Disclaimer: Here's how it goes. I don't own Naruto. I don't own Japan. Ask me again and I'll kill you.
Escaping My Reality
Chapter One: How It All Started
Naoto was different, she was absolutely sure of that fact.
It wasn't as if she was ugly or stupid or anything, she was fairly attractive, and her grades weren't bad. Just average.
She didn't care about her looks. She didn't care how she expressed herself. And the most important fact of all, she didn't give a shit what people thought of her. Some boys thought she was quite pretty; others didn't really care for the cold-hearted girl.
If you ever wanted to hear the truth, she would tell you in the most frank way as possible - meaning that what you'll be hearing isn't going to be good -, she couldn't care how you felt about the answer, the first thing she would do is walk away and forget.
That was her rule if Truth was what you wanted. She would tell you horrible truths but will never lie (A/N: Don't flame me for this dammit...all credit for this line goes to Cassandra Clare's character Jace. Cassandra Clare for the win!). Heck, why do you think people thought best to avoid her?
It was final that she didn't fit in.
That was, until one fateful day.
"Oh wow, did you see him?"
"Who can't miss him?"
"He's so hot!"
"Is he from the high school section?"
"An older man? Oooh..."
As usual, Haruka Gakuen was buzzing with school gossip, which was sometimes wise to follow. Most rumours were true, and if you were one of them, chances are you might need to put on a paper bag over your head and transfer IMMEDIATELY.
That particular rumour was true and it began to be the starting point of Naoto's future.
"Geez, they're at it again," a sigh escaped Asato Aya's lips as she played with her blazing red hair, faced directly to her best friend, Naoto, who was impassionedly gazing at the group of uniformed fangirls.
You're thinking: How the HELL can anyone befriend a person like Naoto? Well, it's easy. Aya was persistent, direct, determined and lucky, in short: Naoto's type. "Then don't bother with them," Naoto replied, closing her eyes for some peace as her dark hair tickled her unhealthily pale skin, though in Naoto's case, she didn't give a damn about it.
"They're talking about guys, and I don't hear a single insult being thrown at him - and that's weird, you know - whenever those girls talk about guys, they're always ranting about something trivially wrong with him," Aya continued, her curiosity piqued. Aya was into older guys. Naoto wasn't. In fact, there wasn't one person alive who knew her type.
"Oooh! Here he comes!"
Aya blocked the sounds of the squeals and screeching as gusts of wind entered the normally heated hallway, creating a chilly atmosphere as a tall, young man emerged from the doors - in proper Haruka Gakuen dark blue uniform - ponytailed dark hair constantly flitting across his perfectly handsome face, smiling slightly, dark eyes flashing at the horde of girls practically worshipping before him.
The redheaded girl's jaw dropped. He wasn't hot. He wasn't handsome. He. Was. GOD!
She was twitching now as she tried to speak - but ended up epically spluttering - at the brunette before her, waving to the blushing over-hyperactive girls, walking as quietly and gracefully as a skilled panther, trying to hide its bloodlust. She mentally slapped herself for making impossible conclusions like that. That innocently beautiful face couldn't be evil, now couldn't it?
"Oh, so that's the guy?" Aya almost hit the roof at the unexpected voice of her friend - cerulean blue eyes inspecting the newcomer from head to toe - arms crossed in apprehension and thin eyebrows heightening in suspicion.
"Uh, yeah," Aya said anxiously. She had absolutely no idea how Naoto would react to this handsome arrival dressed formally as what a proper gentleman would wear. She shuddered at the memory of seeing unruly boys untuck their shirts and trying to look cool in spiky belts and ripped ties.
"He looks..." Aya waited in agony for Naoto's reply, she would literally die with shock if Naoto said 'hot' about anyone. Well, dying wouldn't be so bad if she got to see her emotionlessly uninterested friend compliment someone.
"...Familiar," Aya stopped agonizing as she looked oddly at Naoto, who was still staring at the other brunette as he chatted politely to one of their classmates. Familiar? What the hell did Naoto mean? Well, she was always a non-expresser, her word for 'familiar' probably replaced the word 'hot'.
"He reminds me of...someone..." Naoto said almost inaudibly, as if she was talking to herself.
"Another brunette maybe?" Aya suggested.
Naoto shook her messy head and continued gazing at the guy who looked like he should be in the high school section instead of the middle school section (for people 12 years old and above. For your information, both Naoto and Aya recently turned 12). He was too tall to be in here. Too mature. Too reserved. Not like any boy from the middle school section.
