Disclaimer: The naruto characters and their world do not belong to me.

Warnings: Shounen Ai/Yaoi (haven't decided which yet!) Angst and occasional bad language. May contain topics which could offend.

Pairings: Kiba/Naruto, Kakashi/Iruka and others.

A BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS

Chapter Two: Walking Wounded

Naruto opened his eyes when bright sunlight invaded his realm of sleep. He was warm and comfortable in his little patch of sunlight on the couch but he knew that he needed to get up. Dawn had broken and he had to meet with his team mates at the bridge.

Yawning widely, he got up and padded silently to the kitchen. Unfortunately, bad timing had him walk in as Kakashi pressed Iruka up against the cupboards for a bruising, passionate kiss. Neither noticed him there, and after a moments indecision he walked to the fridge and opened it.

They broke apart in surprise as he pulled out a bottle of orange juice.

"Morning." He said as he took the juice to the breakfast bar and began to fix himself breakfast.

There was awkward silence before Iruka cleared his throat.

"Ah…did you sleep well last night?"

Naruto was acutely aware that he was at their place uninvited, but he pretended as if the thought hadn't occurred to him. In fact, it made him feel horrible, and only made him correct in his assumption that they needed their privacy.

"Hmmmmhmm." Was his only reply as he shoveled spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth with his usual vigor.

Inside, he was feeling about as uncomfortable as Iruka was, but he would die before he admitted that to them. Instead, he covered his true feelings by beaming widely at them.

Iruka smiled back at him, looking relieved and a little embarrassed. He knew Kakashi well enough by now to know that he was smirking beneath his mask.

"Are you going to come over for dinner tonight? I'm not sure what we're eating, but we'd love to have you."

He torn, for he wanted to, he really did. But it was obvious from what he'd interrupted that they needed their time alone. So he shook his head, feeling very heavy hearted.

"Nah. I have plans for tonight." He said around the last mouthfuls of his breakfast.

"Really? What're you doing?"

Was that suspicion he saw in Iruka's eyes?

"Kiba an' me are having Ramen together," he lied as he gulped down the dregs of his orange juice. "He lost a bet he made with me so he owes me."

"Oh okay. Some other time perhaps."

Iruka let it go at that. It stung that Iruka bought such an obvious lie. After all these years, didn't he know Naruto well enough to be able to tell when he was lying? Or maybe he didn't care. That thought hurt more than it should have. He had accepted that maybe he wasn't a necessary part of Iruka's life, but to think that he didn't care…cut him deeper than any knife could.

Having finished his meal, he hesitated for the briefest of seconds before dashing to Iruka and hugging him tightly. He felt warm arms wrap around him, and warm breath fan his hair gently. Naruto closed his eyes as he savored the pain he felt. Suddenly he wanted to confess everything, to pour his heart out to this replacement parent he had found. He almost broke down and sobbed, but the moment was gone. An idea had begun to take shape in his mind the night before, and in his heart, he knew that this would perhaps be the last time he saw Iruka. With any luck, he would be out of Konoha forever, and out of their lives permanently.

Naruto tore himself out of that comforting embrace and raced out of the kitchen, calling out cheery goodbyes and warning Kakashi not to be late this morning.

He raced away from that apartment and the memories as fast as his legs could carry him. His eyes were squeezed close as he ran, and miraculously, he crashed into no one.

No one was at the Bridge yet. The designated meeting time was awhile off yet, so he had awhile to prepare himself for the barrage of insults he knew he'd receive from Sakura, and the silent scorn and dismissal of Sasuke.

He knelt beside the bridge and splashed cold water on his face, rubbing at his eyes.

There were no tears on his face. He had learned not to cry over things like this years ago. Crying did not, and could not make things better, nor did it change reality. Even if he did cry, people would only laugh and call him weak.

The face in the water, his own reflection was a stranger to him.

What he saw was as ordinary boy, average looking with messy blonde hair, big blue eyes and faint whisker marks on his cheeks, which branded him for what he was.

Naruto didn't think himself particularly ugly, but he wasn't handsome and he definitely wasn't beautiful like Sasuke and Neji or Ino and Sakura.

His wasn't a face people fell in love with. His was a face that was seen and forgotten moments later. Unremarkable, indistinguishable except for the faint whisker marks which lined his cheeks.

Besides, it wasn't his face that mattered, nobody saw his face. They looked past it to see the demon, the fiery fox which was sealed within him. The fox that carried a thousand curses of sorrow and hatred for stealing the lives of people who were loved. It was oddly ironic that he, who had no such love, should carry such a cursed creature. He carried those same curses, passed onto him by a legacy.

