A/N: Well, since you seem curious to see exactly where I'm taking this odd little piece… (grins from ear to ear)

First of all, thank you from the very bottom of my heart for all those heart warming reviews! (HUUUGS) You do realize that this second chapter would've NEVER showed up without you, right? (To those who reviewed anonymously, your responses can be found from underneath the chappy.)

Awkay, seeing as it's already taken me far too long to get this chapter done, let's go, yeah? I REALLY hope you'll have a nice ride!

(As for chapter titles: For this story, all chapter titles come from "Dare you to move" by Switchfoot. Heh, I just love that song.)

Kakashi had been living in Konoha ranch for what he considered a lifetime already. That morning, for the first time since moving in, he felt unnerving cold shivers. He frowned when looking out a window to see a car he didn't recognize disappear into distant horizon.

Fortunately, the shivers turned into those of pleasure when a gentle kiss was placed to the tender skin of his neck. " Kakashi? Are you okay?"

He turned around to meet Yamato's soft eyes and a frown. " I'm fine", he murmured, giving the other man's forehead a peck. " Just had a weird hunch."

After the seven years they'd been together Yamato obviously knew better than to believe him, but the brunette also realized that there was no way to push him. Therefore the man glanced at something over his shoulder. " Well how about that. It looks like our newest inhabitant has finally arrived."

Looking downwards, he found a rather tiny, almost scarily determined looking, blonde haired boy making his way towards the building with huge bags, constantly peering towards all the windows and open space with bewilderment.

" Could you take care of him?" Yamato's voice managed to reach him. " I have to go to a store – we're almost out of milk, and I think there'll be a riot when the little rascals figure out we don't have almost any toilet paper left."

Grinning, he gave the man's cheek a kiss. " Okay. I'll see you later."

Yamato kissed his lips chastely, sending a warm flutter through him. " Of course. 'Love you."

He nodded while shuddering and licked his lips. " 'Love you too."

Once the man had left he frowned and folded his arms. The cold shivers from before hadn't disappeared the slightest, and he couldn't help wondering what they were about.

He then shook his head, gritting teeth.

He had work to do. He could very well drive himself insane after that.

CHAPTER 2: Welcome To The Planet

Naruto surprised himself with feeling scared and wary when knocking onto office's door. He'd already spun around to run off when a voice stopped him. " Aa, there you are! I thought you'd already sneaked away." Turning around, he found a man with silvery hair and dark eyes that seemed to hold something mischievous in them. " I'm Kakashi Hatake."

Putting all of his actor's skills to good use he grinned while outstretching a hand and taking the man's, desperately trying to hide just how nervous and insecure he was feeling. " Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto."

Kakashi smirked as well, and he had a feeling the man could see right through him. " Very nice to meet you. Now why don't we go into my office and get the boring part over with?"

-

The more Kakashi read through Naruto's papers, the sadder he found himself becoming.

Death records of parents… Years of moving around from one orphanage into another… Fights and torture like bullying at school… List of medication, Seroquel being one name there…

What the hell has this kid been through?!

All of a sudden, his eyes got lost into certain documents – those for adoption – and found a particular name that made his heart jump high.

Iruka…?

" Kak… Mr. Hatake, is something wrong?"

His head snapped up with surprise – honestly, he hadn't noticed Naruto was once more paying attention to him. Very slowly, a genuine smile appeared. His history wasn't the teen's fault, and Naruto had far more than his own share to carry already. " Of course not – all papers seem fine to me. And it's Kakashi. Now, to rules." He felt almost sorry when seeing a small flash of fright in the blonde's eyes. He'd have to move cautiously with this one. " No cell phones – in case of emergency, you can borrow mine. Silence lasts from ten to six, no exceptions. And no going to the stables alone, okay? It's for your own safety."

Naruto nodded eagerly, bravely trying to grin. " Sure thing."

" Good." He allowed his eyes to soften. " Well, now that we got that dealt with… Remember that this isn't a punishment, all right? You're here to rest and enjoy your summer. I and Yamato – you'll meet him later today – will take good care of you. So there's no reason to worry."

He might've imagined it, but he was almost sure he saw some tension disappear from those painfully innocent blue eyes. " 'K."

He smiled, then allowed his gaze to sweep towards the room's window. He was right on time to catch some movement. " Shikamaru!" Seeming extremely embarrassed, the brunette rose to view. " Since you're already there, why don't you introduce Naruto to the rest of the zoo while I take care of paperwork?"

