ShadowedDarkness: If you are reading this chapter, you should consider yourself lucky. I have never, and I mean never written a chapter this long. Lolz. Anyway. We all know I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters…((sigh)) But I do have wishful thinking. Anywho's I hope you like this chapter, Enjoy!

I'm not a monster…

It was one of those chilly autumn, not quite winter, type of days. A spectrum of assorted colored leaves littered the ground, frost tingeing the edges of the semi damp curled sides and clinging to the sickly looking grass. The tall sturdy trees lining the walk ways stood bare and naked in all of their glory, only bending to the power of the harsh, biting cold winds, tossing the rainbow colored leaves that had formed small piles on the ground back into the air.

One particular powerful blow of wind sent an orange and red tinged leaf high into the air, dancing through streets and buildings, passing an innocent looking clearing, and following a happily gushing river up towards a lone wooden bridge and over it. As the leaf's dance slowly died, it floated back down to earth and landed on the water, small ripples leaping forth before the leaf was swept away by the pulling current.

Blue eyes glared at the innocent leaf as it cruised by and back under the bridge, the angered gaze still on the target as it continued its miniature sailing trip on the other side. If looks could kill, that poor little leaf would have probably burst into flames, the remains would have sank to the bottom of the freezing lake, revived/magically healed, only to undergo the same process repeatedly…about thirteen more times…

Thank Gods looks can't kill, other wise he would have been holding a small burial ceremony for the brutally massacred leaf while all of its other leafy and acorn-like friends mourned at the rather sudden and unexpected loss. What a sad life, poor leaf.

Heaving a sigh the teenager, no older than 15, leaned over the railing and drummed his fingers against the wooden surface. If the irritated look on the boys heart-shaped face was anything to go by, he looked tick. No, scratch that, he was down right pissed.

"Ugh! Where are they!" He cried, throwing his hands up into the air only to pull his right hand back down to about eye level to glare at the simple wrist-watch. "And who in their right fucking mind would hold a team meeting at four fucking thirty in the morning! Not only that-" He crossed his arms and stuck his hands under his armpits as a particularly strong gust of wind whipped past. "-I'm the only one who shows up on time, and-" He flinched as another gust went past, stinging his already rosy cheeks and messing his already unruly locks of blonde spikey hair. "-Gods it's cold!"

Huddling more into himself, the blonde hopped from one foot to the other hoping that maybe the small dance would bring circulation back to his legs while pulling his hands out of the safety of his pits, rubbing them together, and then promptly shoving them back in. Like stated it was a chilly autumn, not quite winter type of day, but it was pretty damn close to it. The blonde was also pretty damn sure that it was below thirty out.

And he had been standing out there waiting for his two missing team mates and his annoyingly always tardy mentor type instructor…thing…

…for about an hour now…

…alone…

…in the cold…

…without a jacket…

…Oh how he hated life…

Stomping his foot in a childish manner the teen decided to re-yell his last statement of "Gods its cold!"

"No shit Sherlock."

Spinning around on one sandal clad foot, the blonde angrily set his gaze where the fluid voice had come from and proceeded to glare at his rival. His rival was the epitome of perfection with his lithe yet muscular body, smooth silky voice, unblemished and perfect smooth white skin, raven black hair, onyx eyes, and his great intellect. He was perfect.

He hated him.

"Where the hell have you been!" The blonde shouted, throwing his hands up in exclamation. "And why the hell was I the only one on time for once!" He continued to rant proceeding to spout some nonsense along the lines of 'waking up at four thirty in the morning-he hated pickles-why was no one there-and had they been abducted by a league of angry fairies!'

With each statement, more ridiculous then the last, continuing to spill from the blondes lips the raven haired teens laughter was getting harder to hold in. Seriously, who could come up with this stuff besides the dobe that stood, still ranting, in front of him? And the answer to that question, absolutely no one.

Crossing his arms a smirk planted itself on his face. "What the hell are you talking about dobe? The meeting was cancelled." The raven haired teen stared at the blonde as confusion flew across his face. His delicate eyebrows drawing together and a small pout forming on his lips as he froze mid rant. He jerked his head back.

"Wait, what? But Kakashi-sensei said…" He trailed off and frowned, maybe he had been told that it had been cancelled? He didn't think so…but…

Onyx eyes trailed over the others form as he stood there in thought. Spikey and wild blonde hair, large blue doe eyes, a small delicate nose centered on a heart-shaped face, full lips which were currently in full pout mode, three parallel whisker-like scars on either side of his cheeks, thin, slightly muscular…honestly the blonde had a more effeminate figure then most of the girls in the village. He watched as the teen shivered and subconsciously rubbed his bare arms. Wait….bare…? Was he an idiot? Why wasn't he wearing a jacket?

