Black Dove White Crow

A/N: Wow! Five reviews already, I feel loved:D No seriously, it makes me really happy because I appreciate all of your comments and criticism! By the way, I really loved Kunoichi's review! Thanks hun!

Mwah, I also got a beta! Everyone give it up for Daitai Otonashii Ookami! One of my very first reviewers and a good buddy! She's the best! xD You may call her by her name, and me...EDITEE! I get to call her Editah. xD

Of course, the first Reviewer place goes to Shady Haze! Thanks a lot Shady-chan! A special cookie to you!

Wait, you know what? A special cookie to you all! Huzzah! Huzzah!

Disclaimer: If I had a dollar to buy every hot bishie on earth, I would have.. Tons of hate mail. xD

Chapter Two: The Genins and the Chuunins

Remember when the sky was bright and the clouds hid behind the trees? And when they hid behind the trees, the trees gave birth to fruit?

Could you remember when we used to climb up those trees to pick, then eat them beneath the shade? Then And afterwards, we went to go wash our hands in the freshness of the stream, and by accident, you caught a fish?

We would always go there because things were always like that. Our friends would be there, hanging out, while we would come running up to them so that we could hang out too. A smile would light up all our faces, and then you would trip and roll down the hill…we'd all laugh of course, but not before tumbling down with you.

As we grew older, things still stayed the same. The clouds would be nowhere in sight, the trees would be brimming with fruit, and everyone would be there waiting for us. It was like the sun wouldn't stop shining upon us, so that we could see our paths.

But it did stop, and we lost our way.

I remember as I tried to save you, the darkness hung heavy in the air. The clouds stormed out and they shed great big tears upon the earth, only because they had hid away for so long. All the fruit in the trees fell down, pounding on the earth like rocks, some even hitting us in the back as the wind blew them our way.

But why do I still remember this, when it hasn't the faintest idea in your mind?

Because I was still there beside you, holding your hand to give you comfort. I was simply holding on to you, but once the storm worsened, you let go. You tried to reach me, but then you gave up too fast. My screams to you fell on deaf ears, and though the storm cleared, I was all alone.

The sky stayed dark, the trees bared no fruit, and all of my friends turned their backs on me.

You could still remember me, but if you don't have the will to, then you won't. I'll always keep you in mind, because I still feel the nightmares chained up inside. But most of all—

I still dream of a better night, where I could've held onto you forever.

It wasn't long before Sasuke and Naruto had caught up to the red and the ponytail. Good thing too, because once they caught up to them, a loud earthquake was felt. Apparently it was caused by a large sound tremor, A.K.A. Naruto's stomach growling.

The blonde had smiled sheepishly at this, rubbing the back of his head nervously as the other three teens stared at him rather flatly. Not wanting the school to tremble again, all of them took a hold of Naruto before running for the cafeteria. The blonde had tried his best not to think about food, though it was very tempting.

Right now they sat at one of the many long ivory tables in the vast lunchroom. There were strangers all around them, but that didn't matter since it was just them at their own little table. Naruto munched on his food happily, finding a gap between his seemingly endless slurps to talk. "Man, this is great! I've never had school food like this before!"

The ponytail rolled his eyes. "Of course, it's only once you get to college that they stop with the meat imitations, and start bringing in the big kid crap." Naruto couldn't help but hide his chuckles at this, but it stopped once he nearly choked on his half-digested ramen.

The raven sitting right next to Naruto sighed, pounding his back in an attempt to force the food out of the blonde's airway. "You should be more careful, dobe." It seems that his strangely remorseful attitude from earlier had disappeared, it now being replaced with his usual demeanor.

Once the other began coughing, hitting his own chest to feel a bit better, he was shooting daggers at Sasuke. The said teen cringed a little, glancing over to the side with a bit of a scowl on his face. "Don't call me that!" Naruto hoarsely snapped back, the taste of bile still somewhat fresh on his tongue.

"Hn. Whatever, dobe." The other growled loudly at the fact that his request had been sorely revoked. But then his attention was diverted to the scarlet haired teen, whom had coughed loudly to gain the other's gaze.

"If you don't mind me asking…why was the only food you got, ramen? And also why so much of it?"

