1Title- Story of My Life

Chapter- ?

AN- To those who said they would pray for my friend's family or keep them in their thoughts, thank you! To those who said (since they weren't Christians) that you would keep my friend's family in your good thoughts, thank you! I think it's really kind that, although you don't share the same beliefs I hold, you still offer to keep them in your good thoughts. -biiiiig grin- Also...I have discovered my latest anime and manga obsessions! Anime Kyo Kara Maoh! (God(?) Save Our King!) Manga W-Juliet. -glee- I love them...and I'm currently dying for YuuriWolfram. -heart- So...kawaii! -melt- Anyway, back to Naruto.

To Certian Reviewers-

godess of sand- I shall bring in the romance soon! I promise! Either in this chapter or the next. I warn you, if you're looking for some good smut, you're not gonna find it here. I suck at those types of yummy scenes. That's not to say that I won't try...-evil grin-

Insomniac Jaki- Don't worry your pretty little head about what Sakura said. You didn't miss a thing. It'll all be explained later on. Also, the guards know who Naruto is. It's just the dumb prisoners that don't know. (Haha, I called Shikamaru dumb!)

Die Kikyo Die- Yeah, Gaara knows it because he grew up with Naruto, Sakura knows it because she knew Naruto before he went to jail, and Tsunade knew because she works for the prison. Read above comment to Insomniac Jaki if you don't get it.

Random- Potsdam? Um, no offence, but where the hell is that? Is it even in SoCal at all? -totally confused- Dude, I live by LA. Is Potsdam by LA? I have no clue...haha, I would love to grow up in that city, though! It'd be like, "Yo, where d'ya live?" and I'd be all, "I live in PotsDAMN! -insert very wanna-be black hand motion here-"

Kyuubi-kun- Thank you so much, my dear sweet Kyuubi-kun, to whom I must add that I think it's hilarious that you call yourself a pagan. Or is it a normal term in the regular world? Help me out here, Kyuubi; I grew up in a sheltered world. I need to know these things. (This is also why I study and love the wonderful world of yaoi. If my parents found out, they'd totally flip.) Also, thanks for pointing out my stupid mistake in Shukaku's name. –feels like an idiot.

LINE HERE

A crowd was gathering beneath the tent-

The clown must keep them in a happy mood;

No matter if the jokes are rough and rude,

A circus is a place for merriment.

And one must be quick-minded and invent

New tricks and let no saddened thoughts intrude,

Nor let the public see him sigh or brood,

But banish care and seem indifferent.

There came a lull- I saw him lean awhile

Against a post and gaze with weary eyes,

As if he traveled backward many a mile...

And though his body wore a gay disguise,

For one brief space he played a tragic role-

There is no mask to hide a lonely soul.

-Margaret E. Bruner

LINE HERE

Halfway down the hall, Lee stopped dead in his tracks. "My fellow men, I have a question to make," he stated.

Kiba folded his arms across his chest. "Shoot."

"Was it just me, or did I hear the Kid being called repeatedly Naruto?"

Silence filled the hall.

Four extremely confused and irritated prisoners turned to stare at Haku.

Haku coughed nervously. "Heh heh, well, you see..." his voice trailed off.

Hand motions to continue.

"He doesn't want-"

Multiple glares.

"Yes. His name's Naruto."

"As in, Uzumaki Naruto?" Neji pondered aloud.

Haku began to sweat.

"Nope," four chorused, not one of them bothering to notice the Mist prisoner's nervousness.

Shikamaru yawned. "No way. There's no way that annoying brat could be the famous Uzumaki Naruto."

Neji snorted. "That klutz wouldn't even be able to open a lock if he had the original key."

"Plus, he's way to short!"

"And loud!"

"Hyperactive!"

"How could he be able to hold the respect of all the journalism world? The whole world, for that matter?"

"Yeah, haha, no way..." Haku said weakly. "Erm.." he coughed once or twice. "What do you say that we return to our breakfast?"

"Sounds good!"

"Hey, Haku, are you really a murderer? You seem too nice..." Kiba scratched his head. "I mean, origionally I was scared to death of being around you, but now you don't really seem all that bad."

"You'd be suprised, Kiba-kun.-smile, heart-"

"...-shudder- Okay, I believe you. Just...don't ever call me that again."

"Alright, Kiba-kun. -smile, heart-"

"You're unbearable..."

When Sasuke saw the one Mist and other four Konoha inmates bickered back and forth down the hallway, he stopped and tilted his head back to look down the hall, black hair falling infront of his eyes. He brooded for a moment, staring at the path to the doctor's office, then turned around and began to catch up to the others.

However, although the inmates had all been facing the opposite direction of him, he could have sworn that he felt someone's eyes watching him...

