Hashirama Senju Academy

Ch. 2

Lonely Hearts

Rated T for light cussing and very mild innuendo

It had been two days, two long, lonely days for Naruto. It was mid-afternoon and the preteen lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, alone in the room he shared with four other boys. He had not been in the mood to go out and play since his best friend Sasuke had left to move into the dorms of Hashirama Senju Academy. Sasuke had been his first and only friend. The other children had never liked him much; he was loud and obnoxious, truthful to the point of often being rudely blunt, and he loved playing pranks. If he had only one of those characteristics, it would have been okay, but with all three, people tended to avoid him as much as possible. When Sasuke had arrived at the orphanage when they were seven, he had been treated like royalty because everyone knew who his family had been and how much money was put away for the Uchiha heir to be given to him when he came of age. Naruto however treated him like he treated everyone else, rudely calling him jerk prince, bastard, and other unflattering nicknames. Annoyed at being treated so differently from everyone else, Naruto was a breath of fresh air for Sasuke. Sasuke also realized that when he hung out with Naruto everyone else left him alone. Naruto had just been happy that someone would spend any time with him. It did not take long for the two to become true friends who trusted only each other and over the years had become like brothers to each other.

Naruto let out a deep sigh and closed his burning eyes. It was going to take a while to get used to being completely alone again.

.Naruto.

Jaraiya tapped his foot, feeling stuffy and uncomfortable sitting in his lawyer's office. How he wished for some scotch on the rocks; it had been twenty-six hours since his last drink and he was longing for the burn of alcohol in his chest.

"I was expecting you a long time ago. You really put this off 'till the last minute Jiraiya," his lawyer said flipping open the first of many folders stacked in front of him.

"Yeah, it's been a hard few years since the kid died."

"It's been twelve years."

"Yeah, I just haven't been able to bring myself to deal with it all, but I figured I don't have a choice now."

"Not unless you want to ruin the baby's life."

"And I don't, so let's get down to business," Jiraiya replied. With that the lawyer pulled out a document consisting of five pages.

"Here is a copy of Minato and Kushina's will, which includes what they wanted for their, at the time unborn, son, Naruto," the lawyer stated handing the document over to Jiraiya.

"Should anything happen to both Minato and Kushina, all their assets are to be left to Naruto and to be given to him upon his graduation of high school or attainment of his GED. Without a high school diploma or GED he cannot gain any of these assets. Guardianship is to be given to the godfather, you. It also mentions the schools they want him to go to, I'm sure you can guess, and that they already have it all paid for. There is also to be a one-hundred dollar weekly allowance for the boy until his graduation," the lawyer said as Jiraiya perused the will. He removed a few more documents from the folder and sat them in front of Jiraiya.

"These are the documents that will grant you legal guardianship over Naruto. I already took care of everything after you called me a month ago and all you have to do is sign them. And while this isn't necessarily my job," the lawyer said, "since you're an old friend and I know this is a hard situation for you, I readied all the paperwork for Naruto's schooling and if you choose, the paperwork for him to stay in the dormitories for the at least the next two years, again they just need a couple signatures."

Jiraiya nodded and picked up a pen. He signed wherever the lawyer pointed.

"Congratulations Jiraiya, you're now the proud owner of a baby boy," the lawyer said, flipping through the documents to make sure nothing had been missed. Jiraiya rolled his eyes. The lawyer got up and turned around to make copies of the documents which he then handed to Jiraiya.

"You can take these to the orphanage and get Naruto or they can send him straight to the dormitories, that's up to you. I'm guessing you waited this long because you didn't want to deal with the kid so you don't even have to meet him if you don't want to." The lawyer shrugged and looked at Jiraiya, who was just staring at the papers now in his hands.

"Thanks," Jiraiya said weakly. He got up and extended his right hand to the lawyer, who took it firmly.

"Thank you for everything, Fukasaku."

"You're welcome," the balding, white haired man replied, gripping the other man's hand harder.

"I know it will be hard, but as your friend, I think you should get to know Naruto, I think it would be good for both of you," Fukasaku said and released his friend's hand. Jiraiya just swallowed and nodded, his throat too tight to reply and left the office. He walked a block to the closest bar and ordered the scotch he had been longing for. He swirled the amber liquid and two ice cubes in the short glass until they had completely fused together and downed it all in one swallow.

"That's not how you're supposed to drink that," came a woman's voice from behind him.

"Oh then care to show me the proper way, my dear Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked while signaling the bartender for another.

"You know I've been stopping by this bar almost every day since summer started, hoping to find you here. So, you finally sobered up long enough to visit Fukasaku?" the busty blonde asked, gesturing at the papers that sat next to Jiraiya. Jiraiya just nodded, swirling the ice cubes around in his second drink. Tsunade ordered a Kahlua and Cream and the two sat in silence both just sipping their drinks. Once done with her drink Tsunade spoke up.

"So what are you going to do Jiraiya?"

"I…I think that…I want to meet him."

"I think that would be good for both of you," Tsunade murmured, placing a hand on her old friends back. He sighed heavily.

