Alright, I know that the prologue wasn't really all that satisfying, so I tried to churn out an actualy chapter as fast as I could. Enjoy, and we'll see if I can get the next chapter out sometime this week.

Chapter 1

A young, blonde child stood in the middle of a messy, rundown apartment, his clothes in tatters and his hands covered in blood. In front of him a tall, intimidating man loomed over the limp form of a woman, a dripping knife clenched firmly in his hand. The boy looked up at the fearsome figure, tears clouding his vision as he backed away into the corner, his lip quivering with fear. The man turned towards him, his eyes brimming with bloodlust as he paced slowly across the crimson-stained floor. The boy closed his eyes, anticipating the worst as the horrific form drew closer, the terror practically choking him. When the inevitable did not come, however, the blonde slowly looked up to see the man bent over him, a sinister smirk on his face.

"Come, Naruto."

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With a panicked scream Naruto Uzumaki sat up in his bed, cold sweat running down his face and his hands trembling with fear. Outside the sun was just rising, and he could hear the honking of horns as people started their daily commute.

"Naruto!" someone shouted from just outside the blonde's room, accompanied by a rhythmic pounding on the door. "Naruto! Wake up! We're gonna be late!"

"Alright already, Kiba! I'm up!" Naruto called back as he threw off his covers and stumbled to his feet.

As he made his way across the hall to the bathroom, Naruto tried to steady his trembling limbs and calm himself down. Once he had started the shower, the blonde stripped off his boxers and let the hot water run over his body, taking deep breaths as he thought things over.

It was just a dream. Nothing to worry about. He's gone, he can't hurt you.

After repeating this to himself several times, Naruto was finally able to control his breathing and proceed with his shower. Before long, he heard Kiba's familiar pounding on the door and instantly shut off the water, lest he incur his housemate's wrath.

Once he had dried off and gotten dressed in his usual ensemble of a black shirt and orange pants, Naruto quickly made his way into the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. Seeing Kiba tapping his foot impatiently by the door, however, the blonde decided to toss some instant ramen into the microwave and eat on the go. One minute and a light 'ding' later, he was out the door with an irritated Kiba following in his wake.

"What the hell took you so long this morning?" Kiba asked as they struggled to make up for lost time. "I thought I was waiting for my sister or something…"

"Give me a break, I'm still in summer mode, okay?" Naruto explained before flashing his trademark grin.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Kiba panted as he ran along, "Making us wake up at seven every day, it's criminal!"

Naruto was glad to see his friend drop the grouchy attitude. It was something they both had in common, that inability to stay angry for any great period of time. If ever they fought, like the time when Kiba's dog, Akamaru, had gotten into Naruto's ramen, they would usually patch things up after a few hours of sulking.

It was truly destiny that they were both sent away to Konoha High last year, because Naruto really could not see himself living with anyone else. Not the he was lacking friends or anything; he had made several over the past year. He and Kiba understood one another, though; they each knew how the other worked. Even if he felt as terrible as he did that morning, Naruto knew he could count on his friend to cheer him up, and he was glad to have that support.

Thus, it was with surprisingly high spirits that Naruto burst through the front doors of Konoha High that morning, a winded Kiba trudging in shortly after. Seeing that many students were still searching for their classes, the blonde took the time to rub his victory into the Inuzuka's face.

"Ha! Beat you again, dog-boy!" Naruto taunted as he pumped his fist in victory.

"How the hell do you do that?" Kiba asked incredulously, struggling to catch his breath. "You just sprinted for two miles, and you're not even sweating!"

"I've told you before, I have great stamina," Naruto replied with a sheepish grin.

"And I've told you before you're too loud," a distinctly bored voice said from behind, "I swear, sometimes you're so troublesome…"

The vulpine boy felt himself jump slightly as he spun around to find a boy with a pineapple-shaped hairdo leaning against the wall. "Don't scare me like that, Shikamaru!"

"So loud," the lazy boy replied with a sigh. "It's far too early for you to have this much energy."

"Hey, Shikamaru," Kiba piped in, his breath still heavy from the run. "Who do you have for first hour?"

"I've got Kakashi," Shikamaru responded with a smirk, "guess I won't have to wake up so early after all."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, a puzzled look on his face.

"Haven't you heard? Kakashi is never on time. Sometimes he doesn't show up until half-way through the day," Shikamaru explained in a casual manner.

"Don't you remember, Naruto? I told you about him last night," Kiba continued, clearly frustrated with his housemate's poor memory.

"Oh yeah! We have him first hour too, right?" the blonde responded, his overexcited tone causing Shikamaru to twitch once again.