LINE HERE

Sakura clenched and unclenched the white bedsheets between her hands. "Gaara grew up with Naruto," she repeated. "Naruto trusted him. Since Naruto trusted him, we trusted him. Well, we trusted him back when he was Shukaku."

"Back before I knew that he had family," the blonde spat. "Before I knew that he was in cahoots with the Kamis. Back before-" he stopped in the middle of his sentence, but forced himself to go on. "Back before I knew that he had been there. That night."

"What night, Naruto?" Tsunade asked gently.

"The night...at the orphanage." He ducked his head and began to shake slightly. "When they-"

He felt a cool, gentle hand press onto his shoulder. Looking up into long-lashed eyes, Tsunade told him quietly, "I know what happened. And it wasn't your fault."

"I should have been able to stop him..." Naruto moaned, and began to curl up again.

SLAP

The teenage boy lifted a hand to his stinging cheek and stared at Sakura in shock. The pink-haired woman was glaring at him. "Now you stop this! What's done is done! You can't change the past, you can only learn from it, and you've learned enough! You've also suffered enough, so you deserve some sort of happiness. So stop your god-damned moping and get up already!"

Naruto was silent for a few moments, then said softly, "Sakura..."

"What?"

"Sakura, you've been very feisty lately."

"Feisty? Why you dog-gamned, mother-fuckin' punk, I'll show you feisty!"

"I-I didn't mean it!"

"Too late to take it back now, buddy boy! Your head is mine!"

"B-but, Sakura-chan, I like my head! I have great hair!"

"That's why I want it! It's not like you have any brains in there!"

"What's that supposed to mean, bitch?"

"What do you think it means, idiot?"

"Okay, enough you two!" Tsunade grabbed the two teenagers, who were currently wrestling, by the backs of their shirts and hauled them apart. On the outside she smirked as she took in Naruto's and Sakura's devilish looks, messed-up hair, slightly-torn clothes, and hidden grins on each of their faces. On the inside, she smiled softly. 'Whatever bond Naruto has with Sakura, it must be strong, if she can get him to smile after all that. What this boy must have gone through...' Shaking her head, she put a scowl on her face and pointed her finger out the door. "I want you two out of here in fifteen minutes, you got that?"

"Why fifteen?" Naruto asked her as he attempted to somewhat tame his wild golden hair. "Why not five?"

Tsunade smiled slightly. "If you go out now, others might see your...less than innocent states and think that you were doing the unthinkable." She turned and walked out of the door, counting silently.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

"EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!"

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'Sasuke seems to be colder to me today than he is normally,' Naruto thought as he randomly plucked long, grass stems off the field in the exercise yard. Not yet ready to return into what he idealized as a pack of hyenas, Naruto and Sakura had lingered in the doctor's office, talking. Finally Shizune was forced to kick them out. (Not fifteen minutes had past, mind you, but two hours). They had gone straight to the exercise yard. Instead of sighing and casually strolling over to Naruto to irritably ask him if he was going to do that anymore, (As the blonde was guessing the cold bastard would do) he gave Naruto a look that would kill, then disappeared. 'Maybe he's mad that he had to walk me to the doc's office.'

"No, Kiba, I do not want to help you hit on the female prisoners," he said loudly to the dog-man.

The girls, who were only standing a few yards away, began to crack up.

"You brat!" Kiba seethed. "I can't believe you, Naruto! Blowing my cover like that!"

"What cover are you talking abo-" Naruto stopped in the middle of his sentence.

Lee discontinued his morning stretches and looked questioningly at Naruto. "My blonde companion, is everything alright?"

"What did you just call me?"

Kiba's heart stopped for a moment. Naruto's voice was lower than usual. "Uh...heh heh...I didn't say anything...er...what I mean is...what I'm trying to say...HAKU TOLD ME!"

Shikamaru groaned from his position on the grassy ground, turned his face away, and covered it with an arm. "Smooth move, X-lax."

"Er...you aren't mad, right?" Kiba said tentatively. "I mean, it's not that big of a deal. It's only a first name, right? (If I'm X-lax, you gotta be Preparation H, you lazy, good-for-nothin' bum!)"

"And a very good one indeed!" Lee added triumphantly.

Naruto lifted his head and grinned boyishly. "Yeah, you're right! It's only a name." He scratched his head sheepishly. "I don't know why I didn't tell you guys..."

"It's fine." The blonde looked over to Neji, who sat with his back turned to Naruto and stared at something in the distance. "After all, everyone has some secrets."

"Yeah. Some."

"What was that, Kid?" Shikamaru moved his arm over to squint at Naruto.

"Ah, heh heh, nothing, Shika! Hey, anyone seen Sasuke?" The teenager quickly changed the subject. If anyone noticed, no one spoke up.

Akamaru barked, and Kiba shrugged. "He's off all by his lonesome somewhere in the Forest. Go figure."

