Hello again everyone! Just to let you know, I will not be updating this story every week (I know, I suck...). That's because school is starting back up next week along with volleyball season (first year on varsity, whoohoo!) so I won't have as much time to write. So I'm sorry if you were hoping for an update every week, but I will try to update every other week (or sooner if possible)! Thanks again for all your support and for the reviews! I appreciate the constructive criticism I have received. And to the person who asked why Sophia doesn't call the teachers "sensei," I can't answer that yet. The answer will come in later chapters where more of her biography will appear. So, sorry, you'll just have to wait a little longer! And also to the person who said something about the story being different than "Shippu! Konoha Gakuen Den": this story is only inspired by the OVA; it's not supposed to be exactly like it.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or "Shippu! Konoha Gakuen Den" (the inspiration for this story). However, if I did, I would at least once show Kakashi's face (I mean, really, we all want to know what it looks like!)...

Chapter 3 – "Naruto vs. 'The Rock'"

(Naruto's Perspective)

"Beep! Beep! Beep!" I put my hand on my desk and searched for the alarm clock, wherever it was. I finally found the snooze button and hit it. Maybe just a few more minutes…

"Naruto-nii-chan*, are you awake yet?"

Damn, it's Konohamaru...again. I got up and opened the door.

"What do you want?" I asked, a little bit cranky.

"You promised to take me to school today," the little kid reminded me.

"Oh yeah."

"Well, are you ready yet?"

I looked at my half naked body and realized that I needed to get dressed. "Just a minute."

Running to my closet, I pulled out my uniform and hurriedly got dressed. After I closed the closet door, I remembered something. I rushed to the desk beside my bed and opened the drawer, grabbing my black headband which I had forgotten to wear yesterday. I would've worn it on my first day, but Tsunade-obasan* told me I couldn't.

"Hey, what's that for?" Konohamaru inquired while I tied the fabric around my head.

"It's a headband that I wear during all of my fights, sort of like a good luck charm. I've never lost a fight with it on."

"It looks stupid."

My eye twitched after he said that. Then, once I realized the time, I grabbed my school bag and rushed Konohamaru downstairs.

/~~*~~/

/~~*~~/

"Nii-chan, I hear you've got a girlfriend," Konohamaru said as we walked to his school.

Konohamaru went to Konoha Middle School, which was right next to my school. His family lived in the same apartment building that I lived in so I usually babysat him.

"Where'd you hear that from?" I asked absentmindedly.

"Well, I didn't hear it per say; I sort of saw it."

That caught my full attention. I went through my memory of the past week, wondering what he was talking about. "When did you see it?"

"Yesterday; I saw you and a girl with black hair walking together. So, what's her name?"

I blushed. He thought Sophia was my girlfriend!?

"Y-You've got it all wrong, kid! She's not my girlfriend. She just happens to live near our apartment building so we decided to walk together."

"Uhuh, right..."

I could hear the complete sarcasm in his voice. Irritation was rising inside me, but I let it slide. He wouldn't understand at his age.

"All right, we're here," I said as we entered into the middle school area. "I'll see you later."

"Okay, bye!" he waved to me as he ran off to meet his friends.

I sighed. For some reason, I was half happy to have him out of my way.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, it is you!" a familiar voice greeted.

"Good morning, Sophia-lincho," I replied.

"Good morning," she said back. She raised an eyebrow after she got a good look at me, making me feel a bit self-conscious. "What's up with the headband?"

"What, this? It's my trademark! I usually wear it during my fights, but I forgot about it yesterday."

"Huh, it looks stupid."

I hanged my head. She was the second person to say that. Maybe I shouldn't have worn it. As we made our way towards the high school, there was a short silence before I remembered that I wanted to ask her about something. Oh, what was it?

"Ah, um, how is Kiba?" I asked when I finally figured out what my question was.

"Oh, him." She sighed. "Don't worry; he's used to being in fights. That idiot's probably already walking around and blabbing his mouth off again."

I laughed.

