"Oi! Sakura-chan!"

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE AT YOUR HOUSE YOU IDIOT!" Sakura nailed Naruto right on the head and he crashed down out of his seat.

"What the hell was that for?! My house?!" Naruto rubbed the now-tender part of his head and looked up at me. "Eh, Sakura-chan, who's this?"

Sakura sighed and rubbed her temples. I saw her forced composure through the tension of her face. "A messenger from Tsunade-sama came to your house earlier today, remember? You are hosting (Y/N) for a few days until the Elders decide whether or not Sasuke-kun is a decent host."

Naruto stared back at her with a blank expression, and Sakura exploded.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU LEFT A SHADOW CLONE AT YOUR HOUSE SO YOU COULD GO TO HOT SPRINGS WITH JIRAIYA-SAMA DIDN'T YOU?!" She punched him on the head again. I winced, but giggled to myself at the same time. These two were a riot.

Naruto tried to apologize, but it was futile. Sakura needed time to cool off and was completely shutting him down as far as talking went. I sighed. I was really tired and hungry from the long day, and they could be at this for hours.

I cleared my throat in a not-so-subtle manner, and the two stopped arguing to look at me. "I, um, I'm kind of…well, it's been a really long and weird day for me so I'm just kind of tired…" I trailed off, suddenly uncomfortable with the attention I was getting. I loved talking with Sakura, Where's my confidence? What's so different now?

"Alright Naruto, she's all yours." Sakura began to walk out of Ichiraku's, but—rethinking what she had said—she whipped around and held her fist up threateningly. "I SWEAR IF I HEAR ONE THING ABOUT YOU HURTING (Y/N) OR ACTING LIKE PERVY-SAGE I WILL DESTROY YOU UZUMAKI NARUTO."

She then smiled, waved, and headed off, leaving me with the blonde-haired wimp. I looked over, and he still had a terrified expression on his face. But, noticing me, he shot up. "Alright! Let's get you home! I won't let anything happen to you, believe it!" He winked and gave me a thumbs up.

Wait, seriously? What kind of pose is that...?

I was more than happy to get out of there and into a quiet place to sleep, so I obliged. But unfortunately, before we could step out of the restaurant, my stomach decided that it had a mind of its own. All the delicious smells from behind the counter had started to make their way to my nose, and my stomach growled audibly.

Naruto turned, and laughed. "Oh yeah! You've been in the hospital forever!" He leaned to the counter, and called to the man cooking happily.

"Oh, no, Naruto, it's really okay…I'm just really tir—" My stomach growled even louder this time, giving me no chance of getting out.

Naruto smiled at me. "No way I'm letting you go hungry, (Y/N)! Two pork ramen!"

"Coming up," the man cheerfully replied.

Within minutes there were two steaming bowls of ramen in front of us, and my mouth was watering so hard that I almost couldn't control it. We both inhaled our bowls, and—somehow—even after having eaten before I had gotten there, the blonde-haired wonder boy still had room for two more massive bowls.

"Wow," I commented, "you can really put away food, can't you?"

He grinned at me, and I noticed the lines on his cheeks. Scars? I wondered, or maybe really weirdly-symmetrical birthmarks? I figured I'd ask about them some other time.

Naruto went to pay the bill, but the man stopped him. "On the house," he said, nodding towards me. The boy smiled.

"Free ramen? Man, I should bring you to eat with me more often!" I smiled back at him, and followed him out of the little hut. We began walking in the direction of his house, and the kid stuck his hands behind his head. Even though I was extremely uncomfortable being forced to stay here, I was beginning to feel a little more relaxed with Naruto. I looked up at the sky and saw the thousands of stars that littered the sky. I didn't notice it getting dark at Ichiraku's, but I was certainly glad that it did. Thanks to light pollution, I had never seen anything so amazing before in my life.

In fact, the number of stars became so incredibly overwhelming that I had to stop moving in order to take them all in. The sky seemed to shine so brightly, and the lights seemed almost perfectly placed. As I looked longer, I began to notice the purples and blues that swirled around in the night sky. I was completely entranced in the beauty, and forgot about absolutely everything else.

"Eh?" Naruto had noticed that I stopped walking, and moved over to look at the sky with me. "You like the stars, huh?" He laughed to himself. "Maybe you should meet Nara Shikamaru!"

I smiled to myself, thinking back on Lady Tsunade's comment about me living with this Shikamaru kid. Maybe I should meet this guy sometime…sounds like we have a lot in common.

After a couple minutes, Naruto grabbed my hand and pulled me to the apartment. "Come on, (Y/N), I'm exhausted and have to wake up early for training!"

I frowned, and tried to take in more of the stars as he pulled me along.

"You can see them every night now, don't worry!"

I blinked, realizing that he was right. If I stayed, I could look at the stars every night. No, I mentally shook my head. I have to leave. I looked at the stars long enough to have a nice memory.