"He's probably going to hate and resent me though, for leaving him to grow up in an orphanage the past twelve years," Jiraiya said, shaking his head when the bartender asked if he wanted another drink.

"Probably, but if he's anything like his parents, he'll forgive you easily," Tsunade replied, removing her hand from his back and sliding off her bar stool. Jiraiya just grunted.

"I really am happy to see you doing something besides just drinking and carousing. Well, you know where to find me if you need me," she said turning to walk away.

"Oh, Tsunade! What a brazen offer, if I need you. How about right now?" Jiraiya snickered, turning in his barstool to leer at his female friend. Tsunade clenched her fists and took a couple deep breaths.

"I'll let that one go for old time's sake, but next time you won't be so lucky," she snarled and stormed out of the bar. Jiraiya chuckled and laid some money on the bar and picked up the papers.

"Excuse me sir, this isn't enough," the bartender said, counting the money as Jiraiya got up.

"That's not enough for two scotches plus tip?" Jiraiya asked incredulously.

"Well, it's enough for that, but I assumed you were paying for the lady's drink as well, since she's already gone."

"That sneaky little bitch," Jiraiya muttered under his breath, handing the bartender ten more bucks.

.Jiraiya.

Sasuke sat at his black computer desk, in a black rolling chair, in his single room in the junior wing of the boys 'dormitories at Hashirama Senju Academy. He had a book in his hands, but he was bored of reading, it seemed to be all he had done since he had unpacked three days ago. He was not used to being alone. For the first six and a half years of his life he had been like a leech to his older brother Itachi. Then, family members had begun to die and Itachi had become more solemn and serious, often ignoring his little brother. Then Itachi had left to live in the dorms of Hashirama Senju Academy. Only a few months later, their parents had died. Itachi had held Sasuke at the hospital where they had died and at the funeral, but then a woman had come and took Sasuke to the orphanage and Itachi had gone back to school. Itachi had only visited him once every year after that, on Sasuke's birthday.

The children at the orphanage had been in awe over him, all except one loud mouthed brat. The boy, short, a bit chubby, with blonde hair, blue eyes and scarred cheeks, seemed to repel the other children. He also seemed annoyed at all the attention that Sasuke was given. Still grieving over his parents' deaths and sore from the lack of affection from his brother, Sasuke despised the attention these sticky babies were pouring all over him, so he decided he would use the only repellent he could find, the boy.

At lunch on the fifth day at the orphanage Sasuke, like usual, found himself being pulled in six different directions by people wanting him to sit with their group, so he broke free from the grabby hands and strode to where the repellent sat alone picking at his food and sat down. The repellent looked up in shock and the grabbies stood a good ten feet away looking between the two boys. Finally, they walked off to sit at their own tables without another word. The repellent had worked, Sasuke was finally able to eat lunch in peace.

"What are you doing, jerk prince?" Naruto asked snidely. Well, it had been peaceful for a moment.

"I needed to get away from all of them," Sasuke said bluntly, gesturing to the entire room. "And they all seem to avoid you, so I hoped that if I hung out with you they would avoid me too." Naruto laughed.

"You're a freak," he replied, before digging into his food with new found gusto. Eventually the repellent had grown on him and become 'friend' and, though Sasuke would never, not even if his life were on the line, admit it, Naruto had become closer to him than his own flesh and blood brother.

So now, after three days of absolutely no Naruto, Sasuke felt lonely for the first time since his brother had left for school. He also found himself to be very bored; he had never realized how much Naruto had decided what he was going to do for the day, without him Sasuke had no ideas on how to spend his time. Sasuke banged the book down on his desk and left his room. He hated being so reliant on someone, because people left. His parents had left, his brother had left, and now Naruto was gone too and each time left Sasuke aching for them to return. It made him feel so weak and he hated it. He strode outside and towards the gym; he had heard older boys at the orphanage often say they worked out to get rid of their frustrations. He would do anything at that moment to just not feel.

.Sasuke.

It had now been four days since Sasuke had left and Naruto was still no more used to being alone. The other children avoided him even more than before and the teasing had picked up again. Before Sasuke had come and befriended him, the other children had teased Naruto about everything, his always messy hair, his shortness, the fact that he was a little chubby, that he was picked last at team sports in school, his usually bad grades, his naiveté, and especially about the scars on his cheeks. But then Sasuke had arrived and the other children had been too afraid to make fun of a friend of Sasuke Uchiha's. With Sasuke gone, however, the children picked up their teasing like they had never stopped, which Naruto supposed they never had, it had only been done behind his back while Sasuke was around. A knock on the door frame startled Naruto out of his thoughts.

"Naruto?" A girl in her early twenties asked, she was probably one of the many revolving college student volunteers, who stayed just long enough to learn your name, before leaving to continue their own lives.

"Yeah," he said getting up from his bed.

"They need you at the main office, if you'll follow me," she said pleasantly and began to walk away without waiting for an answer. Naruto solemnly followed her, knowing from experience there was no use talking to the girl, she wouldn't know why he was needed and he wasn't in the mood for her artificial cheeriness. The girl knocked on the main office door and peeked her head in to say something, Naruto heard someone say something back and the girl opened the door wider.