"Hey, that's not funny, Sophia-lincho!" Kiba complained as he walked up behind us. "I don't blab my mouth off!"

"Yeah, yeah," she replied as she walked off into the school building.

"H-Hey, wait up!" Kiba and I called as we ran to catch up to her. For a girl, she was pretty fast.

As we entered the classroom, I noticed some of the kids looked pissed. Wonder what their problem is?

"Oh, Naruto, no hard feelings about yesterday?" Kiba mentioned after we both sat down.

"Of course not," I said. "Sophia-lincho told me what you did. Thanks."

"No problem."

Well, at least someone wasn't pissed off today. Speaking of being pissed off... I could feel stares behind me. Before I could turn around to look at the "suspects", however, the bell rang. Everyone was quiet for a second, and then they started talking again. Kakashi-sensei was late...I guess that was a usual thing for him. Nobody knew why he was always late, well, that I knew of anyway. And that reminded me of something.

"Hey, Shikamaru," I turned to one of the only people that wasn't staring at me.

He faced me. "What is it?"

"What is the relationship between Sophia-lincho and Kakashi-sensei?"

He looked at me like I was crazy; then remembered that I was still new. After that, he started laughing. "Oh, so you're asking about that? Why?"

"Because Sophia-lincho and I walked home together yesterday, and she said something about Kakashi-sensei wondering what she's been doing-"

I was interrupted by his laughs again. "Sorry, sorry; don't worry about it. Kakashi-sensei is Sophia-lincho's guardian."

Yet again, another surprise. "Guardian?"

Shikamaru stopped laughing as his expression changed from dying of laughter to seriousness. His gaze shifted to the desk in front of him.

"Yeah, Sophia-lincho's parents...were killed when she was just a kid..."

I was shocked. Something like that happened to Sophia-lincho? She seemed too happy to be an orphan! "How?"

He hesitated before continuing. "They were murdered. Sophia-lincho barely remembers a thing. From what the newspapers said, all she remembers is their cries of torture. The weird thing is, though, nobody knows how she got out alive. Sophia-lincho can't even remember."

No way. Her parents were killed!? And she lived through it?!

"Shikamaru," Neji cut off, "You know we're not supposed to talk about 'that.'"

"Yeah, sorry," he apologized.

I suddenly got the feeling that there was something wrong with the way Neji said "not supposed to talk about 'that.'" I was going to ask a question but-

"Yo," Kakashi-sensei welcomed as he appeared out of nowhere. Now, that was something I'd never get used to.

"Ohayo gozaimasu*," all of us replied.

"Kakashi-senpai, you're late," Sophia said. "Again."

"I know, and I'm sorry about that," he apologized.

Sophia just stared at him with a blank face. And with that, our regular school day started.

/~~*~~/

/~~*~~/

(Sophia's perspective)

"Sophia-chan, are you okay?"

I opened my eyes. What in the world had happened? And why did my head hurt so much? Sitting up, I looked around to see where I was. A few of my classmates were surrounding me – the only one that stood out, though, was Naruto. He looked like a little kid when they've done something wrong.

"Sophia, are you okay?" Neji-kun asked again.

I looked at him and blushed. He was the closest one to me, sitting on a chair right next to the bed I was lying on. I put a hand to my head as it began to throb.

"Wh-What's going on?" I asked.

"Eh, looks like you don't remember," Sakura said. "You were knocked out by these two."

She pointed to Rock Lee and Naruto. I was still confused.

"How?" I inquired. "I mean, how could I have been knocked out by them?"

Everyone sighed.

"Looks like I'll have to explain," Sakura said.

/~~*~~/

/~~*~~/

(Sakura's perspective – one hour before)

School had ended. I thought there was going to be at least one fight, but oddly enough, there wasn't… yet. It wasn't until I saw a group of girls and guys from the higher classes crowded around something, that I realized that I was totally wrong.

"Hey, Sakura!" Ino called me over.

She was already in the crowd, Hinata standing right next to her. I ran over to them.

"Who is it this time?" I asked.

"It's Naruto and Lee-san," Ino replied.

