A Kitsune Riding On My Shoulder

By: Nobodykaires

I don't own Naruto

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to get out! I want to say that it was because of school or something but the truth is that I'm just a horrible procrastinator… So next time I even start to take this long to get a chapter, yell at me personally. My aim is nobodykaires. I'm usually on and if you tell me to update then I'm more likely to listen if it's im cause it's harder to say "I'll do it later" when you're right there waiting…

(Lalalalal this is a page break)

Naruto yawned and stretched in his bed before settling down in a more comfortable position. He had trained extra hard on his kunai throwing and hadn't gotten back until later. Sleepily he lay sprawled on his bed and thought about his training. There was a reason that he had been practicing harder than usual last night. But his sleepy mind couldn't quite grasp onto what exactly that reason had been.

"Rise and shine, Kid!" Ichiro called cheerfully as he flipped on the lights and barged into the room. After a couple months of living with the two ANBU, Naruto had managed to convince the lazy men to clean out their storage room so that he could have somewhere to sleep. After a lot of redecorating, the room somewhat resembled a child's bedroom. Well, except for the weapons rack that was pushed up against one of the walls, but where else were they supposed to keep it?

"Ugh!" Naruto screamed as he rolled over and buried his head in his pillow. "Jus' five more minu…" he mumbled into his pillow while waving his hand dismissively at the older man. Absently Naruto shoved Neko-chan off of his bed, anticipating her daily morning lecture.

Ichiro smiled at the small boy's antics, it happened every day and still he insisted on training until late at night. "C'mon Kid, academy starts at nine and if you want breakfast you have to get up now." Naruto seemed to gain some energy at those words and peeked out from under his covers to adjust his eyes to the light slowly.

"I'm up. I'm up." Naruto finally grumbles as he shoved his blankets onto the floor. The temptation to go back to sleep was too strong if he was under his warm blankets. Rubbing his eyes, Naruto stumbled around his room, still half asleep. Ichiro merely shook his head at the young boy's antics before leaving the young child to his morning ritual.

As soon at Ichiro left the room Naruto stopped his hurried frenzy and glanced down at his only friend and companion. "Neko-chan?" he started but then realized that he couldn't see her anywhere. "Neko-chan, where'd you go?" He asked as he scanned his room with his eyes.

"I'm under your blanket, idiot" Came a voice from the other side of the room. Naruto turned around sheepishly and hurriedly pulled the blanket off of his small companion. "You do that everyday…Shouldn't you realize after the first couple times that I'm going to be in the same place?" Neko-chan grumbled at Naruto pulled her out of the mess of blankets.

"I'm really sorry, Neko-chan. Honest." Naruto apologized as he placed his friend on a safer perch on his dresser. "But I've got a problem Neko-chan and I dunno what I should do." He fretted nervously as he absently tugged on the bottom of his shirt.

"What is the problem this time?" Neko-chan asked in a long-suffering voice. Naruto had a habit of freaking out at the smallest things and thinking that his problem was the end of the world. She figured it must be a child-thing since the other two didn't act that way.

"Neko-chan! What should I do? I'm going to academy today and I have to show everyone that I'm really strong." Naruto started to pace nervously as he poured out all his issues to his only friend. "But, well…. Strong ninjas don't carry stuffed animals around…. How am I supposed to impress anyone when you're around?" Here, Naruto stopped pacing and looked into Neko-chan's cold plastic eyes as if he could meet her gaze.

Neko-chan looked at Naruto seriously for a minute as if gouging his sincerity and how serious the issue was before coming to a conclusion. "You will not leave me here." She commanded, leaving no room for any arguments. "You are still young enough to be seen with a stuffed animal. When you reach the age where it is looked down upon I will consider staying behind." She compromised. She would not stay behind with that monster.

"Hey Naruto!" Ichiro called from the kitchen. "You're taking too long, if you want to make it on time you'll have to leave now." Naruto yelped at that comment and ran a brush through his hair in an attempt to look presentable before grabbing Neko-chan and running out the door.

"O.K. Naruto. I packed you an extra large lunch to make up for you not having breakfast." Ichiro told him as he handed Naruto a lunch bag. "I have a mission today so I won't be here when you get back but I expect to hear all about your day when I'm done." Ichiro stated as he patted Naruto on the head affectionately.

"You show those kids what you're made of." Then he pushed Naruto out the door. "You'll have to run if you don't want to be late!" He exclaimed as he gave Naruto a small shove. Naruto stumbled along a few steps before turning and waving goodbye.

"I'll see you when you get back from your mission Nii-san!" Naruto called as he walked away. "And I'll tell you all about how the kids there where in awe of my skill!" He exclaimed arrogantly before sprinting off in the direction of the academy.