If pain and loneliness were his constant companions, then so too was anger. Anger was what made him work and train so hard, striving hopelessly for a distant dream. It was his anger at the world for its cruel treatment of him that drove him; anger at the people who abused him emotionally and mentally. It was anger at the demon fox within him and at the people who had condemned him to such a fate that kept him alive. He was angry at himself most of all, for caring so much about what everyone thought of him and for letting their words hurt him so. But it was days like this that he found he was hurting too much to be angry.

Eventually, he stood up and turned away from the inner ugliness staring back at him. He leaped onto the bridges railing to sit and wait for his teammates. The water flowed beneath his feet, and he watched as the odd Sakura tree blossom floated by.

The same routine took place every morning for the past few years. Sasuke would walk up shrouded in his usual silence. Naruto watched the way he walked. Sasuke walked as if he had a purpose, a destination that no one else could see, or even guess at. He never strolled.

Naruto would chirp his usual 'good morning Sasuke-bastard' and Sasuke would stay silent, ignoring him as if he didn't even exist. This morning, Naruto did just that, and all he received was a disinterested 'Hnn' in response.

Nothing unusual. It had gotten so that it didn't even bother Naruto anymore. That was just Sasuke. He thought it was a good thing that Neji tended to be as cold and as distant as Sasuke; as lovers, they made a compatible pair.

A few minutes later Sakura would run up, full of eagerness and energy with her 'Good morning Sasuke-kun!'

That was exactly what happened this morning, except for one thing. After her enthusiastic greeting to Sasuke, she turned to Naruto with a small uncertain smile.

Naruto, surprise and taken back, stared at her in shock. Even Sasuke was attentive as he watched.

"G-good morning, Naruto." She murmured

Naruto blinked in surprise, and made a conscious effort to keep his jaw from dropping in astonishment. After a moment of shocked silence, he realized that they were both waiting for his reaction and pasted a huge smile on his face.

"Good morning Sakura-chan!"

For once though, she didn't yell at him and hit him for being so loud. She merely smiled a bit more in response and sat down to wait quietly for Kakashi to arrive. She didn't cling to Sasuke and try to make conversation with him- it seemed that she was completely over her crush on him. No surprise, seeing as she was with Tent ten.

Something had changed. The silence between them was different, uneasy. As if…as if, by silent agreement they acknowledged that something had changed.

Naruto narrowed his eyes in though as he pondered this strange situation. Normally, he would be talking loudly about something pointless and nonsensical; trying to coax Sakura to come on a date with him, or attempting unsuccessfully to goad Sasuke into an argument.

But today he decided not to put up that façade. It didn't seem appropriate, and it would only drain what little energy he had left. The sadness and depression lingered around him. He didn't want to leave Konoha- it was his lifeblood, despite the painful memories and hardships. He was nothing but a shin obi. How would he live if he left? Would he be a poor wanderer, stealing from farms and good, honest folk? Would he be a beggar on the streets, slowly withering away from starvation?

That was no kind of life. So what was there out side of Konoha?

The answer was nothing. There was nothing out there for him, but more pain and suffering. But there was nothing here for him either. What was the answer he was looking for? Where was he to go from here?

He turned his mind from that particular path; now was not the time for that. He would think about that when he was alone, and when it was quiet. Instead, he thought about the current situation. What had changed?

Maybe he had done something yesterday at the White Rose to offend the group. No…if he had, Sakura would have killed him by now (or at least tried to).

Or maybe…or maybe they felt sorry for him. Maybe they felt bad for leaving out, or at least finding out. If that was the case, then he didn't want their pity, or their apologies. He wanted them to see him as a friend, someone they wanted to be around because they liked him. Not someone who they invited out of pity.

It made him angry, their pity if that was indeed what it was. It made him feel like he was someone lower that them, someone who deserved to be indulged because of his unfortunate circumstances. Kind of like how rich people looked down condescendingly at a homeless person.

It only made him even more aware of how different he was from them and he hated it. It only alienated him from them even further and made him feel even more isolated and alone.

He stood up abruptly on the railing and shaded his eyes as he looked for Kakashi- he was nowhere in sight.

"Ano…Naruto?" Sakura's tentative voice broke through his reverie.

"He looked down at her. "What is it Sakura?" he asked.

Today was the day, he decided, that he wasn't going to hide anymore. He was tired, bone-weary in fact, of pretending. He didn't care if they hated him for his acts and masks. He didn't care if they hated him for all his lies. Uzamaki Naruto was tired of dancing the same old patterns and dances.

He was tired, and he just didn't care.

He could see the shock and surprise in her eyes. It figured that she would be surprised that he could be like a normal person. Of course she didn't see him as a normal person. She saw him as someone different.