"I gotta go thank him for taking me to the doctor's office." Naruto stood, brushed himself off, then saluted mockingly to his friends. "Ciao!"

Naruto took off for the forest at a run. Moments after he had gone, leaving the four to scratch their heads in confusion (except for Neji. Neji did not become confused.), Kiba questioned Lee, "Did I miss something?"

Lee just shrugged, a quizzical look on his face.

"I have a strange feeling that we've missed something...Something that has to do with Naruto's name..." Neji pondered.

Shikamaru just sighed. "Oh well. If you forgot it, how important can it be? It's not like he has some huge secret that he's hiding from us or anything."

LINE HERE!

The blonde teenager soon found Sasuke sitting on a large branch of a tree. "Hey! Hey SAAAAAAAASUKEEEEEEE!" he called out. "Come down here!"

Sasuke silently dropped from his spot in the tree, to land on the ground by Naruto's feet.

"Heh, I'd give it a 8.5!" Naruto attempted to joke, holding up and imaginary score card.

Sasuke: "..."

"Er...9.0!"

"..."

"9...5?"

"..."

"Okay, fine! 10.0! You have reached perfection with your multiple evil glares! I would call it death threats, but you'd probably kill me!"

"...what do you want?"

Naruto pouted, folding his arms over his chest and giving Sasuke a sideways glance, before sighing dejectedly, putting his hands behind his back, and stared at the ground. "I just wanted to thank you for taking me to the doctor's office. I mean, you didn't have to, but you did! If I said anything stupid or shocking, it was just the fever. I tend to hallucinate when I get them, oh who'm I kidding, you probably already know, right? But you really didn't have to. I mean, I get them all the time, it's not big deal-"

"Bull fuckin' shit!"

Naruto looked up, startled, only to find himself staring into black, swirling, angry eyes. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke lunged forward and slammed into Naruto, pinning the boy to the tree.

"S-sasuke-bastard!" Naruto's voice held part fear, part confusion, and part panic. "Lemme go!"

"What the fuck is your problem?" The dark-haired man hissed at him, ignoring his cry. "Just this morning you were over 103 degrees Fahrenheit, you're shaking and pale! Then I walk back into the doctor's office, and you're screaming like someone had just killed your mother! And now you expect me to believe you're magically better, just like that? Bull shit! What the hell are you hiding, Naruto? And why the fuck are you hiding them?"

During this little speech Naruto had begun to shake. He ducked his head so his bangs covered his eyes, and his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles were deathly white. "Why. The. FUCK. Should. I. Tell. YOU?" His fear, panic, and confusion had dissapated, replaced by pure rage. "Huh, Uchiha? Why? What fuckin' reason do you have that makes you even consider that I should trust you! First, you're a self-righteous bastard who pretends he had absolutely no emotion, but that's just bull shit! Second, you read my notebook! And thirdly, you're so wrapped up in yourself and your little problems that you are totally and idiotically oblivious to everyone else!"

With every word that he snarled, his tone went lower and deadlier.

"Well, at least I don't pretend like life's all sunshine and daisies! I've gone through hell, and you just parade around with grins and-"

BAM

"What the fuck?" Sasuke yelled, clutching his now-bruised forehead. "You headbutted me!"

"Don't act like you fuckin' know me, bastard!" Naruto spat, choosing to ignore Sasuke's obvious statement and rubbing his own sore forehead.

"Well, you don't know shit about me, either."

"At least I know that we're more alike than you know!"

"Oh yeah? So, you're telling me that people, even supposed friends, cower in fear of you? You've woken up to find the bloody corpse of your family, and see their blood on your hands, and have to spend torturous hours knowing-" He cut himself off. With every word his voice had risen in panic and- no. Uchiha Sasuke doesn't fear. He's not afraid. Ever. "I've had enough of this shit," he muttered, and turned away as if to leave.

"That you didn't do it?"

Sasuke froze. He turned his head back, and saw a totally new Naruto.

Those clear blue eyes weren't filled with tears of pain, or misery, or panic, or hate, or laughter, or sadness, or any of the emotions that Sasuke had seen in the boy before. Instead, there was a look that Sasuke recognized well. It was the look that Sasuke had seen in his own eyes. They were despondent of anything but self-loathing, slight guilt, and total and complete understanding.

"We're more alike than you know," the blonde repeated quietly. "But of the two of us, you're the better half."

The small area stayed quiet for a long moment, as the two just watched each other in silence. Sasuke made the first move to break the ice. He said softly, sullenly, "I was- I was worried, okay? I've never seen someone do that before."

Naruto's demeanor had a total transformation. It was so fast, that Sasuke had to remind himself who the teen had been just nanoseconds before. A brilliant, real smile spread across the blonde's face, and his eyes sparkled with laughter and mischief. "The Lone Bastard actually cares?" he managed to joke.

