The tip of the fountain pen scratched with verve as it glided over the single sheet of the highest quality of paper as possible. Hundreds of crumpled balls of the same quality of paper lay scattered and discarded around her, each one discarded for a very specific reason.

A single tear fell from her eye, landing on the paper. The ink ran and smudged, and so another piece of paper was discarded with the rest.

Despite the fact her room had three chandeliers hanging off the ceiling, offering gloriously vibrant light, she had opted for a simple candle, hoping its small flickering flame would romanticise the atmosphere and help piece together her current work.

She looked towards her digital alarm clock. 3:18AM. She had missed dinner. She had begun what would possibly be the last attempt for recognition at 7. She had to be up in a few hours, but she also had a lifetime for sleep, she had only one last chance for this.

It was a simple enough idea. Write her feelings onto the paper and discard it. Hopefully the feelings would follow suit and she could begin anew.

She took another piece of paper out and placed it delicately onto the table. It was a simple idea, but the action was impossibly difficult. It had to be perfect, and every time she believe it was complete, more memories and feelings surged through her, showing her just how mundane and inadequate the letter was.

Naruto-kun, she began. She had many different attempts at the addressee. Dear Naruto-kun, Dearest Naruto-kun, To Naruto-kun… My Naruto-kun, she found that none of them were substantial enough to address just how important he was to her. So she settled for his name alone, a name that by itself, held the most importance to her.

I am sure as Sasuke-kun's friend you have seen thousands of letters such as this, and laughed over the futility of them to capture Sasuke-kun's attention. But this letter is not for Sasuke-kun's eyes. This letter is for you, but then again, this letter is not for your eyes either.

That is not to mean it could not have been yours to read. I blame myself for not being able to deliver it sooner. If only I had had the confidence to give it to you.

You changed me, Naruto-kun. Your smile, even if it was never directed towards me, it saved me. When I did things wrong, I would cry and give up. I would hide in the corner of the classroom and remain silent. But I remember seeing you, struggling and fighting against all odds, never giving up, never stopping believing in yourself. You inspire me so much it scares me.

I remember the first words you spoke to me, they may not have been of great importance to you, but to me, they were almost poetry. It was the first time you acknowledged me.

She stopped writing for a moment, a small, graceful smile adorned her features. She lost herself in wonderful memories of the little time she had spent with him.

"Hey, what's the answer to number six?"

You must have been so annoyed with me. I was so nervous and worried I myself had the wrong answer I froze up. I did not want to drag you down with my failures. It has been five years since that day, but I finally am able to give you the answer. Montague and Capulet. It is probably an answer you no longer need, but it gives me peace to be finally able to give them to you.

You have a truly marvellous ability, Naruto-kun. The ability to brighten even the darkest atmosphere, you made me smile and laugh with such ease.

And you made me cry once, during that soccer game when you collapsed on the field. I can still hear those ambulance sirens. I cried and prayed for you for days, hoping you would return. And you did, laughing and smiling as your old self. I was so mad that day, the way you laughed off such a horrifying experience. I do not know what happened to you, but I hope you never do that again.

You have brought on feelings within me that I never imagined myself feeling for a person, certainly not as strong as this. I just wanted to be with you, to stand by your side and hold your hand.

I suppose I will never have that opportunity now. We will graduate tomorrow, you will walk your path as I will walk mine. We may never see each other again, so once, just once I would like to say something to you. Something that has grown from inspiration, to admiration to something much more.

I love you.

She placed the pen down, sighing with relief. She gently folded the paper and slipped it into an envelope. Yawning loudly, she looked at the time, she could perhaps salvage a few hours' sleep from the night, quickly slipping into her pyjamas and scurrying into bed.

A new girl would wake up tomorrow. A new Hinata Hyuuga.

"Hinata! Quickly! We've saved you a seat!" She heard her friend Ino shout as she entered the large hall of the school she had spent the last four years of her life in. Her father had wanted to send her to a private school, as her sister had been attending after her. But she had pleaded with him that she needed to develop socially, and that was best achieved in a public school.