Naruto didn't know what to think while Shikamaru led him through mile long hallway after another with strangely lazy steps. " This is where the girls live. I shouldn't be showing you this, but since is where one ends up when coming back from the stables…" The boy pointed towards doors. " That one's Ino's. She's an ex-model, and a daughter of the biggest founder of this place."

He frowned. " Then… What's she doing here?"

Shikamaru chuckled, though there seemed to be something sad behind it. " Trust me, even the most well meaning parents are able to do a lot of damage sometimes." Apparently deciding to talk about something else, the boy went on. " She shares her room with Sakura. That girl's here for community service."
His eyebrow bounced up with curiosity. " Community service?"

" Apparently she punched a police officer – ten times. I don't even want to know the details." The boy then pointed the last door on the surprisingly small hallway. " And finally, there's Hinata. You're lucky if you'll catch a glimpse of her. We don't know why, but she's absolutely terrified of people, and none of us knows if she's mute. I'd suggest you to stay away from her – she broke one trainee's tooth."

Naruto found himself feeling a bang of sadness. Jiraiya definitely hadn't been lying when saying there'd be a lot of kids like him here…

Shikamaru guided him for three more turns, then opened a extremely heavy looking door to a slightly longer hallway. " This is the boys' side." Once more the brunette's hands moved. " The first room's Haku's. He's a nice guy, but really quiet and doesn't seem to trust anyone. If I've understood correctly, he's lost someone precious to him." One more movement. " You'll be sharing your room with Neji, Hinata's cousin – I think your stuff's already been taken there. Don't worry, he's harmless. I've heard he's already spent three summers here, but he still barely talks to anyone. None of us knows what he's doing here, and we don't want to ask."

He looked towards the boy. " Where are you staying?"

" Upstairs, since I work here. I help out around the stables and take care of newcomers sometimes, so Kakashi and Yamato gave me a room. But now…" The boy grinned his way. " Are you ready to meet the rest of the gang?"

In all honesty, he would've wanted to say 'no' from the bottom of his heart. But in the end he returned the other's smirk. " Sure. Let's go."

He found himself being taken into a rather huge hall, where a group of teenagers was hanging around. Even if he hadn't wanted to run away before, he definitely would've when all the eyes turned to him.

Fortunately, Shikamaru was still standing behind him. " Boys and girls, this is Naruto Uzumaki. We all want to make him feel welcomed, right?"

For a moment everything remained utterly still, but quite soon the tension melted away, allowing room for greetings.

Thanks to Shikamaru's introduction, he recognized just about everyone before they ever told their names.

Haku was sitting in a chair quite far from the others, reading a book, and gave him a smile along with a polite nod. Neji barely lifted his head from whatever the boy was writing to look at him while nodding as well. Ino – who seemed to be having a rather heated conversation with a pinkette – flashed him a bright smile and waved before going back to her former activities. Hinata was nowhere in sight.

Sakura, however, managed to take him by surprise. Judging by what Shikamaru had told him, he'd expected a boyish girl with dark appearance. Instead, a rather short girl with pink hair and sparkling eyes approached, offering him a smile. " Hi, Naruto. I guess Shikamaru already showed you around?"

" Yeah." He had no idea of where the following words came from, but he smirked and went on. " But I'd be glad to get another round from you."
Sakura rolled her eyes skywards, muttering something that sounded like " Guys…", but smiled faintly nonetheless with amusement.

He opened his mouth, not sure of what he wanted to say, but became interrupted when a door he hadn't even noticed before opened and Sasuke entered with a stormy expression, obviously trying to walk through the room unnoticed.

Sakura, however, clearly wasn't about to give the Uchiha such pleasure. " Sasuke-kun, wait up! I want to introduce you to someone." Surprisingly enough the boy actually obeyed, glancing towards them with eyes that unmistakably asked ' Now what?'. Sakura looked towards him. " Naruto, this is Sasuke."

Naruto gave the raven a somewhat wry look, although something he couldn't quite recognize fluttered inside his stomach. " We've met."

" Hn." It wasn't until the boy's sound came did he realize that they were standing so close he could feel a breath of air when the raven balled his fists and started to walk away.

Had Sakura not been standing so close, Naruto would've never heard her words. " You'll come and play chess again before lights go out, right?"

Naruto had to use all his imagination to notice the raven's nod.

He scoffed as soon as the Uchiha had disappeared. " That bastard really isn't a people person, is he?"

