up this morning tired and somewhat down.

He knew from past experience that going to class would be very unproductive. So, he tried his best to ignore thoughts of the past and instead, found himself in the library. He found out, after questioning Mutou further, that he was only required to be in school. He wasn't required to be in class.

So long as he was in either the Library, Bathroom or his Dorm, and nowhere else, he was excused on 'Health' problems.

He didn't expect anything to happen today, but was disappointed when something did happen.

He was walking to the back of the library again, when Hanako herself happened to be sitting next to where he'd been himself. As he walked over, he caught her attention, and sat in the beanbag on her right, the book he had left in it was picked up as he plopped himself down.

He offered her a smile and a wave, which she half-returned, before beginning to read too.

And it wasn't until near the end of the Lunch period that he showed any other movement besides turning a page. He closed his book with a light snap. He'd memorized the page he was on, before he stood and stretched.

Having caught Hanako's attention when he did, he turned to her and smiled. "Well. I guess I'm heading to class... might as well get half a day in..." He added the last part softly to himself. Hanako had caught a few choice words in it, but just nodded to him.

He held out a hand to her a moment later. "Wanna come?" He smiled as friendly as he could.

He noticed Hanako having an inner battle with herself. Eventually, she 'invisibly nodded' again and took his hand with her left. With a slight tug, she was on her feet and both were heading towards the front of the Library, and then, after a wave to the Librarian, were on their way back to class.

When the door opened, the students and Mutou looked up from their work. Mutou nodded to them, and continued. However, Naruto felt the gazes of the class on him. He new Hanako was somewhat nervous as they walked, but he also knew that the class was watching him, not the extremely shy girl.

As he sat down, the class returned to normal, but he could hear whispers among them. He noticed Hisao sending him a raised eyebrow, but just waved him off subtly.

The boy took the answer for the moment, and went back to work.

.::After School – Student Council Room::.

Naruto simply sat back and watched as Hisao was crushed quickly by Shizune. The pained look on his face was priceless and Naruto had to stop his own evil laughter that was in tune with Misha's. He could see the hope of winning missing from Hisao's eyes now.

Risk was one hell of a game...

Indeed, he'd been invited to watch the match by the trio themselves. And he was not disappointed. Shizune was quick but deadly. Having taken most of the world by the middle of the match.

It wasn't until Hisao had lost that he'd agreed to 'think about student council'. Naruto didn't plan on any clubs. At least, he didn't really think he'd be able to keep up with most of it anyway. What with not being in school on some days.

When he was offered a round himself, he politely declined. While he was quite good at strategy games, he didn't quite play them that often. He had found that his father's training had paid off in that area quite well. He was no national champion, but he could hold his own in most games.

Instead, he and Hisao left for the Library. Naruto knew the way, but along said path, he noticed one of the doors open to his right. Hisao must have as well and began to walk toward it, probably thinking it was the Library from innocent deduction. What place's door would be left open if not for it being the Library?

However, before Naruto could tell Hisao he was wrong, the boy had opened the door and was peering inside. Naruto let out a sigh and walked over to get his newest friend, before he heard a voice from inside the room.

"Hello there. May I help you?"

Naruto froze for a second, but continued over to his friend, who was inside the room at this point. When he entered himself, he let his head tilt slightly at seeing the tall girl in the room. He missed half of her and Hisao's conversation until she let out a smile in their direction.

"Would you and your friend care to have a seat?"

Naruto blinked a few times, before nodded to the woman. But, she somehow seemed to not notice it. When he looked closer at her eyes, he noticed that they were a milky color.

So this one was blind?

He voiced his agreement this time, instead of nodding. "Thank you." As he began to walk forward, he heard Hisao echo him and sit across from the female blonde. Naruto chose to take the seat next to her, on her right.

As Naruto took his seat, he listened in on the girl and Hisao's conversation, only answering the girl when questions were direct towards him or both him and Hisao. He'd learned the girl's name was Satou Lilly, and she was in class 3-2: a class specifically for the blind and partially blind.

It was about an hour or two later that Naruto spoke up. "Ne, Lilly, Hisao. It's beginning to get late..." he pointed out the obvious. Well... obvious for Hisao, not for Lilly. He'd really said it more for her sake than his.

Lilly apologized to the both of them, but Naruto and Hisao just brushed it off. When she questioned them as to their destination, and got her answer, she offered to take them both there.

Naruto had explained to both of them at that point that he knew where the Library was already, but Lilly said she'd needed to see the Librarian anyway.

It took Naruto a moment to realize that she was talking about the brown haired young lady. The jumpy one that seemed to act much like a certain purple haired student... but less extreme.

It wasn't long before they were in said place, Lilly talking with the Librarian, who was introduced to them both as Yuuko.

As they conversed, Naruto noticed Hisao walking to the back of the Library, and let his eyes travel there. When he noticed Hanako there too, he smiled. The girl looked like she needed some friends, and Hisao seemed like a nice enough guy. He also caught the book in his hands and filed that information away. So he was a science fiction kind of guy?

He simply leaned against the entrance to the Library and began to think about the day.