At this, Sasuke could feel the back of his neck heat up in embarrassment, so turned his head back around and scoffed, "I only wanted to know if it was contageous or not. It was seriously traumatizing." He told himself that he did not see Naruto's cheeks turn a slight tinge of pink out of the corner of his eye.

"Riiiiiiiiiight!"

"Just...come on already, idiot."

"I'm not an idiot!"

"Yes, you are."

"I'm as much an idiot as you are a nice person!"

"Don't act like you fuckin' know me."

"OoooOOh! The Ice Lord knows sarcasm!"

"..."

"...waaaaait a minute, I just said that! You can't use my words!"

"But we're more alike than you think..."

"You're such a bastard!"

"Will you just shut up already?"

"Your mom shuts up! BUUUUUUURN!"

"..."

"Uh...heh heh...I, er, I take that back..."

"..."

"...-sweatdrop-"

"...your mom takes that back..."

"BASTARD!"

LINE HERE

"Is it even possible?"

"Is what possible?" Sakura glanced over at Tenten. The dealer had stopped in mid-polish of her favorite weapon (two stolen potato peelers that had their dull sides removed and were linked together with a metal chain that was once a necklace and had also been stolen) to gape, astonished, at the sight before here.

"I can't believe it," Ino added, spotting what shocked Tenten.

"What is it?"

"It's S-sasuke-san," Hinata told her.

"You mean that totally sexy babe that Naru- er, Kyuubi's always complaining about?" Sakura asked, attempting to cover up her slip of Naruto's name.

Tenten waved her off, not even bothering to turn and look at her. "We already know that the Kid's name is Naruto. Word spreads fast around here. And yes. The sexy babe that's in the same cell as the Kid."

The pink-haired woman heard Naruto's familiar shout of anger, and finally looked over. Naruto and Sasuke were standing at the borders of the "forest", bickering back and forth. Well, the Uchiha was standing. Naruto was sitting on a low-hanging branch of one of the surrounding trees. Although the murderer's face remained impassive as always, there was an air of comradary around them, and Naruto began to laugh. Sakura knew that was a good sign, because no matter how funny the person was the blonde would never laugh around an enemy or suspected enemy.

"So? It just looks like he's exchanging friendly banter with Naruto. What's wrong with that?"

Three pairs of eyes turned, unbelieving, at the newcomer.

"Whaaaaat?"

"Before that boy came, all Sasuke-kun would say was yes, no, and 'Get the hell away from me'," Ino informed her. "He's said more words in the amount of time that the boy's been here than for all words he's said over the years he's been kept here, combined!"

After Ino's statement, the girls saw the blonde clutched his sides as a peal of laughter erupted from him. Misjudging how wide the branch was, Naruto's eyes widened in horror as he slipped backward and fell SPLAT in a puddle of mud.

And then, while giggling at the teen's childish antics as he began to rant and rave at Sasuke as if it had been the dark-haired man's fault, they heard a strange sound.

It was a very strange sound, for it had not been heard in years. In fact, no one in the prison had ever heard the sound.

It was out-of-place and odd, and yet it melted the heart of every female (and some male) in a 100 foot radius. It was rich, deep, and full of humor.

The world was in shock.

Birds stopped flying, and ran into buildings, trees, windows, and people.

The people in the prison stood still, even the ones with bird guts all over them.

For yes.

Uchiha Sasuke

The number-one most dangerous criminal in the Maximum Security Prison

Had laughed.

It was not a fake laugh, or a soft chuckle, but a full-blown laugh of amusement. Ino had fainted from the shock, and Tenten, Sakura, and Hinata were trying vainly to stop their sudden nosebleeds.

And it seemed that the only one that didn't notice this amazing miracle was a blue-eyed, mud-splattered blonde.

AN- Okay, peeps, I gotta know...Is the "Your mom!" going around your schools, as well as the burns? My school is psycho with it. I'll just ask someone, "Hey, you got a pencil?" and they'll be all like, "Your mom has a pencil! Mad burn!" Or, I just ask where the ketchup is and this random guy walking by said to me, "Your mom has ketchup!" Very random. Which is so totally awesome (dude/ettes, I am so Californian it's not even funny. Wait, I take that back. It's pretty funny.), because I love random things.

HAHA! If any of your watch baseball (I doubt any of you do), you should try to find out what happened at the Dodgers/Rockies game on May 1! I was there! It was so awesome! This guy tried to hit our pitcher with his bat, so the pitcher hit the next batter! And then the entire crowd started to chant, "Ro-ckies suck! Ro-ckies suck!" and someone blew up a condom and it was floating around in the air above the stadium the entire game. It was the wickidest, most wild game I'd ever seen. And now I'm almost a slightly devoted Dodgers fan. Who would've thought...GO LA!