"Right, so we'd better get going," Kiba said with a wave of his hand. "You never know, he might show up on time for our first day."

Shikamaru and Naruto agreed with this logic, and together the three made their way through Konoha High's labyrinthine hallways. After weaving through the crowd and sliding past several clumps of gossiping girls, they finally arrived at room 1457, marked clearly "Kakashi Hatake."

"Of course he isn't here, troublesome…" Shikamaru sighed as the trio entered the noisy classroom.

Looking around, Naruto found that, indeed, there was not a single person resembling a teacher in sight. There was the usual gaggle of fangirls surrounding local heartthrob Sasuke Uchiha, as well several other students chatting about their summer vacation, but no one that the vulpine boy could identify as an authority figure.

"Where should we sit, guys?" Kiba asked as he quickly surveyed the room.

Naruto took a minute to find the ideal location, analyzing the pros and cons of every spot. It was not exactly a taxing procedure, since many areas were easy to cross of the list.

Not by that bastard Sasuke, thinks he so cool… Not by Shino, that guy's just creepy. Gaara… no, I kinda want to live through the year…

After a few quick scans, Naruto finally noticed the pale figure sitting in the corner, nervously touching the tips of her fingers together as she glanced over towards the entrance. Seeing this, the blonde knew instantly that he had found the winning position.

"Hey, Kiba, what do you say we go sit over by Hinata?" Naruto whispered tauntingly into the dog-boy's ear.

"W-w-why are you asking me? W-what would I c-care?" Kiba said defensively, his cheeks turning a light shade of red as he looked over towards the Hyuuga.

"Come on, Kiba, don't try to hide it from us," Naruto continued, his voice filled with glee at watching his friend squirm. "You like her, don't you?"

"Shut up! I do not," the Inuzuka responded as he stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest.

"You must not think very much of us," Shikamaru intervened, having grown tired of listening to Naruto's teasing. "Do you honestly believe that you could hide something like that for long?"

"Yeah, we're your friends, Kiba," Naruto said, nodding his head in agreement. "You shouldn't have to keep things like that from us."

After a few moments filled with stutters and looks of frustration, Kiba finally slumped his shoulders and sighed in defeat. "Is it really that obvious?"

"It is to us," Naruto replied as he threw his arm over his friend's shoulder. "Don't worry though, I think everyone else is too busy ogling Sasuke to notice."

This last comment was enough to get Kiba to laugh off a bit of his apprehension as the trio made their way towards the back of the room. Conveniently enough, there was just enough room for the three of them to sit together, with Naruto forcing his housemate right next to the overly shy Hinata. Much to the blonde's delight, Kiba began to show those typical signs of nervousness, from profuse sweating to restless legs, as he struggled to come up with the right thing to say.

"Umm… uh, hey, Hinata! H-how was you summer?"

The pale-eyed Hyuuga looked to the side with a start before responding. "Oh, hi Kiba. My summer went pretty well, I guess. My father took us all to the tropics for a month, that was nice... How was y-"

Before Hinata could finish her question her face began to turn a deep shade of red, causing her to look away in embarrassment and abandon her conversation entirely. Naruto was quite puzzled by this sudden change in behavior, especially since Kiba had actually worked up the courage to speak to her. Unfortunately, the vulpine boy was forced to put his investigation on hold when the classroom door suddenly burst open, accompanied by an immediate silence.

"Sorry I'm late, class. I came across a poor damsel in distress on the way to school and I just could not bear to leave her. I'm sure you understand."

Naruto looked at the man who had just entered the room in bewilderment, unable to understand how he had been entrusted with thirty-plus students year after year. From the mask covering the bottom portion of his face to the hentai novel tucked away in his back pocket, the man seemed to be the type Naruto had been told time and time again to avoid. Before he could process this information any longer, however, Kakashi addressed the class once more, forcing the blonde to put his other thoughts aside for the moment.

"Alright class, since we're getting a bit of a late start, let's dive right in, shall we?" the masked instructor said as he began to scribble on the blackboard. "We're going to start off the year with some poetry, focusing mainly on the sonnet. Now…"

Naruto did not really care to listen to what Kakashi was saying, but instead rested his head on his desk as he stared out the window at the beautiful day outside. How could they possibly expect him to stay in all day learning about poetry when the sun was out there waiting for him? Naruto honestly had no idea, but if his first day was any indication, he knew one thing was for certain: it was going to be a long year.

There you go! First official chapter of The Fox and the Hound. Again, any and all comments are encouraged!