A/N: Hey, there everyone. I'M ALIVE!

Wow it's been so long since I've updated any story and this one especially. This was the first fanfic I had ever written and I never did finish it. BUT I felt bad for being so inactive I had to take another look at my stories and man I just couldn't handle it.

SO I'm in the process or already have rewritten some of my stories. And if you happen to be an old reader then you might be in for a surprise. This story was so old I almost cried at how crappy it was. This story was written WAAAAY back in my High School days and lets just say as a College student now there's no way I could accept such poorly written work. ~My style of writting has most definitly changed, so be warned.~

I hope every one enjoys this new story (I rewrote so much it has a completely different plot now) and I'm not sure if I should make this a one shot or if I should continue...

Chapter 1: A Promise

Everything seemed to go in slow motion.

I didn't know what to do, the enemy was too fast, and there was just no time to defend myself. I felt hopeless as I watched the enemy run towards me, sword in hand; I watched as he swiftly plunged his sword through my chest, as if the protective clothing I wore were nothing; I watched and heard myself scream in agony and I watched as my teammates, who had just finished off the other enemy ninja, stare at me in horror.

It's funny really, I never thought it would end this way, I never thought that I would die when I still had so much to live for. I felt no pain, at least not yet, so it didn't register at first of how grave my situation currently was.

I stood there unmoving for a long while, shocked, before my legs began to give out and then suddenly I felt the pain of the sword that had stabbed through my now bleeding chest, everything was moving quicker now and I just couldn't keep up. As I fell to the ground I could see Sasuke run up behind the man that attacked me and slice his throat in one swift motion. The man toppled to the ground and as he fell I could see that even in death he could still look at me with pure hatred in his eyes. I would have been in awe at his determination had I not been dying at that same moment.

Sakura came running to me as I finally fell to my knees.

"S-Sakura…?" I murmured. Without looking, I brought my hands up to my chest, feeling the pools of blood escape me.

I lifted my hands up in an attempt to see the blood for myself but Sakura grabbed them, holding my hands so tightly I thought she was trying to break them.

"Naruto…Oh God..." Her voice shook and I knew without her telling me that it was bad, only getting worse when blood rose out of my throat nearly chocking me.

Both Sakura and Sasuke were holding me up now, I was still on my knees, but it didn't stop the blood from rising.

"Keep him up Sasuke, I'll try to take the sword out."

I didn't hear him reply but I felt as he moved behind me and supported all of my weight. I was in a daze now, too lost to protest or tell them it was too late.

Breathing was nearing impossible and as soon as Sakura pulled the offending weapon out it only became harder. They moved me so that I sat upright by a large tree.

My flak vest was quickly removed and Sakura's healing hands moved toward me but I found the last of my strength to stop her.

"Naruto…she's only trying to help you." Sasuke whispered urgently from somewhere next to me.

I shook my head.

"Don't." I didn't even recognize my own voice by then. I was gasping for breath and the blood that kept coming up wasn't helping any either.

"I think…" I started to wheeze as I spoke. "It's over guys." My eyes drooped; I knew I only had a few seconds left. "It's too late for me…you need to worry about yourselves."

Whatever hope Sakura had been holding, immediately evaporated because she burst into tears. Her fists curled onto my open vest.

"Idiot…What do you mean it's too late?" She looked to Sasuke then back to me. "It can't be too late."

I felt the tears well up behind my eyes. "I-I'm sorry Sakura." My whole body shook as another wave of pain went through me. The scary part was that even the pain was ebbing away, which could only mean one thing.

Sasuke knelt down in front of me and held my limp hand. I knew he understood what was about to happen. He gripped my hand tightly and motioned for Sakura to do the same.

"Don't leave us Naruto…just hold on for a little longer. A medical team is on their way." Sakura was looking desperately at me now, or at least I thought she was, it was getting harder to tell with my vision failing and all.

"I'll try…" I whispered out. "Can I lay down for a bit…just until they get here…?" Sakura began crying again but it was Sasuke who kept calm and helped me lay down.

"Thanks." My breathing slowed dramatically, no longer was I trying to fight for air.

"Once this is all over, let's go out for some ramen, yeah?" I smiled and nodded.

"Only if you're paying."

I felt water hit my face but my eyes gave up on me before I could see whose tears they belonged to.

"Deal." Sasuke replied, the shake in his voice finally giving him away.

I started to cough violently and I knew that my time was up; I think they both knew too.

With my one last breath I managed to whisper out "It's a promise then..."

And that was the end. My eyes closed for the last time, my heart slowly came to a stop, and the last thing I felt was a pinky wrapping around my own. It was a promise.

(PRESENT DAY)

It was a day like any other. I woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast and headed off to work. I always got up early so I could have enough time to walk there, it wasn't far so I figured, why not start everyday with some light exercise?

Even though I took the same path every day I never really paid much attention to the crowds of other people that made up Konoha. The city was large and the chance of you ever meeting or seeing the same person twice was as likely as you finding the Holy Grail.

