A/N: Welcome to chapter two, enjoy your read. ~


I could hear the pastor preaching words over the large dark hole the casket was now slowly being lowered into. If it wasn't for Sasuke's grip on my shoulder, I'm sure I would rush to stop the men lowering him down. It's funny, not long ago I would have killed to have Sasuke just to look at me, and here he was grasping my shoulder and all I wanted to do was cry and run towards the man I knew was long gone. I desired his comfort, I wanted to hear him say my name, I wanted just one more kiss. Even though I knew I could never obtain any of those, that wouldn't stop me from wanting them.

It wasn't long ago that you would have seen me, Sasuke, and Naruto out doing random teenager tendencies. How he ever got that old, cold, stuck up, snobby, Uchiha to change was something we all would have to guess about. All that mattered though was that he was here to help. I could see my other friends eyes begin to drop water, I suppose everyone has their breaking point; though I was well past mine, I hadn't stopped crying since they pronounced his death. I felt a drop of water jot against my hand. Sure, it could have been rain, but rain never came with warmth. It was someones final cry for a miracle, for Naruto to just jump out of the casket saying it was all just one of his pranks. Unfortunately his pranks were going to the afterlife with him.

Naruto always loved pulling pranks, it didn't matter friend or foe, you needed to be on your best guard at all times. He even managed to pull a prank on the very first day of our meeting. Granted I wasn't there to see it, but from what I heard from Kiba, it was priceless. If it was Naruto, it was definitely something to see and remember. His pranks were just like him; annoying and bold, but lovable. Yeah, that was him in a nutshell.


As I said before, I Loathed this class. English was nothing more than Ino blabbering on about how her love interest, Shikamaru, hardly does anything. Oh, let's not forget our pervert teacher that makes poor Hinata sit in the front of the class for reasons unsaid. Ugh, this class always seemed to always go on forever. Suddenly a loud crowd of laughter could be heard echoing down the halls. It must have been fun to be in a not so boring class, like art. Art would be heaven compared to sitting in a desk for thirty minutes all bored. It was time to take a nap. I didn't care if our teacher had written best selling 'smut' books or not, I hated English class and always would. Just as I layed my head agaisnt the wooded front of my desk, the bell went off. Just my luck, but at least I was out of that classroom.

I watched as Ino pounced out the door followed by the rest of the room, now it was just me, Hinata, and the perv. We quickly got out of that room, and made our way toward our next class; Gym. It was never odd to hear Kiba laughing above everyone else, but it was odd to see him with someone under his arm laughing together. I looked over the two boys that were on a straight line to where we were walking. The boy under Kiba's arm had blonde hair, a black hoodie, what appeared to be an orange shirt, dark jeans, an a plain pair of black converse. The strangest thing was he had three whisker like marks on his cheeks. Oh, I knew who this boy was. It was him; the one who decided to eat my food and just run off without telling or repaying me. This was about to get good.

They now were within five feet of us, and, if I knew Kiba, he'd be announcing what was so funny real soon. And as if I scripted it he began to talk.

"Yo, Sakura, Hinata. Naruto here just pulled a good one on ole' Iruka." he said fighting back his laughter.

"Oh, did it have to do with him stealing his food?!" I snapped. I knew Kiba had no idea what I was implying, but surely 'Naruto' did.

It wasn't like I was expecting him to yell or anything, but his relaxed nature and that bright wide smile was throwing me off. I knew I had the ability to scare off most boys, but he hadn't even flinched when I mentioned him eating my food. Instead, he started digging through the cinch bag he had on his back. I was puzzled, what on earth could he be looking for? When he finally stopped his smile seemed to widen a little more than it already was. I wasn't the only one awaiting to see what he brought out of the bag, Kiba and Hinata were also focused on it.

What he pulled out actually shocked me, I literally wasn't expecting it. Dropping the bag to the floor, he held out a bottle of coke, and a bag of chips. What a unimaginable fucker he was.

"Here, take them. Sorry for eating yours earlier." he said still giving me a big grin.

"Yeah, whatever." I replied; even if he had gave me back what he took, he still stole something from me.

I took the soda and chips; I'd eat and drink them while I sat in gym watching Sasuke play basketball. Oh how I loved to just sit there an watch his every movement on the court. It may sound a tad stalkerish, but hey, what's a girl to do? It was at this time I noticed there were a lot of glares being shot at us, well, not us but him; Naruto.

"Um, so Naruto, why does everyone keep looking at you like you kicked their dog.?" I asked, with honest curiosity.

"Oh, well you remember how you lost the state football title game on a last second score?" he started plainly waiting for us to acknowledge his sentiment. "Well, I was the guy who scored, so I guess you all are still a little sore from that."

Wait, so he didn't always go here? Well I guess that explains why I couldn't think of his name or place him, but why wasn't I told that we had gotten a new student? Maybe Ino had told me in our first period class, but I didn't hear her over my pruning actions. It didn't matter, this boy had brought down my entire school for a month; maybe I could grow to like him.

