Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.
Warnings: Yaoi (that's boy on boy), violence, language, sexual content, alcohol use. I'm going for this fic to be darker than my others.
A/N: I don't know why I'm writing this. Camp NaNo is now 4 days away and I've just been writing so much lately. Wanting to write my original but instead just focusing on fanfiction. And I really wanted to do this one. And now, knowing me, I'll be updating my three SasuNaru fics frequently, plus my NaNo once it starts. GAH. xP
'these are Naruto's thoughts'
'These are the demon's thoughts'
Chapter 1: Jumping Back In
He sat in the large plush couch that was in the middle of the room, facing a desk and the man sitting behind it. Many times before he's been in this room, so by now he was completely at ease, and was lounging against it, one arm slung over the back, legs crossed. The man behind the desk was studying him quietly, a pen in one hand.
"Naruto," he began. They had long ago gotten past the point of referring to each other by their last names. He's been going to this office for years, after all. "Are you sure you're comfortable going to University?"
Naruto grunted, sitting up straighter in the couch, moving his hands so that they were tucked underneath his thighs. "I'm tired of hiding away from the public," he admitted.
"There may be quite a few old classmates going to this University, since you're staying in the area," Yamato warned. "If they remember you and try to taunt you, remember what I said; keep collected, respect your fellow human, even if they're not respecting you."
The younger man snorted. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not quite as brash as I was back then, listening to 'voices in my head,'" he mocked himself. In his head, only something he could hear, came a low, throaty snort.
'Keep up the nice acting job'.
'Shut up.'
Yamato gave him a stern look, and Naruto knew he disapproved of him making light of why he was sent to a psychiatrist years ago in the first place, especially now that he's significantly improved. "You're sure about an apartment as opposed to dorming?"
"I'm sure. I'm ready to go back to a public schooling system, but not dorms."
"And you're aware that I'll be getting you an apartment that you'll be sharing with someone else."
"Saves money, fine by me. As long as my roommate isn't a maniac and as long as the apartment is close to the school, for convenience." He was getting bored with this conversation now.
'One maniac enough in your life?' the voice laughed.
'Shut up.'
"Alright then," his psychiatrist sighed in defeat, smiling as he leaned back in his chair. "I already have one lead on an apartment. An old acquaintance of mine has a charge that will be starting at Konoha University for his first year as well, who's looking at apartments."
Naruto grinned. He couldn't help himself; he was finally going back to the real world! "The sooner we can get things settled, the better." Yamato couldn't help but smile along with the infectious happiness.
'Yuck.'
"You can call Iruka to tell him to pick you up now. I'll call later and let you know about the apartment." Naruto hopped up without a second thought and practically skipped out of the room. He was going to University! Finally, his life can start gaining some sense of normality again!
'Because everyone has demons sealed within them,' the voice said sarcastically. Naruto frowned as he got outside.
'No', he thought, 'but with enough concentration said demon could be silenced for a while'. Mocking laughter rang through his head and he texted Iruka to come pick him up.
And that was why the 19-year-old was seeing a psychiatrist in the first place; because he heard a voice in his head, who he claimed was the nine-tailed fox demon of Konoha lore. The voice had always been there, ever since he could remember. He always thought it was just an imaginary friend, but as he grew up and the voice persisted, he was questioning what kind of existence it really was.
The tale of the demon attack on Konoha was a local ghost story. It happened over one hundred years ago. The story said some tailed demons were unleashed on the world, and a fox with nine tails had attacked the city but was sealed away before the city was destroyed.
It was just a myth, an urban legend. So when Naruto was around nine and told the wrong person about the voice in his head and who the voice said it was, word got around, and he was mocked. Taunted. Ostracized. Attacked at least twice a week. So when the voice kept egging him on to defend himself, he did so. Three injured classmates later, he was pulled out of school and was meeting Yamato for.
Ten years later, with a year off before making his decision, he told his psychiatrist about his plan to go to the local University. Yamato had deemed Naruto a vast improvement in mental health with his lack of voice-in-head, and Naruto did his best to keep him thinking that way. Despite the fact that the demon yammered on practically all day, hissing snarky remarks and oozing hostility.
It was remarkable he remained so upbeat.
Sasuke was annoyed. Here he was, a young 19-year-old man striving to get the hell away from his guardian and into his own place, and the moment he achieves it, said guardian calls the evening he moved in and demands him to go out to eat with him. That's how he found himself sitting at a coffee shop table across from Kakashi, who had arrived late as usual.
"Guess what I found for you," the masked man said mysteriously.
"If it's not a coffee maker, I don't care." Kakashi had dropped and broken his while moving it to his new place.
He acted like the moody raven said nothing at all. "A roommate!" He said this so happily, in a tone that should be reserved for him saying he was leaving the country, instead of announcing he was shoving an annoying busybody in the same living space with him. He suddenly hated that Kakashi was paying for the apartment.
"Get rid of it," he demanded. Kakashi blinked.
"Nah. You'll have a blast. Besides, it's a favor I'm doing for a friend of mine, Yamato."
"The psychiatrist that's a much saner person than you?"
"That's the one. One of his patients has been home schooled most of his life and he's wanting to start up University now. I've been told he's a good kid."
