naruto: yuki-chan. yuki-chan! YUKI-CHAN!
yc: (falls out of bed) ow. what do you want naruto?
naruto: come on update. you have 8 reviews. update.
yc: really? YOSH!! and of course i'll update naru-chan.
naruto: don't call me naru-chan!
yc: anyway. i want to thank nightreader and my 2 uhhhhh friends for the reviews. oh and nightreader, i just seriously appreciate the second review after i posted a note that said i won't include my friends reviews(note: sarcasm). jeez give me a while for tsunade's sake. get it? tsunade's sake as in the alcoholic drink?(cricket, cricket) sheesh tough crowd. but thank you all. you don't know how much i appreciate it.
naruto: ok ok you said you thanks now can we please get on with the chap?
yc: ok ok. enjoy the chap everyone. you too naruto
naruto: yay

Chapter 9

(Lina's POV)

A few weeks had passed. Everything was fine, I suppose. My mood has been the same ever since that day. Everyone is worried about me. They say I'm depressed in the worst of ways. How can I not be? I lost my niisan. I lost my friend.

Anyway, it was a boring, dreary morning. Funny though since it's sunny and bright. Sadly, Sasuke became sick and had to stay home. And because of this, I dreaded going to school. Before, people used to insult me, but I didn't care what they would say and just agree with them. Now, I have somehow become more sensitive. That's where Sasuke came in. Someone would say something hurtful and Sasuke would be there to defend me and make me feel better. It's kinda pathetic if you think about it. But I went to school nonetheless.

The morning had been alright. It was lunch time now as I took my usual spot on a bench not too far from the Academy(you know the bench that sakura always sits on? yeah it's that bench, just to clear up something. ok continue). I got about halfway through my lunch when I heard footsteps. I kept my head down, hoping it wasn't who I thought it was. "Hey look guys. It's the orphane-girl." My hope had vanished. I looked up to see three boys from my class. They did this everyday. And apparently that was my nickname for them: orphane-girl.

"Where's your boyfriend orphane-girl?" the boy in the middle asked. I stayed quiet, eating my lunch. "Hey what's wrong?" "Maybe she forgot how to talk Jim(i know not that creative. give me a break ok? i'm not that good with names)." the boy on the left responded to the middle boy."Maybe you're right Bob. What's-his-name was a teacher. Perhaps he didn't finish teaching her to talk when he finally kicked the bucket(can? i don't remember)." said Jim. They started to laugh as my eyes started getting watery.

"Aww, is the baby gonna start crying now?" said Jim. "Heh, go run to your mommy." said Bob. "Oh, that's right, you don't have one!" said Jim again. They all laughed again while tears were running down my face.

"Hey, leave her alone!" a voice said.

I looked up. There was a blond haired kid with fiery blue eyes standing a few feet away on my left. The gang of boys all gave him an evil glare and turned away. Just before they were out of earshot, I heard one of them say "Let's leave the two orphanes alone."

"Are you ok?" I turned to the voice to find the blond in front of me. He gave me a soft smile. So, he's an orphane too. It's a small world after all. I nodded my head to him. His smile widened making his eyes squint shut. "I'm glad." He then sat down next to me. We just sat there, not saying a word to each other while I finished my lunch. I stole a glance or two at his direction and noticed the whisker-like marks on his cheeks.

When I finished my lunch, he turned to me and asked "What's your name?" I was a bit startled by him suddenly asking, but answered "Ulina Lina." "That's a nice name. Mine's Uzumaki Naruto." he responded. "I'm sorry about what happened to your brother." he said a little softer. "It's alright." I said looking at the ground.

"Ne, whose class are you in?" I looked at him again. This Nurato or however you say it, is he for real? How can someone change subjects just like that? "Iruka-sensei's." I replied stupidly. "Really? I have Iruka-sensei too." Wow, it really is a small world. We then both heard the bell ring. "Wah! We're late!" said Naruto. He stood up, grabbed my hand, and pulled me and my lunch with him to the Academy.

When we got in front of our classroom door, Naruto looked through the window quickly. He turned to me and said "Iruka-sensei already started teaching. We're going to have to be really quiet if we don't want to get caught." He then led me to the door that led into the back of the classroom. He opened it a little and motioned for me to follow. We quietly creeped through the door as I noticed that Iruka-sensei's back was to the class, writing something on the board.

Naruto was almost past the middle asle while I was behind the long desk. "I suggest you get back to your seat quickly Naruto." said Iruka-sensei with his back still toward us(creepy how teachers can do that). Everyone laughed as Naruto stood and quickly went to his seat.

Apparently I wasn't caught yet so when I got to the middle asle, I looked to the front to see that Iruka-sensei's back was still to the class. I quickly crossed to the other side(dun,dun,dun) and made it to my seat without Iruka-sensei noticing me.

And, apparently my perspective skills are lower then the low becase I just realized that Naruto has been sitting to the left of me since the beginning of the year. "Sorry I got you in trouble." I whispered to him. "No problem. I'm surprised you didn't get caught though. You're really good." he replied.

"Naruto! Lina!" We both jumped and turned to Iruka-sensei, who was glaring at us both. "Lina, when did you get here?" he asked in a stern voice. "How do you mean?" I questioned back.

"I mean, did you return with Naruto?"

"Wouldn't you have seen me then?"

He stayed silent for a while and went back to writing stuff on the board. "Nice save." Naruto whispered to me. "Thanks." I have to admit, it's been a while since I've done something like that. The thrill, the excitement, the possability of being caught. It was... exilerating. This Naruto kid. He's something special. I can tell.

My sadness. It's almost as if it lifted a little. I don't feel as bad now. And, for the first time ever since that day, I smiled a true, happy smile. Naruto must've noticed my suddenly smiling because he asked "Hey, what's up?" I turned to him, still smiling, and replied "Nothing. Just feeling good." He smiled back to me.

After school was over, I waved good-bye to my new friend and headed home. "Tadaima!" I called when I got home. No one answered. Mother must have gone out. Yes, I now call Mikoto mother. Why shouldn't I? She and father(sorta) adopted me, making me a part of the family.

Anyway, I took off my shoes and headed for Sasuke's room to check up on him. I knocked on the door. "Come in." came his voice from inside. I opened the door and peeked my head inside. I found Sasuke sitting up on the bed looking much better. "How are you?" I asked as I walked into the room. "Much better. How about you?" he responded. "Mmm, nothing much." I said turning my head to the side.

He must've noticed or sensed something in my response and ask "Lina? What exactly happened today? " I turned toward him, smiled and said "S-E-C-R-E-T." His eyes widened at my smiling and I skipped(yes skipped. don't judge me) out of his room, closing the door behind me. Things were finally starting to turn out for the better.

yc: sooo? what did you think?
naruto: finally i'm in the story.
yc: yes. and as you could see, you played an important role in it.
naruto: (falls asleep)
yc: (sweatdrops) can't really blame him though. he stayed up nearly everynight after i updated the last chap. anyway. some stuff. ummmmmmmmmmmm. oh that's right. i am now accepting anonymous reviews. but that also means that i am not going to include my friend's reviews. speaking of reviews. i am now raising it to 5 reviews before updating. i will not be including my friends as i already said. and i will only accept 2 reviews from one person. you can give me more but i'm only going to count 2 of them.

let's see is there anything else that i need to mention? umm i will try to get the chaps up as soon as i can. and i'm sure that there are more things that i have to say but i can't remember and i'm tired of typing so, ja ne.