CHAPTER 1 DEPRESSION AND MEMORIES
Rain poured bucketed down as the young crimson haired boys window, he sat alone in the dark and gloomy bedroom that was just a little bigger than an everyday bathroom. He sat on his bed staring out of his small window that was leaking because of the large crack that ran down from the top left hand corner of the window, the boy had tried everything in his power to fix his window but he had no money to spend on in, so he resorted to duct tape, although his attempts of patching the rest of his room did not work. He was no longer fazed by his room; he would have waited until the rain stopped, alas it seemed that he had more chance of marrying the fabled 'slug princess' than the rain stopping, living in the hidden rain village and all. The boy longed for the rain to stop, it seemed that the water leaking through his roof was driving him insane with their loud echoing drips. A lone tear glistened down his face as he thought about his best friend who had moved away because his parents where disgusted that they walked in on their son sleeping in another boys bed, even though they were only 15 years old. The crimson haired boy then padded over to his desk, and went to sit on his chair, only for it to collapse under him; upon getting up he pulled out a photo album and reminisced about his old life. In particular photo jogged a memory of how the two boys met, making the crimson hair boy smile a little.
*The back of the school yard was filled with insulting chants and children's laughter and taunts, 'JUST GO DIE YOU LITTLE FAGGOT!', 'NO BODY LIKES YOU!', 'GO CUT YOUR WRISTS YOU LITTLE EMO!', ' KILL YOURSELF!'. The children were clapping as a group of 15 or so kids backed the crimson hair boy into the wooden fence that trailed around the school, the gang of students walked closer to the boy, one of them getting a butchers knife out of his school bag. The student with the knife laughed "It's taken a while but we have finally gotten you where we want you, huh you little faggot! Look where not doing anything wrong here, were just putting you out of your misery, I mean, you're suicidal anyway, where just making it quicker for you!" The crimson haired boy started to threat that this was finally it, the last day of his life and he didn't even get to say good bye to his parents, the last words he would have said to them was 'I hate you, you don't understand, I HATE YOU'. The child with the knife walked towards the boy, he had no problem picking the scared boy up by his shirt because he was so skinny, the boy lined up his shot and his hand was moving towards the crimson haired boy's chest ready to stab him. The crimson haired boy closed his eyes, waiting for the blow to be dealt, he waited and waited but he felt no blow struck. He opened his eyes to see that his attacker's arm was firmly grasped by a slightly taller, more masculine boy than his attacker. "Now what are you doing Tommy? You wouldn't dare stab another student would you?" the taller boy now tightened his grip around Tommy's wrist causing him to yelp out in pain. "OUCH! LET ME GOT YAHIKO! WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON ANYWAY?!" Tommy had dropped the knife due to the pain caused by the taller student. The group of students retreated quickly, leaving Tommy to deal with Yahiko and the crimson haired boy, "Now, GET LOST!" Yahiko yelled at Tommy, making Tommy turn white and run off. Yahiko turned to the crimson haired boy and held out his hand to help him off the ground, taking it the boy still kept quite submissive to Yahiko. Yahiko looked confused, "What's up kid? Neko got your tongue? The crimson haired boy stood up straighter "U-uh u-um t-thankyou Mr Yahiko s-sir" the crimson haired boy stuttered. "M-my name is N-Nagato, t-thank you for h-helping me." Yahiko looked down at Nagato who was seemingly skin and bones, as well as quite a bit shorter that himself and smiled. "Come on Nagato, they won't hurt you around me". As they walked through the school the students that remained in the yard kept their distance, Yahiko was obviously feared by most of the students. Just when they were about to leave the school gates, a kunai got thrown into Yahiko's back, causing him to hit the ground in pain. Nagato swung around to see Tommy, his gang and 1 other girl there, Tommy had in his hands 5 more kunai. "BULLSEYE! 1 HUNDRED POINTS!" Tommy laughed, then he turned to Nagato "heh, 2 thousand points if you can hit the emo between the eyes!" Tommy hurled the kunai at Nagato, only for Nagato to catch it mid-air and hurl it back at him, this was the first time he had ever fought back, and it felt good. Tommy was outraged that Nagato dare fight back, throwing the remaining 4 kunai at him at once. Nagato, this time was unlucky, all 4 of the kunai hit him on target, 2 for his knees and 2 for his elbows, Nagato hit the ground in intense pain. The girl that stood next to Tommy seemed worried, " HAH, Hey Konan, that's why you should date me I can keep you save from idiots and rouge ninja! No one will harm to and I can take vengeance for your dead parents!" Tommy said boastfully, Konan stood silent while all the other children turned to leave the school yard, Tommy waved goodbye at her as she stood still near Nagato and Yahiko. Once Tommy was out of sight she ran over to her two fallen classmates, she tended to their wounds and then continued to apologise for Tommy's behaviour. " Eh, its not your fault, you didn't throw the kunai," Yahiko announced "a-are you Tommy's girlfriend?" Nagato asked quietly, she quickly turned to Nagato, calmly she disagreed, " No, I am definitely not Tommy's girlfriend, although it seems he wants me to be" she said. To trio set of out of the school yard and continued on to walk to their houses, this was the start of a huge friendship between the 3 war orphans. *
Nagato put the photo back in the album and walked back to his bed, falling into a deep sleep soon after, it had been a while since he had thought about Tommy, Konan and Yahiko, I wonder what brought the memories on…..