Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto and all its characters! I juts use them for my story! n.n

Warnings: Sorry, but I think Sai turned out really OOC! T.T Plus maybe cussing. Also I've introduced some slight Shonen-Ai, KakaIru, so if you don't like that pairing…sorry?

A/N: I think I managed to get this out relatively quick! But my net has been playing up, plus I'm having to type this author note out again, 'cause my internet decided to disconnect while I was saving it T.T

On a lighter note though, this is the longest chapter! n.n Though sorry for any mistakes! I was writing this at 3am, 'cause my brain wouldn't let me stop, and I also wanted to get it out faster for you all, 'cause you're awesome! n.n –grins- That may also be the reason for the utter fluff at the end –exasperated look-

Akatsuki still won't show for a few chapters! So vote on whether you want them to be in character evil or OOC humour!

Thank you again and enjoy! n.n

This is How You Remind Me.

Chapter 10: - Fake

Naruto was currently sitting in his Physics lesson doodling in a notebook absently, while his teacher, Kurenai-Sensei, explained the spectrum of light. He hated Physics; it was confusing, boring and he found no point in having to learn it, but whatever.

"Oi." Naruto looked up at the person who'd whispered.

"Yeah?" He found himself looking into dark eyes…that oddly resembled Sasuke. The boy had short hair – again, the same colour as Sasuke's – and was wearing a weird white t-shirt that showed most of his pale stomach and dark jeans, which hung low on his hips. Naruto found himself mentally wondering if this guy owned a mirror when he was interrupted.

"I've seen you around school. Naruto, right?"

Naruto nodded.

"Right. I'm Sai."

"Um, pleased to meet you?" He took in the odd smile adorning the new raven's face and frowned; that looked really fake.

"What you drawing?" Sai took his notebook and flipped through the small doodles, grabbing his own pencil and adding some new sketches to the page. Naruto looked on, confused at the forwardness, but decided to shrug it off. He'd hopefully just made a new friend. At this, Naruto smiled, and continued watching the boy draw.

"Who do you hang round with?" Naruto found himself saying a few minutes later.

"Oh, I'm considered a 'Popular'. You should've seen which group I'm talking about by now." Was the answer he got in return, Sai's attention never leaving the drawing he was working on.

"Why do you sound not so…enthused about your friends?"

"What friends? You think people like that are friends with each other? No. They only use each other to gain popularity." Naruto frowned deeply at this answer.

"So why do you stay with them?"

At this Sai stopped and looked up, straight at the blonde himself, a smile plastered on his face; that didn't look right at all.

"Because it's expected of me." Naruto scoffed.

"Look, I don't care what you're told, but being around people you don't actually like is stupid, even if that's what's expected." Naruto whispered hotly – realising Kurenai was glancing in their direction.

"You don't understand. Sasuke's made them popular, even more popular than the 'Popular's' themselves. I have to stay where I am because it's expected. I am an Uchiha and Uchiha's have to ensure power." Naruto sat staring wide-eyed at the boy next to him. An Uchiha? They couldn't be twins, could they? No. Cousins maybe? Shaking his head, Naruto realised he'd gotten off-track.

"That's a load of crap." The words fell out of his mouth before he could stop them. Sai could only raise an eyebrow at his outburst, as if asking him to explain.

"You should live life the way you want to, not by the name you're born with! Even so, being popular and miserable sure as hell doesn't give you any power. There are more important things than power. And who cares if Sasuke's more popular? You are you, and you should live the way you want to! I know I couldn't be surrounded by loads of people who weren't even my friends, every day; I'd find that the loneliest place to be." Naruto trailed off and studied Sai's face…which had lost the smile.

"Oh…I'm sorry, I didn't mean…gah, I just spoke without thinking again…just for-"

"No. I've never thought of it that way. I suppose…it is a lonely feeling. I'm…I uh…" Sai stopped speaking altogether and rose from his seat, and silently left the classroom.

Naruto stared, stunned at his reaction. Apparently Kurenai didn't care as she ignored him and carried on. Looking back at the desk, Naruto remembered the drawing Sai had done. He picked the book up and held it in viewing range. Looking back at him were two cartoon drawn people. One was of Sai standing, hands behind his back and an unreadable expression on his face. The other was of Naruto himself, also standing. His arms folded behind his head – an unconscious habit he'd been made aware of by his friends – and a happy smile on his face. There seemed to be a quite big gap between the two. Naruto frowned once again. He'd have to find Sai.

However, finding Sai, Naruto discovered, was not easy. The boy was either avoiding him or had left school grounds completely. Naruto had been running around the school corridors, glancing in classrooms, checking all the places he could think of to find Sai. He was by now, absurdly late for Art, but knowing Jiraiya, he wouldn't get into too much trouble. Rounding a corner, a little too quickly, Naruto felt himself collide with something, or someone, resulting on his immediate close-up with the floor.

