Well... this is yet another story by moi! At the request of and prompt of a friend of mine, I actually finished this first chapter! Yeah, I went over the entire story idea and sheliked it so... yeah... I plan to finish this one! updates might be slow, but I still plan on finishing it! YAY!!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own the title, song, or the anime used in this story! So please don't sue me!

(Glinda):
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

(Elphaba):
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

But because I knew you

(Glinda):
Because I knew you

(Both):
I have been changed for good

(Elphaba):
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for

(Glinda):
But then, I guess we know
There's blame to share

(Both):
And none of it seems to matter anymore

(Glinda):
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood

(Elphaba):
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood

(Both):
Who can say if I've been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better

(Glinda):
And because I knew you...

(Elphaba):
Because I knew you...

(Both):
Because I knew you...
I have been changed for good...

Salty kisses from tears spilling over the lashes of a young girl. Her dirty blond hair fell around her face in halo of light as she pressed one last gentle kiss to the forehead of the babe in her arms, the scars on his cheeks running to his jaw line. The woman choked back a sob and laid the babe down in the small basket outside the house of her old friend and old flame. Knocking once, she quickly disappeared, watching from the shadows as the door opened and the man blinked in shock at the child on his door step. He stooped to pick up the blond child, his own brown hair falling softly around his face and brushing the scar running across his nose. Satisfied, the woman nodded and turned to leave, whispering a last good bye.

"Good bye... my little Naruto. I love you... behave for Iruka... and grow up knowing happiness every day." As she walked away, a tug came at the coat around her ankles. She looked down at the blond at her side, holding a small red headed baby.

"Mama... why did we leave Naruto?" she asked, her brown eyes shining up at her mother. The small smile on the woman's face disappeared in seconds and grew soft, almost sad. She took the smaller child from the young girl's arms and patted the girl's head.

"Because Temari... he wasn't safe at home... he needed his father... just like this little one does..." she whispered, pressing a soft kiss to the pale skin of the babe in her arms.

((16 years later))

Releasing a yawn, Naruto hauled himself up, tripping over a carelessly discarded shirt and face planting it on the hard wood flooring of his room. he groaned and rolled onto his back, holding his now bleeding nose.

"Shit..." he grumbled, standing and heading towards the single bathroom in the house he shared with his father Iruka. Slamming the door in his hurry, earlier mentioned man shot up from his seat in the kitchen and ran up the stairs in a flurry of fear.

"NARUTO! DON'T DIE!!! DON'T DIE NARUTO!!!! I'M COMING!!! HOLD ON! DON'T GO INTO THE LIGHT!!!!" Iruka wailed, flinging himself at the door.

"I'M FINE YA OLD MAN! JUST A NOSE BLEED!!!!" The aggravated blond shouted from the other side of the door. Iruka stopped assaulting the door and frowned.

"Naruto! How many times have I told you to CLEAN your ROOM!?! then maybe you won't break your nose on a regular basis!"

"Yeah yeah! Spare me the lecture! I'll be down in a few! School starts today!" Naruto called back, suddenly happy about meeting his newest friends. Before his sophomore year, Naruto had been attending a private school. But after having complained long hours to his father and endless nagging, Iruka had finally given in and allowed him to attend public. Iruka sighed and left the blond teen to his own devices, going back to his cooling mug of coffee and daily paper.

Naruto finally emerged from the bathroom, showered, and nose fully doctored. No one would suspect a thing. He skipped into his room, humming a random tune, and shuffled through his dresser in an attempt to find something good for the first day of school. He settled on a simple black band t-shirt, his bright orange and blue jacket ((Iruka hated the thing but he mended and patched it up all because of Naruto's many refusals to throwing it away)). He slipped on a pair of slightly ripped up blue jeans and a pair of socks before grabbing his shoes and running down stairs where his bag was.

Eating a hurried breakfast, he slipped on his shoes, grabbed his bag, and said a quick good bye to Iruka before running out the door and towards his new school.

Gaara looked around bored. Nothing ever changed here. It always stayed the same. The same blood stain on the wall, the same kid crying in a corner, the same couple getting it on behind the school, the same routine. Everything was just so... boring.

The red head heaved a sigh and found himself sketching a random group of kids. He looked down, made a few lines, brushing his red hair out of sea foam eyes. His hair annoyed him to no end. He didn't mind the color, it was just that it never acted normally. It was always messy and sticking up in some area, no matter what he did. So he eventually had given up in attempts to keep it down and learned to live with it. The dark red that it was, contrasted greatly with his pale skin, the only other thing marring the nearly porcelain surface was the red scar in the shape of the kanji for love that rested above his left eye.

Gaara was an oddity to the student body at his school. He was always quiet and usually the one seen walking out of the fights nearly untouched while the other kid was always sobbing in pain. He was the only kid in the school with out eyebrows, having never been born with them. It wasn't his fault he was unlucky. Most people noticed his eyes if not his hair. His eyes that could make you feel insignificant with only a glance stuck out more than any of his features because of the heavy eye liner he always wore to cover up the dark circles from sleepless nights. To put it bluntly, the kid was an insomniac.

The red head was brought back to reality as a shriek was heard and kids began adding to the group standing near the gates to the school. Gaara blinked and closed his sketch book, slipping it into his bag. Why not check it out? He thought as he made his way over to the crowd, bag now hung over one shoulder.