She thanked Ino, quietly before taking a seat, smiling across to her pink haired friend Sakura on the other side of Ino. She was lucky in a sense, when they would start University, she and Ino would be undertaking the same botany course at Konoha University. She felt sorry for her other friend Sakura, who would not be staying with them, instead she had been offered one of ten places in a very prestigious private medical school, in a medicine class taught by Tsunade Senju, a world famous surgeon and the current Hokage for the entire Hi no Kuni.

She looked around at all the senior classmen, chatting away aimlessly with each other or cliques they had established since freshman year. Soon they would all be separating, moving on with their lives and building their futures.

A few audible taps on the microphone on the large centre stage grasped everyone's attention. Their principle, Ebisu-sensei stood behind it, preparing to give his end of year and final speech to the seniors in the assembly hall.

"We've perhaps had one of our best years this year." He began as sternly as he always spoke. "The effort and commitment from you student this year has been phenomenal, and you have been rewarded with some of the best grades in the country. Attendance was a little lower than average, but you can't all be blamed for that. It was mainly due to a certain student who shall remain anonymous that liked to give themselves the Friday off and coax a few other students into the same occasionally."

All the students began to chuckle, the student in question wasn't that anonymous, spiky blond hair and vibrant blue eyes forming in every students' mind.

"I would like to thank the senior students and faculty for dedicating themselves this year, it brings a great sense of pride to see all these young faces going off with high hopes into their next stage of life. I wish you all the very best of luck. And now, please help me welcome your senior class president onto the stage; Sasuke Uchiha."

The screams and squeals of joy and adoration were deafening as the raven haired eighteen year old entered the stage and moved towards the podium, his usual pristine, elegant and indifferent face stared out across the assembly hall as if searching for someone in particular. "You all really wasted your votes when you voted for me." He began bluntly, Hinata almost had to laugh, Sasuke was never the type to gloss over the truth with pleasant words. Truth be told she did not even vote for Sasuke to be Class president, she had voted for… "I only wanted this position because I figured it would look good on my portfolio. I'm not good at, nor do I even enjoy this public speaking stuff. I was running against Naruto, you should have voted for him. He enjoys this stuff, plus he actually likes you all, that's why I made him a position so he would be the one to speak to you all." A small smirk began to grow on his face. "I hated him the most, everything about him annoyed me. I thought the pranks he would play on Iruka-sensei were a nuisance, I thought he was dumb and useless. But I noticed how he refused to give up, that he wouldn't let little things get him down. I noticed how he cared for every single person he met. And like a worm, he manages to wriggle his way into people's hearts. Soon enough, before I knew I would call him my best friend, and like him, I wouldn't give up, I wouldn't get down, and I would come to try and care for the people I met. Basically, because of Naruto, I've come to hate you all a little less during our time together."

With that Sasuke silently vacated the podium, the few claps that circulated around the assembly hall were deafened by the squeals of Sasuke's most greatest fan girls, screaming how cool he was even after he had pretty much told every single person there that he hated them.

"Thank you for that, Sasuke-kun, I guess…" Ebisu spoke as he returned to the podium, gently clapping his hands together slowly. "Now it's time to say goodbye the seniors of this school, when I call your name please rise and collect you graduation documents. Shino Aburame."

Said boy rose and quietly made his way to the stage, shaking Ebisu-sensei's hand, collecting his documents and moved to the background of the stage. "Choji Akimichi." Ebisu called for the student, but no one rose. "Choji? Is he not here?" Ebisu looked around to the teachers, who shook their heads with confusion. "I guess he can collect his later, we haven't got all day…"

"Hey Ino, where is Choji?" Sakura whispered to her blond haired friend in the crowd, applauding occasionally when another seniors name was spoken.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him all day." Ino mused, clapping as her friend did when seniors' names were called. "It's weird because his dad is here… Ha, Choza-san looks like he's about to pop an artery."