Naruto blinked, gazing down upon his tray. There was precisely about seven cups of ordinary instant ramen, three of which were already empty. It was no wonder that the teen had nearly choked, for he had been trying to eat all three of them at once. A rosy blush spread across his cheeks.

"Well, uh, you see… Ramen's my favorite food. And when I get the opportunity to have freshly made ramen, I kinda indulge myself a bit too much." He chuckled before shrugging a bit as the other sighed, muttering something along the lines of 'You moron' or 'Still the same baka'.

Sasuke sort of made an indiscernible sound before turning to glance at the two teens, whom they still didn't know yet. "Anyways, you haven't introduced yourselves yet. Care to do so now?" Naruto glanced at them as well, before poked Sasuke's cheek with his chopsticks.

"You too mister."

"Hn."

The pony tailed teen seemed to slap himself on the forehead while chuckling heartedly. "Ah yes, where are my manners. Neji Hyuuga. It's nice to meet you all." He smiled and then looked to the redhead sitting beside him. After a few moments, emerald orbs shifted to match silver hues before he sighed.

"Gaara Subuka. Nice to meet you."

Naruto grinned before noticing that a certain someone was being too quiet. "Teme?" Azure blue eyes looked over to the person sitting beside him, noticing that the raven was both paled and gaping. In Sasuke's mind, he was shocked for he knew the two teens. 'That's right…How could I not remember those guys? Of course Gaara has his eye shadow, while Neji has the long hair. Why don't they...?'

"Hey, jerk-face. Your name?"

The said teen snapped back at being called for. He grunted slightly before crossing his arms. "Sasuke Uchiha." The teen obviously knew that something was going on, for it deemed to be that nobody remembered him. And as it came, he didn't remember them that well until they introduced themselves as well. But then again, it was just the two. Maybe there was hope still.

Naruto seemed to grin a bit, now knowing whom this strange guy's name was. "Anyways, as you guys don't know except for this teme here, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Nice to meet'cha both!" At the sound of his last name, Gaara and Neji both quirked an eyebrow. Naruto in turn, found himself shrinking into the sanctity of his wooden stool.

"Uzumaki, huh?" Neji asked, a hand cupping his own chin in a thoughtful manner. The teen's gaze was cast towards the ceiling, exposing his slender neck. There was only three given guesses that Gaara had ended his own train of thought just to stare.

The blonde stared down at the oh-so interesting table top, twiddling his thumbs together as sweat dripped down his forehead. "Y-Yeah, is there a problem with that?" Sasuke eyed the suddenly nervous teen careful, wondering a bit at first why the blonde would be like this at the talk of his last name.

The raven couldn't recall anything in the past that would cause Naruto to be like this, and even more unfortunate was that he had been missing for two years. Anything, and he really meant it, could've happened during his absence. The hard part of it all was just trying to find out.

Though it seemed like the silence was going to keep staring them all in the face, Neji grinned at Naruto, his hand resting on the table. "That's a cool last name." The said blonde seemed relieved, while Gaara appeared to be a bit disappointed at losing his view of the other's neck.

As Neji looked to Gaara so that he could ask the redhead what he looked so disappointed about, Sasuke noticed that Naruto was staring at the table top still. There was a sad smile on his lips that made the raven both want to pity the teen, and also kiss him to make him feel better. But it hurt him inside to know that he couldn't, for it might as well take away his chance to at least befriend the teen.

"Naruto, you okay?"

His question just hung there, before Naruto blinked and turned to him. "Everything's okay! Nothing's wrong! Nothing… Nothing…" He plastered a goofy little grin onto his face, though Sasuke could only be skeptical about the blonde's suddenly cheery disposition. It was more than unnatural to be all happy-go-lucky after just looking so down like that. Plus, Sasuke knew Naruto better than Naruto knew Sasuke.

"Right anyways—"

A loud teen suddenly hopped over, each of his hand's resting on Naruto and Sasuke's shoulders as he propelled himself forward onto the table, without actually falling onto it. "Yo, guys! Do any of you happen to have any permanent markers or some duck tape?"

They all stared at him as he smiled, the odd red marks on his cheeks seeming having some kind of aura of it's own. He tilted his head, spiky brown hair shifting over onto his other shoulder as the four gazes remained unchanged. "Yo, are you still alive or what?"