Sasuke blanched mentally. "You're making a headcase move in with me? If he's batshit crazy or something, I'm coming after you."
"He's not, as you put it, 'batshit crazy.' He's improved. Besides, you have Itachi for a brother, you should be used to headcases." He wasn't wrong. "Just give him a chance before you... be yourself," he said in a deadpan way. "He should be showing up in a few days, he already has a key in case you're not there."
"Hn." Kakashi rolled his one visible eye, the other hidden behind his silvery-gray hair that stuck up messily everywhere else.
"Yes, we're done." He shooed Sasuke away, who wasted no time getting away from the man who he was sure just planned various ways to piss him off.
Naruto was already excited. He was in the elevator of his new apartment building, bouncing on the balls of his feet while he headed up to the fifth floor. The apartment building looked so cool! The apartments looked so open and new! It was only a fifteen minute walk from campus! And the price actually wasn't too bad; he couldn't stop thanking Yamato. Soon enough he would be meeting his roommate, who he was sure would be his first friend and best friend. 'I don't count as a friend?'
'Do you ever say anything that's not sarcastic?' he snapped mentally.
'Where's the fun in that?'
When the elevator finally stopped, he made his way down the hallway, looking for door number 512, key hanging from a finger. He eventually found it, and found a forlorn-looking pink-haired girl slumped outside. He cleared his throat awkwardly and she looked up at him curiously.
"Who are you?" He thought she looked familiar, and with a start, he realized she may be an old classmate of his before he was yanked out of school. There weren't too many people with pink hair.
"Naruto. As of today, I live here." He motioned to the door she was sitting by, and she seemed to brighten a little. "Did you get locked out or something?"
She was grinning now. "Oh, no. My three friends are in there and I went to get something—I live a few apartments down—and they forgot to leave the door open! It's so silly!"
"You couldn't have... knocked on the door?" Naruto was confused now. Maybe his roommate was deaf, and hung around other deaf people? He started to freak out at the thought; he didn't know sign language! Already he was preparing to head to the campus library to find a book to learn sign language from.
'Jump the gun much?' She was wearing a sheepish look on her face.
"Like I said, I'm so silly! I didn't even think of it. Well now that you're here, I don't need to!"
'Let her in, it should be entertaining.' Naruto wondered what the demon meant by that but shrugged it off, reaching over to unlock the door to his new apartment. He couldn't help feeling it was like opening a present on Christmas. The door opened, and he glimpsed a scene of two men playing a video game on the couch, a third lounging in a chair a few feet away looking bored.
It was him who saw the new arrival first, but his eyes instantly narrowed when the girl charged in yelling "SASUKE!" and draped herself across him. She was roughly shoved off.
The game was paused, and one boy who had long luxurious-looking dark hair was looking over. "How the hell did she get in here?"
The other boy, whose hair was pulled up in a ponytail that stuck up from the back of his head, was looking slightly annoyed. "She's always so troublesome."
Ignoring the pouting girl sitting cross-legged on the floor, he stepped into the room and grinned at the three other boys. "Hi! I'm Naruto, the new inhabitant. Which one of you guys is my roommate?"
The long-haired male swiveled his head around, and Naruto noticed his eyes were a damn creepy shade of pale gray. It was the one in the chair who the girl had launched her attack at who stood up. Naruto could see why, he supposed. A tall lithe-looking pretty boy. 'Why is his hair doing that in the back?' Naruto saw his point; it resembled a duck's ass. He didn't voice their thoughts.
"That would be me. Unfortunately." Naruto flinched. Great start. "My new unwanted roommate lets loose this thing." He gestures at the girl, who stood up and latched onto his arm, eyes widening in a hurt expression.
"I didn't know you didn't want her in here, sorry. She was sitting outside the door looking sad and said she was locked out accidentally."
"Not on accident," the pony-tailed one sighed.
"Oh." Naruto could only mumble an apology again. "Now I know who not to let in." He forced a laugh. "I'm Naruto." He left out his last name just in case the girl did happen to be an old classmate, and one who would just happen to remember the loon he was known to be back then.
"I'm Neji." The long-haired one.
"Shikamaru." Pony-tailed guy. The third was silent, still standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes narrowed.
Naruto gulped anxiously; in all honesty the glare was pretty damn icy and scary. He heard the demon scoffing at his reaction. He forced himself to walk up to his new roommate and held out a hand to shake. "I'd like to be friends, so let's get on to the right foot here."
Still nothing but silence and glaring. He was starting to get pretty annoyed. 'Just punch him.'
'No! That would make things even worse, you stupid thing!' The guy's two friends were twisted around in the couch, looking back and forth from between each other and their friend. The girl was twining her hair around a finger, trying to look interesting, but no one paid her any attention anyway.
His roommate's mouth finally opened, and Naruto went from annoyed to giddy. Finally! "Dobe." And the giddiness was gone. He didn't know what that meant, but he was pretty sure it wasn't his name, and more than sure it was the insult it sounded like. He let his hand drop to the side and fixed his face into a glare as well. If this duck assed bastard didn't want to give things a fair chance, fine. Naruto would play it his way.
And that's how Naruto's university life began.
Hope you enjoyed this first chapter. My original intention was to let the readers keep guessing on whether Naruto was just deranged or not, but sadly, the genre gives the truth away.