*~

Catch me, don't let me fall,

I'm waiting for you

Catch me, I'm falling

The world is slipping away

What I thought I knew

Isn't true

I'm falling, won't some one save me?

They walk right by, they refuse to see me

I'm almost to the ground... no ones going to catch me...

There are bushes and twigs trying to hold me,

But they break...

The ground feels hard against my back

No one caught me, they let me fall...

~*

*~

Naruto woke up. A thought flew into his head. A thought he thought about many times. ' Why do I still wake up in the morning?' Naruto thought about still in bed, not being apart of the world, Not that he was truly apart of the world in any case. He sat up and a pain shot threw his arm. He looked at it and saw the scar he gave himself. It was almost healed ( that not he didn't know it would happen) and almost gone, but it still hurt. Naruto sighed and got dressed. He was about to put his sack with all the shuriken on when a thought hit him, again. Naruto's doing alot of thinking this morning. ' hmm... If I have my shuriken on me, they might think that I'm going to use them to hurt the other kids. The last thing I need is for them to think that I'm going to go on a mad killing spree sometime... I better not wear them...' He put his shuriken down and needed for the kitchen. He had ramen and was about to leave when he saw the bloody shuriken he used last night. He knew that he shouldn't bring it... but... what if someone attacked him? Using shuriken? He needed something to protect himself...

" If it's for self-defence, then I think I can carry one... But they better not see it." Naruto cleaned the blood off and tucked it into his shirt. He walked outside and was met with people clearing a path for him, not wanting to be near him. Naruto sighed and walked on. Everyone walked in quite, not wanting to be the one to start. They would all jump in, but they didn't want to be the one that started it.

" ... Naruto... " Sasuke was standing under the tree when he saw Naruto stump in. The kids were trying to push each other to be the first one to say something, but none wanted to be first. They all had the feeling that something bad would happen if they said something... But they couldn't place it... Sakura walked in to school as well, and she also saw Naruto as well. She looked sad and tried to find Sasuke, but the bell rang and she went to class.

" Great... In a classroom with classmates that don't like me, more now then ever, and learning stuff I really don't care about... Oh well..." Naruto started to head towards the door when a hand flew out and stopped him. Naruto fell back a flew paces and looked up to see who did it. A chunin ninja was standing in front of him. He didn't know who he was, but he figured that it wasn't true the other way around.

" Where do you think your going?" He was looking at Naruto like he was looking at a bug that had puss all over him and was spiting puss out of his mouth.

" ... Class?" Naruto had the feeling that he was wrong.

" And have the chance to hurt the other kids by tainting them with your demonic aura. " He grabbed Naruto by the scuff of the neck and dragged him out of the school yard. Even thought he couldn't see behind him, he knew that he could tell that the whole school was watching him from their windows.

" It's not like I'm going to eat them or anything!" Naruto pulled free and turned his back to the chunin and looked at his class window. Sure enough, about thirty head ducked, besides Sasuke, Sakura, and Iruka. They looked very worried and looked about really to jump out and attack the chunin. Naruto felt a pair of hands grab him behid the neck and throw him away from the school.

" If I see you in these school grounds again, I will personally break your neck. Oh and if your thinking about how thats not going to go unpunished, it will. I'll just say that I was protecting the kids from a danger. Nothing more will need to be said. Now get out of my sight." The chunin turned his back and closed the gates. ( I'm just guessing they have gates, if they don't then they do now ) Naruto just stared at the gates. Then he stood up and walked away. He didn't walk to his house, but to the forest. In the classroom, all the kids, and teachers cheered, but four. Sakura looked close to tears. Sasuke was just staring with a look of anger at the chunin that just entered the school, Iruka had the same feelings as Sasuke, only much more colorful words and actions were coming to him, and a girl was actually crying. Hinata just stared at the retreating Naruto, the tears fell down her face, they wouldn't stop, no matter now hard she tried.

" N-Naruto... You don't need this... You shouldn't have to go threw this..." Hinata said sadly as she stumped down in to a ball. Sakura walked up to Iruka-senshi.

" Master Iruka...?" Sakura couldn't say any more, she was scared that any more would cause her to cry.

" I need to go talk to someone... Class, study, I'm be right back..." With that master Iruka left, leaving the whole class to rant about how it was about time to kick 'dead-last' to the curb. Sasuke lasted about five minutes when he stood up from where he had sat down and walked out. The class watched the back of the door for awhile.