"Ow." He groaned, rubbing the wrist that had tried to stop his fall.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry, please, let me help you up…Naruto?!" Naruto froze at his name being called, but found himself looking up into warm brown eyes.

"Iruka-Sensei?!" He knew his mouth was probably wide open, but he couldn't care less at the moment. This school was a mystery to him; people kept popping up.

"Ah, so this is where you go to school, Naruto!" The young man helped Naruto to his feet and smiled.

"What are you doing here Sensei?"

"Naruto, how many times have I told you to drop the 'Sensei' when we're not at the shop?" Naruto pouted and shook his head. Iruka was the friend he'd made at the local music shop and, when he had spare time, he would bring out new books to almost teach Naruto how to play the piano: Naruto absolutely refused free lessons.

"It doesn't sound right just calling you Iruka!"

Iruka sighed, rolling his eyes.

"And don't ignore my other question!"

Again, Iruka found himself sighing. "Fine, fine. You know how I told you about my um…my boyfriend?"

Naruto laughed at Iruka's very sudden pink face, but still nodded.

"Well, I came to visit him, seeing as how we've both been really busy lately."

"You mean…he's a teacher here?! Anyone I would know?" Naruto suddenly started bouncing on the spot, eager to hear who it was.

"Well, you should know-"

"Iruka! You left this in my room." Another voice suddenly sounded, drowning out Iruka's reply. Said voice was quickly followed by a person.

"YOU!" Iruka deadpanned at Naruto's outburst, while the newcomer smiled happily, lifting a hand in greeting.

"Yo!"

"I still can't believe that pervert is your boyfriend!" Naruto said, for the umpteenth time.

"Naruto! Kakashi is not a…" Iruka found his sentence die out. He looked over to his left to see the man in question giggling at something in his book. A book he'd seen all too many times. He sighed exasperatedly, turning back to Naruto.

"Well nevermind, I've got to be going now Naruto. I left Kotetsu and Izumo in charge and you know with them I can never guarantee to go back and see the shop in one piece."

Naruto laughed. "That last time was awesome! …I should go back and visit them again!" He smiled happily at the thought, while Iruka was inwardly crying at the thought of his whole life's work being destroyed.

Kakashi suddenly appeared behind Iruka, circling his arms around his waist. Resting his head on – the now very red – Iruka's shoulder, he smiled at Naruto.

"I best be seeing Iruka off! You should be getting back to class. Even if Jiraiya is a laid-back teacher, he still doesn't like it if you miss his lessons altogether." Kakashi winked at the boy, before he started walking the brunette towards the doors.

"See you Naruto!"

"U…h…yes, see you Naruto! I'll come by to visit, and to make sure you've got enough food in!" Iruka was yelling by now, as Kakashi insistently dragged him away.

Naruto shook his head, laughing slightly. He took in the silver-haired man's words and quickly raced to his Art class.

Naruto had thankfully received no punishment for being extremely late to his Art class. Jiraiya had only smirked at him, as if he knew something that the blonde didn't.

Now the blue-eyed boy was stood by a very big, very round table, full of people and he was taking their orders. Yes, once again, Uzumaki Naruto was at work. He smiled at the group, jotting down the last of the orders, before running to the desk and handing Ayame the note. She then took it to the two men in the kitchen.

Naruto grabbed his drink from the counter, whilst waiting for her to come back, so he could chat. The door to the restaurant opened and Naruto found himself choking on the liquid going down his throat.

"Naruto-Kun? What's wrong?"

"Uh, nothing, nothing!" He said, all-too-quickly for Ayame to take it seriously.

"Okaay, well, I see we have some more customers. Mind showing them to a table?"

Naruto frowned. Only earlier he'd thought about people 'popping up'. It seemed no matter where he went someone would find him. In Iruka's case it was a nice surprise. This time…not so much.

He put on a smile, and walked over to the four boys.

"Hello, I'm your waiter this evening. If you would please follow me, I'll show you to a table." Three of the boy's eyes widened as they saw him.

"Naruto?" The three questioned in unison. Each turned to glare at one another, except for the fourth who had yet to move.

"Yes, now stop standing round gawking and come sit!" The blonde uttered angrily, stalking off.

The four complied, and took their seats.

"Well, I'll leave you to decide what you want and I'll come back in a few." Naruto said in a bored tone, before beginning to walk off, when a voice stopped him.

"This is where you work dobe?" Naruto felt his eye twitch at the name, but stopped himself from yelling. Slowly, he turned round to face Sasuke, smile still in place.

