Shadow: Wow. Only a day after I write the first chapter I start the second……that's gotta be a record. To my reviewers, thank you! I love you all! –hugs everyone who reviewed- Especially to some of you who said you can relate to how Naruto feels, yay! You guys are like me! Anyways it's nice to know I'm not the only one who can relate n.n

Sasuke: Okay now you're rambling.

Shadow: You're right I'm sorry.

Naruto: You damn well better be. I'm bored! Come on! I gotta find out what happens to me!...O.o I don't get raped do I?

Shadow: ………………….

Naruto: I GET RAPED! O.o

Sasuke: -glares furiously at Shadow-

Shadow: Okay, OKAY! I wasn't actually going to have him be raped, I was only messing around XD

Naruto: -hits Shadow on the head with a book- YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUTTA ME!

Sasuke: -hits Shadow with another book- AND DITTO!

Shadow: OWWWW! –glares- ya know, I could always make this a NaruSaku story instead –examines nails-

Sasuke/Naruto:………………..O.o……………X.x……..

Shadow: Nah, I'm just kidding again XD

Sasuke/Naruto:……………….-hits Shadow with books-

Shadow: X.x –passes out-

Naruto: -glares at Shadow- well since she's down I'll do the disclaimer again….

Sasuke: No, I will. Naruto does not belong to Shadow, he belongs to me, and if anyone tries to steal him I'll hunt you down and kill you with plastic forks and knives.

Naruto:……..he's kidding………..

Shadow: -wakes up- ON WITH THE STORY!

NeglectedKitsune: Um, hi.

Timeisup: You decided to contact me then.

NeglectedKitsune: Uh, yeah. What did your letter mean?

Timeisup: It meant exactly what it said. I can help you Naruto.

NeglectedKitsune: How can you help? I don't even know you.

Timeisup: You will soon enough. Do you want my help or not?

NeglectedKitsune: I don't know. No one can take all my pain away. They'd have to kill me.

Timeisup: Oh, but I can. I'll make you feel good Naruto. So, can I help you?

NeglectedKitsune: …………..okay. You can help. But how?

Timeisup: Good. Can you meet me somewhere on Saturday?

NeglectedKitsune: Sure. But where and what time?

Timeisup: How about at the abandoned park. You know where that is right? At around 10:00 pm. Sound good?

NeglectedKitsune: Yeah I know where that is. I'll be there. Now, I have to go, cause school is starting. Ttyl.

Timeisup: Bye then. Whenever you want to talk I'll be here.

NeglectedKitsune signed off at 9:06 am.

Naruto was a little puzzled about the conversation. He still didn't know anything about this guy, so he decided to be a little cautious with them. He heard the late bell ring, and darted off to class, leaving the letter on the table next to his computer.

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Sasuke walked to his first class. Health wasn't so bad, at least he learned something. Shizune was a good teacher. Although he found the girls giggling whenever they watched videos on the human body extremely annoying.

"Okay class! Gather your books and line up against the lockers outside the room. As of now we have a new research project on the anatomy. Guys will research girls and vice-versa." Shizune explained, as they all gathered their things.

Girls squealed at the thought of examining boy's bodies, while some of the boys had perverted looks on their faces. Sasuke just sighed and followed the rest of the class to the library.

There were only so many computers in the library, so half the class took out books while the other half went for online research (needless to say some of the boys took advantage of that and went to porn sites. Shizune was not pleased.).

Sasuke took the computer in the very back corner of the library. The only problem was about five or six girls fought over who would sit next to him. Eventually, it ended up being Sakura. Sasuke and the rest of their class all started doing their research. Sasuke stared lazily at a picture of the female body. He took notes, but the truth was he really wasn't interested. He sighed and stretched, and happened to catch a glimpse of what Sakura was researching.

Well, if you could call it research. Sakura was drooling over a male model who was posing naked, with everything exposed. Somehow this seemed more interesting to him, and he kept watching. Sakura clicked a link, and what she clicked turned out to lead to a gay porn site. Sasuke stared at two guys in the middle of sex. They both looked like they were having fun.

