Author's Note-This is a fanfic based after one of the roleplays some friends and I have up on Gaiaonline. I finally decided to make it into a story, so I'll be posting more to this along with Strings of Fate. Please enjoy, and do not sue since I am a broke college student.
"He's making his way down Crescent Drive! We'll chase him to the end of it; block off any possible escape routes!"
A teen with unruly blond hair glanced back, a frown on his face. "Damn, they just won't quit!" he cursed as he rushed down the streets of Salem. Despite his orange and blue hoodie and blue jeans, he could tell that the temperature had already dropped to chilly. But really, that was to be expected on an October night in Massachusetts. His footsteps sounded loud in the nearly-empty streets, now cleared of tourists due to the late hour. Past the closed up shops, past the near-empty restaurants, past the darkened cheesy tourist attractions that were all set up for Halloween, he ran. He could practically hear his heartbeat thudding in his ears, his breath heavy and paced.
Behind him was the sound of his pursuers, a whole group of them in one dark mass, shadows in shadow.
Glancing back at them, his blue eyes finally narrowed. "Fine! If that's the way they want to play it," he said, suddenly turning down an alleyway and reaching the end. The men followed him, rounding the corner and cutting off his visible escape route.
"We have you cornered! Turn around and come quietly!" one of the men called over to him, reaching for his gun.
"No way," the blond shot back with a small glare. "I'd never let myself get caught by guys like you, dattebayo." He turned to face the wall, then glanced back at them. "And anyway," He suddenly jumped up, his feet pressing against the wall and staying there. "Whoever said I was cornered?"
All subtlety was finally gone-what was the point of hiding powers he needed when they already knew he had them? Without even missing a beat, he quickly ran up the wall and onto the rooftop, glancing back with a small smirk before crossing the slanted shingles and leaping over to another building. Finally out of the street's shadows and running through the light of the full moon, he hoped that nobody would think to look up here. He needed to find a place to hide, and soon. He had to find a place to rest so that he could contact his current guardians.
He jumped from roof to roof, building to building several times until he was closer to the edge of town and the buildings seemed to be spaced further and further apart. Peering into the distance, he finally noticed the small bell tower to some sort of church or chapel. Perfect. He hopped down from the building he was currently on and quickly ran over. When he reached the building, he easily walked up the outside wall as high as he possibly could, and upon reaching it, finally slipped into the small bell tower and sat down to lean against the wall.
Closing his eyes for a moment and catching his breath, all was silent when the faint tune of 'Zombie' by the Cranberries cut through the air, the culprit of the music playing in one of his jeans pockets. Even though he had set it on low volume, it was loud in comparison to the silence of the night surrounding him. He looked down for a moment. "Should've put this thing on vibrate, dattebayo..." he muttered as he finally reached into his pocket and flipped the blue razor open and brought it to his ear, eyes blinking and trying to adjust to the light of the screen that had just shown into his eyes a mere couple seconds ago. "Yeah?" he asked. A long pause as he listened to the caller's words. "I'm fine, dattebayo. I'm hiding out in…" He peered through the darkness to read the wooden sign out front below. "St. John's Catholic Church. Up in the bell tower."
Another pause before he nodded, despite that the speaker couldn't see it. "Yeah, alright. Yeah, I know where that is. They have the streets swarmed right now though; they seem seem serious this time around. Give me about fifteen minutes to get over there-twenty tops if I happen to run into trouble on the way-and-" His words fell short when he could've sworn he heard a slight rustle below. Peering through the darkness again, this time towards some bushes that were off to the side, he frowned slightly and slowly lowered the phone. He hoped it was a squirrel, but-
His blue eyes widened when he saw what it really was.
Dammit!
BANG!
"Come on, everybody hands up! Mataashita no heroes! Wa comeback!"
The blond gave a small groan, shifting and turning a bit in his seat as he tried to not only find an impossible comfortable position on the thin-cushioned, rough-fabric seat, but also in a quest to somehow manage to block out the ringtone. He knew he should've bought some earplugs or something at the station before they pulled out. "Answer your damn phone, Kurosuke-sensei…" he mumbled grumpily, half-asleep. Seriously, he was trying to take a nap here. And that stupid ringtone had woken him up at least three times already. The man really needed to pick up his phone.
"3-2-1 Make some noise!"