"It's nothing, just forget about it and let's get to class, we're late," without a word, Naoto grabbed Aya's wrist and made their way towards their Literature Class even though they were fifteen minutes early. Aya decided not to ask what was wrong. Sometimes it was wise not to try to guess what Naoto was thinking under that cold facade.
Naoto knew what she was doing. What she didn't know was that a certain someone had his eyes on her. Glinting.
Miyazaki-san...
Tennouji Izumi loved to hear that name in his head over and over again in his head. How he lengthened the mi and the zaki was music to his ears. Some didn't know if he just liked hearing the sound of his own voice or he dearly, truly liked the particular person. Some didn't bother.
"Oi Izumi, IZUMI!"
Thrown out of his daydream by force, he gave his 'annoying insect' a glare. Beside him, icy Sora stared emotionlessly back. Not caring. Not feeling the situation at hand. That was Haruka Sora.
"Nanda yo, Sora!" Izumi answered crabbily. Sighing, Izumi's blonde-haired friend diverted his attention to the two girls, one was dragging the redheaded one to their seats, and the one dragging the redhead was a very well-known brunette.
Izumi's brain went on high alert. MIYAZAKI. NAOTO. WAS. HERE!
"Do you think..." Sora started off, his amber tints settling on the curly redhead, "Asato looks cute?"
Ignoring his friend's statement, Izumi started gazing dreamily at the cold-hearted Miyazaki Naoto. Her pale skin glowing under the fluorescent light, her gorgeous blue eyes illuminating a gentle blue-green, her dark hair lightly flowing around her face. His pretty little princess.
Izumi had the reputation as an instant 'heart-stomper'. But despite said reputation, there hadn't been one girl who could resist his silky dark-green hair and his catlike hazelnut brown eyes and charming presence. Except for two. Older Man-Type Asato Aya and Hard-To-Please Miyazaki Naoto. Of course, he fell for the fussier of the two.
"My eyes are only for Miyazaki-san," Izumi finally replied to his glazed-over friend. Unfortunately, Sora was still peacefully dreaming of delirious fantasies of him and Aya, so Izumi decided to go back to his own.
"Naoto...some weird guy is staring at you..." Aya said fearfully as she crouched under the table at the sudden realization that someone was staring at her too. Naoto was still sitting on her seat, unmoving and glaring back at the two 'jocks' sitting at the far back of the room.
"Haruka Sora and Tennouji Izumi, football team's co-captains, alias 'Prince' and 'Lord Tennouji' respectively," Naoto analyzed with pure spite. Pretty boys were the type that got her riled up and irritated. "Give me a very good reason not to slap them."
"The whole school will go after your blood if you touch a single hair on their precious kami-samas," Aya replied without any hint of spite. She didn't think Sora and Izumi were bad, just annoying ladies' men, "Sora is just like you, in a sense he lets people touch him."
"I don't like people touching me because they either want to grope me – or to experience what it feels like in Antarctica." Naoto had bad memories of people 'touching' her. One guy at the bus stop tried to feel her up with his grimy little claws and when he hit a sensitive spot – he got thrown straight into a billboard that was ten miles away from said bus stop.
Another important rule of survival: Don't touch/grope Miyazaki Naoto, or any other violent female in particular. You might just wish you didn't touch them in the first place.
"Don't remind me," Aya shuddered at the memory of the same thing happening to her in the MRT train, luckily Naoto caught that arousing little act and sent the poor man into next week.
"Bloody paedophile," Naoto muttered as she swiftly dragged Aya from her current hideout and placed her firmly on her own seat.
"Girls shouldn't swear, you know. It's bad for attracting men."
The nerve that had been throbbing visibly in Naoto's neck seemed to burst as she gripped the table harshly – splinters appearing in her grip – and turned to the intruder.
The logical midget that somehow seemed to be 'alive' in Izumi's brain clicked at the sight of the tall brunette that had just entered the room.
A hush went over the already stifling classroom as several heads perked up. Heads of the fans that used to belong to him. A sudden, raging hatred rippled through his blood, urges to pull out every single dark lock off the raven-headed boy were awakened.
"Who's that guy?" Izumi sneered with malice that could bring shivers up Sora's spine.
Sora was quiet. But Izumi knew better. Despite the glassy look in his eyes, he knew somewhere deep inside his head: he was concocting plans to slice off the brunette's neck.