Upon entry of the gym, there he was in his gym uniform. What I would give for him to just look at me; lord give his blessing for him to talk to me. Oh, how I desired for him to acknowledge my existence; but for now I would just cope with watching.

I accepted full well that he would never look at me or anyone at that. He was always sitting by himself, at breakfast, lunch, break, and class. Sure the boy was heavily popular; mostly with us girls. I looked around to find that it was just Hinata and I now. Just like every other day, we took our seats up on the bleachers. We always skipped out of gym, not because the activities were to hard; it was just the teacher could be a little too, well... 'youthful' for us.

I watched as Tenten joined us, positioning herself beside Hinata with a wide smile. More than likely she had probably just came from making out with her boyfriend, Neji. Gah, just thinking of someone else's relationships could literally burst my bubble, but not here and now, watching the boy I loved was more than enough to hold that back.

Just like normal, our teacher, Might Gai, somehow jumped out of nowhere to be standing in the middle of the basketball court. It always amazes me just how he gets to where ever it is he jumps down from. Regardless, it was time for his to loud announcement for today's game.

"Goooooooooood Morning, my youthful students. Today's event will be a five on five basketball game. Let the passion of your hearts flow into your game." Gai spouted with star filled eyes; man, was he always over dramatic.

"Yosh!" Gai's most loved pupil, Lee, shouted just as enthusiastically; Yeah this was one weird school.

I watched as the boys all quickly divided. Unfortunately, Naruto was stranded on a team of below average athletes Serves him right for stealing someones food. The teams were divided. It would be Sasuke, Neji, Kiba, Lee, and Chouji versus Naruto and, well, four other guys. Well this game would be over quick. It was going to be a pleasure seeing Sasuke beat that blonde idiot. Oh yes, the joy of this would hype me up for the rest of the day.

And seconds later the scoreboard came to life, putting 20 minutes on the clock. The boys would jump for the ball. It was Kiba against some random white haired guy; well, Team Unbeatable will be getting this one.

"Go Sasuke!" I yelled.

"Yeah, go Neji." Tenten added.

I watched as Sasuke just ignored my comment and went off to his normal starting position, but I saw Naruto's lips purse to a slight grin. Now that was a tad weird, but it didn't matter. Sasuke's team would win and trample over Naruto's. With that the ball was tossed into the air, which Kiba easily shoved back to Sasuke, and the game was on.

Sasuke quickly made his move and maneuvered swiftly by some brown haired guy, easily placing in a lay up, or whatever they're called. Oh yeah, we were cheering; me, Tenten, and shy Hinata. Now someone tossed the ball into Naruto. I noticed that Neji was playing real close to him as he was running up the court. As he crossed half court Naruto's entire physicality changed. He no longer had that grin. No, it was a whole face focus. I guess he also knew if he wanted to win it had to be him to do it. And just like that the boy took off towards the goal.
Kiba was there to stop him, or that's what I thought. As soon as Kiba made his move to block Naruto's path, he passed the ball to the white haired guy standing behind the three point line; even more amazing, the boy's shot just went straight in a total swish. I concluded that it was just a fluke and that it wouldn't happen again.

The game waged on, both teams scoring on each of their possessions. Sasuke had just made what should have been a three pointer, but regardless they took the lead. Twenty-seven, to twenty-nine, I would give it to Naruto, he definitely could 'ball' when he chose to. This was probably the first time in months that the opposition of Sasuke's team was within twenty points, but here they were only down by two with ten seconds left till the games winner would be pronounced.

There was a brief time out while Naruto's team was in a huddle with him pointing in all kinds of directions; Sasuke's was just standing around catching their breath. Soon Gai blew the whistle, and the teams sprung to life. The ball wasn't thrown in to Naruto, no it was thrown in to some curly headed guy. After that, he tossed it to some brown haired guy, following suit he tossed it to a boy with a ponytail. They had used up 4 seconds doing this, now it came down to this. Somewhere the boy with white hair had gotten the ball, and was now tripping up. He was pummeling toward the ground. The Ball went flying towards, who else, Naruto, who was positioned behind the three point line. I could have swore before he shot he glanced at me. As he released, the ball I watched Sasuke make an attempt to block it. To his dying luck, not only did he not block it, but Naruto swished the shot, beating the buzzer, and Sasuke.

I saw Naruto thrust a fist into the air and propelling it back in forth in celebration; he had his right to celebrate he had just beat the team that no one had ever came close to defeating. I saw the expressions on Hinata's, and Tenten's were the same as mine; complete and total awe. The posture of the other members wasn't fairing to well either; well, besides Kiba's. Kiba just never cared about winning or losing, it was all about having fun. Well, I'd give Naruto this much, he must be one good player, or just have very good luck.


That game reflects him so much, he didn't have much to work with, but he always managed to defeat the odds. He just had that 'once in a lifetime' ability to defeat anything placed in front of him; well, almost anything, I should say. As much as I wish he didn't defeat the odds, that mid May school day.


A/N: Hope you enjoyed this, please review. ~