Hearing the blond giving another groan, the man sitting across from him pulled his cell from his pocket, flipping it open only when it had stopped ringing-not to return the call but simply to check who had called. Same person all three times. "I don't need to call them back," he replied lazily, sitting back in his seat as the boy meanwhile seemed to deem his quest for a nap impossible. The boy sat up while rubbing the sleep from his eyes and glancing out the train window to see the landscape rushing by. "We'll be there soon, anyway." Kurosuke raised an amused eyebrow, navy-blue colored like his short, messy hair. "Anyway," he added. "You got enough sleep last night, I thought. Keep acting like that and I'll start to think that you've started to become a grumpy old man."
The blond remained silent as he stared out the window and his own sixteen year-old reflection on the glass, trying to recognize something in the unfamiliar landscape. But…as much as he tried…a lot had changed. Either way, even if there was something recognizable, the train was rushing through the forest, quickly approaching the town that was their destination-too quickly to really observe anything in great detail if he noticed anything in particular. Who ever would've thought that he'd return to this place someday…?
Oh well. It wasn't as if he'd see ghosts when he was there or anything like that. There was no possible way. And going back to school…maybe it could be fun. He needed something to take his mind off of things. When Kurosuke's words were finally absorbed into his brain, however… "Wait, what?!" he demanded, pulled from his silent nostalgia and distracted from his quest for familiarity. "Don't call me a grumpy old man!"
"Because you're only sixteen…right…" Kurosuke commented, grinning. "You're certainly not acting like it."
"Oh, shut up…" the blond grumbled with a small huff. "Just don't call me anything like that once we reach the school."
"Nobody's going to think anything of it either way," the man replied. "It's not like it's a big deal unless you make it into a big deal. You know?" Noticing the blond's frown-not just at what he had said, but the normal distance and isolation returning to his blue eyes-the frown showing that he was troubled by the situation overall, the man's smile softened a bit. "Relax. I'm sure you'll fit in just fine. And if nothing else, school and any sort of after-school activities should be keeping you busy enough."
"On that note, this whole school thing…" the blond spoke up, his frown beginning to fade as he looked up at the blunette more with curiosity now. "You're really going to be a teacher?"
Kurosuke nodded. "Yep," he replied, glancing over with a slight grin. "English class, starting today."
"Today, huh…" At first, the boy seemed to think really nothing of it. But then it hit him. The boy's eyes suddenly went wide. "Gah!" he exclaimed as he sat up more, nearly to the point of jumping up out of his seat. "Classes are starting today?! At what time? What period? We haven't even gotten to town yet!"
"Quit spazzing, Naruto," Kurosuke replied calmly, rolling his violet eyes. "Class starts first period at eight thirty-"
"It's already-!" Naruto's words fell short when he remembered that he didn't have a watch and therefore didn't even have the faintest clue as to what time it was.
"Five past eight," Kurosuke supplied.
"Five past eight!" Naruto repeated, now that he had what he needed to complete his statement. "We're gonna be really late at the rate we're going! Gah, I knew we should've taken the earlier train..."
Kurosuke watched him with vague amusement but even more so laziness, then shrugged carelessly. "Don't worry about it. We're already close to town, and I don't think anyone's going to mind too much if we're running a little late. I could come up with a good excuse either way." Noticing that Naruto was now giving him a flat look, he looked over questioningly. "What?"
"You really aren't too different from him sometimes," Naruto commented flatly, sighing and crossing his arms.
The twenty-two year-old grinned slightly. "Oh yeah?"
"That's not much of a compliment, either."
The man chuckled and gave a small shrug. "Anyway, you may want to go on ahead and get your uniform on," he said. "You probably won't have much time to do so once we reach the school."
Naruto sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right," he replied, moving to his feet and grabbing his backpack. "I'll be back in a few, dattebayo."
Watching Naruto walk off, he smiled slightly and looked out the window, putting on his usual black-framed rectangular shades with amber lenses. Dressed in his usual style-today black pants, a buttoned-up deep blue shirt, and a long black coat worn open with a silver lightning bolt pendant hanging from a thin silver chain-he really felt no need to get up and change. This was fine to teach class in, in his opinion. It was back home, anyway. "Konoha Academy," he muttered under his breath as he reached for a manga in his own backpack. "Here we come."
Author's Note-So the first chapter turned out a bit short, but then, that's to be a bit expected of first chapter. I'll try and have the next chapter out soon. Let me know what you think and please review. Flames will be used to make s'mores-s'mores will be given to those that review.