"Middle School Section Year 1, Uchiha Itachi had chicken pox for three-quarters of last year, therefore he's supposedly one year older than us," all this was said casually but coldly, his words dripping with rock-hard ice.
Sora was the son of Haruka Gakuen's headmaster - Haruka Kaoru – that was why he knew things some people weren't even eligible of hearing. Also meaning he could listen in to little info that came from the headmaster's office without being accused of by even the disciplinary committee. Advantages to being the headmaster's child. Meh.
"But he's supposedly brilliant, or so I hear," Sora added, peeking over to the silently enraged look etched on Izumi's normally godlike face, "a real prodigy, and coming from my own father, he's probably the real deal."
"Don't like him, never will, and WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING WITH MIYAZAKI-SAN!" their heads turned when the fact had been spoken.
The supposed 'Itachi' had pulled a chair over and conveniently sat himself across Naoto, chatting formally and politely as if they had been best friends forever. Naoto, in her case, looked straight back at him wearing her usual emotionless mask, talking back.
"That's the longest Miyazaki has ever conversed with another human being," Sora said with awe, even though his concentration was steadying on the redhead beside her, who was eyeing Itachi with a small tint of blush on her cheeks.
The grip on Izumi's chair hardened until the sounds of solid metal crunching entered Sora's ears, "Sora, I'm going to –" Without hesitation, Sora grabbed Izumi's arm tightly as the latter (A/N: I'm not really too sure about the latter and former thing...but I'm referring to Izumi) stood up, eyes glaring holes at the back of the Uchiha's head, "Izumi, I would rather suggest you think before you act. How would you beating up Uchiha make you look good in front of your beloved Miyazaki, you tell me?"
Izumi was currently restricted of all movement. His blonde friend grudgingly had a point. He had kept up this good-kid act just for her, he definitely didn't want to blow it now.
"Fine, now let go, you're making me look gay."
Naoto had no idea what to expect when this handsome ponytailed weasel slid into a chair and started talking to her about stuff. The usual stuff. Like 'how are you doing' and 'I hope we can be friends' and 'nice to meet you, my name is Itachi' and all that friendly crap.
Well, Aya was certainly enjoying it. It hadn't been one second did she take her eyes off the lovely Itachi. She did it discreetly of course, like when Itachi's attention was fully focused on Naoto, she would peek at him for a few moments before looking away and adding things to the unusually steady conversation.
"Just call me Aya," Aya said brightly.
Itachi (almost) ignored her and turned his head to the stoic brunette again, "And yours?"
The silence was almost deafening now, and almost everybody's attention was now on Naoto's response. Some thought her response would most likely be 'Naoto, now get the hell out of here', others thought she would just blow him off like the rest of them.
"Miyazaki Naoto. It's a pleasure to meet the current school heartthrob of this academy," Itachi's mouth twitched and reached out a hand to her. She eyed his pale, slender fingers with suspicion and slowly, with doubt, slid her hand into his.
It was warm in contrast to hers, which was cold figuratively, and it brought instant heat into her stone-cold veins. Subconsciously, she squeezed his long fingers.
A firm shake brought her back to her senses as she immediately whipped her hand back, clutching it as if it was on fire. Itachi's face still retained that relaxed, gentle look as he leaned back, the lines under his eyes visible under the light, "A pleasure to meet you as well, Naoto-san."
Murmurs started over the classroom. Most were just along the lines of 'Wow, he just called her by her first name. That's bold', the few that didn't think with this mindset were just muttering along the lines of 'He's sooo cool!'
"Ne, ne, Itachi-kun, why don't you join us for cake later? My treat," Naoto shot her best friend an intensifying glare after that. Why, why did she just ask him out? Naoto didn't trust this guy!
After glancing at Aya, then looking at Naoto's murderous face, he smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Asato-san, that would be quite appropriate."
A/N: Ah! Gomen, gomen! I kinda 'accidentally' deleted my Escaping My Reality fanfic so I had to remake it again! Ahahaha...sorry! Hope you like it though, I spent almost an hour revising it (being roughly 2000 words, I'm surprised it took this long) with Book-chan on my back glaring at me...-_-"
Well, hope you like it! And I promise the next chapter will be a lot longer! Also, I'll be updating my other fics for my viewers' pleasure!
Kudos,
HinakoNamikaze99