"I don't remember anything about a cancellation, Sasuke-teme." The blonde argued, the frown still marring his features.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the nickname, but shrugged it off. "Didn't Sakura come over to tell you we cancelled the whole meeting thing? Kakashi had to go off on a mission."

Realization dawned on the blondes face while Sasuke smirked, again. Infuriating thing never seemed to leave the bastards face. Inwardly the blonde sighed. Of coarse the bumble-gum pink haired girl hadn't said anything to him, why would she? She hated him after all, just like every other inhabitant of the village.

He always wondered why they hated him so much…

"Freak!"

"Monster!"

The blonde flinched at the memories. Oh right, that's why. Forcing a strained smile onto his face, he laughed. "I can't believe I forgot what Sakura told me. He, he, he…"

"I can, dobe."

"Teme." He growled threateningly. The effect was ruined, of course, by the fact that he was standing there, arms hugged close to his body, shivering, and teeth chattering. Sooooooo, the effect given was more like an unhappily soaked kitten trying to give out death threats, laughable and somewhat adorable.

Not that Sasuke thought the other was adorable, definitely not.

The smirk on the others face dissipated and he rolled his eyes. God the blonde in front of him could be such a…well, blonde. Reaching close to his neck he felt for a few seconds before his fingers hit the cool metal of the zipper. Grasping it he pulled down, shucked off the jacket, and threw it at the still shivering blonde, who caught it out of reflex. "Idiot, where a jacket next time." And with that he turned around and began his trek back home.

The blonde stood there, shocked at the kind act of his rival. It was only a second later, when another gust of ice cold wind blew by that he quickly tugged his arms through the sleeves and ran after the raven haired teen in front of him, zipping up the jacket as he went. "Hey, hey, wait up!" He slowed to a stop at the others side.

Sasuke glanced to his left. "What do you want Naruto."

"I, nothing. Thanks I guess." He shrugged. Sure, he was still freezing, but it was the thought that mattered…and the fact that Sasuke had just done something nice…

…for him…

…that was new…

…had hell frozen over?

He smirked. "It was nothing. Besides, can't have you getting sick, I wouldn't be able to kick your ass."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the remark. "You wish." They walked in silence till they reached civilization, and then parted ways. His rival, probably the only person in the village that didn't hate him just because. He smiled slightly, a true smile, and then flinched at the sneers he was receiving and the hate filled glares that followed him.

He scowled, mood ruined, and turned towards the direction of his house instead of Ichiraku's ramen shop where he had originally been headed. Food was suddenly the last thing he wanted. If people had actually ever found out that he, Uzumaki Naruto, had just turned down a chance to go eat ramen, they would have died form shock. He loved ramen.

Or so they all thought. Well, he did love ramen, just not food in general. He hated the prospect of eating. He could go for days without eating, not because he was anorexic or anything, but because he just forgot. How any one could forget to eat was beyond him, but it seemed that he did it fairly often. Odd, ne?

Opening the door to his apartment, he couldn't help but stare at how neat his home was…or how bright for that matter. Ack! His eyes, his eyes! They buuuuuuuuuuuuuuurned! Too. Much. Light…

Yes, even though it defied all laws of the world, universe, and heavens above, Uzumaki Naruto was a neat freak. Not that anyone knew that. It wasn't like anyone in the village took the time out of their daily lives to walk into his home despite the fact that they hated him just to inspect his house and decide if it was clean or not. Please, the day that happened the sky would fall and pigs would fly.

Shutting the door swiftly behind him, he strode into the living room and plopped himself unceremoniously onto the old and worn black couch that stood proudly, despite it's old age, in front of a small coffee table. It was slightly rotten and he was pretty sure that that black burn mark in the center of it was from a cigarette, but it served its purpose. As did the TV in front of that and the slightly bent pole lamp to the right.

Naruto had a four room apartment which had a bedroom, an extremely small bathroom, a small kitchen that only was meant to hold one person, and the room he was in now. All of the rooms were small, sadly. But he liked it.

But it always, when ever he entered it, felt empty. He always felt lonely. That ache in his chest always seemed to grow. The ache was a living thing and it enjoyed making him squirm.

And so did the voice…

He had grown accustomed to it over the years. At first he had liked the voice and the dream that had accompanied it, what with its soothing words and warm feel. But as he grew older the voice became colder and the dreams, nightmares. Sometimes he felt like he would crack, but at those times, the voice was soothing again.