Kids glanced at him and paled, moving to the side as Gaara made his way forward, completely used to this fear. A raven haired teen joined him, in the process of removing small reading glasses.

"So Gaara... what do you think it is this time?" the other asked. Gaara merely grunted at one of his few friends.

"Do I look like I care, Uchiha?" he replied. Sasuke studied him briefly with his scrutinizing black eyes before smirking.

"Yes..." he got another bored grunt in return. "Oh come on, Gaara! You know as well as I do that nothing changes here!" He tried. Gaara stopped and nodded slightly.

"You've got a point... where's the she man any way?" He finally muttered, looking around as he wandered through the group. Sasuke shrugged.

"Do I look like Haku's keeper?" The glance from Gaara only confirmed Sasuke's accusations. The raven haired teen frowned. "Thanks insomniac..."

"Emo..."

"So?" the younger Uchiha shot back. Gaara just smirked.

"Come on... let's go see what all the commotion's about." the red head lead the way through the rest of the crowd only to find their favorite femme fatal standing in the center, face beat red and a smug looking Itachi grinning down wolfishly at the poor Haku. Sasuke twitched.

"Damn it! Itachi! What did you do!?" Gaara nearly winced at the Uchiha's out burst. The kid was normally stoic, almost cold and heartless, but he could be loud when need be. This usually happened around Itachi, the sibling's feud going back to the day that Itachi ate the last cookie. And in all reality, Gaara wasn't sure how he knew this. Maybe Sasuke had told him at some point. He merely shrugged it off and walked over to Haku.

"You okay?" He asked, almost monotone. Haku nodded and quickly ducked behind Gaara and Sasuke. Mean while, the Uchiha siblings were having some sort of stare off. Itachi still looked rather smug while Sasuke looked about ready to rip that smirk off his elder brother's face. The entire school was watching with baited breathe as the school's two main sources of power stared one another down.

To make a long story short, Gaara may have had a small group of friends, but that didn't mean that he wasn't one of the top dogs around the place. His small group was literally the alpha force that was constantly battling against Itachi's larger, and older group. The two forces created a rift, forcing students to follow and obey not just one but both while fighting amongst themselves.

"What did you do!? Bastard! Answer me!" Sasuke demanded yet again. Itachi's smirk grew.

"You spoke first little brother. You sure I should grace you with an answer?"

"Itachi... I recommend you speak...Now." Gaara finally spoke, adding his own voice to the argument. Itachi looked at him and frowned, studying him. Gaara had been the last to speak, there for winning the stare off that he'd some how entered with out them noticing.

"I just decided to prove that Haku was indeed... a woman. But I guess my theory was wrong." The elder shrugged, turning to leave. He stopped and grinned over his shoulder. "Oh! And Haku... my offers still on the table." he added before disappearing into the crowd. Sasuke scowled.

"I'll kill him!" Gaara just grabbed a fist full of Sasuke's shirt and pulled him back the way they had come, Haku trailing closely behind in fear of getting groped again.

"We know you'll kill him, Sasuke. We just can't risk you spilling the dirty blood of Itachi all over your nice outfit. You want to look like nice for picture day, don't you?" Gaara pointed out in his simple way of degrading anyone to smaller than an atom.

"Thank you for back there... both of you." Haku whispered.

"What are friends for?" Gaara replied with a shrug.

"pft! That's weird coming from you!" Sasuke laughed, suddenly switching moods. Gaara sighed and Haku merely missed a step, stumbling slightly.

"He took his meds..." they muttered in unison. It would figure.

Taking his seat in his first class period, Naruto grinned, looking around like some tourist. He kept getting weird stares, the students thinking he was criminally insane or some mass murderer that used a ball point pen to cut up the bodies which were then stashed under his floor boards with all the roaches and such for winter rations. Who knows, they could have been right... BUT NOT IN THIS STORY! -!!!

The door opened, revealing three students. The entire class stopped talking, ignoring the teacher completely as they stared in awed, almost frightened silence at the small group. The first, standing in the front of the group, carried himself with an air of danger and solitude. He almost seemed to warn others away from himself as he looked around bored through heavily black rimmed eyes. Sea foam irises contrasted the vibrantly against the dark around his eyes making him look exotic, almost untouchable. His red hair against his pale skin was another trait that made him stick out from the rest and only added to his beauty. Naruto was so doomed.

The second was more timid, almost frightened as he... or was it a she? Followed closely behind the first, drawing confidence little by little from his/her leader. Long black hair fell over pale skin, hiding brown eyes the color of rich milk chocolate. A shy, almost kind smile greeted Naruto as the second noticed his eyes upon them. Naruto returned it with one of his own grins, bright enough to shame the sun.

The third seemed more...emo. That was the only thing that came to Naruto's mind as he studied the last member of the group. Black hair spiked wildly out behind his head and bangs fell to his jaw, covering pale skin and black eyes that narrowed at him. Naruto gulped. This last student frightened him and yet drew him in. Yup, Naruto was definitely spelling out his own doom. For you see, my dear readers, Naruto loved a challenge and he loved breaking down defenses and worming his way into the hearts of those considered heartless. And Naruto Uzumaki, above all else, loved to make new friends. This would be an interesting year.