The winter season was starting to kick in and so the air was crisp and though the sun was shining brightly from above I could still see small puffs of air escape me as I breathed.

I wrapped my scarf around my neck more snugly and stuffed my hands in my coat.

I rounded a corner, crossed a few streets and before I knew it I was already at my destination. I worked at a local bakery, it was a small, homely place but the pay was decent. I worked alone which was how I liked it but that was only because "Big Boss" was always too busy writing dirty novels to come bother with his own shop. But, again, working alone is how I liked it. It's how I've always lived my life and having a job that fit right with my life style worked perfectly.

Hanging my coat in the back of the shop I quickly went about opening the bakery. Warming up the ovens; bringing out the pastries that I had prepared the night before; I arranged the display cases to my liking. Finally satisfied I declared the shop open and flipped the sign on the front door to prove that.

"Let the day begin."

I watched as people would pass by the bakery too involved in their own hectic lives to notice the small bakery that was my work place. A few kids that were heading off the school would stop by every morning to have themselves a few of the freshly baked pastries and seeing as they were regulars I usually gave them a few extra sweets free of charge. And that was about as exciting as my mornings went.

Yes, this was my life. Simple and most likely boring to most but I was content. I baked all day and got to see the daily drama that went by the store. It was funny how looking out the shops windows was like looking at a television screen. One second a guy's getting slapped by an obviously upset girlfriend; kid on a bike almost runs over a person walking their dog; car almost gets hit by a truck; an ambulance rushes by…and all in that one second, for me this was better than any reality show.

As I was about to go and rearrange the display case, again, when the chiming of the bell that hung above the front door went off. Now, it wouldn't be until much later that I would realize that it would be at this exact moment that my life would change completely but when I turned around to see who had come in I knew one thing for sure, this wasn't going to be a regular costumer.

Here was this man, who looked like he either just ran 1000 miles to get here or had just been chased from god know where. He had his back turned; looking out the window hurriedly before quickly ducking over by the wall as a horde of, what looked like, females went racing past the shop. Once the horde had past and the squealing of girls had diminished to nothing but the sound of cars honking outside, did he look back out; sigh and then turn around.

I was a little more than shocked. I felt a sudden urge to hug him, as if he was a long lost friend from who knows when.

His hair was jet black and skin as pale and smooth as a baby's. His eyes were so dark and mesmerizing that I felt like if I stared any longer they would transform into some sort of vortex and suck me straight into its abyss.

I frowned and thought back as far as I could remember but nothing came up. I've never met this man before.

I stood up straight and looked the man over again, noticing the large dark hoodie he wore along with faded skinnies and plain black converse. His overall appearance looked suspicious topping it off with the fact that he had barged into the shop just to hide.

"If you're planning on robbing this place, I might want to rethink that. Business hasn't exactly been booming this morning…" I said blatantly.

The look he gave me clearly showed he was offended but I didn't give a hoot, he was the one that was giving me the creeps.

"I wasn't planning on doing no such thing." He scoffed. "Besides…" He looked at the many pasties that lined the display cases, "Who would rob a bakery?"

Relaxing slightly I leaned on the counter. "I don't know. You're the one that ran in here looking all suspicious and it doesn't help that you're wearing the typical I-got-a-gun-in-my-hoodie, hoodie. "

He rolled his eyes "Look, I was just trying to get away from that mob of girls earlier." He neared my counter, "I don't normally look like this anyways, it's more of a disguise really, I was trying to enjoy my day off without attracting my usual stalkers."

I laughed a little. "Well, I see that didn't work." He gave a small laugh too and ran a hand threw his dark hair. I felt oddly comfortable around this man and yet I didn't even know his name.

"Yeah…you don't happen to have coffee in this place do you?" He asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"Oh, yeah of course. How do you take it?"

"Black, please." As I went about making his coffee I couldn't help but feel his eyes on me. A little more than nervous about it, I decided to keep up conversation in hopes to distract myself.

"May I ask your name…stranger?" I turned and grinned as I held up his cup of coffee.

He smirked, another pang of familiarity hitting me like a ton of bricks, I ignored it.

"Ah thanks." He took a sip of his hot drink and sighed. I could see, even through his hoodie, his muscles relax as the coffee took it's affect.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha." His eyes locked onto mine for a second before he frowned and asked, "Have we met before?" He seemed as shocked as I was about the sudden question but he soon composed himself and took another drink of his coffee, his eyes finally leaving mine.

"Uh, no. I don't think we have. But I'm Naruto…Naruto Uzumaki." I paused before taking my hand out to shake his.

He eyed me warily before moving to accept my gesture.

There was a bit of silence afterwards before he suddenly looked back at me and asked something that for some reason I felt I've been waiting for, for a long time.

"Wanna go out for some ramen later?"

A/N: Soooo...How was it? Should I continue? Are there any grammatical errors? Comments/Concerns? Please review, I need some serious feedback right now. :)

~My other stories will be updated soon (hopefully) I'm trying, really I am, just school keeps me really busy. I hope everyone can be patient with me.~