He emitted a tiny 'eep' when Sakura smacked his head. " Let him be, Naruto."

" Gladly." Not pausing to think how unconvincing he sounded, he chose to switch topic. " What do you guys usually do around here?"

" Play ping pong." Sakura grinned. " Feel free to join in. Though prepare to lose – I haven't lost another match this summer."

Shikamaru gave an odd sound. " Then what was that round against me about?"

This time, it was the brunette who got smacked. " Shut it, Nara." Then remembering something, the girl spun around and started to leave. " I'll be back in a sec – I just remembered that Pakkun ate our ball yesterday."

Watching the pinkette's distancing back he shuddered. " That girl's got some serious anger management problems."

Shikamaru seemed to tremble as well. " You have no idea before you see her losing. Now let's get started before she figures out that I took the ball, not Kakashi's dog."

No matter for how long Shikamaru had been working around the stables, he still detested the stench his job left beyond all reason.

As soon as the hellishly long day ended, his only thought was to get a nice, hot shower, then fall into coma deep sleep. Fate, however, seemed to have other plans. For when passing by Ino's room, he heard talking.

The girl chuckled. " Yes, that's a promise. I'll come to you as soon as I get out of this jail, just like good old times."

He was about to walk away when the blonde's next words caused him to freeze completely. " 'Miss you too."

He didn't understand why, but he felt unimaginably cold all of a sudden, and what he could only call ache filled his entire chest.

All of him screamed out that he should run, save himself from what he felt approaching inevitably. But before he could convince his brain into accepting those messages the girl was already stood right before him.

At first he found terror from Ino's blue eyes, but quite soon they narrowed slightly, thick barriers rising. " How much did you hear?" she demanded.

He thought about lying, but in the end decided to be fair on them both. He shrugged. " Enough", was his simple response. He frowned. " How did you get a cell phone smuggled in here, anyway?" He'd thought Kakashi and Yamato were flawlessly efficient.

She snorted. " The first time I was caught shoplifting I was ten. Do you honestly think bringing a phone here would be impossible for me?" Her eyes then squinted to slits once more, carrying loud threat. " Now, if you as much as hint anyone about this…"

" About what?" Sakura's voice startled them both. Turning their heads, they found the pinkette leaning against a nearby wall with a suspicious expression.

Ino's face didn't reveal a thing. " Nothing. I'll go to bed." She mouthed ' You'll better remember' to him before closing the door, shutting out the rest of the world.

" Do I even want to know?" Sakura inquired.

He shivered a little. " Nope." After remaining frozen for a moment he started to walk away. " I should go to bed, too. Lights will be out in twenty minutes."

" Shikamaru." Sakura's eyes carried something he hadn't seen in them before when he met them quite reluctantly. " I… know Ino quite well, so… Be careful with her, okay? For both of your sakes."

He emitted a laugh, though it sounded quite hollow. " C'mon, pinky. It's not like I'd be falling for her or anything." He waved a hand, turning back around. " G'night."
Sakura's response was delayed. " 'Night."
Despite his words, he had only one thought in his mind while he walked away.

This is going to be very, very troublesome.

-

Watching him walk away, Sakura shook her head and sighed heavily before starting the walk towards her own room.

/ Ever since he was barely three, Naruto had known to be afraid of what was lurking inside him. It was cunning – always knew when he was at his weakest – and was most often far more powerful than he.

That day, with him at the age of ten, what he'd feared with all his heart came to pass. While sitting deep in a chair right outside principal's office, the only truly coherent thought in his head was that he'd never be able to face Iruka again.

" Naruto?" He jumped at the voice that was certainly not that of his foster father. Looking up slowly, he met the frowning face of his best friend, Kabuto. The boy hesitated for a long time before going on. " Are you alright?"

He swallowed thickly, feeling his jaw quiver just a bit. " No."
There was another agonizingly long silence while Kabuto visibly gathered courage. Eventually the silver haired spoke quietly. " Look… I heard… what happened." The boy hesitated. " Naruto… Why did you attack those boys? If it wasn't for principal Sarutobi, you could've…" The other trailed off.

" They… They called me names, kicked me, and…" It took all the courage there was in him, but eventually he managed to look Kabuto straight into eyes. The boy's face seemed blurry with something appearing into his eyes – tears, he figured out later. " I… I can't control it anymore, Kabuto." Something wet and moist traveled down his cheeks. " It… It just… I can't…"

Kabuto's frown deepened, eyes filled with confusion. " What are you talking about?" Then, it seemed to dawn. He'd never seen his friend's eyes carry what filled them then before. " Wait… a minute."

