Naruto idly wandered through the halls to his next class, his mind replaying the image of Hinata's eyes, Hinata's smile, and Hinata's voice. Hinata, Hinata, Hinata. It was ridiculously sad considering they barely had a conversation and he had no inkling of her last name. He shoved his way through the crowd of people in the doorway and slumped into a seat near the back. He was surprised his day was going so well considering. He had made one friend and gotten out of detention. He absently glanced at his neighbor. He had long brown hair tied up into a ponytail, his head was hanging off the back of his chair, and he was asleep. Or dead, Naruto frowned, this guy really wasn't moving. He opened his mouth to see but decided against it.

"Whatever," he whispered to himself. However, he periodically checked to see if he had moved. He never did. Out the corner of his eye Naruto spotted a barrage of paper balls filled with pink erasers coming his way and ducked behind his binder. They listlessly bounced to the floor, however, a fair few viciously ricocheted into alternate directions. Meaning to the left. Directly to the dead guys forehead. It was then that Naruto thought he really had died until his ponytail twitched. The blond watched on as every muscle in his neck tensed under the weight of his slowly rising head. Detached mahogany eyes stared at him with that dull, borderline lifeless, expression as a red mark began to make itself known on his forehead. It took all his might to stifle his laughter and raise his hands in surrender.

"I did not do that." He pointed at the puddle of paper balls surrounding their desks. A few had burst open and spilled their rubber contents.

"Shika?" Naruto jumped at the sudden proximity of the new voice. The boy was tall, muscular, tan, more so than the blond, with shifty brown eyes, messy brown hair, and a fang pointed smile, "What're you doing up?"

"Troublesome." He muttered still staring at Naruto before dropping his head onto the desk.

Naruto glared at him, "Hey, Ponytail! I said I didn't do it."

The wolf looking boy laughed raucously loud, "Ponytail," he smacked Naruto on the shoulder, "Wait, aren't you the kid from Homeroom? Yeah, you broke the door."

Naruto blushed and scratched his head, "No. Who does that?" He raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you the guy diagnosing your peers with AIDS?"

"The one and only," He smirked, "And that was you, Blondie."

"NARUTO."

He swatted his hand, "Naruto… Blondie… It's all the same, really. I'm Kiba Inazuka and that snorlax right there is Shikamaru Nara," Shikamaru grunted into the wood as Kiba leaned against the desk in front of him, "Look, I like you, if you need something come to me."

Naruto stared at Kiba, baffled. No one had ever offered to help him let alone be his friend, but these are different people. Better people, he hoped. He squinted suspiciously, should he hope, "I'll hold you to it, Inazuka."

What did he have to lose?

As the morning progressed, he found he had most of his classes with the pair, and not with Hinata. He battled with himself to push her out of his mind. Shikamaru and Kiba were an odd duo, but Naruto didn't mind. They were hilarious and he could tell, loyal to one another, possibly even to him one day. Unwillingly, Naruto already considered them as friends. Kiba elbowed him and pointed excitedly at Shikamaru. He lazily turned a blue eyeball onto the brunette, he was sleeping, typical to the blond by now. Shikamaru had his head in one hand and an unsteady elbow on the edge of the desk. He confessed, it wasn't the most comfortable position, but he didn't see where the excitement came from. He watched as Shika leaned left, caught himself, leaned right, caught himself, and steadied.

"What?"

"Just watch, he does this twice a day. You'd think he'd learn considering he's a genius."

Naruto impatiently waited and soon gave up. He was on the verge of figuring out an extremely complicated math problem that involved fractions and letters until Kiba began rapidly smacking his arm and pointing. Naruto focused on the way Shikamaru listlessly fell forward and didn't catch himself. The two boys winced as his forehead made a loud smack on the wood. They managed to control themselves until he made a loud groaning noise.

"Gah," Naruto grunted as he looked at his detention slip, "Disrupting class my ass."