At least Sasuke was able to find his voice. "Sorry. We don't have either—" Gaara held out a permanent marker. "It's all I have for now." They blinked at him before Neji sighed and handed out a roll of duck tape. "And that's all I have." Now Sasuke and Naruto were practically leaning forward in their seats. "What're you guys doing with those kind of things on your hands?"

They both stared back, Neji shrugging as Gaara remained blank. "It's best to have a quick touch-up here and there." Naruto gaped as Sasuke sighed in disapproval. At least now the raven knew how the redhead's make-up never went runny, as why the ponytail's ponytail never came out, but did he really have to know that now, of all times?

The new guy happily accepted the items, tucking them in his pockets before he began to talk again. "Mind if me and my buddies join you guys? There's not a lot of tables left, and it'd be nice to make some new friends." Sasuke was on the verge of denying when Naruto butted in. "Yeah, sure! I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"

Sasuke sighed again, fingers pinching at his temples while he wondered why he even bothered to try.

A big colorful group of guys came over, some fighting for the seats when there was enough to go around. The teen they first met sat by Naruto, while a ,dark haired guy in green with extremely thick eyebrows sat to Sasuke's right. "Anyways, where do I begin to introduce myself. Name's Inuzuka, Kiba." He grinned, pointing to himself before pointing to the thick eyebrows guy.

"That's Rock Lee—

"AH YES! A TIME FOR JUSTICE AND THE CHANCES OF WHERE MANY MOMENTS MAY FLOURISH!" Lee suddenly proclaimed, stepping on the table before saluting forwards with hearts fluttering about his head. Sasuke, Gaara, and Neji all swore they could see an ocean crashing behind him.

"Moving on... The buggy guy's Shino Aburame."

Their gazes had to be shifted to the next person quickly as Shino seemed to be occupying himself by letting cockroaches slip in and out of his long shirt sleeves. Kind of disgusting…For a guy to see that. After all, weren't cockroaches kind of gross to begin with? Apparently Shino thought they were cool.

"Then that guy stealing your ramen Naruto, is Chouji Akimichi."

The blonde snapped over to his tray. Almost all of the ramen was gone except for one cup and the teen angrily fought with a big pudgy guy that had swirling red lines painted on his pompous cheeks. There was a chopstick war before Naruto was able to smack Chouji's pair onto the ground. The other huffed at him before pulling a bag of chips out of his messenger's bag.

"Get your own ramen, Akimichi."

"Hush up, Uzumaki."

Kiba nodded. "He's right. Hush up, Uzumaki." Naruto growled in response to this, before finished off what was left of his precious ramen. It wasn't his fault, he just didn't want anybody taking his favorite food. Heh, one of his possessions.

"Now that you've quieted down, that really lazy guy over there with the spiky ponytail is Shikamaru Nara." Pausing a bit before anything was said, Kiba picked up one of Naruto's empty ramen cups and chucked it at the sleeping teen's head.

Nothing happened.

So Kiba picked up another one and threw it again. Still no response. "Wake up, dammit!" He snarled, throwing all of them until there was only the one that Naruto was still eating. As he picked it up, Naruto cried out, reaching for his beloved noodles. He missed, and soon Shikamaru blinked.

"Aye, did my hair grow yellow and stringy?"

Kiba snapped at him. "I just pelted you with ramen!"

Shikamaru blinked, sitting up for a second to wipe the noodles out of his face. "So troublesome, aye." He mumbled before resting back down on the table and falling asleep again. Kiba groaned and sighed, smacking his forehead and letting it drag down as he felt something distasteful in his mouth.

"Anyways, he's a real lazy ass. So don't mind him if he falls asleep."

Meanwhile, Sasuke was off in his own little world. Things were crazy as it is, and possibly getting crazier. Everyone he knew as kids in the past, were coming back as complete strangers in the future. Could they have really forgotten him in only two years, or was this all some cruel, sick joke?

It had to be some guy who performed hypnosis. Someone who had the power to change memories. Someone whom had to dislike either him or everybody else around him. The first seemed the more likely of the two, for after all. He had been involved with an accident that ravaged the media. But no details on that, too traumatizing.