"How weird, Choji doesn't really seem like the type to bunk off a day like today…" Sakura wondered, she did not know him well, but as he was a family friend of Ino's family, she knew him well enough from when Ino's family would host parties and barbeques to know what he was like.

"Sakura Haruno." She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard her name being called, she approached the stage, shaking Ebisu-sensei's hand. "Well done Sakura, the best results for a female student and third best in the year is something to be very proud of." He smiled to her as she smiled back.

Inwardly she was disappointed, she was sure of second place. Top marks of the year obviously went to the studious and cool Sasuke Uchiha and she believed she was a shoe in for second best, but out of nowhere, without putting in any effort whatsoever throughout this part of the academic year, she had been out placed by Shikamaru Nara, who stood just one mark behind Sasuke! Ino had always said Shikamaru was smart, and a part of her even mused he still docked his grades just so he could avoid attention by being number 2 in the year.

"Hinata Hyuuga." It was Hinata's turn, she stood up carefully, muttering apologies to everyone she had to squeeze past to get out of the rows of seats.

She, like everyone else who stood on the stage shook Ebisu's hand, accepting her documents with a small bow and moved to stand next to Sakura, in the crowd she could see her father staring back at her, her little sister smiled towards her, and her older brother Neji, who had drove all the way down from his university to attend stood at the back giving her one short nod of acknowledgement.

"Kiba Inuzuka." Ebisu called, but again, as when he had called Choji, the boy did not stand, he looked around the assembly hall, not seeing the boy anywhere.

There was no one to ask for Kiba's location, Sakura had very little contact with him despite being in the same school for four years. He wasn't a family friend of any of her friends, and she had only worked with him once or twice on school projects, but he seemed to hand around with Naruto the majority of his time.

She saw Kiba's mother and older sister in the crowd, his sister looking as if she would kill him the next time she saw him, while his mother looked quite amused by his absence.

"Shikamaru Nara." Ebisu called, surprising Sakura, how long had she been thinking about it? But like the previous two missing people no one came. Ebisu sighed heavily. "I reckon I've got an idea what's going on." He muttered to himself away from the microphone, but the seniors on stage were able to hear his short, quiet ramblings.

Ino looked back towards Shikamaru's parents, if Choji wasn't here, it was no surprise Shikamaru wouldn't turn up either. His father caught her stare and merely shrugged his shoulders lazily, his wife at his side however, the steam of boiling rage could almost be seen emanating from her.

"Sasuke Uchiha." The erupting applause was almost painful to the ears as Sasuke made his way to the stage, he accept his documents with a small nod and moved to stand next to a girl in a state of euphoria at the blessing from God she received by having her last name being the one next to Sasuke's in an alphabetical order.

Ebisu picked up the next set of documents, reading the name with a heavy sigh. "Let me guess… you're not here either… Naruto Uzumaki…"

"Hey guys, don't you think it was a bad idea to skip today?" Choji spoke from the side of a disposable barbeque currently grilling meat, flipping them over gently from time to time.

"Eh, what's there to miss? Ebisu-sensei will drone on for a bit, Sasuke's fan girls will screech when he goes on stage to give his senior class president speech, Sasuke will tell everyone how much he hates them, we'll shake hands with Ebisu-sensei, collect some documents we'll probably never look at again, say our goodbyes and get on with our lives." Kiba shrugged, pulling his shaggy brown hair backwards into a sleak back style, all the while resting sgainst the side of his massive white Dog, Akamaru. "Though I must ask, Naruto, why didn't you invite Sasuke? Aren't you guys meant to be best buds or something?"

The blond chuckled, plugging his phone into a portable speaker and playing mellow music loudly from the grassy hillside where they had gathered. "It's Friday, I always have Friday off." He scratched the back of his short spiky blonde hair. "Sasuke doesn't get that luxury, the teachers would go ape if Sasuke wasn't at the ceremony. I'll see him tomorrow, y'know!"