"Don't worry about it, Blondie," Kiba thumped him on the back, "I get one every other day! Sometimes twice a day. The only downside is having to spend too much time with Sai."

Naruto chuckled as they entered the cafeteria. There he met a rainbow of personalities. Rock Lee had raven hair in a bowl cut, extremely thick eyebrows and an uncanny love for 'The power of youth'. Whatever the hell that was. Shino Aburame, who didn't talk at all, wore a trench coat, circular pitch black glasses and loved insects. It was a family thing but that didn't make it any less creepy. Chouji Akimichi ate more than everyone at the table combined but he was good hearted. Sai was an amazing artist whose social skills were a bit nonexistent. He spent most of lunch talking about dick sizes. Naruto wondered how he even became friends with everyone. Then again, he did just walk over and sit down withdrawing a groan of exasperation from everyone. He absently gave a point to Kiba. They were all abnormal but he wouldn't trade them.

The day was slowly drawing to a close as Naruto tapped his pencil on the desk and his azure eyes scanned the classroom. He finally came to the conclusion that Kakashi had long since left the school premises and wasn't coming back. Either no one noticed or they just didn't care. The clock slowly ticked by as Naruto rapidly tapped his pencil against the desk; his boredom slowly consuming him. He huffed and opted for staring out the window. This part of town was extremely beautiful, it being entwined with nature. He studied the way the trees wrapped around the buildings and burrowed into the roads. He watched as the leaves, tousled by the wind, caressed the bricks and window panes. He loved nature, it soothed him like nothing else. Except his parents, but they weren't here anymore.

"It's lovely, isn't it?"

"Yes," he replied quietly. He gazed up at the afternoon sky. "Sometimes I wish I could… I don't know… Just be free from everything."

"There are problems everywhere." She was quiet, melancholic, that voice.

He smiled sadly, "Not in Heaven. Not with them."

"Don't you dare say something like that." She whispered furiously. It was a reserved rage. He wanted to chuckle at the concern hidden underneath the anger and also bask in it. However he was shocked when a pair of hands touched his face and he was met with pearls, "Don't you ever say anything like that ever again, it's demented."

The blond inhaled deeply before gently taking her hands from his face, "Hinata… You can't sneak up on people and pretend you're their subconscious mind."

Her brows drew together, "But I didn't…" She paused at the rise of his finger.

She blinked at his eerily calm demeanor. She fidgeted with her fingers, "I assumed t-that my s-speaking would alert y-you to my p-presence."

His finger rose a little higher. She was adorable he thought, "Your stutter is what would alert me. Where were you anyways?"

She opened her mouth to speak but the bell silenced her. Naruto glanced back at her when he stood, "Thank you though, Hina."

She looked baffled, "For caring." He clarified. Her eyes flickered with some emotion and Naruto was struck again by her beauty… inside and out.

"Shut up, idiot. You got lucky, that's it." Kiba shoved him towards the locker room doors.

Naruto chuckled as he took off his sweaty gym shirt, "You can't muster luck on every shot, Inazuka; it's just not probable."

"Naruto?" The blond turned to see an emerald eyed, bubblegum pink haired girl. She was gorgeous, sexy, tall, thin, and confident. She looked him up and down, "Oh, wow."

He blushed, "Uh, yes?"

"I'm Sakura Haruno." She placed a hand out for him to shake, "Maybe I could show you around sometime? Soon?"

He heard a groan from behind him and turned to see Kiba squinting angrily at the pinkette. He raised an eyebrow at the brunette who merely threw his hands up and shook his head, "… That would be great, Sakura."

"Marvelous. It's a date then." She kissed his cheek and strutted away.

"Make sure you watch yourself, Blondie."

"From a seventeen year old girl?"

"Not just any girl." He vaguely stated.

He scoffed as the brunette walked away, "At least I have a date!" Naruto smiled to himself. He had to tell… Hinata. Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Shit."