" Sasuke?" Sakura sighed as she sat down. She rubbed her temples when she saw the girl curled up in a corner, crying. " Hinata-kun..." Sakura walked up to the girl and bent down in front of her. " Hinata-kun, whats the matter?" Hinata looked up and saw green eyes, green WORRIED eyes, looking at her.

" I-I can't-t believe-e what-t m-m-mean-n Senshi-i-i-i did-d-d to Na-aruto-kun-n..." Hinata began crying again. Sakura put her arms around Hinata and held her.

" You... like Naruto... don't you?" Hinata looked up all of a sudden and just gasped. " I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say that, I just thought that-" Sakura was cut off be Hinata.

" Is it that easy to tell?" Hinata said quitely. Sakura looked at her and smiled little.

" Do you like Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

" No, I like Naruto, why do you ask?" Hinata looked a little pissed at that.

" Well, I never thought that there'd be a girl who picked Naruto over Sasuke- I'm not saying that theres anything wrong with that!- I just mean that most of the girls think that Sasuke is better. But I'm not complaining. Thats one less girl I have to tear away from my Sasuke!" Sakura put on a fighting face. Hinata heard the humor and kinda laughed.

" Should I tell him?" Hinata asked Sakura. Sakura put on a thoughtful face.

" He needs something nice like this to cheer him up... I think that it's a great idea! In fact-" What the rest of the fact was, Hinata never heard. At that moment, Master Iruka's yell could be heard. But it wasn't a yell of anger... It was a yell of... pain! Hinata and Sakura looked at each other and said together, " MASTER IRUKA!" They both ran out to see whats up. The rest of the class decided that they wanted to know as well, so they followed as well. Sakura and Hinata ran outside and saw Master Iruka bleeding of many wounds. About four other chunin were stand over him. Both girls ran to his side.

" Master Iruka! What did you do?!" Hinata said to the chunin, who looked pissed to see that some girls were getting involved with their affairs.

" He's supporting the demon child. I think that he cares more about the fox brat then the well being of the rest of the children." The tallest chunin said. The rest of the class nodded and started whispering. Sakura had had enough.

" OK, I think that I've heard enough-" Sakura was cut off by Master Iruka.

" Thank you Sakura, Hinata, but I need to deal with this alone. As for your thoughts, I do care about Naruto just as much as the other students. But if your going to judge Naruto by stereotypes about who he was or who you think he is, then I leave on my own. Sakura, Hinata, If you would be so kind, could you help me? I think I want to go after Naruto." Both girls nodded and left.

" Fine... Leave this school, I wont let you come back." The chunin turned and showed the other kids inside, " Ninoro, Please called Miss Sakura's and Miss Hinata's parents and let them know that they are crasing after the demon and are with the doublecrossed us." The smallest chunin nodded and left.

*~ ~*

Sasuke followed Naruto's trail. After about half an hour of walking, Sasuke came across a blond boy sitting under a willow tree, curled into a ball. Sasuke walked up to him and sat next to him. He looked down at the blond boy and saw that there was a blood stain on the upper right arm.

" Naruto, your bleeding." Fine hello aint it? Anyways, Naruto looked up and saw Sasuke looking at him.

" Sasuke... why are you here... why do you care?" Naruto's voice was lacking his normal chipperness. It wasn't overlyhappy or being a bug. It was dead. A voice only one other person he knew used-himself.

" We... I was worried that you'd do somthing stupid and I came to check... And if I'm right... you did, didn't you?" Sasuke looked at Naruto's arm again, but Naruto pulled away and stood up.

" Leave. Me. Aloneee. Getitgotitgood!" Naruto turned and ran off.

" NARUTO!" Sasuke yelled and tried to follow, but he heard people behind him. He turned and Sakura and Hinata half-carrying Iruka.

" Where's Naruto?" Iruka asked as the girls sit him down next to Sasuke. Then they pulled out some medicine and those white cloths thingys that they warp around wounds... cats got my tongue, and started to tend to his wounds.

" He ran off. I asked him about his wounds... but..." Sasuke shuted up when Master Iruka looked at him sharply.

" What wounds?! He didn't have any wounds when he left the school grounds!" Master Iruka tried to move, but the girls wouldn't let him.