He sighed when he finished... well, there wasn't much to think about. Not a lot happened, besides meeting Hanako in this very place earlier that day.

With a quick departure to Lilly, Yuuko, Hisao and Hanako, he made his way out of the Library. He wasn't much of a person to read, but he did it to take his mind off of his past. He was about to continue his trek down the hallway, when he heard the door to the Library slam open, and then shut.

He paused, and turned around. As he walked back to the corner to pear around and see what was happening, something ran into him.

When he stumbled back slightly, he reached out and held onto the object that ran into him to steady himself. When he had his balance back and looked down, he saw the somewhat fearful look Hanako was giving him. He let go of her shoulders after a moment, and took half a step back.

"H-Hanako-san?" He said with a bit of confusion. The girl just continued to stare up at him, but shook her head lightly. She walked around him and down the hall, a soft apology escaping her lips.

Before she could get out of talking rage, Naruto called out to her. "Are you... ok?"

The girl paused and nodded without looking back at him. He saw her taking trembling breaths as she did her best to remain calm.

When he heard a familiar tapping behind him, he turned to see Lilly walk around the corner and turn in their direction.

"Hanako? Naruto? I heard your voices..." Naruto nodded, but once again, remembered that she wouldn't see it.

"Yeah, we're both here Lilly." he turned back to Hanako, who was making her way back to both of them, slowly.

When she got within range, Lilly reached out in front of her and grabbed Hanako's shoulder. She turned her head slightly to Naruto, and he got the idea.

"I'll just... let you two be..." As he began to walk down the hallway again, he paused beside Hanako, and when he caught her gaze, he simply nodded to her and went on his way again.

He did know that feeling after all. That look in her eyes told him more than any book ever could. He knew it...

That overwhelming fear...

.::Next Day – Lunch Break::.

Naruto let out a soft sigh as he finished the two problem homework Mutou assigned the class. It was relatively simple. All he had to do was read and then answer the two problems.

He let his gaze slide to the left, and caught Hanako studying... wait, she hasn't turned from that page in a bit. So maybe she wasn't studying?

He saw her glance to the back of the room, and raised an eyebrow. Was she waiting for someone? Possibly Lilly?

He caught movement out of his peripheral vision and saw Hisao walking over. For a moment, he assumed that it was to talk to him, but he saw Hisao's path arch slightly, and move toward Hanako instead.

As they engaged in small talk, he noticed Lilly walk through the backdoor of the classroom. He stood, and got Hisao's attention. He nodded in Lilly's direction, and the boy caught on from there.

"Oh, there's Lilly now." He said, mostly to Hanako than himself.

As they both made their way over to Lilly, Naruto collected his things and did the same. As he neared, he offered Hanako and Hisao a smile. "Lilly. Good to see you. How have you been?" He asked her as he neared. The girl had a contemplative look before she placed the voice.

"Naruto? My, my. There sure are quite a few people wanting to talk to little old me." she let out a soft laugh.

The conversation went along those lines before it turned into a long apology. Hisao receiving one for yesterday's antics (probably meaning that Hisao was the one to make Hanako run from the Library, but Naruto didn't think much of it. Hisao was a nice guy, and it was probably a misunderstanding).

When the girls made to leave, Hisao spoke up, and Naruto raised an eyebrow at the question.

"Do you two... mind if I-we joined you?"

Naruto sent the boy a look, and it seemed that Hanako did too. But Hisao just ignored them both as Lilly agreed to the idea. When she asked for Hanako's input, the girl seemed to freeze, sending glances to Naruto and Hisao.

But she was too kind-hearted and shy to deny it, and agreed to the idea too.

Making their way out of the classroom and down the hall, Naruto was quick enough to step to the side, which was in front of Hanako, despite her half-clinging to Lilly.

Hisao wasn't as lucky...

The blur crashed into the poor boy, and was sent to the floor. Hisao himself just stumbled back a bit, holding his chest lightly and trying to breath.

The girl on the ground was actually a year or two younger than all of the ones present. Light brown hair done up in twin-tails, and green eyes: one of which was closed as she held onto the top of her head. She stood up, on prosthetic legs, and bowed to the wheezing boy in apology.

Wait... he was still wheezing?

Taking a closer look, he could see Hisao gripping his shirt tightly with a pained look on his face. He was holding his breath and seemed to be listening to something. He heard the others around him question it and ask him if they should get a nurse.

When the boy denied it and stood up, actually looking much better than a minute ago, he waved them all off and changed the subject quickly. After quickly reassuring the small girl that he was ok, and telling Lilly and Hanako a very censored version (he didn't mansion anything about holding his breath), the girl ran off once more saying something about her Sensei being angry with her.

In the end, the group of four continued on their way to... wherever it was that Lilly and Hanako were taking them.

Naruto sent one last glance to Hisao before they reached their destination, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

'Hisao, what aren't you telling us...?'

.::End::.

A/n: Well, that's the end of the first chapter. I actually wrote it all in one sitting...

With this alone, we're about halfway through Arc 1. And Arcs 2-4 are all small enough to fit into Arc 1 with some room left...

So by the time Arc 1 is finished (probably Next Chapter, if not then by Chapter 3.), the story will be halfway done...