Hand trembling uncontrollably, he pulled out a bottle of pills he'd just taken, showing it to his friend. " I… I've been taking these since I was a kid." His eyes and chest filled with something he later recognized as terror. " Don't tell anyone, please."

Back then he'd been too naïve to identify what he found from Kabuto's eyes. The boy smiled. " Of course I won't, Naruto." When the boy's hand withdrew from him, a tiny part of him already mused that smiles can't always be relied on. " You can trust me." /

Naruto found himself emitting a loud, nearly desperate gasp while waking up from the much too vivid nightmare, and blinked furiously to rid the burning that'd appeared into his eyes. His whole body shivered like a leaf while he lay and stared at shadows dancing on the roof above him. Hot tears already meandered down his cheeks, and he balled his fists so tightly that skin was almost broken.

Damnit…

Fortunately, his mind was just then distracted elsewhere. For something he found distantly familiar carried into his ears and his eyebrows furrowed.

A… horse? But who…?

With a frown of confusion he struggled his way out of the bed and walked up to the room's huge window. His heart made a movement he didn't understand when the sight met him.

It appeared that he wasn't the only one having trouble with finding sleep. For on a huge field spreading nearby the mansion Sasuke rose effortlessly onto the back of the stallion that'd been introduced to him as a 'hell horse'. The animal's head moved a little before it started to rush on with soft movements, listening to every single one of Sasuke's commands.

As though hypnotized, he watched how moonlight played on the horse and boy, creating unearthly colors and patterns. He watched with bafflement how the animal most viewed as a lost cause moved smoothly and obediently under Sasuke's lead while the boy sat with an expression that suggested the raven's mind was somewhere million miles away. It looked like such a magic trick he wanted to learn with every single one of his cells.

His eyes flashed while a solemn decision was made.

Even if it'd kill him, he'd climb up to a damn horse the next day. He'd ride like that as well.

So worked up by that silent vow he was, that he jumped a little and emitted a squeak when there was a thud of considerable weight hitting the floor, followed by a sound of window being closed. His head snapping to side, he discovered that Neji had just climbed in from the room's other window.

He frowned as soon as startle had faded. " Where were you?"

The boy seemed surprised for a moment, clearly not used to getting caught after these nightly journeys. The Hyuuga's expression, however, soon returned to normal. " I… visited a friend." Worried pale eyes searched through his. " Just… Don't tell Kakashi and Yamato, k'?"

He wasn't all that sure of why him not telling was so important – after all, those two adults didn't seem merciless or anything – but he nodded nonetheless with a bright grin. " Sure thing. Now let's go to bed, or there'll be a lot of questions in the morning."

Neji stared at him with near shock for a while, then nodded slowly with gratitude and complied.

Downstairs Kakashi moved his eyes from the book he'd been reading when Yamato entered the room. " So our runaway Hyuuga is back?"

The brunette nodded with a slight smile. " And in one piece."

He cast the man a somewhat sneaky glance. " Well, if everything's okay… Why don't we make the most of tonight…?"

Blushing a little, Yamato accepted the offer.

While the others fell asleep, Haku's steps led into a tiny room only he and one other person knew of. He wasn't surprised to find the said person there. " Bad day?" he asked when seeing a familiar female figure slumped heavily before a tiny window, legs brought to her chest and arms wrapped around them. Nodding more to himself than her, he approached slowly and took a seat beside her, just like countless of times before. " Me too. But this has been a good day, too. We got a new inhabitant – Naruto. He seems nice."

Hinata nodded, then lifted her gaze as though telling him to do the same. He obeyed, and found himself smiling brightly.

There, window and countless of miles separating the sight from them, stars shone, seeming so close that he could almost imagine touching them.

He glanced towards Hinata but only swiftly, afraid of startling her. " Thank you, for sharing this."

At that moment, something he would've never known to expect occurred. At first he thought it was his imagination, but was quite soon proven otherwise. Radiant blush appeared to Hinata's cheeks. Then, like in a slowed motion, a small smile graced her lips.

Unable to keep himself from smiling in return he kept looking at the stars, and found a very comforting thought.

Yes, it'd been a long, almost unbearable day – like anniversaries of his death always were. But perhaps tonight wouldn't be as bad as the others.

