A/N: Oh my goodness. X3 Food is good.

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Guardian Angel?

What the hell?

The boy had wings, but…

Guardian angel?

That was more than a little bit bizarre.

He squinted his eyes through the darkness of his room, slowly reaching for the light switch. He wanted to get a better look at him…

As soon as he turned it on, the boy several feet ahead of him instantly seemed to reflect the light that bounced off of him from overhead. His very form seeming to shimmer and glow. Naruto stared, perplexed, at the unnaturally beautiful boy in front of him, the aching pain all over his body momentarily forgotten. His skin seemed to glow brightly with every ray of light that graced it, and his dark hair contrasted with it stunningly. The boy's pure white, gleaming wings fluttered softly as he folded them behind himself, and he turned his gaze away from Naruto, shifting uncomfortably under the constant gaze. It seemed like a nervous habit. Naruto blinked, perplexed.

He must have hit his head harder than he though….

He cleared his throat softly, finding his voice.

"You… you're my… um… what?"

"Just as I said, I'm your guardian angel, Uzumaki."

"You're my guardian angel." He kept his tone skeptical.

The boy spread his arms slightly, and bowed his head in greeting.

"I am called Sasuke. I have been sent to watch over you."

"You-… wha-… How did you get into my room?"

Odd emotions began to clench at Naruto's stomach. He wasn't sure what to think at that point. His first thought was that he hit his head sometime within the past 5 minutes, and this was all just a silly dream, but the aching pains shooting throughout his body told him otherwise. There was always a possibility that he was hallucinating…. It had been a rather hard day, after all… Not to mention it had been macaroni and cheese day in the cafeteria.

Or it could be perfectly real.

But he didn't really think that it was. He had been a skeptic since before he could remember. Angels weren't real. They didn't come down to protect humans. It was just wishful thinking. A hopeful thought to cling to that a higher power was watching, and protecting you.

And yet, there was a boy with wings in his room, from seemingly nowhere.

Sasuke looked almost amused.

"Your window was open." Silly humans.

"But I'm on the… second floor." Naruto peered at him warily.

Sasuke wasted no time jerking his thumb to his feathery wings, and raising an eyebrow in a look that made Naruto snort in annoyance. Wings. Smart-ass.

Naruto glanced from his window, to Sasuke, holding to the doorframe. "And you've… been sent to watch me." He took special care in making sure that his voice was incredulous, and took his hand off of the light switch.

"I have."

"Watch over me and…?"

Sasuke lifted himself up from where he was leaning against the windowsill, and stuffed his hands calmly into his pockets.

"Watch over you, protect and observe you, and do what I see fit with you."

"You mean like a-"

"A guardian, yes. This is what a guardian angel does, after all."

"A… Guard-…" He growled softly in his throat. "I don't need your help." Naruto's voice was suddenly sharp, and he lowered his head disdainfully, though his eyes never left the black-haired boy.

He hurt all over, but the growing frustration that was momentarily covered in wonder was beginning to surface again.

Sasuke's porcelain face furrowed debatably, obviously not expecting an answer such as that.

"Excuse me?"

"I don't need help from the likes of you." If he could have raised his voice, he would have, but it was taking everything in him just to keep standing. His head hurt… he wanted to lie down…

Sasuke took a defensive step forward, wings fluttering heatedly. "F-from the likes of-!…" Sasuke paused, studying Naruto closely, keeping his impatience in check. "Not accepting help that is offered is foolish of you, Uzumaki." He tried to keep his tone pleasant, but he heard impatience leaking through.

Naruto heard his voice come out in a tired slur, as he held tight to the doorframe. "I told you, I don't need your help. I just have one more year before I can move out on my own, and I've gone this long without someone to protect me. I'm fine. I don't need you now."

"But seeing as though was obviously sent here for a reason, it would be most sensible to accept my help, and see things get better throughout the year that you have left… You don't have to suffer, you know."

Naruto exhaled harshly in amusement, lips tiredly tilting into smile.

"Could have told me that a few years ago…"

Sasuke frowned.

"Look, I don't even believe in you. I hit my head too hard, and now I'm seeing things. So just leave me alone, and let me go to sleep. I'm not in the mood to fight with you."

