Okay, this is the first time I actually tried to write down a fanfiction and I have to admit I'm a little nervous. My first language isn't English. It's Dutch. God, English isn't even my second language. No, that would be French. English is my third language. I see this story as a good practice, both for my English and my writing, and I would really like your advice, while I write this.

So with that over: about this story: I have been wandering around with this idea for a while. Technically I wanted to write about someone's life changing due December 21. And because I lacked ideas for the characters I thought: why not make it a fanfiction. I'll be pairing up Sasuke and Naruto in this, because the two of them kind of crack me up. Don't kill me for it. I also watched only 38 episodes of this show, so I had to look around a little for extra characters that appear later in the show. I hope I didn't screw them up.

Disclaimer: Clearly, this has to be said. Naruto isn't mine, neither are the other characters here.

Warning: So, I'm not really in to this, so… There's violence? A little (or a lot) I don't know how much these things count. XD

A new start

It had been the last year of high school. I had already made it through the first part of the year and Christmas was approaching fast. I was really looking forward to the upcoming holidays. Especially since Iruka had promised to make me ramen for Christmas dinner. I already loved turkey, so adding ramen should make it taste as heaven. I shook my head as the thought almost had me drooling and continued packing my backpack. Tomorrow was the first day at my new school and I wanted to make sure everything was in order.

Now, you're probably wondering why the hell I was switching schools just before the holidays were about to start. Well, before I could tell you that, I'll have to tell you a little about my life. I was born as a pretty normal baby. Matching my loving father in both blond hair and blue eyes and inheriting my other great looks from my mother, I was the best baby they could have ever wished for. I had a pretty good life with them. Which was as much as fifteen months, because one person had decided to screw up our lives entirely after that time.

It had been during an evening walk , or so I had been told later when I was old enough. My parents had taken me for a walk down the park in my stroller. It had already gotten dark when we had returned home, and maybe if we had returned a couple of minutes earlier, I wouldn't have been where I was now, but we didn't. And that's why we had encountered some girl, totally high from the drugs she had used, on our way back. My parents had known the girl and when they had recognized her, they had threatened to tell her parents. That's why I had none now. The girl stabbed them both and left them for dead. I was left alone in the stroller in the park, crying. "I panicked" had been her confession later on. Like that would bring them back ! She was sent to rehab and maybe got a couple of months in some institution, I don't know exactly. All I know it was not enough for killing me parents. She was underage, so they could not give her the same punishment as adults. Yeah, right! Like that's fair! I was found that same evening by the guard, who was closing off the park and it was that cold night my life of switching families started.

It started with my granddad, but once he got too old (in his eyes at least), he decided my aunt should take care of me. Next up was my uncle, followed by a niece, some time with my granddad again and I even stayed a while with both of our neighbors. The only thing that at least stayed the same was the house. It was situated in a pretty good street in Kohona, so all of them were more than willing to move into it. Only 'for my good' of course. Lies, I tell you! All of them had to leave me at some point: not enough money, a new baby that had been born, their work. They all had an excuse. That's why I wasn't really expecting anything from Iruka, when he offered to take care of me. He had been an old friend of my mother and had just gotten back from England after all those years. As soon as he heard what had happened, he had offered to take his old friend's son in. Or I was taking in him or something, since he moved into my house.

That had been about seven months ago and Iruka had turned out to be a really nice guy, although he could sometimes get on my nerves, as he wanted to teach me stuff that had 'lacked' from my education as he kept putting it.

Well and that's how we got to this moment. He had quickly noticed that things weren't going very well on my current school. My grades weren't very good; in fact I had even stayed down a year. (Not that I cared since there was not really an age difference since I was born end December) and he had also discovered I hadn't any friends. (Which wasn't my fault at all , because you see, I really couldn't see how they not wanted to be friends with me ! I was only like the most fun kid around.) That's why he had decided to send me to Kohona high, and I mean the Kohona high, the most popular school in town. And since he and the principal had decided the last days before vacation didn't really have important lessons, they agreed to already let me attend school to 'let me get used to it'.

So I sighted as I closed the backpack and dropped myself on my bed. Why was I trying so hard anyway, it wasn't like it was going to be any different from the other school. Still… I hoped it would be a new start. With new people, nice people…

"Naruto !" Iruka knocked on the door before stepping into my bedroom. "Are you ready? It's time to sleep. It's going to be a tiring day tomorrow." I glanced over to the door and smiled. "School's always tiring." Iruka chuckled and walked over to my bed to ruffle my hair. "Ah, don't do that !" I quickly smacked away his hand, which only had him chuckling again. "Stop being a knucklehead and get to bed already." "I don't want to." I wasn't tired yet and kind of felt in the mood to start an argument. So I expectedly sat back to see how Iruka would react. Sadly the guy was (as always) on to me.