Yes, because of his curiosity Naruto had done many things during his life he'd ended up regretting dearly later on. That day, he had a dark feeling such was once again taking place while he sneaked towards a huge stable without making another sound.

Carefully making sure that no one would see his little forbidden adventure he entered, managing to upset a couple of horses. He swallowed thickly, grateful that it was so early everyone else was still sleeping.

What am I doing here, anyway? I should…

All rationality, however, flew away when he saw what he supposed he'd been looking for. A huge, dark brown horse was looking straight at him from a stall, even darker eyes filled with suspicion and ears twitching. And he made up his mind.

It took him long to find all the necessary equipment, and much longer to get them onto the horse, but eventually he considered himself done when everything seemed just like in books. He grinned, satisfied with himself for actually succeeding.

His expression, however, faltered soon. Yes, this was done. But he was just coming to the really hard part.

As soon as he'd all but dragged the somewhat resistant animal out of the building he took yet another look around, then braced himself and started the struggle of getting onto its back, all of his muscles trembling pitiably.

He was sure the horse would throw him away when he all but slumped onto it with all his weight, but instead it remained perfectly still for as long as it took him to find balance. Then – surprising him even further – it started to dash forth, as though knowing exactly where it was going.

He'd never felt anything even remotely like that in his entire life. Wind blowing against his face, the huge animal's movements underneath him, the sensation of controlling a force of nature… Had he not known better, he would've been sure that he was flying high above the ground.

A huge grin spread across his face. " This isn't so hard after all."

He should've known that those words would turn out to be fatal. For as soon as they left his mouth he felt himself twisting to side. It took him a while to realize that something was wrong, but when he did a cold flood traveled through him from head to toe.

His eyes widened dramatically.

Oh… shit…!

With that thought the saddle started to slip, and he found himself turning towards very uninviting ground. And his hold broke.

He felt like falling into a bottomless hole, and opened his mouth for a scream – until something grabbed the collar of his jacket and his fall broke with a loud gasp.

" Lesson number one, deadlast", a voice he knew much too well stated, sounding rather irritated. He managed to prepare his muscles so that he didn't break any bones when falling quite ungracefully to hard ground. His eyes smoldered when meeting Sasuke's. " Before getting onto a horse's back, make sure the saddle is fastened properly. Next time, there won't be anyone to catch you."

He barely managed to keep himself from sticking out a tongue. " I wouldn't have needed help, teme", he argued, already then realizing how childish and ridiculous he sounded. " I was doing just fine."

Sasuke made a sound he identified as that of amusement. " If you call almost breaking your neck 'doing fine', I believe you." The boy then released his hold on bridle enough to pull something from his pocket. " You dropped this."

Something that shone in sunlight was thrown to him. His heart raced when he recognized the item.

Golden locket that had a picture of a magnificent fox engraved to it. His locket.

He glanced towards the raven with a somewhat suspicious expression. " How did you get your hands on this?"

The Uchiha shrugged. " You dropped it when sneaking around the stables. Bucephalus almost threw me from its back when seeing it."

Bucephalus?, a part of him mused. So the demon horse has a name.

Most of him was, however, fixed elsewhere. Feeling somewhat sheepish, he flashed the raven a tiny grin while putting the necklace back to where it belonged. " Thanks."

Sasuke snorted while taking the horse he'd been trying to ride into a firm hold. " Don't thank me yet, idiot. You haven't heard your punishment for this little… extravaganza." With those words anyone else but he would've found ominous, the boy started to ride away.

His mind was buzzing busily while he kept watching the distancing back.

He still didn't know Sasuke at all. But at the moment, he realized that for the first time he found himself wanting to.

TBC, if you wish.

A/N: So, here we go. And our two boneheads seem to be dancing around each other. (smirks evilly)

Okay, as it's getting VERY late, and I seem to have a flue incoming, I'll get going now. PLEASE, leave a review before you go! I could really use your support right now. (glances with HUGE, hopeful eyes)

Take care, everyone! If you wish to see chapter three, I hope I'll see all of you there!

Frayedsoul: (grins) A huge part of the reason as to why I chose to write this is that I haven't seen anything exactly like this here on . The idea wrapped me around its finger and I just had to give it a go. I'm so glad you don't find the plot disturbing!

Colossal thank yous for the review! I really hope you'll keep looking forward to the rest, too.

-

jiji: (grins) Very well then.

Thank you so much for the review! Stick around, yeah?