Title: Stroke of Love
Author: Bakkun
Date: Started 2006-01-29, finished 2006-03-03
Fandom: Naruto
Spoilers: No
To be found now and eventually: AU, boys love (Naruto x Sasuke, Kakashi x Iruka, Udon x Konohamaru, Gaara x Lee), weird addictions
Author's Notes: My second attempt on a Naruto fan fiction. My first try got scraped because of its lack of story, though I got to page nine and still hadn't finished the first chapter. Sound weird? Anyway, I'm not so sure about how all this will go either, and I really don't know how it will end, but at least it has a story.

Just to clarify a certain misunderstanding I noticed my friend Mashiro made: The word "stroke" in the title is meant to be a stroke like when you hit people. You getting me? As in "love struck me"… You get that, right?

So, this chapter is about Naruto. Don't know if you'll notice that until they actually mentions his name, but that's the way it is… I've noticed I'm not that good at getting the characters personality right. I hate that. I want to be able to write so that you actually feel that it's Naruto, for example, so that people will say "Hey, I actually noticed that being Naruto! You really got his personality right!"… I guess that'll never happen.

Well, I hope you'll enjoy your reading.

Disclaimer: I'm just a fan, I don't own Naruto.


Chapter 1 – Love struck me

Love is something unexpected. It surprises, makes your body weak, your heart beat, and it doesn't always come at the best of times. Nor does it do as you want it to, it just happens when it happens and you can't do shit about it.

I know, because it happened to me. Love struck me.

-

I remember the day it happened as if it were yesterday. I sat on the bus away from my new life, on my way to something new. A better life. I had chosen to sit by the window to be able to look out at the landscape passing by, and I'd spent plenty of time on that seat, but now I was almost there. Senshuken Academy High School – my future.

The school was a academy for soccer players, just like me. When I was a kid I always dreamed about becoming a big soccer star, showing the world how great I really could be, but I could never had believed it to actually become possible. In that very moment I was on my way to start my first day at one of the biggest soccer high schools in Japan. It really was like a dream coming true.

Anyway, that wasn't what I was about to tell you.

I sat on the bus, closed my eyes for a second to rest them because I'd been looking out through the window the whole journey, hours after hours, and when I finally opened them again I saw him. The most beautiful boy I had ever seen my whole sixteen year old life. Pitch-black eyes and hair. He almost looked like a fallen angel.

He stood by a traffic light, leaning against the post in a relaxed position and waiting for the light to turn green. It felt like time had stopped when I looked down at him from the bus window. Everything stood still. I could have stayed there for the rest of my life just looking at him.

But of course reality had to burst in, and the bus started moving again. I followed the boy with my eyes as he disappeared when my bus turned in a wide left-turn. When he was out of sight I sat down on my seat again, because I had stood up in the bus without noticing it. I looked around, and as I had expected most of the other passengers were watching me like I was some kind of lunatic. I chose to ignore them.

I sighed at myself when I turned back to watching out the window. What a beautiful boy. I should have followed my heart's wish and smash the window to jump out of the bus and run forth to the boy and just wrap my arms around him, tightly feeling his skinny body against mine, but I'd thought that'd look kind of…well, desperate if not anything else. And by the way, why would I do such a thing? Isn't that kind of weird?

I sighed again, guessing I would never see him again. Surely he didn't go to the same school I was about to start in; he hadn't exactly looked like a soccer person to me. He was too beautiful to run around in mud and rain, kicking a ball, wearing T-shirt and shorts that got a bit because of the rain and made the material against his skin, and…

I had to stop there for a second to ask myself what the hell I was thinking about. For the love of God, he was a boy! I was a boy… I mean I am a boy. Boys can't have feelings for boys, can they? That's just…strange. I'd never heard of such a thing, and so it couldn't be possible. I was just going to pretend all that with the boy never had happened, and move on. I wasn't going to meet him again anyway, so why bother?

-

Some while after the incident with "the fallen angel" the bus arrived to Senshuken Academy High. I was relived to get off the bus, because it hadn't exactly smelled like flowers in there. In fact, it had been this old smelly guy by all the passengers and well, I think you get what I mean. When I looked up towards the school grounds I was in awe. What a mighty school! Such buildings could absolutely not be found where I came from. Okay, I came from the country so maybe it wasn't such a big deal for the people that actually lived in the city, but it kind of was for me.

I grabbed my two bags from the package that had been on the bus and started walking, smiling widely, up to the school gates. Finally my life was starting to change. Or rather my new life was about to begin. Now all I had to do the entire days was the only thing I'd wanted to do since I touched a ball for the first time – playing soccer! It was like coming to heaven! No math tests, no tiresome English classes. Just soccer. All. Day. Long. That thought made me straighten myself up and walk through the gates and up towards the school. My life was slowly beginning to lighten up.

The schoolyard was mostly covered with big, beautiful cherry blossoms, and there were a three meter wide path with grains going through it, leading up to the big, wooden doors by the entry. I made it through the yard, went through the doors that stood open to let all the students in. I noticed a big, old watch over the entry, showing that the time was 7 am. One hour before school started. Then I would have time to go up to my room and leave all my stuff, and maybe look around some too.