He didn't understand it. Sometimes he wasn't sure if that voice was there to help him, or help destroy him.

/But then again you rarely do understand./ A voice drawled in his mind. Oh joy, the crazy part of him awakened.

/Shove it./

Laughter resonated through his mind. After a few moments all fell silent and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. Today was one of those days, a day where the voice in his head seemed to tired to really do anything/voice unwanted opinions and spent most of the day sleeping, if that made any sense seeing as a voice couldn't really feel tired or sleep, but that's what it did and the only way the blonde could describe it.

The blonde was slightly dozing when a knock could be heard coming from his door. Hoping that maybe, just maybe, luck was on his side for once and the person at the door would give up and go away, he rolled over. Of coarse that's not how life works and the person at the door insisted on continuing to knock until the door opened and they were acknowledged. Cursing lady luck and annoyingly persistent people, Naruto got up from his rather comfortable position and threw open the door, and there on the other side was none other then his rival. The very one he had just seen earlier that morning, barely moments before.

Probably wanted his jacket back. Well that was too bad, he was still wearing it. So there.

Somehow between him throwing open the door and his thoughts, both Naruto and Sasuke found themselves caught in a staring match, or rather, glaring match. Shifting under the others intense gaze, Naruto found himself looking anywhere but at the Uchiha in front of him. T'was another loss in these mini-battles for poor Naruto, but he should have seen the outcome coming. No one could beat Sasuke in a glaring match; his glares could probably make the devil herself burst into tears.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Insufferable silence. The blonde was about to open his mouth to ask why the other was here, but he was beaten to it. Oooooh, two to zero, damn perfect little-

"Well aren't you going to let me in?"

"Errrr…"

A smirk adorned the others face and it took all of Naruto's will power to not try to smack it off. Why was it always there! "I see manners aren't-"

"Shove it teme and get in all ready." The blonde growled, moving out of the way for the still smirking Uchiha to pass and shut the door. Sasuke, who upon passing, stopped short to stare.

And stare.

And stare.

"It's…clean…" He exclaimed, an astonished look on his face as his eyes swept over the interior of the apartment.

And with that Naruto promptly threw back open the door and stared up at the sky to see if it was falling and or any flying pigs were circling his-oh look, there goes one now…

One delicate eyebrow rose at the blonde's odd actions. A smile was tugging at the corners of his lips as Naruto shut the door and spun around, a rather sheepish expression adorning his face. Rubbing the back of his head he laughed. "He, he, yeaaaaah…so, what'd you come over for?"

The Uchiha shrugged and plopped down onto the couch.

"What do you mean you don't know!" The blonde shouted, his eyebrow twitching. Shifting his weight to his right foot he placed his hands on his hips. "I know for a fact 'the great Uchiha Sasuke' wouldn't want to visit me, well, not on his own free will anyway…so what do you want?"

The other shrugged again. "Bored."

Disbelief flooded him. "You're… bored?"

"Yup."

"…"

"…"

"You're joking right?" Naruto dropped his hands from his hips. The other in front of him had to be joking, but wait, did Sasuke know how to do that? Seriously, the coldest guy on earth, the living breathing frost bite, the iceberg that sank titanic, joking around? That's-that's-that's-

"I don't joke, dobe."

-apparently never going to happen. Rolling blue eyes, he sighed. "If you're so bored, go train or something. Why bother me?"

The Uchiha just shrugged again, which was seriously getting old, and fast. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Naruto opened his mouth. He had to say something, anything, anything to get rid of the silence. "Will you…will you train with me?" Now where in the world had that question come from? He stood there, fiddling with the hem of the jacket he was wearing, waiting for the others answer. He didn't know why he suddenly asked that question, but he blamed the silence. Silence always made him do stupid things, like what he did just now. Like the other with the superiority complex would actually take him up on his offer. Tch, not like he wanted him to take him up on it anyway though.

"Sure." Sasuke replied simply before standing up and heading towards the door. Raising one elegant eyebrow at the shocked teen in front of him, he smirked. "You know, you do a great impersonation of a fish."

Holy crap, did he just pull a joke!

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.

Naruto lay there panting in the grass and Sasuke lay somewhere around his head, both exhausted after there training session. It had started off simple enough, both deciding to spar. The only rule being no ninjutsu, the plan to help improve their hand to hand combat moves, which Naruto admitted to needing more practice in then Sasuke.

Blue eyes stared up at the slowly darkening sky. He hadn't realized how long they had been going at it, both too absorbed in trying to pummel the other into the ground. He wasn't to sure when he had lost his shirt or when Sasuke had lost his.