Sasuke gaped at the blonde. He had been watching him for a short period of time, and already knew that he was beyond stubborn… but he had shown himself to Naruto, and he still didn't believe? It was completely unreal. Whatever happened to 'seeing is believing?' And even if he didn't believe, he didn't even bother to humor him and accept his help. He was flat out refusing!

"I'm here to help you, not fight with you!"

"And what a great job you're doing." weary sarcasm was evident in Naruto's voice, letting out a rattling cough.

Sasuke watched as Naruto slowly sunk to the floor on his knees, his raspy breathing audible in his keen ears. He really couldn't help if Naruto truly didn't want it, but there was no way that he was gong to let a stubborn human get in the way of his first assignment. His elders were expecting a good first report, and he was going to give it to them. He just had to be smarter than the human…

He concluded that it wouldn't be too difficult.

He walked gracefully forward, every footfall feather light, bending down next to the blonde. He laid a gentle hand on Naruto's heaving shoulder, smirking softly as he felt him shudder from the touch.

"What hurts?"

Naruto let out a rasping breath, lifting his head to stare harshly at the angel..

"Go away…"

"You need to let me help you."

"You won't do a single damned thing, be… cause you're not… y-you're not real." His voice was getting even more airy, as if he couldn't catch his breath. Sasuke almost felt concerned.

"I put him to sleep. Your adoptive father. He didn't just fall over on his own, you know."

Naruto's heavy breath hitched in his throat.

"You did what…?"

"He was coming for you again. So I put him to sleep. I kept you safe, and can continue to do so if you'll allow me to. It's my job, and I will do it, regardless if your want it or not. I don't have to let you know that I'm here, you know."

Naruto was staring at him, making Sasuke start to feel somewhat uncomfortable. His stare was searching and contemplative. Finally he spoke, albeit softly. "How did you…? … Put him to sleep, I mean…"

Sasuke brushed his dark hair out of his face, folding his wings behind him.

"It was just a sleeping solution. Nothing permanent or difficult. He'll wake up in a few hours, though he should be calm by then." Sleeping solutions were something he learned in the earlier years of his training. Kakashi taught him about it with the utmost importance, making absolute sure that he got it before they moved on. For good reason, he mused softly. He found that they would come in exceptionally good use when faced with these kinds of circumstances in the future.

"… I see…"

Sasuke contemplated him. There was nothing at all spectacular or special about the boy. Small, messy blonde hair, tan skin, three long, thin scars on each cheek… His eyes were vivid though. Full of fire, and shining bright, despite how tired and defeated he presently looked. He had a strong will, and he could see it through his eyes. But they were unfocused and glossy. His cheeks were flushed, his breathing haggard, and he was most definitely hurting.

He bit the inside of his cheek thoughtfully.

"I'm going to heal you."

"I can take care… of myself."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Shut up."

Naruto's forehead creased, a small frown playing at his mouth.

"I am going to heal you, so shut up, and don't complain about something as trivial as that. It's plain thick to hold your pride at such a high level where you don't accept help when it's offered." Like he was really one to be talking. Sasuke grimaced in annoyance, and chose to ignore his own words. Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but quickly thought better of it, and decided on looking away from the black-haired boy instead.

Gingerly, Sasuke made Naruto sit down with his legs forward, arms lying limply by his sides, head resting on the wall behind him. He had protested weakly against him, but not nearly enough to cause much trouble. Naruto had placed some hope in him, as reluctant as it was. It would make the rest of his task that much easier.

"Hold still, and try to stay with me."

With swift motion, he plucked a feather from his one of his pristine wings, and set his hand and the feather to Naruto's chest. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes in concentration, and felt the feather start to heat up in his hand from it's trapped position. He had been taught basic healing techniques only recently, so it was still fairly new to him, but he seemed to excel at it immensely.

His hand began to radiate a soft, blue glow, as the broken bones, along with the bruised and cut flesh beneath his hand began to correct itself. Technically he wasn't supposed to use it so openly on a human. Usually they waited until they slept, and healed it to only a certain extent to speed up the overall process…. But what the hell.

