A/N: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourites and follows as well as everyone that reviewed the last chapter.

"You know when most kids get their letters from their first choice, the last thing they plan to do is work their asses off."

Naruto put down the dirty plates and swirled her head at her boss. The woman held up the letter from Yuuei High with one hand while her other hand lay on her hips. A large frown played on her lips, her brown eyes looked at her with so much concern and confusion.

It almost touched her heart.

"Did you go through my stuff? Isn't this consider an invasion of privacy?" Naruto grumbled, dashing towards the young woman. Her white hands tried to reach up for the letter, only for the woman to stretch her hand even higher. Naruto raised her eyebrow at her boss, who knitted her eyebrows together and tilted her head.

"Why haven't you open it? I found it extremely weird that you haven't even talked about whether or not Yuuei High accepted you." Her boss darted her eyes to the customers behind the door. Their cheerful voices could even be heard from even behind the kitchen. "The kids coming in here are ether talking about their new high schools or about their colleges. They are not here working their asses off."

"They don't have to pay the bills and rent because they have parents." The smile on the woman's face faded at her words and Naruto took it as an opportunity to snatch her letter back. She stuffed the letter back into the backpack before twisting her body to snap at her boss for taking her things.

She froze at the sight in front of her.

The smile that always played on the woman's face didn't radiate with happiness like it always did. Sadness poured out of the smile as brown eyes locked onto her. Naruto's throat tightened at the sight of the moistness in the woman's eyes.

"I keep forgetting you aren't like the other kids that works for me or the customers that comes into this cafe," her boss admitted. "It always escapes my mind that you are struggling to get by with things. Most kids will complain about how they don't have parents but not once did you ever complain about it."

Naruto stared out at the window, lips pressed into a tight smile at the sight of the smiling parents with their kids. "I can't complain or miss something that I never had, can I?"

No one seemed to understand how much she missed her parents.

You didn't even know your parents.

The cruel words spoken by Sasuke echoed in her ear as it always did whenever she thought of the family that was so cruelly taken away from her. It was so stupid of her to believe he could understand some depth of her pain. So stupid of her to think that maybe he did give a shit about her.

She was thankful of one thing about Sasuke's cruel words: it taught her that even her own fellow orphans could turn against her.

"You didn't even have any foster parents?" Naruto kept quiet and this only fuelled her boss to fire more questions at her. "Didn't your parents have any relatives to take you in? Maybe friends? They couldn't possibly decide to just leave a child to fend for herself."

Naruto could only shrug and offer a smile to her distressed boss. What was there for her to say? She didn't know anything about her parents, not even what their names were. She did know from the whispers in the orphanage that she hadn't always been brought up there. The matron made it clear to her about how grateful she should be to her for letting her be raised with the other kids.

She didn't know what happened to the previous caretaker, but Naruto would like to think that maybe her previous caretaker was a kind old person like the Hokage had been to her.

But she doubted the previous caretaker had been kind to her, almost everyone in Konoha treated her with hate and rudeness. They only seemed to care for her whenever they wanted something from her. Like a fool, Naruto never even noticed it.

Naruto stiffened when she felt a pair of warm hands enveloping her. She blinked at the sight of her boss smiling warmly at her and the blue-eyed girl felt a burning sensation in her throat. Naruto might be fifteen but this was probably the first time someone gave her a hug. The Hokage had always been so busy with work and the matron hated her.

She had no idea on what to feel about this hug.

"I don't know who your parents are Naruto, but I am sure they are proud of you," her boss declared, running her hand through her hair. "I am sure that they are looking down on you with a smile on their faces."

The steady heartbeat of her boss echoed in Naruto's ears as she tried to regain control of the emotions bubbling up in her. No one brought up the idea her parents would be smiling down upon her. It was always the idea they hated her that came up whenever someone brought up her parents. The jinchuuriki didn't deserve to have parents that smile at the thought of her.

"Why do you think that?" Naruto asked; sadness leaked out of her tone.

Her boss smiled. "Because they have an amazing daughter."

All the thoughts running through her head went away at those words. All Naruto could do was just stare at the smiling woman, opening and closing her mouth to find the words to articulate how nice it was to hear those words. Maybe she was wrong. People could be actually good to her without wanting something. They could be honest about…

"You work for her and she is saying those words to make sure you take a break. She says these words that you want to hear so badly because she knows it will only make you work even harder." A dark, feminine voice echoed in her mind. Naruto clenched her hands into a tight ball of fist. "Why would a stranger be nice to us? Our own teammate stopped being nice when you failed to bring him back. She called you useless."