I smiled back at him, and let him pull me along for a bit. We reached an intersection, and he stopped suddenly. "Alright, (Y/N), we're going to move a little faster. Get on my back!" I stared at him. There was no way in hell I was about to do that again.

He held out his hand, and I shook my head at him. "You know, Naruto, I really don't think this is a good idea…"

"Come on!" Before I could get another word in edgewise, he grabbed my arm and swung him onto my back.

"Naruto! Don't you dar—!" He shot up onto a roof, and I slammed my eyes shut. I nuzzled my head into the back of his neck, and held onto him like my life depended on it. When I wasn't looking it wasn't as bad, but I refused to lighten my hold until we stopped.

Finally, after what felt like forever, we arrived. I slid off, and Naruto rubbed his neck. "Geez, (Y/N), even through my jacket you almost choked me!"

My face reddened and I tensed up. It's gonna be hard to get away from here easily if the first person I'm staying with thinks I tried to kill him…

He laughed and swung his arm around me as he led me through the door. "I'm just joking. Don't worry about anything! I know it's a little scary the first few times you do it!"

I looked up at him and he grinned. He seemed like a really great kid, and I almost began to feel bad for ditching him. But I had no choice.

Naruto took his shoes off before stepping up onto a raised platform that was maintained for the rest of the room, and I followed suit. I didn't really know the customs here yet, so I just imitated what I saw.

I looked around to see my new home for the next little bit. It was simple, with just a bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. Through the window I could see the gates to the Village. I secretly thanked Lady Tsunade for giving me such an easy escape route. Maybe this will actually work out, I thought to myself. To avoid talking to the kid, I examined my surroundings some more. Things were by no means perfectly clean—being a typical teen, the Uzumaki boy had random scroll-like-things scattered around, and plates piled up in the sink. For some reason, however, the little bit of a mess made me more comfortable. It made the kid who could wolf down ramen and run at insanely fast speeds seem a little more real.

"I'm going to take a shower, so you make yourself comfortable. You can sleep on the bed."

"No," I protested, "I'm the guest here, you should really sleep on your bed. I can sleep on the floor…I really don't mind."

Naruto laughed. "Yeah, right. You're taking the bed." With that, he closed the bathroom door and I heard the water start. There was no arguing with this kid, was there?

I put my backpack next to my bed, and realized that I had no clothes to change into. Probably a good thing, in all honesty, since changing would just make leaving more of a hassle. I wanted my exit to be a quiet and painless as possible. But just in case…

I had eyed a knife sticking out of a small bag on the kitchen counter. Thinking ahead, I decided to grab it. After all, I didn't know how serious these people were about keeping me here to fulfill some stupid 'prophecy'. I wanted to be prepared to fight my way out. So, double checking that Naruto was still in the shower, I snagged the knife and shoved it to the bottom of my backpack. Feeling much safer and much surer of myself, I got into bed.

As weird as I felt sleeping in Naruto's bed and not the floor, the smell of him on the pillow was soothing. Before I knew it, my eyelids felt heavy and I was breathing steadily. No, I thought sleepily, I cannot fall asleep. Not tonight.

I starting thinking about Ben and what happened to keep myself awake, and realized that despite how awful that experience was, I was beginning to miss my home. I missed my bed, the smell of the burnt toast I always had for breakfast, my poor water pressure, and even my flickering lamp that I used to do my homework every night.

Not having any family left and having very few friends, I never thought I could feel homesick. But, nevertheless, my mind somehow ended up stuck on my mother's face. My father always told me that he was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her smiling eyes could light up a room, and her laugh made even the worst day seem a little brighter. I could always talk to her about everything: friends, school, life, even boys. The more I thought about her, my eyes began to well up. The tears started flowing before I could stop them, and I covered my mouth with my hand to stop myself from whimpering. I hadn't cried over my parents in a long time, but for some reason this new environment made me miss them to an extreme. I slammed my eyes shut to try to slow the tears, but it was no use. I couldn't stop crying.

My eyes flew open, and I realized that I had fallen asleep. The sky was still dark, Thank God, and I saw that Naruto was passed out on the floor next to the bed. Is that a walrus hat…?

I slowly swung my legs over to the edge of the bed, and watched his expression the entire time. If he woke up, I would just pretend to be going to the bathroom or getting some water. But luckily, his expression never changed, and I noticed that his pillow was covered with drool. No doubt about it; he was completely asleep.

I carefully walked over to my backpack and slid it onto my shoulders. I eyed the front door and took a deep breath. This was it. I glanced down at Naruto one last time, and silently thanked him for taking care of me—even for only one night. If he lived in my city, I bet we would've been friends.

I slowly made my way to the door, and slipped my sandals on. Explaining my outfit to anybody who saw me when I got back home was going to be interesting, but I could manage. I undid the lock and pushed the door open a little bit at a time, hearing nothing behind me. I smiled, and slipped out into the night.

There's no way I can fail.