"Why…I do believe it is." He took great pride in seeing the Uchiha glare at being made to look stupid. Naruto took the next few seconds to look at who else was with him. Hyuuga Neji…figures. The blonde looked at the cold eyes directed at him, but continued to smile back, inwardly punching that pale face for being a stubborn idiot. Sat on Neji's right was the boy he'd seen in…English! The one Kiba hadn't been so thrilled to sit next to. His name was…S something…S…S…Shino! Now he remembered. The boy was once again dressed in his dark hoody, which covered his face, bar the eyes that were hidden behind sunglasses. Now, Naruto moved his gaze to the last person…the person that Naruto was most surprised at seeing in the presence of Sasuke and the same person he'd almost missed Art to look for. Yes, on his right sat Sai, who was currently keeping his gaze locked on the table, away from Naruto.

Naruto smiled, though anyone could see he didn't want to.

"I'll leave you to decide now." And with this he ran off back to the counter, skilfully jumping over it, before sprinting into the kitchen, where he found a sight that made him sigh. Nishi was currently passed-out near the counter. It seemed he'd slipped in the soup Matsu spilt and banged his head on said counter. Matsu, on the other hand was trying desperately to manage all overflowing and bubbling cooking pots, whilst sparing quick concerned glances in Nishi's direction. Naruto sighed grabbing a spare apron. This was going to be a long night.

Ayame walked in the kitchen five minutes later and sighed loudly. Nishi and Matsu were very clumsy. It was a good job that Naruto could cook most of the things on the menu, after all he'd had to help out in the kitchen on more than one occasion due to the 'accidents' that occurred.

"Sorry to bother you Naru-Kun, but table 5 seem to be getting impatient." Ayame smiled at him as he nodded and ran out the door, producing a notebook and pencil. Ayame, on the other hand, walked over the still unconscious cook and sighed, lifting him up under his arms.

"Matsu. I trust you'll be okay for five minutes?" Said cook turned to give her a nervous smile. "Good. I'm going to put Nishi on the couch, then I'll come back and help…if Naruto doesn't beat me to it."

Naruto ran to the table with the four boys, and caught his breath.

"Ready to order?" Everyone sat there gave him a confused eyebrow raise.

"Nice apron, dobe." Naruto looked down at the apron he had on. Hey, it wasn't anything girly; it was a cook's apron for crying out loud!

"Thanks, so, orders?" He said distractedly. The blonde just wanted to get back to the kitchen to make sure Matsu didn't burn the place down.

The four grudgingly gave him their orders and he scribbled them down, before running back to the kitchen.

"We've got more orders!" He yelled running into the room, finding both Nishi and Ayame gone.

"Naruto, help!" Naruto sighed again. This indeed was going to be a long night.

"Last one." Naruto dried the last dirty dish, putting it back where it belonged.

"Thanks Naruto-Kun. I don't know what we would do without you." Ayame smiled.

"No problem! I like working here…even if it does mean a little extra work than usual!" He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Dad said he was gonna give you a bonus for all your hard work, so at least you're getting paid for doing other's jobs."

Naruto's grin widened. "Really? Yosh!" He started to do a small victory dance around the kitchen, which made Ayame laugh.

"You sure don't wear out easily! Go home and get some rest Naru-Kun! I see you Thursday, yeah?" Naruto nodded, not stopping his dance as he waved and made his way through the door, over the counter and out into the cool night air.

He stopped suddenly as he felt a presence behind him.

"Um…hey Naruto."

Naruto waited for the person to walk into the light pouring from the street lamp, before frowning, confused.

"Sai? What're you doing here? Didn't you guys leave like an hour ago?"

All he got in response was a nod.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I've been…thinking…about what you said earlier. It is a lonely place to be…and when I hung round with Sasuke…I saw that, even though they're all cold, silent and popular…they're still friends." At this, he looked straight into Naruto's eyes. "I want that too! I want to have friends! I don't…I don't want to feel alone."

Naruto's eyes went wide at Sai's confession. This didn't seem at all the way Sai would normally act. Naruto walked forward and pulled the boy into a hug. Not caring what it looked like to anyone else. Sai needed someone and he wasn't going to abandon him.

"Don't worry. I'm your friend." He felt return the hug awkwardly, before pulling back.

"Thanks." He laughed slightly at himself.

"No problem." Naruto grinned.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Naruto nodded and the dark-haired boy smiled, a real smile.

"That's better." The Uchiha frowned.

"What is?"

"That smile's not fake. It suits you better." Naruto grinned when he saw the realisation on Sai's face.

"Thanks."

The two smiled at each other before parting and walking off to their respective homes, and hopefully a good night's sleep.