Naruto forced herself to smile at her confused boss as the cruel words of her teammate echoed in her mind.

People always wanted something from her. They never wanted to get to know Naruto Uzumaki, the orphan little girl. They wanted to use the attention-seeking part of her for their own good.

No one actually cared about her.

The sound of the ocean roaring and the feel of the water crashing down on a person's leg should make a person happy, but Naruto could only just stare at it with blank eyes. All around her were happy couples frolicking through the sands, not having a care in the world. From behind her, she could hear parents cheering their children up at the thought of school starting again.

All Naruto could do was finger her letter.

The Yuuei letter was in her hands, almost begging for her to open it to see if she got in, but she held herself back. It didn't make sense for her not to open it. If they rejected her then it was fine with her. There was always a chance for her to try again in another hero school.

It wasn't even a big deal for her like the other kids.

A sigh escaped from her lips and Naruto turned around to stuff her letter into the bag. Blue eyes grew slightly large at the sight of Izuku jogging towards her, a bright cheerful smile playing on his lips. Was it too late for her to escape? She really wasn't in the mood to put on a smile and act like everything was fine with her.

"Hi Naruto-san!"

Naruto plastered a smile on her face and hid the Yuuei letter behind her back, as her classmate continued to jog towards her. Pure joy radiated through his green eyes almost making her wonder why he seemed so happy to see her. She might be the only person not to bully him for not having a Quirk but there was no reason to smile.

It wasn't even like she tried to be his friend.

"Hi Midoriya," Naruto greeted; she kept her tone light and easy. "What brings you here to the beach?"

The boy smiled nervously and took a seat right beside her. "I-I decided to take a jog. What about you? I thought you were too busy working to spend any time outside."

Naruto pressed her lips into a thin line and stared at the crashing waves. I always use that excuse whenever I want to escape from our classmates. In the nearly three years she has been here, not once did she allow herself to hang out with her classmates. They weren't actually interested in her as a person. They seemed more interested to know her as the new girl.

They wanted to know what her Quirk was, not whether she actually wanted to eat some burgers or not.

"My boss wanted me to leave my shift early so that I could spend some time with friends."

Midoriya frowned, his dark eyebrows knitted together and green eyes focused on her. She ignored his confused gaze. Everyone knew she didn't have friends in school. Every attempt her classmates made of getting to know her was always met with resistance and excuse. Work needed to be done. Bills needed to get paid. Oh, there was that homework she forgot to hand in.

She made a thousand of excuses not to hang out with her classmates that at one point they finally got the message.

The old Naruto would have jump in for any opportunity to hang out with her classmates and make some more friends. Risks of making friends would never cross her mind. But after what happened with her teammates, she decided to harden her heart and just never get too close to anyone.

"Naruto-san, what is behind your back?" Midoriya leaned backwards, green eyes shone with curiosity as he tried to see what she was hiding behind her back. The temptation to snap at him was on the tip of her tongue, but there was something about Midoriya that made her stop.

Maybe it was the fact he didn't have much luck when it came to people.

She took a deep breath and showed him the letter. Green eyes darted from the letter to her and his white teeth nibbled his lips, telling Naruto he wanted to ask her why she hadn't open it. She doubted he would even understand the reason she kept putting off opening the damn letter. It wasn't even like it could do much to her.

Naruto didn't even care about getting into Yuuei High.

"I got the letter this morning before I left for work," Naruto admitted. "I should probably have left it at home but I knew that I probably wouldn't even look for it, if I left it there. So I brought it with me to work but my noisy boss couldn't stop herself from snooping through my things. She finds the damn letter and tells me that my shift is over and I should find out if I got in or not."

Midoriya nodded. "Why haven't you open it?"

She shrugged and blinked when she caught sight of Nejire and her friends running towards the water with smiles on their faces. Well most of them. The guy that looked like Sasuke seemed too nervous to go anywhere near the water.

"You are the last person that should be scared about not entering Yuuei High," Midoirya declared; his timid voice brought her attention back to him. He smiled encouragingly at her and Naruto stopped herself from correcting his thoughts that she was terrified to enter Yuuei.

He didn't deserve to know she was more than confident in passing the exams.

"I don't know what your Quirk is, but I know you did well," Midoriya declared. " You have one of the best grades in school and you have always been saving me from Kacchan."

It is only because no one wants to stand up against that asshole. Naruto clasped her hands together and stared out at the ocean. If those words spill out then it meant she was opening up to him. It meant trust and the risk of allowing herself to get hurt again. She couldn't take the risk not when the consequence kept playing in her head at night.