"Just go to bed, Naruto, and tomorrow I'll make you pancakes !" He smiled endearingly, when I glared at him, knowing he had just ended the argument before I had properly started it. Pancakes! He'd pull that trick on me! ? I grumbled and got up in order to change into my pajamas, complaining loud enough for him to hear. Iruka laughed and patted my back before heading back to my door. "Sleep tight !" I looked at him, still pissed about my loss.

"Good night." I would never let him walk out without a proper goodbye, even if I was pissed. And he knew it. It was something I had always done. Never let someone go without saying goodbye! You may never see them again and feel sorry afterward. I crawled into bed and pulled the sheets closely around me. I wasn't even sleepy yet. Hah, He could dream that I was going to sleep! I wasn't going to, not in a hundred years … but somehow a couple of minutes later I was far away in dreamland, rocking my first day at school.

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I woke up from the loud birds that were singing next to my ear. I sat up in bed, trying to rub the sleep from my eyes and hit the clock on my nightstand to shut up the stupid birds. Really, I didn't know how Iruka thought this stupid clock would make it easier to get up in the morning. It simulated a sunset, which would wake my body more 'naturaly'. In my opinion the sun could come up and drop again a hundred times and it'd still be a pain to get up. Ah! I dropped the thought as I remembered it was the first day to my new school. I quickly kicked my sheets aside, took the clothes I had laid out on my desk the previous day and headed towards the bathroom. A quick shower later, I was heading downstairs. The delicious smell of pancakes hit me as soon as I entered the kitchen and it made my mouth water.

"Good morning, Naruto ! How are you feeling ? Excited about your first day at school ?" Iruka shoved a pancake on a plates, while watching me as I sat myself at the table. "No, not really." I poured myself a glass of orange juice, thanking Iruka who set the plate in front of me. The way I felt my stomach clench, told me I was lying, but I'd rather die than ever admit that to him.

"Really?" I quickly started eating the pancakes, when Iruka looked at me, disbelief clearly in his eyes.

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Twinty minutes later I was on my bike, pedaling quickly. I could have gone by foot, but cycling just was more fun. Kohona high was a huge building and, once I had placed my bike in the designated space, it seriously had me wondering if they had a map for this place. Iruka had told me to go and see the principal first. She'd give me my schedule and tell me a thing or two. Where I could find here however, I had no idea. I started to look around in the hallways, hoping I'd see a door stating "principal" or something like that. I kept at it for about five minutes, before becoming irritated and stopping.

Damn, this place seriously needed some signs. I scanned the hallway I was in, discovering some people were watching me. They probably wondered who I was. Maybe I should ask them where I could find the principal… I was already deciding which one I should ask, when someone tapped me on my back. I turned around to discover a black haired boy with huge eyebrows standing in front of me. He was wearing a an all green suit with matching tie and was smiling so intensely I could practically feel happy-vibes coming off of him.

"Hello! I saw you walking down the hallways like a lost puppy. You're new here ?" I blinked once at the realization he had just called me a lost dog. But seeing the friendly smile that came along with the question I doubted it had been meant as an insult. "Yeah, I'm new here."

"I knew it! My name is Lee, pleased to meet you!" He stuck out his hand in order for me to shake it. "Naruto. Pleased to meet you too." I returned the same polite greeting, shaking his hand firmly. Kid seemed nice enough. "So can I help you with something?!"

"Yeah, actually you can. I'm looking for the principal's office. Do you know where it is?" Now there appeared such a wide smile on Lee's face that I worried for a moment it might split. "Of course I know, I'll show you!" I was yanked away from my standing place as he linked our arms and dragged me down the hallway. It took me a couple of minutes to get over the initial shock and to notice he was talking to me. "- that's why I'd never want a locker near the gym again."

"Huh?"

"What?! Would you want a locker that always smelled like something died in it?" He stared at me for a moment, before he continued to drag me along again. "Uhm, not really no…" What was this about again ?

"I know, right! Well, I hope you get a good one! Tell, principal Tsunade I said hi !" Surprised I looked around and noticed we were standing next to the principal's office. How the hell did I get here?! Lee had already run off.