" Master Iruka, I know that you want to see whats wrong, but your hurt as well, so, let Sasuke follow, and you can when we've finished tending to you, then you can go." Sakura said in a final kind of way. Master Iruka knew when he couldn't win.

" Fine, Sasuke, Please?" Sasuke nodded and followed.

*~ ~*

Naruto stopped and took a breath. He needed to rest. His arm was hurting like hell. He looked at the cut and saw that it wasn't healing as fast as it normally did.

" It's most likly infected. You shouldn't let cuts be open for such a long time." A voice said from behind him. Naruto knew who that was.

" Well, what do you think I should do, Master Kakashi?" Naruto turned his head and looked up to see the jonin looking down at him from the tree he ws in.

" First I think that I should look at it, then I think that you and I should have a talk." Naruto sighed. He knew that he wouldn't be able to get away from Kakashi, not when he wanted something.

" Fine... But don't expect much."

" I wasn't." Kakashi jumped down and looked at the wound. He pulled some water and washed it over the cut. Blood with dirt in it rushed out. The wound started to close at normal speed again. Kakashi saw the remains of the other cut. " Is there a reason that you have two cut on you?"

" ... I hurt myself training."

" Training?"

" Yes! Training!"

" Are you sure?"

" YES! NOW LET ME BE!" Naruto stormed off, leaving Kakashi behind. he stood there looking at Naruto's retreating back, then he called out to someone. " Come out Sasuke, I know that you were trying to listen in." Kakashi motioned to the boy that was trying not to be seen.

" How do you do that? Your not even looking yet..." Sasuke sighed as he came out. Kakashi looked at him for a moment, as if thinking about answering, but then he turned his head to face the clearing that Naruto walked out of.

" What do you think about Naruto?" He asked the boy that sat down.

" What do you mean? About him being the fox or about whats going on with him emotionally?" Sasuke asked.

" Both." Kakashi said back.

" I don't think any different of him now then I did when I didn't know. He's still Naruto. As for emotionally... I don't think he an hold out much longer. He has a strong spirit, we all know that, but not even he can go on for long..." Sasuke trailed as Kakashi looked at him.

" ... He's cutting himself." That snapped Sasuke back to earth fast. He was about to daze off and think about Naruto and how times as spirit was the cause for winning or getting something.

" What?!" Sasuke jumped to his feet, " Are you sure?!" Kakashi nodded and rubbed his temples.

" I agree with you that Naruto can't last much longer and that even his spirit is wearing thin, but those cuts weren't received by training. Maybe one or two, but not that clean cut or in the same direction... they're both in a across patteren... Sasuke, go to Naruto's house and insist on staying the night, that you were locked out of something. Keep on eye on him and make sure he doesn't cut himself again. When he gos to sleep, that everything sharp and hide it from him. take it out of the house if you must. I'll go and tell Iruka and the others about the cutting. Go." Kakashi said to Sasuke, who nodded and left.

" Naruto... dobe..." Sasuke muttered under his breath as he walked off.

*~ ~*

" ARE YOU SURE!!!" Iruka yelled as Kakashi told him about Naruto's new pastime. Kakashi nodded. Sakura and Hinata both had tears in their eyes, only Hinata was actually lettins them fall, while Sakura did the best she could not to. They finished tending to Iruka, who stood up right after. " I'm going!" Iruka tried to leave, but his body was stilll too weak and Kakashi wouldn't let him.

" ...No, leave this to Sasuke. I've told him to take all of Naruto's sharp objects and hide them. Tomorrow, we'll all go to him." With that, Kakashi signed to the girls, who nodded and took Iruka back home. " However... I don't know if there's anything we can do for Naruto at this point... I hope he doesn't do something he's going to reget..." Kakashi muttered to himself as he left. A person in the shadows, unknown to Kakashi, smiled.

************************************************************************

Me: Oh yeah, I can really get my type on. I started this chapter last night at about 5:30 P.M. I finished the next day, at 11:00. I stopped typing at 8:30 last night. I rock! I'm just doing this from the top of my head!

Kakashi: Grand... Who's the person in the shadows?

Me: If I told you that then It would kill the story.

Sasuke: She doesn't know who it is either. She just threw it in for the hell of it, but most likely she will do something good with it later.

Me: Thats it Sasuke, WHERE'S MY HULA SKIRTS!!!

Sasuke: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! * runs away *

Kakashi: ... tut tut, how evil you are.

Me: Don't hate. Review!