Been reading too much neglected Naruto fics that now I wanted to write one too.

/

A five year old blond clutched his teddy bear within his arms as he watched a happy family of three ahead of him. They are in their own little world, discarding the rest of the human population, including Naruto. The smiles, the happy aura, the love and care, all were directed at Naruto's twin, Daichi. Everything would made Naruto cry in pain. Naruto doesn't know what he had down to make his very parents neglect him.

Even though nothing was said physically, Naruto knew that he couldn't compare to his older twin brother, and maybe just that 2 minute difference is what determines all. Naruto thinks it's unfair. Unfair that just because he's the youngest doesn't mean that he don't deserve the love and care all parents should have towards their children.

All that emotions battled against each other, making Naruto turned more negative by the second. However, his thoughts weren't voiced out, instead everything would be bottled up and would be stored. The bottle would be filled with negative feelings and soon, the liquid would be full to the brim, making everything spill out. And that point is close.

Naruto clenched his fists as his brother demanded for more cookies even though he just ate one. How spoiled. Their parents would willingly gave him more where as compared to Naruto, if he asked for the same request, they would immediately reprimand him stating that too much sugar would bring cavities and that he shouldn't be too greedy.

Not fair.

At all.

But despite that, Naruto doesn't hate his family. They are the only family he have and if they're gone, who'll be with him? As far as he know, no relatives of his would be willingly to care for him, after all, one more child is one more mouth to feed.

Trudging back to his room, Naruto locked the door and hide himself in the closet, blocking all sounds. He opened the small lamp in the closet to bring some light in the closet. In that small-spaced room, it's his sanctuary where no one would bother him, not like his parents would anyways. But still, it's nice to have some space around him knowing that there won't be anyone watching him like a hawk with its prey.

He hugged himself closer, and buried his head into his knees. Closing his eyes, he tried to wash away the loneliness and at least think about something positive.

/

Naruto doesn't realize how long he's been in the closet but when he decided that his nap is enough, he opened his eyes and stepped out of the closet. Once he had the space, he stretched his arms. He looked at the small clock hanging above his bed and realized that it's 8 p.m.

That late already? Naruto thought and knew that it's time for dinner. He walked down the stairs and opened the refrigerator to look for any edible food, only to see the light not open. Maybe the machine is broken? Naruto flicked open the light switch for the dining room, but the light didn't flash open.

That's weird. At this point, Naruto knew that something's wrong. It's too unusual to find two objects malfunctioning. Besides, the two objects are functioning just right earlier. Naruto decided to try again and test if this is happening to other objects.

Yep. Something's wrong. Naruto pressed his face against the window and noticed the whole city is black, no lights on. That's weird. Konoha is always known for the City of Liveliness. The landscape at Konoha would probably be the most beautiful when it's dark time, the lights would be all bright and radiant, glowing through the dark.

Naruto came to one conclusion: power outage. This brought to his attention and fear tackled him. It's an unknown fact to everyone except Naruto that he had a fear of darkness. Nyctophobia.

His body started to shake and his mind crumpled. He crawled hastily under the table and hugged himself close.

"Mommy. Daddy. I'm scared. Help." He mumbled and there's no response. That's expected but some part of Naruto wished thay they would appear and save him from the darkness.

His phobia was most likely developed when his parents left him at the dark in the park and Naruto searched frantically for his family. The noises in the dark can be extremely frightening and it made it worst when suddently a rat jumped out of the bush, running across the pavement. Naruto was freaked out and screamed when he though a bad guy is coming. Luckily, a police man found him and bring him home.

Sweat dripped down his face and wetted his back. His little hands grabbed onto the carpet with all his might. His heart beat loudly inside his chest, and was about to explode.

Finally, what seemed like an eternal dream, the power was on and the light came back. Naruto let out a huge sigh of relief and immediately ran back to his room, all lights on. His hunger was forgotten.

/

Today is October 10th. The day of his birth, which made Naruto very hyped. So energetic that he couldn't sit still. It's his birthday, which would make him 6 six years old. The day of his birth is somethng he always look for and he's sure his parents would celebrate it with him. After all, his mother would remember the pair of twins she gave birth to six years ago.

It's starting to get chilly, so he put on his vest and button it up. He rushed next to his parents' room and what he saw froze him. There sat Daichi sitting on the bed with his parents laughing. In his hands, there's a box of wrapped present. Naruto looked around for any wrapped gifts but there wasn't any.

His parents didn't bought him a gift.

Yet his twin received one.

Why?

He rushed out the house and ran as far as his legs could carry. He couldn't believe that his parents would forget his birthday. It's such a special day! They can remember Daichi's birthday, and not his.

Why?

During his rush, he didn't notice a person right infront of him until he bumped into said person.

"Ow." His head most likely developed a bruise from the contact. Naruto looked up and saw a long-haired man extending a hand to him.

"Are you okay?" He asked with such gentle voice and Naruto nodded slightly.

"Um, excuse me," Naruto tried to get away but was stopped by the hand on his wrist.

"Little boy, why are you crying?" THe man wiped away traces of tears. Naruto noticed the worry the man had for him and it made him feel special. He's the one who first cared for him.

"I..." Naruto bit his lips, not knowing what to say. He just hugged the man as if his action would explain everything.