" Oh, yeah! You can come sit with me during lunch!" He shouted before darting around the corner. Gee and they called me hyperactive? I shook my head before knocking on the door. " Come on in !" a soft voice called. I opened the door, swallowing the lump in my throat. She sounded nice, so she couldn't be that bad, right?

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I quickly found out she didn't only sound nice, but was really nice too. She gave me my schedule and told me about the expected behavior on school. Next she made me sign their rulebook and gave me instructions to get to my new locker before sending me off to start my lessons. My books I could pick up next Monday.

Okay, let's see if I can find my locker in this maze. With the instructions she gave me, it turned out to be quite simple to get there. I inspected my schedule before pinning it on the inside of my new locker. Great, I got to start with my favorite class: math! I might as well drink some spoiled milk while I was at it. Or maybe have a tree hugging party. So where was this class anyway? I looked around to see if Lee was around, but when I didn't see him, I decided to ask one of the girls that were standing a couple of feet away from me.

"Ehmm.. Excuse me." I tapped the back of the girl with the long blond ponytail to get her attention. "What?!" She turned around to give me an irritated look, but quickly stopped when she didn't recognize me.

"I –I just wanted to ask if you knew where math class was." Believe me, I could already tell this was a girl I should not mess with. "Oh, you're new here?" Yes, obviously I was. I nodded. "Oh, hello then! My name is Ino." She said, giving me a friendly smile. Wicked girl. Just switching moods like that. "I'm Naruto, pleased to meet you."

"Naruto?" To my surprise another girl's voice called my name and I peeked over Ino's shoulder to see who it was.

"Sakura?!" My mouth must have fallen open in surprise when I recognized the pink haired girl who worked in my favorite shop. "You know this guy?" Ino faced Sakura, while pointing at me. "Of course I do, he's our best client. He comes over almost every day!" I blushed a little at how normal she made it sound knowing me. I was a little flattered to be honest. Okay, maybe it wasn't that hard remembering my name since I had bothered her for months, trying to get her attention, but the fact she remembered still made me cheeks flush in a faint tint of pink. Even if I had given up on her and purposely made sure I ordered from another waitress, she still had noticed me coming back. And that was just… nice.

"Yeah, but it's really their fault! Their ramen is addictive. How could I stay away from that?" I ran my hand through my hair, before placing both of them behind my head. "So… you know where math class is ?" Ino nodded.

"Yes, Hinata and I are in the same class too." She gestured to the girl with the black hair and the light eyes next to her. Wow, I hadn't even noticed her! The silent (and uncommonly pale) girl blushed fanatically while confirming Ino's statement. "Y-yes, that's true. Y-you can come w-whit use i-if you want too." What a soft voice she had. I tried smiling the friendliest way I could, in an attempt to ease her. "Thank you. I'd like that." The girl's cheeks got even redder. Well, she sure was shy.

The class was already crowded with people once we got there. Ino seemed to keep the nice-girl-act up toward me and I wasn't sure if I should have been relieved or worried, so I decided to remain careful until I'd get to know her better. I took a seat next to Hinata and just in front of Ino and was unpacking my stuff, when I was rudely interrupted.

"Hey, who's the goofball that stole my seat!?" I, together with Ino, shot an angry glare at the boy that now stood in front of my desk. He looked like some kind of thug, the cap of his hoodie pulled firmly over is head, so only the ends of his brown her were visible. I think that Tsunade lady had mentioned that being illegal, but the boy clearly didn't care. I was about to say something back, but the blonde beat me at it.

" Keep your big mouth shut, Kiba. This is Naruto. He's new here and is sitting here today, so you better find another seat." The boy returned the girl's angry stare, but didn't argue while taking the seat next to me. It wasn't exactly what I would call a smooth start. Kiba was now glaring at me and I would have returned that glare if I had not remembered promising not getting in a fight on my first day. Keep calm. I redirected my attention back to Ino who was smiling again and happily chatted to Hinata. The latter mainly only smiled and nodded. I mentally added three exclamation points to the "watch out for Ino" note in my head. Kiba seemed to carry around a similar note too.

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" I didn't get a single word he was saying!" Ino patted my back, while I crossed my arms and pouted. " Don't worry about it! We're starting something new next lesson, so you'll be able to follow better." I shrugged. "I don't get math anyway, so I doubt that will change anything." We headed to our lockers again, fervently discussing the worthlessness of math. I soon had Kiba at my side, while the girls kept claiming that math still had its perks. The boy seemingly had forgotten about me 'stealing' his seat.

