Naruto rolled over in his twin sized mattress which smelled of rat shit and ignored the aching of his muscles. He worked so hard for what seem like little reward. His golden hair that defied gravity swayed as chilly air from a lone window swept throughhis
minuscule apartment. He lived alone. He worked alone. He was alone.

The apartment was a dead one. It held no life to it -save for the blonde that ghosted around it when he needed sleep or simply had no where else to go. Shattered glass laidbelow the broken window. Naruto gave up trying to keep the damnthingwhole
as people seemed to just want him to freeze to death in the lowering temperatures of fall. The floor may have had a nice warm rug once upon a time, but all that lay for ones feet to hit was cold concrete save for the wooden slabs thatwhere in
the half bathroom where tile use to be. Strips of tacks use to line the only separate room, but Naruto was able torip the pain inflicting terrors out of the ground. His bed was across from a simple open kitchen that had no island, microwave,and
no sink. The brokenwindow was built to the right of the bathroom which stood to the right of the kitchen. The only thing to the left was the door that lead out of the hell hole. Everything looked cramped and unnaturally vacant like it wasan
abandoned place taken up by a homeless man and mice.

Naruto rolled over and looked at the small pink alarm clock that he bought for five bucks. Like he did everyday, he promised himself that he would just leave, but the day he would leave seemed to always be out from under
the thin sheets of theunsanitary looking bed. His bright blue eyes looked as dead as his apartment felt as he did hismorning routineof doing a few push-ups followed by a slew of other athletically inclined work outs. He stretched
for a bit before heading to the bathroom where he made sure his steps where light and staccatoso as to not get another splinter from the palebrown wood. The blonde washed up the best hecould splashing water on his face, brushing
his teeth, and putting on some cheep deodorant. He slipped out of the apartment after changing into some clothes that he kept in one of the kitchen cabinets.

As he walked toward his part time job at an asian cuisine restaurant he slowly forced himself to pump energy and enthusiasm into his walk and aura. No one knew if he didn't show them.

With a big enthusiastic smile he swung open the door to Ichiraku the warm smell of food wafted heavily out of the place sending goosebumps across the expanse of tan skin that Naruto had inherited. Maybe in a few hours he would leave. He would work for
a bit of cash on his card and just swiftly walked inside his genericblack t-shirt and black slacks matching that of the girl behind the cash register.

"Oh. It's just Naruto." She said bitterly slinking into the kitchen behind her. Naruto rolled his eyes and clocked in.

"Hey, be glad my sexy self is here- now you can go home." Naruto yelled to the back pressing buttons on the screen of the register. He took in the empty seats of the place noting a few chairs out of place. Shouldn't be long before the lunch rush.

"Okay. I'm leaving. Make sure you don't burn the place down." The girl handed Naruto the store keys as his shift would end with him closing up past him the smell of her perfume stinging Naruto's nostrils.

"Have fun on your date, Ayame." Naruto winked at her when she glared at him from the doors. She muttered something incoherent as she left. He shovedthe keys in his pocket.

"You know kid, I really don't see why you insist on being so happy all the time, but I'm glad you can find it in you." An old man said from the kitchen window. Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin, a quiet yelp escaped his lips.

"why do you gotta do that, ya old geezer?" He twisted his body to meet the gaze of the man who shrugged.

"It's my restaurant, I do what I want." He left the window to go cook some more knowing the regulars. Naruto cleaned his space and began to straighten the dining area. The cracked glass of one of the tables made him think of hisapartment. It really
wasn't a home. His eyes dimmed as his thoughts traveled. What was he going to do? He didn't have much aspiration. He didn't know what he was going to do tomorrow, hell he did even know what he was going to do after work. Thefuture seemed so
bleak to him, muddled with the consequences of an unknown past.

The door swung open as the blonde finished setting up the last chair forcing him out of his thoughts. He scrambled to the register a smile plastered on his face. The face of a stranger neared him and he asked the generic questions that wascustomary
for a cashier to say. The man just looked at him, his dark eyes boring into the tan skin of the cashier.

"Is this your first time here? I can explain the menu if you would like." His smile never left his lips as he grabbed a paper menu to give to the guy in front of him.

"Wow. You probably don't even know your species." The man said finally carelessly wafting the paper menu awaywith his hand.

"Excuse me?"

"A dumb blonde like you probably doesn't even have a major animal. Ha, I wouldn't be surprised if you were nothing, but a lowly anteater." He chuckled and combed a hand through his hair. Naruto pressed his lips together making his smile more
took everything in him to keep from putting the guy in his place. The man swayed and added,"just give me some miso ramen and make sure to use gloves to give it to me." The man sluggishly blinked. Naruto then notice that the guy was
blonde rung up the order and tookthe guy's cash his smile irritated. Who the hell day drank, then walked into an a Asian cuisine place, and insult the staff. Naruto walked into the kitchen and helped Teuchi, the owner, make the dish. He justdidn't
want to be under the scrutinizing eye of the idiot in the dining area. If another costumer walked in they could ring the damn bell. Naruto reluctantly put the bowl on a trey and added some utensils. He walked to where the man was sittingand
placed the trey in front of him.

"If you need anything else please ring the bell on the front counter." Naruto said before turning to walk away from the prick. Said prick stood up and grabbed the shoulder of the blonde making him turn back around to face the idiot.

"I thought I said use gloves when serving me, anteater. Man, you are dense! I bet your a carrier- have you gone through your first heat yet?" The guy stumbled through his words and swayed some more. Naruto smiled and squinted a bit.

"No, sir. And I haven't even turned 18 yet even if I was." Naruto grumbled pulling his shoulder from the man's hand.

"Oh, so your parents never told you, huh? That sucks. Heard heat hurts pretty badly.." The man chuckled and grabbed the ramen and hurriedly splashed it onto Naruto who's eyes widened. The boy full on yelled as the hot liquid hit him, burning hisface,
left arm, and torso. Luckily it wasn't so hot as to leave a mark, but it hurt like a bitch. Naruto was in to much of a shock to notice the man collect himself, "that was just a preview. Your welcome. Now your prepared." He then promptlywalked
out of the restaurant.

It was not the worst thing to ever happen to him, though it was one of the most uncalled for things to happen to him in a few months. Naruto shook with anger and shock. That was it. He ran to the bathroom and cleaned up all thathe could then went
out to the dining area and vengefullyscrubbedup the mess the man had made. He walked into the kitchen as he pulled the store keys from his pocket. Narutoput themon the counter next to the stove where the old man was.

"I quit." With the words said he promptly left the place. He didn't know what he was doing or what he was going to do, but he was done being in the god forsaken place he had been in for the past seventeen years. He gathered what little stuff
he had

in his dank apartment in a backpack;swiftly hewalked out leaving a note on the door just so that everyone who even cared to look at his door would know he wasn't going back. It would be easy enough for them to cancel his contract as it
did entailthat he should have been gone a year ago. They only let him stay because no one else would take the room and 100 bucks a month was money they would take greedily.

Naruto didn't know where he was going. He just wanted to go where shattered glass would not follow. Not tomorrow, not in the next hour. Today.