GAH!! I ran off track a little when I was making previous chapters, so now i have to jump back on ship. Some of the people i introduced might have nothing to do with the main story, but i'll get them in there the best i can. Oh, and for Sasuke's speech, I really wanted to do a song like "Mistakes we knew we were making" or "Tension and Terror" by straylight run, but one of my favorite authors did a fic with tension and terror and the Mistakes song wouldn't make much sense this far in, i'd need more time. 'cries' I feel like i neglected two great songs, but i'll fit one of them in here somewhere!! oh, and i also wanted to use "Best of Me" by The Starting Line. Hmm... maybe i should do some songfics... it would definitely give my mind a break. oh, and if i don't make any more entries by tomorrow night, don't expect anything until Monday at the least. That reminds me... i should probably start packing... meh, after this.

It had been a few hours since Naruto had left the house, leaving everything dead silent after he was gone. Sasuke did some more laundry while he was up and went over his homework to make sure it was all in order. When it finally came time for him to leave, he had to think whether he was going to use the back alley again or finally get back onto the main street. But knowing that he couldn't bare to look Naruto in the eyes, he settled for the small stretch of bricks, making no contact with the people that were sleeping against the walls. Sasuke made it to the other side, welcoming the sunlight like he had never seen it before in his life. The masses of people were starting to enter the vicinity, meaning the boy had to hurry inside before he was spotted. When he got to his locker, he figured Naruto wouldn't try to greet him today, which he didn't. Instead, he was by Shikamaru, smiling and laughing as though nothing was wrong.

Back in the classroom, everyone sat down, Naruto avoided talking to Sasuke though as he sat down next to the boy. Kakashi stood in the front of the room, speaking semi-loudly.

"Alright, the board has reminded me that I have to make you give at least one speech by the end of the year. And since the only thing we have left to do is the paper, it's being turned into a speech. You will prepare main key points and turn that in to me. And since it takes a bit more preparation time, today's class will be spent working on your speech and asking me questions." He looked down at his book and walked around his desk, sitting in the oak chair with his feet reclined onto the desk.

The students sighed and groaned, none of them wanting to speak in front of their classmates. Only a few people actually started to work, the others all began talking to each other; which Kakashi didn't stop. By the end of the hour, Sasuke had already planned out that he would talk about a fan for his 'Like Me' speech. He had no idea where the idea came from, but it just popped into his head, which was good enough for him. And after a few key points, all he had to do was type it up, turn it in, and wait for speech day.

Naruto on the other hand had spent the whole hour talking to Shikamaru. The pony-tailed boy didn't feel like working so he put up with the blonde's constant complaining about speeches.

"Hey, Shikamaru, what are you even going to do for your speech?"

"Hmm... I guess... I dunno. I'll make it up as I go along. What about you?"

"Oh, uh..." he had completely forgotten that he was going to do it on Sasuke. Would he still bother to go through with it? Or would it be too awkward for both of the teens? "I really don't know either. Kakashi said I can't do Raman anymore, but I can't think of anything else to do it on."

"Well, if you ask me, Sasuke's probably the most like you out of anyone."

"What?!" He jumped up, not expecting that response at all.

"Yeah, I mean, you both basically raised yourself, both of you have some crazy, troubling past, and neither of you can get a girlfriend," the boy smiled, not being able to help the urge to make the poor blond angry.

"I can get a girlfriend if I really wanted to! I just... haven't met the right one," that was true enough. He could look at a pretty face all day, but if her personality sucked, forget about it. He only knew one girl that he could manage to put up with, and that was his friend from the lower district, Sakura. But unfortunately, she was all over Sasuke like there was no other man left on the planet.

"Hey, Naruto, you ok?"

The boy snapped back to reality, blinking his eyes a couple of times. "Oh... yeah. What were we talking about?"

"The paper."

"Right! Hmm... I really don't remind myself of Sasuke too much, anything else?"

"You remind me of the wind," both boys looked over a little bit, noticing the girl who was staring at them. She was one of the only two females they saw on a day to day basis, but they never talked. None of the boys even knew her name.

"The...wind?" Naruto was slightly confused. Why the wind? And why did she eavesdrop onto the conversation?

"Yeah. You don't really go with everyone else. No one else can really understand you or touch you, we all just know that you're there. We all know who you are, though we really can't prove that we really know who you are. You're exactly like the wind."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "Right, and you're name is?"

She smiled, the dark red lip gloss shining off some of the light from the florescence above them. "I'm Karin," she pushed her long black hair off to the side, holding out her hand, "it's nice to meet you." Naruto took her hand and shook it, though Shikamaru wasn't as friendly. Once she realized that she had crossed a border she shouldn't have, all she did was push her glasses up on her face a little, "Sorry to disturb you, I'll leave you alone now." And with that, she turned and walked away, back to the group of boys that desperately wanted to 'get to know her'.

And while the brunette boy kept on complaining about how girls should mind their own business, Naruto actually began to think about his new topic; the wind. It was kind of weird that she brought it up, he never would have thought about it. No one really ever thinks about how the wind doesn't really exist. Wind is nothing more than air moving, but it was given a name. People know what the wind is, but they can't really prove that it even really exists to begin with. The wind was the wind, and nothing more. But despite the simplicity, all life on the planet needs the wind; whether it be to move clouds or cool off on a hot day. Naruto had never really thought about it before, but it was kind of interesting.

"Right, Naruto?"

And even though in most cases, the boy would pretend like he knew what Shikamaru had just said, Naruto couldn't manage to lie at that point. "I think she might be right about the wind thing."