I rewrote this. some parts are still sketchy, but overall, it should be an improvement from the piece of crap I submitted last time.
"... aaaahhhh."
A blonde boy with whisker marks on his face stretched and shoved his little frog-styled nightcap out of his eyes.
The yawn momentarily exposed a mouth of oddly sharp canine teeth.
Uzumaki Naruto, Konohagakure's number one, loudest and hyper-active ninja had woken up to a new Monday and to a new day (well, alright, he's not really a ninja, not yet, anyways) at the Ninja Academy.
He jumped out of bed and lobbed the nightcap into the mess of blankets and without even bothering to straighten the bed, sprinted helterskelter into his little kitchen. It was neat and tidy, plates were placed at their correct positions, the bin was empty and the pot plant bloomed with bright green health. The fridge hummed in the corner. Naruto grinned. Lucky the Council came through and grudgingly paid up for him this month. He didn't want to experience the rotten milk experience ever again.
Naruto flung open the cupboard.
The door fell off.
"Oops."
He oughta get it repaired, the boy thought, an absentminded fleeting thought that was almost immediately drowned out by more immediate affairs. Namely, finishing the still-cooking ramen. Naruto danced on the spot, blasted three minutes, hurry up and get it done with! The minute the little timer dinged, the cap was off and wooden chopsticks were plunged eagerly into warm soup.
The kitchen was filled momentarily with noises of slurping.
He went and snatched up a piece of tablecloth, wiped his lips on it, and pulled out his trademark goggles and stuck them on his forehead. He flung the ramen cup into the empty bin, grinning slightly when he heard the soft thunk of it connecting with the metal bottom of the bin. Naruto was about to exit the house when he remembered the most important thing of all. He went into his bedroom, opened a drawer and took out a small mirror.
It was plain and square, a pale blue color. Pretty old, by the looks of the frame, but the glass sparkled.
He looked into it.
Sad, dull blue eyes with barely a spark gazed back at him.
His blonde hair was unkempt, who cares? Not him for sure.
The edges of his mouth were down turned and the expression on his face spelt three sharp, painful things back at him. Loneliness, sadness...and the most horrible of all...the expression of a child who had never experienced a mother's touch.
Uzumaki Naruto stared at himself.
Then, all of a sudden, his face lit up with a cheeky grin.
Too easy, this little act.
He'd been practicing this for god-knows-when.
Thin ice, his cheeky smile.
Waters under ice patches run deep, no? Nasty, cold, life-sucking waters.
But the water...
Naruto rubbed his nose.
It had just gotten a bit more bearable with Iruka-sensei.
He went to the door and banged it open.
The delivery boy spat at him.
He gave a wide smile, stuck out his tongue and wagged his butt at him.
And he ran all the way to the Academy.
end.