He suddenly got a mental image of him and that Naruto boy in the others' place. His eyes widened and he inhaled sharply. Boy, two times today. He wondered vaguely if it was due to hunger since he hadn't eaten a very good breakfast. He shook his head and reached for his pencil so he could take more notes. But instead of finding his pencil, he found a folded, slightly crumpled piece of paper.

He opened the note curiously, and read the first word.

Naruto,

This is Naruto's? I thought he didn't have any friends….

Sasuke scanned over the rest of the note, his confusion growing.

I know exactly how you feel. Invisible. Hated. Alone. I know what it feels like. Are you tired, Naruto? Are you sick of holding everything inside? Are you sick of having no one to talk to? Well, I'll make you a little deal. I know how to take the pain away. I can make it all stop. All I need from you is a small favor. I'll have to explain later, but if you want to talk, my screen name is Timeisup. Contact me sometime, if you want my help.

Sasuke stared. He had no idea what to make of this letter. At first he thought it was from a friend, but this didn't sound like anyone Naruto knew. What did this letter mean anyway? Naruto wasn't invisible, hated, and alone. Or was he?

It took Sasuke a minute to figure out what he was wondering.

Why am I caring? I don't care what happens to Uzumaki. He's just a loser I know.

His hands seemed to disagree with him though, because the next thing he knew the mouse was pressing "sign on" on instant messenger and it was loading Naruto's saved information. Sasuke was about to sign off when a message came up.

Timeisup: Back so soon, Naruto?

Sasuke instantly recognized the screen name as the one from the letter. He decided to see what was going on.

NeglectedKitsune: Yeah. Hi.

Timeisup: Did you forget the info for our meeting?

NeglectedKitsune: Uh, yeah I did actually. Can you remind me?

Timeisup: 10:00 pm at the abandoned park on Saturday.

NeglectedKitsune: Thanks. I have to go now. Bye.

Timeisup: Don't forget, Naruto.

Sasuke signed off. As the bell rang, he made up his mind to see what was going on Saturday. He convinced himself that he was just curious, he didn't care. But one tiny part of his mind told him otherwise.

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"Watch it, loser!"

Naruto didn't reply. He just picked up his scattered book as the boy who banged into him walked away. He sighed, and picked up his last book. At least he had art now.

Art was one of the few subjects Naruto liked. Even though no one cared about his work, it was away to express his pain without actually expressing it.

He sat down at a desk and took out a paper and a pencil. After staring at the paper for quite some time he started to draw. His movements were uneasy at first, pausing every now and then. But once he got it started there was no stopping him. He kept drawing. He stopped only to retrieve colored pencils from the closet before he continued. Once he was finished and his pencil and the colored ones all lay dulled beside him, he brushed off his paper and examined it. It was truly a masterpiece.

It was of Naruto himself. He was dressed in his favorite outfit, black cargo pants with endless chains and pockets and a tight shirt that stopped short so a good amount of his stomach was visible. In the picture, he was lying down, surrounded by black creatures with piercing silver eyes that were clawing at his body. Naruto's picture version was bloody. His pants were slashed in various places, reveling bleeding gashes. His stomach was littered with somewhat smaller cuts, and he had blood running out of the corner of his mouth, along with a cut under his left eye and a cut in his forehead so that blood seeped into his other eye. But there were two main points to his picture. His eyes and his heart.

The picture Naruto was bleeding severely from the chest. His black shirt was stained crimson. Where his heart should have been was a huge, bloody X.

But his eyes, even the eyes were painful for Naruto himself to look at. Crystal clear eyes that usually held so much light, even if it was fake, were empty. Not just empty of light, empty of everything. There was no emotion whatsoever to make those eyes vibrant and alive. They were cold and harsh, and made the whole picture feel that way.