He rubbed his temples again for about the fourth or third time today. Ever since he had dragged Naruto to lunch with the other guys, he was only getting nothing but head and brain pains. But then again, back in the past...Maybe things were the same. As Naruto and the others were being introduced to the rest of the gang, Sasuke decided to pull a Shikamaru and rested his arms down into the folds of his arms.

Shutting his eyes, Sasuke ran back to the forbidden depths of his past euphoria.

.:i:..:i:..:i:..:i:..:i:..:i:.

..:Flashback:..

There was nothing but the salty sweet smell of creek water. If you tuned into your senses deep enough, you could also smell the distant scent of cedar wood and rosemary. It was a soothing aroma, and just the right amount before it would hurt your nose.

A little one sat huddled in front of the water. His knees were hugged tight to his slender chest, the dark, high-collar shirt was ruffled upwards at the back, as he curled tighter and tighter into an upright fetal position. His bare feet were calloused from walking barefoot on the fallen cedar chunks that matted the forest floor.

"Na-Nawuto..." He sniffled, taking in the mucus that had started to dribble down his upper lip in a slow trail. Sasuke was missing the other boy, for it seemed like there was trouble amongst his family again. The older kid had tried to be of support to the blue-eyed one, but it just seemed that the other didn't need his help. Oh well, Naruto had always had that independent air around him.

But Naruto lived right across from Sasuke. The young raven had to deal with hearing the yells, the screams, the smashes of broken objects. Everything. Not even at night-time, oh no, he wasn't even able to sleep any more than a few winks. Though the blonde grew worried about the bags beginning to form under his eyes, Sasuke had decided that he had to deal with enough already.

"I wish dat Nawu could pway wit me today.." He mumbled sadly, burying his head deeper into his curled up embrace. Suddenly a loud splash caught his attention. Wide charcoal eyes darted up, searching around wildly for the source, even looking straight up into the leafy treetops where sunlight filtered through.

But he was looking too high.

Sasuke's gaze flickered back down to earth, where he leapt to his feet in shock. The sight was more painful than the stings shooting up from his feet on the ground. Why? Because his best friend, 'Nawuto', laid face down in the shallow end of the creek. His short sleeved orange shirt was ripped and torn, exposing bright red and purple gashes and bruises.

"NAWUTO!" Sasuke cried out, running over to his fallen friend in the water, quickly turning him over before he drowned. The blonde sputtered and cringed, even though the young raven's embrace was gentle and tender. "W-Wun, away.. Sasu, wet's wunn away." Naruto suggested, big azure eyes glittering with tears.

The elder was fairly surprised at this, and he considered him staying at his place until the storm cleared but then again, life there with Itachi was no better, so he guess that he should go with the teen. "Yeah! Wet's go!" Helping the smaller teen up, the two barefoot teens ran for the edge of the forest, hoping to catch some sort of train for a wild adventure.

:..End Flashback..:

:.i.:..:i:..:i:..:i:..:i:

"Sasuke. Sasuke. HEY JERK-FACE WAKE UP!" A loud thud on the table was all it took to wake the raven up. Apparently in the midst of his reminiscing, he had fallen asleep somewhere in-between and now had a gooey line of saliva trailing down his chin and onto the dark sleeve of his shirt. It gleamed in the light, and the teen blinked over and over again.

"Huh? Wha? What happened? Were we able to run away?"

Naruto blinked, an eyebrow raising in question as he tilted his head at an angle. "What are you talking about Sasuke-teme? We were introducing ourselves and you so rudely decided to doze off like Mr. Lazy Ass over there." The blonde snapped, motioning over to Shikamaru. The said bum was still sleeping.

A blush rose to his cheeks, still fully embarrassed that he had fallen asleep in public like that. A hand nervously rose behind his head, rubbing the back of it as the blush only grew deeper and deeper. It wasn't something that someone like Sasuke to do, and well, apparently he knew that fact well.

"Never mind. Uhm, I think I still heard Kiba's voice in my nightmares so uh.." The raven pointed to a guy with markings on his face. He looked a bit mean, but as soon as Sasuke focused in on that look in his eyes, he knew this guy again. "Kankuro and Temari.. Uhm, TenTen?" All three nodded their heads approvingly, and Sasuke had to smirk at Naruto, whom in turn, frowned.