Naruto sped through the streets, trying to avoid any collisions with the villagers as they went about his life. A couple ninjas that were out on the street watched the blonde boy and smiled at his energy and spirit, but to the villagers he was only a blur of color.

When Naruto arrived at the academy the children were already filing into their classes. He put on a small burst of speed and burst through the door with a sign on it that said 'New students'. He skidded from slightly as he tried to stop without crashing into anything.

"How nice of you to join us." Said a man at the front of the room. "Please take a seat, or did you have something else planned?" Naruto blushed as he noticed that the eyes of everyone in the class were on him.

"Er, no it's ok… I'll just take a seat…." Naruto stammered as he avoided meeting anyone's eyes. "I'm sorry I'm late…" Dejectedly Naruto took a seat in the back of the room. The boy in the seat next to him only spared him a glance before looking back at the man in the front of the room.

"Now that we're all here we can start." The man at the front of the room suggested. "My name is Mizuki and I will be your teacher for the next few years. You will call me Mizuki-san or Mizuki-sensei. Understand class?" He lectured. The room was silent for a couple seconds as the new students looked at their new teacher. "I said 'Understand class?'" Mizuki said in a louder voice to the children.

"Hai Mizuki-sensei!" some of the children called out as they realized what he wanted. Naruto noticed the boy next to him scoff at the other children with his black eyes narrowed and muttering something about weaklings, revenge, and strawberry hair conditioner.

"Class, I would also like to introduce my assistant teacher, Iruka-san." Mizuki continued, waving for a boy standing behind him to come forward. "When he became a genin he decided that, for some strange reason, he wanted to teach as a profession instead of fighting. You are to give him the same respect that you give me, understand class?"

This time the children understood what he wanted and he question was quickly followed by choruses of "Hai, Mizuki-sensei" Iruka just blushed at the attention he was receiving and waved to the class before hiding behind Mizuki nervously.

"For now, Iruka-san will merely be observing my teaching methods but, once he is able to, he will teach you in the ways of Konoha ninja." Mizuki lectured the class as his voice became monotonous "Today we will be learning about the different hand seals that are used in all kinds of different jutsus." Collectively the class groaned. That was such a boring subject. Why couldn't he teach them cool new techniques?

Seemingly ignorant of the class' disappointment Mizuki started his lesson. Half the class listened to what he said and the other half just relaxed and ignored him. Naruto was one of the ones that ignored him. A few minutes into the lecture Naruto decided to find something exciting to do.

Poke.

Twitch.

Poke.

Twitch.

Poke.

Vein pulsing.

Poke.

"Why are you doing that?" The black haired boy finally ground out, glaring at Naruto angrily. Seemingly oblivious to the other boy's anger, Naruto poked him again.

"Hey," Naruto asked quietly so that the teacher wouldn't yell at them. When the boy glared back at him he took that as his signal to continue, "If I poke you enough times, will you blow up?" He poked the boy again as if to test his theory.

"That's stupid, of course I won't blow up, stupid," The black haired boy grumbled angrily. "Only someone that's really stupid would think up and idea that's that stupid, Which means that you must be really stupid. So shut your stupid mouth now before anymore stupid ideas come out of it."

Blink.

Blink.

"…..You do realize that you just said stupid seven times, right?" Naruto questioned, not at all insulted by what the other boy had done.

"You do realize that you're really stupid, don't you?" Was the other boy's comeback. Naruto was quiet for a second as if waiting to see if the boy was going to say anything else.

"Ok…. That's eight times…… you have a very limited vocabulary, don't you?" He asked the boy quietly as he glanced around the room, "I mean you're not, like, messed up in the head or anything are you?"

"You have a very limited brain capacity." The boy growled back, embarrassed that what Naruto said was true. Naruto seemed to think over what he said for a second.

"What's a 'brain capacity'?" He asked the other boy innocently. The brunette looked at Naruto as if to see if he was really serious, as if he couldn't believe that Naruto didn't know what brain capacity was. There was silence for a few seconds with only Mizuki's voice droning on in the background.

"I….. don't know….I just heard someone say it and it sounded like it was a really mean insult," The boy admitted embarrassed. Naruto brightened up when he heard these words.

"So, it could mean, like, that I'm super smart and an awesome ninja?" He asked brightly as he bounced a little in his seat. "And then, it would really be more of a compliment….so… thanks! I'm glad you think so!" He chirped the last part with a smile.

"No!" The other boy exclaimed before being hushed by a look from Mizuki, "If anyone here is really smart and an awesome ninja, then it's me!" he declared angrily. "Not you! I'm smarter than you and a better ninja!" His voice was getting louder with each word he said, "I'm the one with a limited brain capacity!" He shouted at the blonde, standing up from his seat and declaring it to the whole class.