Satisfied with his work, Naruto put the picture back on the desk. He took a crimson colored pencil, and scrawled the word HAUNTED in the upper left corner of the page that he hadn't colored specially for that. Then, he took a white pencil, and scrawled (Shadow: ………I just noticed that "scrawled" is a really odd word…..if you say it enough times it sounds weird………haha……scrawled….-Sasuke: ……..-hits Shadow with a book-) his name in the bottom right corner of the page. He sat back and admired it for another minute, before the bell rang. He went to his locker and put the picture inside, and after slamming it, and not bothering to lock it, he went off to his next class. (Shadow: Cookies for everyone who guesses the name of the song I was listening to when I wrote this and who it's by)

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Sasuke ran through the halls, annoyed. Sakura and Ino had held him up, so he was late, and he still had to get his stuff for his next class. Seeing his locker, he opened it, and went to put his books away but something stopped him. This wasn't his stuff. This backpack was dark crimson, and the books were scattered on the bottom of the locker, with papers cushioning them. He closed the locker door a little, so he could see the number.

233

So this wasn't his locker (Shadow: No fucking duh Sasuke). His locker was 333. That meant he was on floor two instead of floor three. Sasuke was busy mentally slapping himself when something hit his foot. He bent down, and picked up the rolled up paper. He unrolled it gently, and his eyes widened.

He examined the body, from the legs up. He glanced at the legs, the stomach, and the torso, all of which had creatures clawing at any flesh they could reach. He gasped as his eyes met the drawing's eyes. The eyes were cold and blank, empty of…well…everything. He only then realized who it was a picture of.

"Just what the hell are you doing?"

Sasuke turned around to return Naruto's glare. Naruto averted his gaze and Sasuke smirked inwardly.

"What the hell are you doing in my locker?" Naruto asked again, glancing at the picture.

"I just….made a mistake. I thought I was on the third floor….." It sounded incredibly stupid, even to his own ears. Naruto gave him a weird look.

"You didn't know you were on the second floor? And you call me a loser…." Naruto mocked, smirking.

"Shut up dobe," Sasuke said, rather heatedly. "I got held up by those girls Sakura and Ino."

"Whatever" Naruto rolled his eyes, and glanced at the picture again. Sasuke realized he was still holding it. He held it up.

"Who drew this?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at him. "Look in the right lower corner, teme."

Sasuke did so. "So, you made it then?"

Naruto rolled his eyes again. "No, that girl Sakura drew it. Use your head, Uchiha."

Sasuke glared. He walked up to Naruto so they were only centimeters apart. He glared, and so did Naruto. He thought he saw the ghost of a blush grace Naruto's features, but he wasn't one to talk since his cheeks were feeling a little warm.

"Well dobe," He began, stressing his voice as he said dobe. "Just tell whoever the hell made it they did a good job."

And with that, he stalked off.

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Naruto stood, there, stunned, his cheeks painted a nice shade of pink. Had Uchiha just complemented him on something?

He shook it off, and went to get his stuff to go home, since he managed to waste all of his last period. Oh well, no one cared.

For the second time, his walk home was obscured by thoughts of Sasuke. All he could think about was Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. And it made him want to bang his head into something a couple dozen times.

He resolved not to think about the Uchiha. He was just a dumb bastard after all. He wouldn't think about him at all. Not about how he had said his drawing was nice. Not about how his fingertips had just brushed against his as he returned the picture. Not about the other night when he got his first kiss. Not about his hair which stuck up in the back and hung down in the front. (Shadow: Talk about gravity-defying…..) Not about his cocky smirk. Not about how he moved with grace but also with strength. And certainly not about what it would be like if he actually kissed him on purpose.

Well he was just doing a damn good job, wasn't he?

Naruto growled in frustration. He reached his apartment, and decided then and there to take a shower (Sasuke: Can I come? – Shadow: -hits Sasuke with a book- Sasuke: X.x).The first thing he noticed however was a piece of neatly folded off-white paper on his welcome mat. He opened it curiously.

Don't forget….