Midoriya might be innocent but he didn't actually like her.

"I-I know I should have said this to you earlier but it never seemed like a good time," Midoriya admitted. He offered her a weak smile as his green eyes focused on her. "But thank you for believing in me when everyone else didn't believe in me. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have gotten into Yuuei High."

Naruto blinked and blinked, her mouth opened and closed as she processed what he just told her. It had been ten months since it happened. Ten long months since their teacher and fellow classmates were told off for not believing in him. Not once did Midoriya bring it up. She thought he forgotten all about it.

She certainly did.

Why was he thanking her? Did he think she was going to become his friend if he said those words? Because it would take a whole lot more than that for her to decide to become friends with someone like him. She didn't trust him. There had to be an ulterior motive for why he was thanking her.

She just couldn't think of any.

"What do you want from me, Midoriya?"

Green eyes flashed with confusion at her words and he looked almost a little bit hurt at her accusation. She should feel guilty for accusing him of wanting things from her, but Naruto had been used before by people she thought were her friends.

If you really were my friend then you would have tried harder to bring Sasuke-kun back.

Sakura-chan didn't even care that Sasuke nearly killed her.

Our bond? It means nothing to me. Why should I care about someone like you? You are so irritating with that stupid smile on your face.

Sasuke made her believe that those countless dinners they had in her favourite ramen stand and all those training sessions meant something to him. She should have known better when it came to Sasuke. The kind kid that treated her like another human being died the day his whole family was murdered.

"I don't want anything, Naruto-san." Midoriya declared; his timid voice broke her out of her thought. He stared at her with confusion, green eyes trying to search for any reason she might think he wanted something from her.

She just avoided his eyes and opened the letter, hoping it would be enough to draw his attention away from her. Blue eyes flashed with confusion when a small metal object fell down from the envelope. The area around her became quiet and dimly Naruto realized that the Nejire and her friends were now staring at them.

Midoriya pressed the button of the projector, probably realizing she was never going to take the next step forward.

"Listen up, Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto forced herself to look at the projection as crowds of people began to swam in around her. Whispers broke out and phones were brought out as Present Mic made his appearance. "You have been accepted into Yuuei High!"

Cheers broke out from all around her and Naruto just blinked at the excitement coming from the crowds of strangers.

"You knock yourself out of the park by having the highest score in the practical exam in all of Yuuei High's history," the man yelled. Whispers broke out at those words and Naruto frowned when her future seniors beamed at her. "Your written paper was good but nothing like your practical exam. You even went the extra mile and sent an injured person to the nurse. Recovery girl wants to thank you for your efforts since it is rare for students to go this far. Anyways, congratulation!"

She got in.

She actually got in.

She got in.

"We are going to see each other often! I will show you the whole place around? How many points did you get?" Naruto felt a headache forming as Nejire pushed through the crowds and tackled her to the ground, earning raised eyebrows from Izuku. The blond-haired girl just stiffened her shoulders, uncertain on how to feel about the contact.

"Naruto-san, who is this?" Midoriya stuttered as Nejire continued to throw questions at her. Naruto craned her neck, blue eyes searching for one of her seniors to save her from this sudden attack. Blue eyes locked on the indigo eyes of the Sasuke's look alike and the boy looked away.

It was the blond-haired boy that saved her.

"Nejire, I think Uzumaki-san needs time to process that she pass the exam," Mirio said, pushing through the crowds of people. The boy yanked the girl away from Naruto, allowing her to breath from the assault that took place. He flashed her a smile.

The smile didn't even waver when Naruto didn't return it back to him.

"Who are these people?" Midoriya cried.

"The senpais that are going to take Uzumaki-san in!" Nejire declared. "You never answered my question about those whiskers marks! Are they real? Can I touch them? Tamaki thinks they…"

Naruto just tuned everything out as she stared at the smiling crowd surrounding her. Midoriya beamed at her as Nejire resumed pulling her cheeks, puffing her cheeks when she saw those whiskers marks were nothing but birthmarks. Strangers, she didn't even know, smiled softly at her and shouted their congratulations to her. She dimly could hear her two other seniors promising to show her and Midoriya around the school, telling them that they were going to enjoy Yuuei High.

There was only one conclusion Naruto could come up with.

Maybe not everyone wanted something from her, but Naruto would never trust the words and smiles of the people around her.

It would be a mockery to the naïve little girl that got betrayed by the boy she saw as her brother.

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter. What do you think of the changes in this chapter? And of the characters? What do you think of the interaction between Naruto and Izuku so far? And of Naruto with her boss?