Silence.

Birds Chirping.

"Detention, Uchiha-san, for disrupting my class. It is obvious that you are correct and you do have a limited brain capacity." Mizuki commented dryly as 'Uchiha-san' slumped back into his chair, embarrassed.

"Ne, Neko-chan?" Naruto whispered quietly so that he wouldn't be heard, "What does 'limited brain capacity' mean?" It took the small stuffed animal a while to recover from her laughing enough to be able to tell the small boy.

"Someone who has a limited brain capacity is really stupid." Neko-chan informed the small blonde boy.

"Oh, so Uchiha-san just called himself an idiot?" He asked, disbelieving.

"I'm not an idiot." The mentioned boy muttered as he overheard Naruto's last comment. "And don't call me Uchiha-san that was my father. My name's Sasuke." He said without looking at the blonde boy.

"Nice to meet you Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed, holding his hand out to the other boy, "My names Naruto! Pleasure to meet you!" He chirped, seemingly forgetting that they had just been yelling at each other seconds before.

"Class dismissed." Mizuki-sensei said from the front of the classroom, "Uchiha-san, Inuzuka-san, stay after for your detentions." As Naruto sped out of the room he could hear Mizuki-sensei lecturing the other boy about bringing pets to school while the boy completely blew him off.

Naruto ran through the winding hallways while trying to remember how he had gotten to his classroom and not get lost on the way out. As he ran around a corner he wasn't looking and ran straight into another person.

"I am SO sorry!" He apologized as he helped the petite girl stand up. "I wasn't looking where I was going, and it was all my fault and I was just going too fast, and I'm SO sorry!" He rambled off as he made sure that the girl was all right. When he looked up at the girl he was surprised to see amusement dancing in her eyes.

Quickly she covered her mouth even as her eyes continued their twinkling, "I…I'm …so…sorry…." She stammered nervously behind her hand, "Its…ho…horrible… of me…." She paused for a second to collect herself, "I…sho…shouldn't… la….laugh at…you….li..er… like that…." Naruto stared at the girl unbelieving as she continued to stammer along.

"It's ok…." He said, hoping to take away any guilt she felt, "It was my fault anyway…" He paused as he seemed to think of something "You look familiar, do I know you?" She blushed at the attention he was giving her but her eyes showed her joy that he had remembered.

"Ye….yes…" She stammered before Naruto interrupted her. Honestly, she was a nice girl, but it took her forever to actually say anything.

"You're the girl from the park, Hoy…no…. Huu….no not that either…. Umm.." He murmured to himself as he tried to remember her name.

"Hyuuga, Hinata." Naruto snapped his fingers.

"That's it, Hinata!" Looking back up at her Naruto was surprised to see a boy that looked similar to her hovering next to her protectively. "er…Hello, have we met?" He asked nervously as the new boy's eyes bore into Naruto's.

"Nii-san…." Hinata murmured as her cousin glared at Naruto.

"Come along, Hinata-sama. We must go prepare ourselves." He said, not elaborating on the ceremony while in public so that people would not learn and of the Hyuuga's secrets.

"Ha..hai….Nii-san…." Hinata agreed before turning back to Naruto, "Say…Sayon…ar…." She stuttered even as her cousin led her out of the school and away from Naruto.

"Well, are you gonna just stand here all day, or are you gonna head home?" Neko-chan asked angrily when Naruto did not leave fast enough.

"Neko-chan?" Naruto questioned his chibi friend, "Why were her eyes so sad?" He looked down at the one person who always seemed to have all the answers. "Even when she smiled, her eyes looked like she was crying inside….." He trailed off as he remembered.

"You're too young to understand, Kid. Let's just go home." Neko-chan said, not wanting to describe what the small human girl must have felt being the future of one of the most powerful clans. Naruto nodded agreement; after all, Neko-chan would never lie to him, and then started on his way home. He couldn't wait to tell aniki and nii-san all about his first day at school.

Ahem! REVIEW!REVIEWW!REVIEW!

Lol, that's fun to do….

Hello, because I'm super lazy and it's a pain to add up all the votes, I'm gonna say that any pairing that doesn't have over 10 votes after this chapter will be discarded. Just a heads up.

Polls

Naru/Hinata- 31

Naru/Kyuubi- 17

Naru/Kin- 9

Naru/Ino- 7

Naru/Tenten- 2

Naru/Tayuya- 1

Naru/Anko- 1

None- 3

On a completely random note, I know that some people think that naru/hin is way overdone and I appreciate that you are willing to take the time to review my story but, unless I decide that I totally hate the winning vote, I will have no control over who Naruto ends up with. I can only say that it will NOT be a fluff fic, but that most good stories need romance in some form.