After all, he wasn't really supposed to show himself either. It wasn't against the rules or anything, but most angels declined the opportunities to show themselves, save for a few special cases. Showing oneself to a human caused too much of an uproar. And whilst angels did want to show humans that they existed, and wanted to help, showing yourself in a physical sense was not the best way.

Sasuke just couldn't resist though. It was like playing with food… There was no doubt that the blonde would be absolutely questioning his sanity the next day, passing it off as a dream, or a hallucination. Sasuke would stay in the shadows for a few days, watching, and observing… and then he would present himself again. Things would take off from there. Of this he was sure.

As he kept his eyes fixed on his hand that was still resting against the blonde boy's chest, he slowly he felt the energy draining from him. He subconsciously realized that his breathing was sounding more labored than it should, and controlled it immediately. Fatigue was to wear heavily on him already... Healing was, no doubt, a process that took too much energy for his liking, but knew that it was sometimes necessary. He would just need practice…

Naruto stared down at Sasuke's working hand in wide-eyed fascination. He couldn't help but gawk in amazement. Dreaming or not, this was completely illusory.

His whole body was numb. His blood felt cool as it ran through his veins, and the whole area around Sasuke's hand tingled pleasantly. It was an overall very enjoyable experience. Slowly his breathing began to normalize as the piercing pain in his chest disappeared. His aches, pains, and cuts vanished, along with all of his visible bruises. He couldn't help but close his eyes in content, letting the coolness overtake him.

It was an odd sort of sensation… It made him feel tired, and almost like purring. The twinges of panic and fear he had been having moments before were gone, and nothing else seemed to matter… He felt drowsy, and wanted to go to sleep.

His unfinished homework sitting on his desk gently probed at the back of his mind, but he ignored it. It didn't matter right now…

Without even realizing it, darkness soon followed as he fell asleep.

----

The next morning when he woke up, he was lying on his bed. His covers were kicked onto the floor, and he was sprawled out like he usually slept. The events of the night before hit him like a brick as his eyes snapped open, unwaveringly staring at the ceiling. He strained to remember, his mind still hazy from sleep.

There had been someone in his room when he went in. He had called himself… um… Sasuke. And… he called himself his guardian angel… He had healed him… and he fell asleep by his door…

And…

And…

It was a dream.

He let out a soft, breathy laugh.

The whole thing had been silly dream after all. It had seemed real, but it wasn't. He was right…

He ran a hand through his hair, and frowned softly. It was almost sad when he thought about it. How convenient something like a guardian angel would be.

Wearily, he sat up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. He looked at the clock, realizing that he had woken up 5 minutes before his alarm. He yawned widely, and reached over, hand landing heavily on the 'off' button. Wednesday… School today…

After a few minutes of staring groggily at the ceiling, he willed himself to get up, and dragged himself to the bathroom down the hall.

His morning routine went smoothly, and he had gotten ready with almost 20 minutes to spare. Making his way back to him room, he grabbed his backpack from its place against the wall, and slung it over his shoulder.

Wait a second-…

He stayed where he was, slowly scanning his eyes over his room. Something was… different…

Naruto slowly lowered his gaze to where his backpack had been sitting. Against the wall. Neatly. It was… odd. He always threw it in the middle of his room… Always…

As he looked around, he noticed that his room overall looked tidier. Even he admitted that he was a huge slob. It was rare if he ever even saw his floor. But there were definitely patches of his rug visible, and all of his books were in his bookshelf…

"Huh…" He mused softly. There was no way that his father had come in to clean it… and he certainly hadn't… Unless he had somehow sleep-cleaned.

Which he largely doubted.

And the rest of his day only got weirder.

When he got downstairs, and prepared to walk to school, his father was already up. He knew for a fact that his father had never willingly gotten up at 6'O clock A.M in his whole life. Judging from the weekends, he never got up before 10 A.M. It suited him fine. But while his stepfather was up, Naruto's automatic response was to avoid him as much as possible, duck past him, and get out. He must have gotten in trouble somehow… Enough to inconvenience him this much… He decided that he'd better tread very VERY carefully.