My eyes widened. Lee-san was fighting Naruto?!

"Why is he fighting Naruto at this time? Doesn't he have soccer practice?"

"It seems he skipped it," Neji-san answered as he walked up beside us.

"Neji-san (nii-san)*!" Ino, Hinata, and I jumped.

"But why'd he skip?" I questioned.

"Since yesterday, Lee's been pretty mad at Naruto," he answered. "I should've known it would've ended up like this. Lee took control of the situation in his own way."

I tried to watch the fight. We were at the very back of the crowd, making it hard to see anything. It seemed as if Lee-san was actually winning. Naruto looked beat up enough, but something about Lee-san was off. He didn't have the "fire" that he usually had in his eyes. Instead, it was something of anger...maybe jealousy? That couldn't have been it.

"What's with the headband?" pondered Ino.

Our attention drew to the black cloth tied around Naruto's head. With it on, he resembled one of those lame superheroes whose show only comes on when a special television program is finished early.

"It looks stupid," we all stated, regarding the headband.

Our thoughts were interrupted by several gasps from the front. I wondered what had happened. As I stretched on my tiptoes to observe, I saw that Lee-san had been kicked to the ground by Naruto. He had coughed up a little bit of blood, but it was enough to make me even gasp.

"Lee-san!" I whispered, worried.

A few minutes passed, and it got worse. Naruto and Lee-san looked like they were at their limit.

"It's the finishing blow," I heard Neji-san mumble. "Now, we'll see who has the most endurance."

I didn't know who to cheer for. Sure, yesterday I was all for Naruto winning. But Lee-san was a good friend of mine.

Lee-san and Naruto had knocked each other to the ground. Both of them got up, determination in their eyes. And then, without any hesitation, both ran at one another; however, Sophia-lincho got in the way. Lee-san, who was going to kick Naruto in the side it seemed, and Naruto, who was going to punch Lee-san (this, I've learned, is Naruto's favorite attack), tried to stop. But it was too late. Lee-san was already in mid-air with his kick; luckily, Naruto had a little bit of time and was able to try to push Sophia-lincho out of the way the same time that Lee-san's left leg reached her. Our class president flew backwards. It wasn't until I realized that Neji-san was gone from behind me, that I heard a grunting noise just before Sophia-lincho hit the ground. Neji-san had caught her.

"Sophia, are you okay?" Neji-san asked her as he laid her on the ground.

"Sophia-lincho!" Lee-san and Naruto shrieked as they ran towards her.

Ino dragged me and Hinata over to Sophia-lincho's unconscious body. I was kind of scared; after all, nothing like this had happened to her since we were in elementary school. But after seeing that she had swirls in her eyes, we found that she was fine.

"Hey, is she alright?" inquired Naruto as he and Lee-san got to us.

Neji-san nodded his head. "She's fine, but we should take her to the nurse just in case."

Picking up Sophia-lincho, he walked towards the nurse's office with Hinata following after. Meanwhile, Ino and I dragged Naruto and Lee to the office too. They looked like they had just gotten out of a car accident. And plus, they needed to apologize to Sophia-lincho.

/~~*~~/

/~~*~~/

(Sophia's perspective)

"And that's what happened," Sakura finished.

I fell back on the bed. I was that stupid? What was I thinking?

"But I have a question," Ino said. "Sophia-lincho, why did you get in the way?"

As I sat back up, I thought about it for a second. Why did I do that? Then it hit me! No, not literally.

"Because Naruto-kun would've lost by default," I answered.

Everyone just stared at me like I was a psycho that had just escaped prison.

"What are you talking about, Sophia?" Neji-kun asked.

I pointed at Naruto's shoelace. "His shoe was untied. He would've tripped, and Lee would've won. That would not have been a fair win for either of them."

They all collapsed.

"That's the only reason?" Sakura queried.

"Yeah, I guess," I replied.

Without any pause, Naruto and Lee started laughing. I could feel a pulse mark appear on the back of my head.

"Well, as long as you're okay," sighed Neji-kun.