Sitting up slowly he noted that it was almost completely dark, he really wouldn't be able to see anything, let alone where his black t-shirt had gotten to. Sasuke's lent jacket was, surprisingly, what he had laid down on. Slightly coincidental, neh? Blue eyes swiveled over to the darker haired teen behind him before pouting. "You cheated."

One blood red eye opened to glance up at the pouting blonde. "What are you talking about? I did no such thing."

Turning around completely, Naruto went into a kneeling position and stared hard at the other. "You used your Sharingan, you cheated!"

The sharingan user rolled over, the blonde leaning back as the other sat up in his own kneeling position. "Tch, if I remember correctly, we agreed in the beginning that the sharingan wasn't technically breaking the rules-"

"Yeah, but you promised not to use it!" The blonde cried. He hadn't lost in their sparring match, they had tied, but that was reason enough for him to complain. "Without that I would have beaten you!"

"In your dreams dobe." Sasuke scoffed, red eyes slowly transforming back into their normal coal black. "I could beat you with my eyes closed."

Naruto snorted. "Oh yeah? Then why'd ya use it? Hu, hu, hu?" He crossed his arms and leaned back on his heals.

Leaning forward he smirked and whispered softly by his ear. "Oh I don't know, I was wondering if you could keep up…" Pulling back he stood up, smirk still gracing his features as he turned and walked away. Only throwing one last comment over his should as he left which was something along the lines of 'Bright cooler'…or had that been 'Night loser'…he was figuring it was the latter. Sure Sasuke was crazy, but the last time he checked said teen didn't walk around mumbling about 'bright coolers.'

Heaving a sigh the blonde flopped from his kneeling position back to lying in the grass. He smiled a true smile as he gazed upon the stars. Stars; beautiful, bright, and could never be touched, a shimmering light in the vast expanse of darkness that blanketed the universe, and not to mention free. Still smiling, he laid there, eyes slowly fluttering shut.

His exhausted body finally commanding the brain to stop all functions.

With the cool soothing wind that still held the chill from the morning running tendrils over his over-heated body, the blonde had fallen into a comfortable slumber. No nightmares or voices coming to visit for once. His one arm was flung over his eyes while his other hand was resting gently against his stomach, covering the tattoo like markings adorning his naval.

The poor blonde never saw it coming.

He never saw the five, give or take a few, people that slowly and quietly surrounded him. He never heard the rustling of fabric as one of them pulled what seemingly looked like a bat out of a bag. He never heard the whispers of the figures above him or saw the sadistic glint in their eyes.

If he had, he would have ran.

He didn't know what hit him when the first downward swing of the wooden bat. Nor did he understand fully the second time it hit him, or when fists and legs seemed to join the fray. He did register it when he felt pressure settle down on top of his stomach, a pressure that twisted painfully as one of the figures above him dug his heel directly into the swirled markings on his abdomen.

Crying out, the blonde grabbed at the offending foot, struggling to fend off his attackers.

Let's just say he was fighting a losing battle. Something he realized when the heel in his abdomen lifted up only to crash back into him, forcefully knocking the air out of him while a swift kick was dealt to his ribs by another attacker. Or maybe he realized it when he saw the slight glimmer of a knife in the moonlight and felt the pain as it was slashed across his chest. Although he was past realization when he felt the wooden bat connect with his skull, a sickening sound reverberating through the air as his vision swam before him, his arms suddenly going limp at his sides.

The torture continued for about another fifteen minutes before he was kicked to the side. "Monster!" He watched through half lidded eyes as the figures slowly walked away, laughter floating back to him on the wind.

"The little freak got what he deserved."

"Yeah!"

"No, the fucking little monster deserves to die!"

"You know we can't do that…if the hokage found out…"

The voices trailed off as they got farther away. Naruto slowly sat up, fire flaming through his lungs, vision swimming, limbs aching, and head throbbing. He felt sick. He stood up slowly, tears pouring trickling down his face. "I'm not a monster…I'm not…I-I..." He whispered brokenly, letting the unfinished statement hang.

He wasn't to sure how he had been able to stumble home, but he had. And when he had he let himself fall to his bed, the sobs tearing from his throat and racking his small frame. He wasn't a monster, he wasn't!

He wasn't…

He cried himself to sleep, a fox smiling wickedlyin his dreams.

ShadowedDarkness: Sorry this took so long to get out, I wound up going to Florida. Where they have no computers… XD

Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, and please, please, please leave some reviews! It's not good to starve the purple button, I should charge you with cruelty! Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter, Twas greatly appreciated.

Till next time, peace out

-Shadow-