Chapter 1

The problem

Naruto has a problem! I wonder if you guys can figure it out. Plus I wonder if we will meet that mysterious boy again.

..Hmmm...

Also please review about the story and tell me what you think. I'm open to critisms for my grammer and ideas in your head.

Enjoy the bottom section as well!

"Naruto! Naruto wake up! We're going to be late, if you don't hurry!" shouts a female voice from a distance. A young boy turns in a small bed with bright orange sheets over his body. An orange ray of sunlight shines down on his yellow hair. Then slowly, a head peeps out from the large sheets, and two shinny blue eyes squints at the dusty window next to the bed. He sits up fully and begins to rub his marvelous eyes.

Inside the room, there were plenty of boxes stack on top of each other surrounding the bed. The stairs were cluster by cob webs and several sized books. A dusty chimney on the top floor, also near the bed, has ashes everywhere close to it. By the corner is a desk filled with endless paper. At last his roof and walls is basically made of wood in the inside. Indeed, the boy is living in an attic.

The boy yawns then scratches his stomach with his hand. He looks at an old clock hanging over the chimney for the time. The short arrow points at the seven, while the longest point between the four and the five. The boy sighs and lies down on the bed to rest. It's only 7:23 A.M. I'll have time to catch the bus… 7:23?! The blonde child bolts straight up from his sheets and tosses them aside.

Meanwhile, the door on the second level floor of the attic opens quickly to reveal a young girl. She has emblem green eyes and a red dress on with blue shorts underneath. Her eyes delve around the room until she stares at the stairs. With the same voice that woke up the boy previously, the girl yells, "Naruto! I'm leaving! If you miss the bus, it's not my fault."

"Ah! Please wait Sakura-chan!" replies the boy named Naruto. He rushes to place a white shirt over his head. Quickly he scavenges for a pair of fresh pants in a wooden drawer. Finally, the boy is dressed, and he grabs a stack of papers into a small bag. Before he went down the stairs, he looks around to remember if he forgotten anything. As seconds pass, he panics about the time and climbs down the stair case. Rushing to the door, he notices that his friend has left already. "Oh please don't make me miss the bus!"

Leaping off the cement porch and onto the sidewalk, Naruto let the door slam close. Whack! He dashes forward onto the streets where bundles of people gather in crowds. Maneuvering amongst the men, women, and children, he heads for the train station, which he could see over the head roofs of the buildings. The medal rails reflect the sun's light and shine brilliantly. That's when he sees the train coming in on another set of railroad tracks. Crap he thought. The train station is still a mile away from him, and the train is already going inside the train station building. He increases his speed.

Ring Ring! Burm! Ring Ring! The place is chaotic as usual as the train buzzes its horn and the ticket men ring the tickets. It seems most of the people have already gotten off and came on. The train buzzes again as Naruto near the noisy machine. Ha! I'm almost there! Just a little bit further... His hand extends and he reaches for the train. Bam! Then he is bangs backward by someone. The other person falls to the floor too.

"Ouch! Hey! Watch where you're going!" yells Naruto. He rubs his head with his right hand. His head throbs tremendously in pain. The person he banged into is also feeling his head, but he isn't complaining over it as much as Naruto is. Hearing the horn again, Naruto forgets about the slight wound on his head and stands up. He notices the same boy is picking up a huge pile of stuff on the ground. Feeling guilty, he helps pick up the small materials and brushes the things into the owner's hands.

The boy murmurs, "Thanks..." Looking up at his face, Naruto sees dark eyes under his raven hair. Naruto's eyes feel mesmerize by the boy. Why does he seem familiar? It seems like hours have passed as Naruto stares at the stranger.

"Hey! The train is going to leave!" shouts Sakura out of a window. Naruto quickly glance over to her then waves to her.

He yells back, "Okay! I'll be right there!" He moves around the stranger and gets on the train. The door slides shut and blocks the light to make the entrance dark. He turns to the left where various of people stand and sit on the transporting vehical. Naruto scurries over to where the pink headed Sakura is standing. She turns around when he arrives next to her. She's smiling happily at him.

"Whose the guy?" she asks eagerly. She points out the window. Naruto shurgs his shoulders without looking at the place and grabs onto one of the rings dangling from the ceiling. He already knew who she is talking about.

Naruto replies, "I don't know. I just accidently ran into him." He feels uncomfortable about talking of the stranger, like he is going to share a secert without knowing what the secert is. What came over him? Sakura frowns at the news. She sighs then sits down.

Sakura confesses, "You know, the guy is kind of handsome." Her cheeks turn slightly red.

"Huh?" says Naruto. He pretends to not hear her and starts to look around like he isn't interested in their discussion. But he also didn't want to hear it either, he likes Sakura alot. Sometimes he even pictures her as his girlfriend, but then there are times he feels like she is his little sister.

"Though, I think he is sort of sad for some reason. He looks like you when your parents...Oh I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to bring it up!" apolgizes Sakura.

Naruto gives Sakura a grin. He tells her, "It's no problem. You worry too much Sakura-Chan!". He looks away from her again. Inside his heart, it feels like he is being stabbed. His eyes feel dry and his head begins to hurt. A flash of memories of screams and shouts echoes in his mind. He couldn't fight the urge against touching his head. Then he feels a bump. He visualizes the boy from the train staton then hears Sakura's statement of him being sad. Swiftly he stares out the window onto the train station sidewalk. The boy is gone. Did he really looked sad? The train buzzes its last horn and budges forward. They were leaving the station...