Ignoring the fact that he had forgotten to pack a lunch, he slunk as quietly as he could to the front door, and put his hand on the front door. He heard the creak of the floor behind him, and paused where he was, tensing up considerably. He bit his lip as his adoptive father's voice sounded behind him, and took special care in not turning to look at him.

"Naruto." His voice was gruff and intimidating, but didn't hold the resentment that is usually did.

Naruto sucked in a breath, still not turning around.

"Yeah…?"

There were a few moments of silence, only the sound of his father shifting behind him.

"You-…" There was more silence, as he heard his stepfather suck in a breath, and shift again. Naruto swallowed, still tensed, not letting his guard down.

"Are you-… You don't seem-…" There was a pause. "Would you turn around!?"

Naruto jumped slightly, and wasted no time complying, turning to face him with his back pressed against the door. He felt like a trapped cockroach, with a can of RAID being pointed right at him.

His adoptive father, Zabuza, was a tall man. He looked younger than he really was; lean and muscular, with strong attractive features, and short, messy black hair. He lifted a tan arm to run it through his hair, the other on his hip. He was only wearing a pair of loose black sleeping pants, two deep, long scars visible on his chest.

"You're not… you know…." His voice was a low growl, but his eyes were averted. He looked very unsure of himself. It was something that Naruto had never seen before. It made him feel considerably braver.

Though he wasn't really sure what he was talking about, but there was no way he was about to disagree.

"No. I-I'm not…"

"You're not hurt."

Naruto blinked a couple of times. Hurt…?

"Hurt…? No, I'm not… I'm fine…"

Zabuza's averted eyes were suddenly scanning over him, almost accusingly.

Watching his father stumble so unsurely over his words like this was just too weird. He was always so confident and sure of himself. It was one of the things that made him so frighteningly intimidating. He must've been experiencing one hell of a hangover…

"You… You're sure. Right? I was pretty… pretty rough… and last night was-…. I was-… last night.."

"Last night? But-…"

Last night? Last night had only been a dream. There was nothing… he wasn't hurt, and if it had been real, he wouldn't have been able to get out of bed…

"Dammit, Naruto! Nothing's broken, is it!? That's all I'm trying to ask!"

Naruto couldn't help but jump again, hand automatically going to the doorknob.

"No! Nothing's broken! I feel fine!" He said it quickly, flinching away from him.

Zabuza opened his mouth as if about to yell, but closed it after just a second.

"… Oh. Okay…. You can go to school then… Good… that's good…"

Naruto watched him as he turned, and disappeared into the kitchen.

He stared after his retreating form, brows furrowed in confusion. Zabuza had been worried about him? And last night… it had been real? Then why didn't he feel the pain? He had gotten the shit beaten out of him…

His mind jumped to the angel last night. Sasuke. There was absolutely no way that could have been real.

Naruto shook his head in exasperation, and opened the door. His mind was just playing with him.

----

As the day wore on, weird things continued to happen. On his way to school, he got shoved into a puddle while forcing his way against a crowd. He had gotten up in a panic, and quickly shed off his sopping wet backpack to save his homework and books. When he had opened it, nothing on the inside was wet at all. That in itself defied the laws of physics.

Even the fall failed to hurt him in any way, besides getting a bit wet. The landing was…. Soft. He brushed it off as 'soft concrete', not giving it a second thought. He ignored the fact that his sopping wet clothes dried almost right away.

But there was no brushing off the incidents during his day at school. Everything that might have even potentially hurt him was avoided in one way or another. From the stapler that an angry student threw across the room that veered visibly off-course and missed his head by nearly an inch, to the loose nail on the stairs that he had almost stepped on before he felt his foot pushed gently away from it by a hand that he felt, but hadn't seen.

He was almost beginning to believe that last night hadn't been a dream at all. He was becoming exceedingly paranoid. The more he pondered on it, the more he noticed the little things that would have made it real. It was all madness, but by his last couple of classes, he was running out of excuses.

"Everyone, get out your textbooks, and turn to page 146."