"That may be, but it still sucks!" Okay, we could all agree about that. I opened my locker and peered at my schedule to look at my next lesson. Life science. I still wasn't sure why I had picked that class. Ah, right, I thought it would be easy. I sighted and closed my locker again.

"So, one of you girls know where we have Life science?" Sakura and Ino started giggling and the latter pinched my cheek. " You picked Life science? That's too cute!" Immediately regretting singing up for that class, I tried to fight back the blush on my cheeks before answering.

"Sure, I thought it'd be easy." Kiba sent me a pitying look. "Aw man, you should have chosen photography or something like that. There are almost no boys in that class." What?! Sure, only I could start off my first day at school as a complete loser. " Well, it's not that bad! There are lots of nice boys in our class!" Sakura smiled, tilting her head to the side a little. Pink strands of hair fell to the side, drawing my attention. Why did she paint it like that anyway? "Hmmm." I tried focusing again. " Right! How bad can it be! I bet I'll be the best in no time!" With that we started walking to class. (After saying goodbye to Kiba of course.)

"So how many boys are there to be exact?" I looked at the girls who were now walking beside me. Sakura had said there were lots, but... what was 'lots' in here opinion? It wasn't like I knew here. "Euhmm.." Ino put a finger on her lower lip and frowned. "I think there are like seven, maybe eight boys. You not included of course." Okay, seven, eight, I could live with that. It shouldn't be too weird then. Sakura decided to trash all hopes I just got. "But there are like eighteen girls!" Yep, I was doomed. Apparently my frowning amused her. "Come on, Naruto. Don't sweat it! Even really popular guys come to our class." she blushed, probably because of one of the 'popular boys' mentioned. Before I could ask whom that might was, an arm was thrown around my neck and I was pulled closer to its owner.

"Naruto! How is my new best bud doing? You're also taking life science classes?" Lee was practically pulling my head off, but was apparently not aware of it. "Hey, Lee. Yes, I'm in this class too." I tried covering my ear, because he was shouting next to it, but didn't succeed. "That's great! Make sure you sit next to me!" The girls giggled, aware of the fact he was seriously hurting my neck now.

"So, I see you already met Lee?" Ino couldn't hide the amused smile, while I sent her what should have been a warning glare. If she dared saying another word… "So I see you two are good friends already!" Okay, she was dead now. And I would have killed her that instant if it hadn't been for our teacher who invaded our conversation.

" Lee, stop strangling your classmates and get inside my classroom." My head was finally released and I thankfully breathed in all air I had lacked a couple of seconds ago. Our teacher was watching me, the smirk on his face creeping me out a little. " The same goes for new students and pretty girls." He winked before stepping into his classroom. What a creep! I stepped (or was rather dragged) into class and sat myself down next to Lee. The latter immediately started talking about the upcoming holidays, summing up all dishes he might like for Christmas dinner. I eagerly joined in, explaining how ramen would make every dished he named taste even better.

I was so caught up in it, that I almost missed the girls' giggles. "What's up?" I turned my head to ask what they were talking about, but the question never left my mouth, as I quickly found the subject of their conversation. "You got to be fucking kidding me!" The girls watched me in shock, while I got up from my seat and glared at the black-haired, dark-eyed, blue-wearing, stuck-up boy who had just entered the room.

"You come to this school too?!" The surprise, which had barely appeared on the boy's face when he had noticed me, was gone in seconds and was replaced with his normal poker-face-look. "Hn." He swiftly sat down at his desk and ignored me. The idiot clearly didn't deem me worthy for a proper answer. Not thinking about leaving it like that, I moved in front of his desk and glared down at him, silently demanding a proper answer, even if it was a pretty obvious one. I only got a glare back.

Any normal person would have trembled under or even run away from this particular glare, but not me. I was too cool for that. Plus I was used to it. Which probably helped too. A little. I tried glaring even harder, but was distracted when Sakura asked me a question.

"You two know each other?" I blinked once, a little surprised by the disbelief her question held. If I knew that bastard?! He was my damn rival!

"Yes." He only snorted, as if he didn't want to recognize that fact, and I had to keep myself from strangling him that very instant. Remember: don't fight your first day at school. "Sasuke, stop being an asshole and answer properly when a girl asks you a question!" He slowly placed his chin on his folded hands, before answering me.

"I don't have to listen to you." For the second time that day our teacher kept me from killing someone.