I looked at him and blushed again. Then I remembered that Lee still didn't know the truth about yesterday. "Lee, has anybody told you what really happened yesterday between Kiba and Naruto?"

He seemed confused which answered my question. I cleared my throat before I explained to him about how Kiba was just helping Naruto out.

"Oh, that makes sense now," he said after I finished. Then he looked at Naruto. "I am sorry, Naruto-kun."

Rubbing the back of his head, Naruto replied, "It's alright. Don't worry about it."

Great, that was one problem solved. Next, I had to figure out a way to get us all out of here. "So I guess I'm free to go home."

"She is okay, right?" Hinata finally spoke.

I turned to look at Shizune-san, the school nurse.

"Yes, she'll be fine if she doesn't do that again," Shizune-san answered as she eyed me.

A nervous laugh arose from my mouth.

"That reminds me, I better take you home," Neji-kun said as he got up.

"Yeah, it's time for us to get home, too," the others said.

"Hinata-sama, will you be okay walking by yourself?" Neji inquired.

"Yeah, besides, I have to pick up Hanabi from school."

"Okay, then."

Neji-kun helped me up. It seemed that he had grabbed my bag while I was knocked out. I thanked him, glad he was so considerate.

(Neji's perspective)

I decided to walk Sophia home from school. Something inside my head told me that it might be bad if she walked by herself, considering she had just recovered from an attack by two complete idiots.

"Sophia, why are you trying to help Naruto?" I asked when we were a few blocks closer to her apartment.

She didn't say anything for a while. When I looked at her, her head was bowed, and I couldn't read the expression on her at all. Finally, she answered. "Because he's... like me..."

I stared at her in confusion and disbelief. What in the world was she talking about?

"Sophia, I don't understand."

She just sighed. "I looked at his records while I was helping Tsunade-sama organize her office today. Naruto-kun's an orphan, too."

Instinctively, I asked, "Are you sure?"

She just nodded her head, still not looking up at me. I hated that she wouldn't show me her face. It was as if we were in elementary school again. After a second, I turned my gaze back in front of me.

"Neji-kun, you understand, too, what it's like, right?" Sophia asked.

My hands clenched together. Why did she have to bring that up? I sighed. I guessed there was no way out of it anyhow. She knew me all ready.

"Right," I answered as I turned my head away.

"Ah, gomen*; I didn't mean to bring back anything, Neji-kun."

Sophia's voice was so... sympathetic. I couldn't stand it. It made me feel guilty about nothing. "You didn't do anything wrong, Sophia. I'm fine."

Just to make her feel satisfied, I pasted a smile on my face. She turned her head, and I swear I saw her face turn red.

Minutes passed by, filled with ordinary conversations such as how our day went or how life was at home, until we reached her apartment. Before Sophia opened the main entrance, she turned to look at me and smiled.

"Thank you for walking me home, Neji-kun," she said. "I appreciate it."

Without even knowing it, I blushed. She walked inside, miraculously not noticing how red my face was. I let a huge gulp of air escape my lips. And for some reason, at that moment, I felt like we were kids again.

/~~*~~/

/~~*~~/

(Sophia's Perspective)

Screams of terror.

A man at the door with red eyes.

A blood-stained carpet.

A girl, covered with so much blood, broken and torn.

Could that be me?

A knife heads toward the girl and then…

Cliff-hanger! Well, sorta... Anyways, this chapter was not as long as the last (sorry, again). And I don't have any good way of transitioning this into the words/suffixes that have the * beside them (yes, I know it's an asterisk) so...

Naruto-nii-chan*: nii-chan basically means "brother"; by putting an "o" in front of nii-chan (which would be "onii-chan"), one would get the word for "older brother"

Tsunade-obasan*: obasan means "grandmother" or in Naruto's case "granny"

Ohayo gozaimasu*: "Good morning"

Neji-san (nii-san)*: Hinata is the one that calls Neji "nii-san" since they are family; Sakura and Ino just call him "Neji-san"

gomen*: "sorry"