"Why is this happening! I can't think of anything!" shouts Naruto. He leans back on his chair and tilts his head. He's staring at the ceiling until a blonde chick looks down at him. He reacts rashly, and jumps from his seat. Luckily, the girl was quicker, she backs away from him while still grinning. This girl has on purple stylish clothing and has her hair tied up.

She answers Naruto's question, "I believe you are having a writer's block. Everyonce in a while, a writer wouldn't have any ideas to write about." She crosses her arms in a cool comfortable way. Naruto relaxes a bit from surprise. He sits back down on his wheel chair and face his desk. Though he understands what Ino is saying, he just couldn't believe it would happen to him so easily. After all, he is the best selling author in the city for romance novels, short stories, and even poems. However, he never went into a love relationship before in his life.

"So what do I do?" asks Naruto worriedly.

Ino sighs and replies, "Nothing. Lately, you haven't had a break for months! Not even one day did you miss work! The best thing you need is a vacation. Besides, there are other writers in this department."

Naruto glances around the place in the corner of his eyes. The whole building has only two floors, but has several smaller rooms. The biggest room is the factory machine where they place the papers to be published. The second largest room is the writer's lounge. This is where Naruto is at; all the writers type their stories in here. It's true. Naruto isn't the only writer in the department. The place have several other novelists. Yet, that didn't make Naruto stop worrying. He hasn't written a story for weeks.

"Anyways, the boss wants to see you! Have fun!" exclaims Ino. She winks at him for luck then leaves. He moans for his misfortune. Standing up, Naruto heads for the stairs that leads to the boss's room. Of course, he has been in a few jams with the old geezer, but maybe this time it's different. Yeah. Like that is going to happen... I wonder why Ino was so happy though. When he reaches the front door, he knocks. I might as well get this over with.

On the other side of the door, someone answers, "Come in!" Naruto opens the door to reveal an old geezer sitting down in his desk while another person, his age, sitting down. He enters the room and sits down on the free chair in front of the headman's desk. The old man smiles at Naruto. His face is wrinkled like this worn out building. Of course, Naruto knew his boss saw some of the wall paper peeling off, the water pumps being rusted, and water leaking from time to time down on their papers and books. Therefore, he couldn't complain to the guy; it's like he would be asking the boss to be repaired as well. "How are you Naruto?"

"I'm well," replies Naruto. He lied; he's everything, but fine except for his body condition. Yet this causes the boss to widen his grin. Then Naruto quickly glances over to his right to see the other boy's reaction. He smiles too. Looking closly at him, Naruto studies his characteristic features. The boy has black short hair and he's also wearing black garments. This guy looks a like a business worker...

The other boy sees Naruto staring at him and greets him, "Hello, my name is Sai. I work for a business company that sells your books. It's a pleasure to meet you." He offers his hand to him. Naruto quickly shakes it. He seems pretty nice, for a business person I mean. He never met a business person personally, but he hears rumors that they are selfish beings that think about money only. The factory people nicknamed them Buslims, just like they nicknamed the builders as Packers.

"The pleasure is mine. Is there something you want with me?" asks Naruto. The old man shakes his head yes and leans forward toward Naruto.

He explains, "I have heard you are in a writer's block from one of my employees. I thought I should give you a break for all of your hard work. Plus I asked if Sai would help you out to relax. As you are aware, Sai comes from a large wealthy business family that my factory works under. It appears that the business leaders would like to meet the young man himself who wrote these inspiring love stories. I pray you won't embarrass us with your meetings with them, I trust."

I wonder who told him about my writer's block. He knew it was Yamanaka Ino's doing. That's why she was grinning earlier at him. I have to get her back somehow. Before that, I need to explain to the old man that I don't need a damn break! He argues back, "Sir, I don't need to take a time off of work. Plus I'm way off the deadline for the news article that I was assigned to!"

"That's been taken care of already," announce the geezer. Dang! The old man works quick! "I'm quite aware of your fond of writing and I know you're upset with the new changes. But I don't want to tell the leaders that the man they are waiting patiently to meet said no. This factory depends on them as well as you. Actually, the reason why we are still running this factory is your books. Our relations with the business leaders, or buslims as you call them, are good; let's not ruin it! Do you understand, Naruto?"

The old man is also sharp. Naruto sighs and gives in. "Yes, sir." replies Naruto. He stands up, ready to leave the room. "Is there anything else?" His boss shakes his head no. Finally, Naruto goes through the door.

Before Naruto went down the metal stairs, someone calls his name from behind. A boy with black hair rushes up to him. It's Sai from the boss's room. I wonder what he wants. "Sorry, but I wanted to tell you about your books. I'm quite a fan of them. I was just wondering if we could discuss about them sometime later. You know, probably tomorrow morning?" suggests Sai. Naruto thinks about it. I heard my books are good from other employees, but I didn't think they were top knots.

"Ah, sure. I guess we can get some breakfast," answers Naruto. He isn't sure if this is the best motive, but it couldn't hurt. After all, like it or not, he will be on break tomorrow. Sai smiles at the news.

He says, "Great. I guess love makes people do crazy things, right? I mean you must be in a relationship with someone to write such great books."

"Huh? Ah, yeah. I guess..." Love? I haven't even felt love with someone before. Is that what I'm missing? Then the boy from the train station appears in his mind again. Maybe that boy was in love before...

But...

I don't need love...

"When a lover needs a woman, he just goes to the women's department."

"He believes he can fly. He believes he can touch the sky. He thinks about everynight and day. Too bad we shot his wings today."

"What makes a good lier from a bad lier is acting./ But they're both bad./ That's what makes them so good."

"It's cold outside. Why are you wearing short?/ That's why I have on a jacket."