A/N: ok, here is my first one-shot. i was bored during algebra so i forced myself to think of something to write-this is what came of it. I quite like this story, BUT im not going to give it away. so enjoy and send a comment if you figure our who the 'stranger' is!! Ja ne!
A Stranger in the Wind
A lone boy sat on a swing under a tree at the Konoha Academy. The wind blew strongly that day and slowly rocked the swing back and forth. School had been released some two hours previously and all the first year students had been picked up except one solitary blond boy, he had no parents, had no siblings, had no family to greet him after school and hold his hand as they walked home and asked about his day.
He sat there quietly in the shadows of the big oak tree. If you weren't looking, you wouldn't see the boy rubbing his eyes as tears fell down his whiskered cheeks. One person, though, noticed the small boy sniveling and walked over to him. The boy did not realize there was another person in his presence until the stranger spoke.
The man cleared his throat as he watched the boy, "Why haven't you gone home yet, the academy let out nearly two hours ago."
The boy looked up, no longer crying, wiping the remaining tears from his face. He gave the man a blank stare. He could not rightly see the strangers face, the sun was behind the said man's head and cast a deep shadow over his features. Why was this stranger talking to him and asking about him? Why would he care? No one cares about the demon child. He did not answer the unfamiliar person.
"Didn't your guardians come to pick you up; they must be worried since you're so late."
The man's voice was caring, calm; his eyes looked sincere, and even through his shaded features his face seemed to glow with kindness.
"There's no one at home to pick me up." The boy said almost in a whisper, voice hoarse and scratchy as he still sucked in breaths of air from the hard crying.
The stranger stared at the boy a moment. He looked upset before grinning real big and holding out his hand to the child. "Today, you can walk home with me."
The boy stared questioningly at the foreigner's hand wondering if he should take the offer. He did want someone to walk with, that he could tell what events had taken place at school that day, that he had made a new friend, or that he had snuck out of Iruka-sensei's class. But, why was this man acting kindly to him? No one was nice to him. The village hated him and would gang up on him and beat him up at every possible chance. What is to say that this man wasn't trying to trick him so he would, again, be beaten up? Then again, he really wanted someone to walk him home just like all the other students. Just like Sasuke whose brother came to pick him up, just like Sakura whose mother waited patiently for her daughter to finish playing with her friends, just like Shikimaru whose father casually strode home with his son, talking about the day's going-ons. The blond boy slowly and cautiously reached his hand out and grabbed the stranger's hand. It was warm, so very warm to the touch. The stranger helped the boy out of the swing and the two started slowly out of the academy gates. The small schoolboy looked up at the man, again wondering why he would want to walk him home. He still could not discern the man's features, for whichever angle the boy looked at the man the sun was always behind his head and casting darkness over the man's face. A strong gust of wind blew and rustles the man's shaggy blond hair, his white cloak, too, blew with the wind. He looked down at the boy and smiled warmly, "So, how was your day at school?"
The boy continued to stare at the man's shaded eyes, "It was good." he said succinctly.
The man's smile grew larger, "That's good. Didn't anything interesting happen?"
The boy nodded, thinking. "I made a new friend today." The boy said, almost as if asking if it was a suitable statement.
"Really, what's his name?"
"His name is Uchiha Sasuke, we made a deal. He shared his lunch with me, since I didn't have one, in return for a sparring match." The boy was growing comfortable with the man and spoke with more confidence.
"Did you win?"
"No, he beat me before two minutes had passed, but tomorrow we're going to spar again and I am going to win!" The boy jumped with excitement at the statement and future plans.
"I'm sure you will, anything else happen?" The man asked kindheartedly.
The boy nodded, "Mhm, Iruka-sensei was really boring in class today, he was talking about some war a few years ago, so me, Shikimaru, and Choji snuck out the window and hid in the academy training grounds! But," the boy announced, deflated, "Iruka-sensei found out that we left and knew where we would go, he was already waiting in our favorite hiding spot when we got there. All three of us had to write sentences on the chalkboard before we could leave. You would be surprised how easy it is to remember something when you write 'I will not leave Iruka-sensei's class and I will pay attention until the final bell' fifty times over and over." The boy mimicked in his best Iruka-sensei voice.
The stranger laughed; a warm, kind, joyful laugh, a laugh that you knew could not be fake – a genuine laugh. "I'm sure you had fun while it lasted. When I was younger, I was called the town prankster. You wouldn't see a day go by when I didn't cause some kind of trouble."
The two didn't speak one more word; they walked the rest of the way to the boy's shabby apartment in silence, enjoying each other's presence in the wake of the setting sun, each with a wide grin spread across their face. The boy finally reached his home and turned to the warm-hearted stranger whom he had grown fond of; it felt like his real father had walked him home from school. "Thanks for walking me home."
The man smiled another one of his famously benevolent smiles, "It's no problem, and I enjoyed walking with you. Maybe I'll see you around again sometime."
The boy too smiled then unlocked his apartment door and stepped inside, waving to the stranger.
The man left the building and stood outside, looking up at the blond boy's appartment. "Goodbye Naruto," he said softly to himself, "we may never meet again, but I will always be with you and watching over you, and I'm glad that you finally got to walk home with your father." The man still bore a compassionate smile as he thought about his son, the lonely schoolboy who had no one to walk him home. He started down the street as the sun began to fall beyond the horizon and he slowly disappeared, dissolving with the light as his spirit blew away with the wind.