Men in white coats are running beside the hospital cart he's tied down to. Blurred white lights are flashing above him as they run down the hall. Sweat is beading off his forehead at the terror that it has happened again. It felt like he had been stabbed; his left side was on fire. Screams echoed down the hallway, splitting his head open. He didn't realize they were his own.

Then all of a sudden, the screams stopped, replaced by the faint sound of the heart monitor, no longer broken up in beeps, but one, continuous sound.

Naruto shot out of bed, trying to catch his breath. He reached over, blindly searching for the sleep button on his blaring alarm clock. His spiky blonde hair was plastered to his face from the sweat. He stared blankly at the wall opposite him, remembering the far-too-realistic nightmare that had just occurred.

He turned to the side to see what time it was. His ramen-bowl clock read 7:15. The sun shone in full force through the window behind it. Still shaking, Naruto rose from bed, dreading the new school year, not to mention the new school. New school, new town. As if he hadn't been put through enough.

He could hear his father downstairs, attempting to make breakfast. Just another charcoal meal Naruto had to look forward too. As Naruto descended the staircase, he could see his father shuffling around with the numerous pots and pans, dropping a few on his foot.

"Son of a... batch of cookies," Minato had to bite his tongue to stop from swearing as his son entered the room.

"Good morning to you too," Naruto answered unenthusiastically, taking a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

Minato glanced over at his son worriedly. "You ok," he asked casually.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well you start a new school today. And," Minato looked away from Naruto, down at the floor. "You were screaming again this morning."

"Yeah, by the way, have you found a job yet," Naruto asked, quickly changing the subject.

"I have an interview this afternoon with my possibly-future boss," Minato answered. Naruto could tell by his tone that it was a woman. An...attractive woman.

Naruto glared at his dad, feeling it was too soon for him to be chasing after woman. It hadn't even been a year since his mother's death.

Minato, standing over the stove, his back turned to his son, commented, "You should be getting ready for school instead of burning holes in the back of my head."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Naruto mumbled.

**********

Naruto stood outside the front of Konoha High, the glass doors reflecting the sun, blinding him as he walked inside. He was surprised to see metal detectors, since there hadn't been any at his old, much smaller school. He went through without any problems, but heard a kid beside him cursing under his breath as the alarm went off.

Naruto couldn't help but watch the security guards take metal chains, assorted piercings, and a spiky collar from a brooding, red-headed boy, wearing all black with black nail polish and heavy eyeliner that didn't really match his eyes. As the redhead looked his way, Naruto noticed a blood-red tattoo over his left eye; the symbol for love. The redhead, seeing that Naruto was staring at him, sneered as he was finally able to walk past him, clear of the security.

Naruto, feeling intimidated, quickly looked the other way onto another boy who was having trouble with the metal detectors.

"Come on Shino, empty your pockets," the guard indicated towards the boy's jacket pockets.

"I'm telling you, it's the braces I got last week," the boy protested.

"Ok then, show me."

There was a pause; Naruto couldn't see the boy's face, as his hood was up. After a moment, the guard waved him through.

As Naruto's curiosity to see the boy's face was occupying his attention, another boy ran into him, knocking him to the floor.

"Oh, I didn't see you. Sorry about that," the boy said, helping Naruto up off the ground. "You're new here, aren't you?"

Naruto nodded timidly, brushing dust off his pants.

"I'm Kiba. And you are..." he said, after realizing he didn't know who he was talking to.

"I'm, uh, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Nice to meet you Naruto," Kiba cut in happily. "Hey can I see your block schedule?"

"Sweet," Kiba said after a few seconds of examining. "We have all the same classes. Come on, I'll show you around," and before Naruto could politely decline, Kiba grabbed his arm and started dragging him down the hallway.

As they walked, Naruto noticed Kiba mumbling about something, but wasn't paying enough attention to hear what it was. The red marks on his cheeks seemed to make him stand out in the crowd of high-schoolers, and not necessarily in a bad way. As Kiba was talking, Naruto absently noticed his abnormally sharp teeth.

Naruto followed Kiba into a classroom, which he assumed was the social studies classroom. The walls were covered in maps of the world. Naruto looked around at the desks, most of which were filled. The classroom was noisy, except for one corner, where the redhead from earlier that morning was sitting. As more and more people filed in to the classroom, the only empty seat left was beside him. Naruto, glancing around the room, cautiously sat down beside the redhead, avoiding his searing gaze.

Once everyone had settled down, the teacher, Iruka Sensei, started talking. "Ok class, we're going to be starting a project today," he paused to let the groans and mumbles take their course, starting to hand out sheets of paper to the students. "Let's see, partners."

"Ino and Sakura." At the call of their names, two girls up at the front turned to glare at each other.

"Sasuke and Lee." One of the boys started glaring daggers into the back of another, very eager boy sitting at the very front of the classroom.

"Kiba and Shino, Tenten and Hinata," Iruka Sensei continued listing names off. By the time he had gotten to the back of the classroom where Naruto was sitting, every other name had been called. Every name but the one of the redhead he was sitting beside.

"Gaara, I suppose you'll be paired with... Naruto, right," Iruka Sensei asked.

"Yeah," Naruto answered quietly, trying not to look towards the redhead named Gaara, whom he was sure was attempting to glare him to death. However, when he finally did look back at his partner, he wasn't glaring at all, but rather staring off into space, tapping his pen on the desk. Naruto wasn't sure whether to be relieved or offended.

Naruto sighed, following his partner's example, and stared off into space. He had a feeling that this was going to be a long day.