"What do you think, Shikamaru?" Choji asked, hoping for a bit more of a sensible answer to his question.

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders, rest his head in his hands as he stared upwards towards the clouds. "What's done is done, we've missed it now. I'm trying not to think about it. I just wanna enjoy my last day on Earth, my mom's gonna kill me for missing graduation."

"You're mom won't kill you, Shikamaru, I'll take the full blame!" Naruto grinned, sitting down next to him. "There's another reason I didn't invite Sasuke… You remember how I was four years ago? Everyone hated me and I had no friends, except for you guys. I didn't want to have to spend my last day of school hanging around people who only started speaking to me because I was friends with Sasuke. This, this is a thank you to you guys. Thanks for putting up with me these past four years. Thanks for being my friends."

"And now our little Naruto's grown up!" Kiba gave a sarcastic sniffle, taking a piece of meat off the barbeque and feeding it to Akamaru. "Leaving the nest and going into the big wide world!"

"Yeah, Naruto, it's not like we won't see each other again. Sure we're all going to different colleges and Universities, but we'll see each other during semester breaks and stuff. Me and Shikamaru already have plans for the winter break if you're interested?" Choji questioned, creating a burger with the works for all four of them.

"Sure! I'm in!" Naruto beamed in return, giving them a thumbs up. He laid back against the grass, feeling the summer breeze blow over his face, it was a perfect day, too perfect to be cooked up inside some stuffy building.

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura approached the raven haired boy by his locker, who turned to face her. In her hands was a small envelope, she blushed madly as she pushed it towards him. "Please accept this! It has my skype, email address and cell phone number. Please keep in contact with me!"

Said boy looked at the envelope, then to the girl, then back at the envelope. "Thanks." He muttered quietly, taking the envelope from her.

She beamed ecstatically, until she saw him open his locker. Her eye twitched as she saw at least fifty other envelopes just like hers in his locker. He picked them all up and placed them into his bag roughly, trying to clear out his locker on the last day. She paled at the sight of all the other letters, she knew the competition for Sasuke's heart would always be high, but with this many letters, she began to fear he wouldn't actually bother to look at all those letters ever again.

Once it had been emptied, he closed his locker. He gave her one small smirk, and prodding her gently in the middle of her forehead. "See you soon." He spoke, leaving her very shocked before casually walking away, offering one short wave over his shoulder.

Sakura stood so rooted to the spot in a stunned silence that she was almost tackled to the ground when Ino charged her, throwing her arm giddily around her. "Way to go, Sakura! I told you that forehead is so big it grabs everyone's attention! It even grabbed Sasuke-kun's!"

"Shut up Ino, all he did was prod me on the forehead." Sakura muttered out angrily in response, her hand moved to tough the sport on her face where he prodded her, still feeling the warmth from his fingers.

"Yeah but that was without a doubt the closest thing to romantic Sasuke-kun has ever done! You should be proud!" Ino gave her a wink before laughing loudly.

From behind them Hinata smiled towards the back of her pink haired friend. 'So Sakura had prepared something for Sasuke-kun as well…' She thought towards the envelope in her bag, too afraid to have left it at home. Seeing her friend give Sasuke her envelope filled with hopes of love made Hinata think about offering hers to the boy in her heart as well

And when the boy in her heart came to her mind her smiled faded, she looked down towards the ground. 'Naruto-kun, why did you not come today?' She thought as she looked out of the window to her side, seeing the sun shining high and brightly, the boy came to mind again, his smile just as big and bright and warm as the star shining in the sky.

'It would have been nice… to see your smile one last time…'

Yo. This is obviously an AU fic and obviously my first one, just decided to write it to building some creative writing mojo while I work on a soon-to-come fic based on Obito and Naruto AU teacher/student fic. Let me know what you thought of the first chapter, worth a 2nd one?