Naruto recognized the handwriting as that of his mysterious helper. In fact, he had forgotten. Tomorrow was Saturday. He went inside and tossed the paper onto the table before going to his bathroom. He decided a bath would be better than a shower. It would be easier to forget about you know who. He turned on the taps, and undressed himself, sitting on the edge of the tub as he watched the bathtub fill.

He got into the warm water, and sighed in contentment. It was only the beginning of October, but the weather was getting harsher as the days went by. Naruto thought regretfully about winter. He loved snow to no end, but his apartment had used up most of his money, and the money he got now was used to pay rent. Sure, he could afford food and clothes and all the necessities, but some luxuries weren't an option for him. One of those luxuries was a decent winter jacket. All he had was a thin wind breaker, with a pair of gloves that had a few holes in them, since he had had them since he was about thirteen. He sank even further into the warmth, sighing again.

It really was hard, having no one to talk to. The same way it was hard to not have anyone care whether you lived or died so long as you were out of their way. Unplugging the drain, he rose from the tub and toweled off. Wrapping the towel around his waist he went to the dresser and took out pjs. He snuggled underneath his blankets, and yawned, tiredly. He had one last coherent thought before sleep took over.

I hope that guy can help me……

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"Sasuke-kuuuuuuun!"

Sasuke turned to see which one of his fan girls it was this time. Just as he was going to tell her to piss off, he was tackled by someone with blinding pink hair. Sakura.

They landed on the floor with a loud thud, and Sasuke winced. He glared up at the thing on top of him.

"What do you want Sakura?" he spat, annoyed.

"Oh Sasuke-kun! Thank you so much for breaking my fall! I bet it didn't hurt a big, strong guy like you! You're awesome!" Sakura cooed, her voice syrupy and disgusting. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Yeah whatever. Get off me." Instead of doing that however, she leaned down, and pressed her mouth to his. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, as he clamped his mouth closed as tight as was humanly possible. He nearly vomited when he felt a tongue attempting to poke into his mouth. He tried shoving her off, but the fact that he was trapped under her made things a little difficult. Eventually he managed to shove her off with such force, that she went into the air a little before falling to the floor with a loud thud. Sasuke got up and glared at Sakura.

"Don't you EVER touch me like that again." He said in a near whisper, glaring at her with such rage that she cringed. He picked up his book bag, and walked away.

He felt absolutely filthy after that. Spitting a few times, he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. He glared furiously as he got into his car and drove off. The tiniest part of his mind was wishing it had been Naruto in Sakura's place.

Shadow: Again, this chapter was originally going to be longer. But I decided to leave it here n.n

Sasuke: You jackass. This chapter was too short. I want to find out what happens next.

Naruto: What teme said!

Shadow: I know, but this is ten pages already. The next chapter will be ready soon.

Naruto: Isn't there something else you would like to tell everyone Shadow? Regarding the summer?

Shadow: Oh yeah –clears throat- ahem! Okay, I am SO SORRY! My family is going to our summerhouse in Cape Cod for the rest of the summer! Cape Cod is mucho fun, but I'm going to be gone for two whole months! I will try to get at least one more chapter in before I leave, but other than that you're going to have to bear with me. I'll try to make it so I can come back for a couple days to write another chapter, but don't count on anything. Anyways if I do come back it will be for you, so feel special!

Sasuke: TWO WHOLE MONTHS?

Naruto: But I want to fuck Sasuke's brains out! I can't wait two whole months! I'm horny! –cries-

Sasuke: -evil smirk- I can fix that Naru-chan.

Naruto: Really? –evil smile- Show me how teme."

Sasuke: -grabs Naruto and runs into bedroom-

Shadow: Hey! Hey come back!...well, I'll let them have fun…...

-moans are heard-

Shadow:……………………wait a minute……………..THAT'S MY ROOM! AHHHHHHHHH GET OUT OF THERE YOU GUYS! –bangs fists on door-

-more moaning-

Shadow:…………Ok fine, BUT IF YOU GET CUM ON THE SHEETS I'LL STOP WRITING THE STORY!

Review please! The more reviews I get the more I'll be persuaded to come back over the summer to write more!