When I'd entered the school building I was in awe a second time that day. The inside of the school was, if possible, even more majestic than the outside. It looked more like some kind of castle than a school, and it was really beautiful. I was really looking forward on living there.

You see, because I had nowhere to live during my stay at the school I was allowed to live in the actual school building. As was all the other students not from the city, like those from other cities, countries or from the country, like myself. Not that there were many people living that way, but there were a few.

I took out my assignment that had been sent home to me and checked the number written on it in red ink. 25. My room number. I wondered who I would share my room with, if any, and began searching for my room, but before I'd get the time to get anywhere at all a big man with black hair and beard, and a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, walked up to me.

"May I take your bags, sir?" he said and reached for my baggage. I got a bit stunned and pulled my bags closer to me.

"Wha…? Why would I give you my bags, you big hairy excuse of a man?" The man sighed.

"I'm the valet here, so just give me the damn bags. My good sir." He'd added the last three words with a tone that told you he didn't really mean it and that he didn't like his job as much as I liked soccer, which I was sure he didn't. Anyway, I gave him my bags, because when you actually looked he was dressed as a valet and he looked kind of scary.

The big man walked me up to the second floor and showed me into my room. The room, as the rest of the school, seemed extremely big compared to what I was used to. It smelled incredibly good. Like roses. The walls were painted with a calming red and all the furniture were in a matching colour. There was a big bed with a thin curtain wrapped around it, a desk in nougat-brown wood with a matching chair by it, a table big enough for a whole family with six chairs dressed in a wine-red material, and a red, three seated sofa, placed right in the middle of the room.

"Woah! Is this really my room?" It really was too good to be true.

"Are you Uzumaki Naruto?" the big man asked with some irony in his voice, which I didn't really notice at the time.

I looked up at him. "Yeah…"

"Then yes, this is your room." He laughed a bit at me.

"Who am I sharing it with?" The man looked down at me with a bit of a confused face.

"No one, of course." He laughed some more at me and then left the room.

Now I was alone. On my own for the first time in my life (I have a bit of an overprotective dad) in my own room. What a great feeling! Now I could do whatever I wanted to, go wherever I wanted to. The first thing I was going to do was throwing myself on that big, cosy, red sofa and… That was what I managed to think before my sweet loneliness was disturbed by three knockings on my door. My door. It got a nice ring to it. Anyway, I called to the person behind the door.

"Yeah?"

No answer. I waited, and waited, and waited. Then I couldn't wait any longer. I walked up to the door and angrily opened it.

I was prepared to meet some guys doing a prank on "the new guy", I was prepared to meet nothing but the opposite corridor wall, I was even prepared to meet my dad wanting to take me back home. What I definitely was not prepared to meet was a cute young girl, probably about my age, with big weird, white eyes widened because of the sudden opening of the door. Her dark hair was tied up in a little ponytail and hang down on her right shoulder.

"Ah, excuse me…" She looked down on the floor and her cheeks suddenly got red.

"Why didn't you come in?" I asked her. The careful girl looked up at me again and answered with some nervousness in her voice.

"Uhm, because you didn't tell me to, sir." What was with this place? Everyone's too damn polite!

"Well, what did you want?" She looked down at the floor again and reached out a bunch of pink towels towards me.

"Your towels, sir." I took the towels and watched her curtsie and then silently walk away.

I walked back into my room, closed the door and looked down on the towels in my hands. Pink?

-

Even after I'd thrown myself on the sofa in my room, unpacked my things and fixed the bed, there were still some time left before school started so I decided to look around a bit. The place really was huge. Back home, on the country, I'd only had a little room, which I also shared with my little brother Konohamaru, so this place was like heaven. Home…no. This was my home now. I would never go back to that place where everything was limited and boring. I was going to get my own future without cows and sheep and pigs. Only a football.

I walked down the big stairs that led to the first floor and the entry, and headed towards the school cafeteria.

That was when I saw him again. "The fallen angel" that is. He was walking towards me in the hall, head down and headphones on his ears, wearing a black, hooded sweater, dark blue jeans and black and white sneakers on his feet. As he approached me I could hear the loud music through the headphones. Did he want to kill his ears or what? It sounded like he had the music at max volume. It was some kind of heavy metal or something. A friend of mine back at the country had listened to that kind of music too.

I felt a sudden jolt in my heart, so sudden I even put my hand over the place where I'd felt it. It was him, and he walked towards me. Just a few steps away now.

When the beautiful boy walked past me I could smell some kind of man perfume. I turned around to grab his wrist and just… do something, but he was gone. There was no sign of him anywhere. Only his smell was left. I breathed it in and out, slowly, "tasting" the smell. It was a great smell.

It was then and there, my first day at the new school, in the middle of the hall, that I knew it. I, Uzumaki Naruto, future soccer star, had fallen in love with a boy.

- End of Chapter One -


Sooo… That's chapter one, people. And the time's 1 am in the morning! Hope you've enjoyed your reading and that you're interested in reading some more. I'm going to try having a set date for my uploads, so that I have one week on each chapter, so chapter two should be coming soon. If not, you can pick on me a bit so that I move my lazy ass. XD lol

Well, anyway, I'm sorry if this was really bad or something, but I'll continue on it anyway. And please leave me some reviews so that I know what you think about it.

See ya all!