So it seems that the blonde had been counting on him to mess up, but not today. Sasuke already was having a hard time, to have the other teen make it worse would only call for payback. As he pondered what he could implement upon the blonde, when it hit him. What was he doing? Naruto is, er was, his lover! Times may have changed but, no matter what...

Sasuke would always have some sense of loyalty to Naruto. Some sense of friendship, or at the very least, a relationship.

"Hn. Well anyways, Kiba here was saying something interesting. Let him talk and stop spacing out." The blue eyed blonde demanded, finding slight amusement in the raven numbly nodding back. He was listening, but his eyes trailed down the bright sapphires to notice a feature upon his cheeks that the raven hadn't bothered to notice before. Six line-thin whisker marks. Since when had those been there?

"Right-o. Anyways, there's a special kind of 'caste' system used here. It started out as a playful student thing a few years back, but then the dean took notice and found it fun. Now he's known as the 'Hokage'."

Naruto blinked in curiosity while Sasuke seemed fully interested now. "Ah, I see. It was taken from the days of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Where there were ninjas that lived freely and all around. The five villages hidden within the elements." He folded his pale hands on the table, a serious look in his eyes for just about a minute before he blinked. "What?"

Gaara chose to answer. "You just said something about the faraway past of good ol' Konohagakure City. When there really were ninjas, whom utilized many forms of various jutsus. Interesting." The raven only furrowed his eyebrows at him, either confused or just plain...well, irritated.

"A-N-Ywaaays, as I was saying, the caste system is like this. Newbies like you and Sasuke are known as 'Genin', or better translated to the 'kohai'. Now, people that are about mid-way, or have been here longer then the Genins, are the 'Chuunins'. Basically the 'sempais'. That would be pretty much all of us here, so uh, sorry Genin friends!" Kiba grinned, waving to the two, whom only made a 'feh' sound and turned their heads to the side.

"Moving on, there's really no name for the graduating people yet, but there is one for the teachers and staff. They're known as the 'Jounin.' The Senseis, really. And lastly there is—

Lee interrupted, that same ocean crashing as he stepped up onto the table. "AH YES! GAI-SENSEI IS ONE OF THOSE MOST MEMORABLE, AND YOUTHFUL JOUNINS AROUND!" Kiba sighed and pushed the overzealous bowl-head back into his seat.

" As I was saying, there is the most memorable people. The 'Kages'. They're the most respected people on campus, and which the Hokage is one. He's the third. The other three Kages were graduate students known for individual things."

Though everyone at the table began gossiping about the Kages and such, Sasuke was lost in thought again. Everything was strange, no—stranger now. How did he seem to know so much about the old Konohagakure, when he never remembered hearing about it? And why did there seem to be something so familiar about his friends? Hmm.. This deserved pondering, and a lot of it.

Kiba clapped his hands. "Calm down! Anyways, since we have some new genins here, some with us, some not...I declare a 'Welcoming Party' in Shino's room!" Everybody seemed overjoyed, except for Shino of course, whom threatened Kiba with his army of insects not to bring any booze over.

Naruto began to laugh, finding much happiness in all of his friends. This seemed like a good crowd, and everybody was going to be fun getting along with... Well, all except for that Sasuke. Damn him. He was probably about the most irritating person around, though he had reason to believe that Lee was close to taking the cake.

In a chair near Neji, Gaara folded his arms. Everything was doing okay so far. Sasuke looked as confused as ever, while Naruto was just Naruto. Everyone seemed to be the same, but well, he could've missed somebody. There was just that slim possibility that he had left someone with the truth, but who? And how?

This was going to be a most interesting year.

'I love ramen, don't you Sas---

--Person that I don't know?'

A/N : And teh plot thickens! I know it went pretty blah in a lot of parts, and I don't really have much to say here since it's about 3 AM...So, uh.. Give it all up for Daitai-chan again! Or as you may call her, CJ-Popo! My first beta! Huzzah! Huzzah!

Uhm, with whipped cream and cherries, pwease review! Cookies and new prizes to you all, Ja matte ne!

Ooh, and I love chickens! Please leave one, -live most preferably- if you can, and I shall update when I can! Okay, now I leave! Bye!

B/N: Baaa…. Cj..-popo:O xD Ah, well, I'll forgive it this time, uber neato J-chibi-chan x3 Mah.. I'll have to go work on the next chapter of mine now. xD;