"Can everybody, please take their seats." I got even angrier when a slight smirk curled Sasuke's lips, pleased with my defeat (or at least what he saw as it). Still I returned to my seat and sat down calmly, hiding my anger. Stupid kid was always pushing my buttons. It had always been like that and would always be like that. I grumbled, returning my attention towards our teacher, who had finally stopped reading the small book he held. "I see today we have a new student in our class! Let's start this lesson introducing ourselves to each other. I'll start. My name is Kakashi and I'm your teacher for the rest of this year. Now say your names loudly and tell one thing about yourself. Naruto, you start." All stares were now fixed on me and I shifted a little in my seat, nervous about the sudden attention. "Uhhh… I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I want to become the best mayor Kohona ever had." When some of the people started whispering I felt the sudden need to shut them up. "You better believe it, I will." I hit my desk before crossing my arms, expelling any further whispers from the room. "Okay, Naruto. Thank you for sharing that with us. Next, Ino."

Finishing everybody in class almost took the entire hour, especially since Lee decided to share a lot about himself. I'm sure that, if Kakashi hadn't stopped him after ten minutes, he would have kept talking till school was over. Expect Sakura, Hinata, Ino, Lee and (sadly) Sasuke, who I already knew, I already successfully remembered the name of the boy next to Sasuke, Neji. There were also Choji, the fat boy who sat in the back of the class and Sai, who sat right behind Hinata. Sai seemed a little bit off. That was it for the boys' names. From the girls I could remember the names of: Tenten, the girl who sat behind Neji, and Temari . All in all, remembering this many names was a pretty good accomplishment for me. I grinned proudly. "Okay, people, that's that for today. Make sure you bring some markers next lesson, because I'll be giving you your special assignment on which we'll work after the holidays."

"Hey, teme !" I quickly darted out of the classroom, determined to get my answer this time. Sasuke stopped and turned on the spot. "What?"

"You still didn't answer me!" I stopped right in front of him, crossing my arms again.

"You got eyes, don't you?" He kept his voice even, but I could tell I was irritating him.

"You know what I mean! Weren't you attending that snobbish school out of town?!" He looked around the hallway and I noticed some people were watching use now. Not caring, I waited for his answer.

"No." He turned again and calmly started walking away from me, not deeming me worth another look. That was enough for me to let an insult slip from my lips. "What? You got kicked out?! You're not as brilliant as your dear brother?" Yes, I knew how to push some buttons too. I was instantly slammed into the lockers and held there, his tight grip not leaving me any room to move. "Don't talk about my brother." He hissed the words barely loud enough for me to hear. I probably should have been scared out of my mind, I should probably also have stopped that instant, but hey ! I was Naruto Uzumaki and I never cared about what I 'should do'. Enjoying the fact I got him positively angered and the fact I was finally getting some sort of reaction out of him, I went a little further. "Why? Nobody can know about him? Afraid they will see you're not that smart?" Too far. I received a punch right in the stomach, which nearly made me puke. I reacted quickly and soon we were both on the ground, kicking and punching like our lives depended on it. We didn't hurt each other too much, we knew each other's moves to good for that, but I could quickly tell he already had given me some painful bruises. Angry I kicked, aiming for his knee, but before my foot could even hit him, I was dragged to the side, away from Sasuke.

"Are you two out of your mind!" Lee and Sakura were holding me tightly, keeping me from hitting Sasuke again. Neji and Kiba were doing the same thing with Sasuke. "Were you to trying to kill each other?" Kakashi was looking stern at both of us now and pointed toward the end of the hallway. "Go and get to the principal's office immediately!" I pulled away from the hands holding me and silently started walking toward the direction he pointed, glaring at him as long as I could. Lots of people were watching us now and I noticed silent whispers while we passed. With the fight over a little voice came back to me, making me understand what I had just done. I had broken my promise. I fought my first day at school.

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So that's it for the first chapter. What did you guys think ? Should I continue ?

I made Iruka his guardian, since he's really nice to Naruto in the series. It seemed only logical to me that he is the one to start the change in his life. Kakashi is the life science teacher, since I need his weird behavior later on. Speaking about life science: is that a real class in America. Here with us it's called different and I didn't know the name so I used this. Technically it's about family life. You learn how to take care for babies, there is teambuilding, health classes, there's cooking, … Anyone who cares to give me a better name, if there is any?

I'm using real-life experiences in my story. I hope they add to it. The pancakes-bribe, the clock and the math discussing are part of them.