Naruto heavily lifted his head from where it had been laying on his desk, and reached his hand into his backpack. Science class was the only class that he could consider both interesting and boring at the same time. The way life worked, and how unusual it all was… it was interesting to think about. Plus, it was taught by his favorite teacher in the whole school.

But the fact that he was in a classroom, listening to a rant, made it lose quite a bit of appeal. But that went for all of his classes.

Naruto bit his lip as he continued to feel around in his backpack. His book wasn't there. He suddenly made a soft noise of distress in the back of his throat, dropping his book bag back onto the floor. It was still at home… He had only half-written an essay for the class the day before, and left it on his desk. He had left his essay inside the book, too…

Shit…

He let out a sigh, slowly raising his hand halfway.

"Iruka Sensei…?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"I-" He hardly let out the syllable before he felt a sudden weight by his foot that hadn't been there before. He shut his mouth, and lowered his hand to his desk. He took a deep breath, and leaned back, bracing himself as he looked cautiously under his desk. He swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat, and felt himself twitch involuntarily.

"I… I… Never mind… I only dropped it…" He muttered, as he stared down at the science book by his foot. The science book that hadn't been there even 15 seconds before. The science book that he had left at home…

Oh God…

----

The day finished, and ended about the same way it had gone all day. Lucky, harmless, and eventless. Completely safe. He didn't leave any worse off than when he went in. It was beginning to worry him.

When Naruto had gotten home, his father had all but ignored him. He hadn't even bothered to yell at him to get him another beer, or whatever. Rare, but not unheard of.

When he had gone to his room, it was even cleaner than it had been that morning. His father NEVER went into his room. There was a possibility of someone crawling in, and cleaning it while he was away… but what kind of weirdo did that, exactly?

He had gotten to sleep easier than he had ever gotten to sleep in his life, and woke up the next morning five minutes before his alarm clock. He never woke up before his alarm. Hell, half the time he never even woke up AFTER his alarm.

He could have done his best to explain all of the odd happenings away, but everything was completely unlikely. He could have said that the dream was just getting to his head, and he wouldn't have been lying… but everything was just too eccentric for mind-games. He tried to keep it from his thoughts, but knew he would fail.

The harmless, odd days continued through the week, and the longer it went on, the more troubled he became.

No matter how many times he tried to convince himself that it was definitely all in his head, they continued, and he couldn't seem to accept the sudden good luck without a single thought.

So he found himself in his first class of the day three days later, head buried in his arms, trying to will things to go back to normal. All of the abnormal happenings were already starting to wear heavily on his mind, and he really wanted to figure it all out.

He was getting tired of trying to convince himself that he wasn't going crazy.

Shit… He thought tiredly to himself, eyes closed wearily.

He continued to ponder, though his train of thought was interrupted s few minutes later as there was sudden scattered chattering around the room. Naruto tensed up slightly, and strained his ear as he heard their teacher, Asuma, stop talking halfway through a rant on some war that happened 300 years before.

Naruto slowly lifted his head with a soft questioning noise in the back of his throat, as he heard Asuma talking quietly to someone in the front of the room, though he didn't understand what they were saying. As he looked up, his eyes locked on the figure talking to Asuma. His eyes widened in alarm, as he felt himself choke loudly on the breath he was inhaling.

He gasped for air in between chokes, actually falling out of his seat.

It was HIM!

Black, raven hair, ceramic-like skin, dark, familiar eyes…

He gasped for air, finally managing to stop his choking.

It was him, for God's sakes! There was no doubt about it!

There were no wings this time, but it was him. There was absolutely no mistaking it. He began to hastily question his own sanity, as he lay unnoticed on the floor, trying to get his breathing under control.

Asuma smiled, and stood in front of the class, next to the raven-haired boy, a piece of paper clasped in his hand.

"Well, it appears that we have a new student today… Class! This is your new classmate-… er…" He looked from the paper, to the boy.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto almost choked again. His voice was as smooth as he remembered it.

Oh my God.

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A/N: x3 this was a fun chapter to write. Heck, this is a fun story to write! Be sure to leave a review, and tell me what you think! Believe it or not, those things are my motivation! XD Literally, the more responses I get, the faster I get out chapters. :3 It's so fun.