Well, he was different. Even though he hated the fact, and even though it was the reason he was lonely and sad all of the time, he realized that no matter how much he may fight and struggle to change it, he couldn't. He would never be anything but different.

A small part of him was grateful. He wasn't sure if he wanted to live like some of the people he knew- ignorant of the harsh realities of the world. They lived sheltered and protected. At least he knew what it was like.

But it was only a small part of him.

And that knowledge, as well as his loneliness and his sorrow, was what made him strong.

Looking into Sakura's eyes, he knew that.

He knew that he didn't want to be here right now. He needed to be alone, away from them to gather his thought and to gain clarity. He wanted to find the answer to that question.

What else was there for him? He couldn't stay, but he couldn't leave. He needed an answer to that.

"What is it Sakura?" he repeated his question softly, still looking her in the eyes.

"A-are you okay? You seem distracted." She seemed nervous now, as if he was making her uncomfortable.

He managed to give her a small smile. "Yeah. I'm okay Sakura."

It was a lie. He was not okay. Far from it in fact. Perhaps she knew that. Perhaps she guessed. It was unlikely.

Now he crouched down so he was almost at eye level with her as he studied her.

"Sakura…can you tell Kakashi-sensei that I'm going to see the Hokage?"

"But…but we have a mission." She protested weakly.

"I know. I won't be coming today. Just…tell him please?"

He didn't wait for her answer, he just took off, heading through the trees and taking all the shortcuts he knew to get to the tower.

He was nothing but a blur- just like his existence in this miserable place- as he raced over the rooftops of houses and apartments.

Within minutes, he was at Tsunade's office door. The guards eyed him with something like distaste in their eyes, but he admitted him without a word.

Shizune and Tsunade were bent over some paper work, discussing it in low tones when he entered.

"What are you doing here gaki?" Tsunade frowned at him. "Doesn't your team have a mission?"

Naruto summoned a cocky grin, but it seemed brittle and wooden even to him.

"And here I was thinking you'd be glad to see me, baa-chan."

A vein in Tsunade's forehead throbbed, but for some unknown reason she let the insult slide. Sighing heavily, she handed Shizune a bundle of scrolls.

"Shizune, take these down to the mission room, won't you? I'll be down there shortly."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Shizune accepted the bundle and hurried away.

Tsunade waited until the door was closed before she spoke.

"Are you going to tell me what this is about?" she asked eventually.

Naruto walked over to the desk and looked down at her, as she regarded him calmly.

"I'm requesting personal time off, Tsunade. Just a week."

"Personal time? Why? Did you have a fight with your team?" Tsunade was frowning in confusion now.

He shook his head. "No. I just…need to get my personal life in order. I fear its beginning to affect my performance on the field."

A lie, but a necessary one. Tsunade could not allow something like that to go unaddressed. It was the only was he knew to get her to agree, he knew.

"That is grave indeed." She commented slowly. "Are you okay?"

"I think so, I just…"

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Naruto." She said abruptly before smiling. "I know sometimes everything can get a bit too much, eh? A bit overwhelming."

He nodded, grateful that he wouldn't have to think up some elaborate and believable excess to explain his request.

"Take two weeks. Then we'll talk, and see of you feel up to working again, Agreed?"

"Agreed. Arigato, Tsunade-baa-chan. I appreciate it."

"As well you should, brat!" she smiled at him. " Now get out of here and do whatever it is you need to. And be careful. I'd hate it if something happened to you."

He smiled at her. "I know. Sayonara, Tsunade."

He left feeling slightly better than when he'd entered. At least something was finally going his way.

Well, that's chapter two, everyone! I'm desperate to get this story out for some reason. Its really bugging me, and I find it difficult to work on anything other than this at the moment, so I figured I'd get it out of the way now and then go back to work on the others! I like this version better than the original one, seeing as I changed a few things here and there, so review and tell me what you think!

Just as a side note, I know that Sakura is supposed to be smart, but I felt like being a little mean to her because she used to be so mean to Naruto! Actually, I like her now, because she's nice and actually a good friend to Naruto. But I haven't figured out what role she's going to play in this story yet.

Thanks to:

Kagome13chan: I know! I've only ever found one or two, so I decided it was time to add another! Thank! For reviewing!

XItadakimasuX: Thanks for your encouragement! You made my day! Thank yooouuuuuu!

RabidButterfly: (Cool name by the way!) Thank you! I love you for reviewing! Please keep reading!

Aydryan: Wow! I'm glad you do! Please read the next chapter and tell me what you think! Thanks!

By the way, all my stories are not betad, and this one is no exception, so please keep that in mind and don't criticize me too badly, ne?

Thanks for reading, guys!