"You can go on in," she smiled widely at Naruto before walking away. Naruto hesitantly entered the room, scared that he had somehow done something wrong.

"Please close the door behind you," said Theresa who was the head of the orphanage. Naruto did so and faced the room which held Theresa and a large man with long white hair, in individual armchairs next to each other.

"Please take a seat," Theresa said gesturing to the two armchairs that sat across an oval coffee table from her and the man. Naruto's confusion mounted as he sat in one of the chairs, he had no idea who this man could be.

"You're a very lucky boy, Naruto," Theresa said giving him one of her bland smiles.

"Someone from your past has shown up." Naruto glanced over at the man who was staring at Naruto like he was a ghost or something.

"Someone from my past?" Naruto asked continuing to eye the strange man.

"Yes, Naruto, that's right. This is Jiraiya, he knew your mother and father. Mr. Jiraiya, perhaps you would like to explain the situation yourself," Theresa said giving the man a pointed look. Jiraiya swallowed, nodded, and straightened.

"Hey, kid, it's nice to meet you," Jiraiya started. Naruto just nodded, flabbergasted.

"I know you don't remember me, but I was at the hospital when you were born," Jiraiya continued looking off to the side and scratching his chin in awkwardness. When he didn't say anything for a few minutes Naruto spoke up.

"How did you know my parents?"

"Ah, I was a professor at Konoha University and I was your dad's mentor throughout high school and college. You see, he was really smart, so he started taking a few college classes when he was fourteen and well, he ended up being like a son to me," Jiraiya explained looking at Naruto now, who was quiet.

"I was there when he met Kushina, gave him advice when they started dating, helped him pick out an engagement ring, I was best man at his wedding, I was the first person he told when he found out Kushina was pregnant. I don't have any actual children and Minato's mom died when he was young and he and his father were never close, so we became like father and son," Jiraiya had to pause and collect himself for a minute, he didn't want this kid's first impression of him to be a weepy old mess.

"He even named me your godfather," Jiraiya stated after he felt he could talk without tearing up.

"So you're…my godfather?" Naruto asked, his brow furrowed, trying to take in everything that was said.

"Yeah, that's why I'm here," Jiraiya replied smiling at the boy who looked so much like his dead Minato.

"I've had a godfather all this time and no one told me," Naruto growled out his fists clenching on top of his knees.

"As far as the orphanage was aware, you had no family Naruto, or else we would have tried to get in contact with Mr. Jiraiya," Theresa spoke up, obviously wanting to make sure that it was known she was innocent in the whole matter.

"Why are you here?" Naruto snarled, tears welling up in his eyes. "Why even bother showing up after twelve years? You obviously didn't want me to leave me alone for so long. So why the hell are you here?" Naruto screamed at him, standing up with the force of his emotions. Jiraiya put his head in his hands and took a deep shuddering breath before facing the boy.

"I don't expect you to understand or to forgive me right away. It's not that I didn't want you, it's that the very idea of you reminded me so much of Minato that I couldn't deal with it. So I was a coward, I ran away. I ran away and drowned my memories and responsibilities in alcohol. But I've been practically around the world and am back where I started. I've spent the last year sobering up. I got myself a place to live, I got my job back at KU, and now, well I'm here," Jiraiya said looking into Naruto's bloodshot eyes.

Silence rang in the room. Theresa shifted uncomfortably and stood.

"Well, I'm going to leave you two to finish talking for a bit and I'll be back," she said and scuttled out of the room, closing the door behind her. Silence rang again.

"So what now?" Naruto finally snapped, never one to withstand silence for long.

"Well, I have a copy of your parents' will if you'd like to read it," Jiraiya said meekly, holding the papers out. Naruto took them and for the next few minutes read them through. One thing stuck out.

"They want me to go to Hashirama Senju Academy?" he asked.

"Yes," Jiraiya replied.

"And it's already paid for?"

"Yeah."

Naruto blinked a few times, before a huge grin slowly spread its way across his face, like sunshine breaking its way through the clouds. With a whoop of joy, Naruto leapt up and began dancing around the room. Jiraiya, startled, jumped up, not understanding Naruto's sudden extreme joy. Abruptly Naruto ran over to Jiraiya and threw his arms around the much bigger man's waist.

"Thanks, old man!" Jiraiya grunted and Naruto backed away.

"So when do I get to leave this place?" he asked, and some sunshine spread over Jiraiya too.


AN: Sorry for the moody characters in this chapter and the sappy ending, I promise there will be lighter parts to come and Naruto will become annoyingly cheerful sometime soon. All the other kids are having a normal unimportant summer so they didn't get any airtime this chapter.

I decided to have Naruto join HSA at the same time as everyone else, because there is a scene I really want to happen that only works if he starts at the same time.

I am not sure how I am going to go about revealing the pairing to you in this fic. I am partial to not telling you at all and letting you just read the fanfic like you would a regular story and figure out the pairings as you go. That said I understand that you probably do not want to invest yourself in a fanfic that ends up being about a pairing you hate. What I am thinking is to let you decide. I will not expressly state any pairing in the fic itself, but if you really want to know about a specific pairing you can ask me in a review. But if you ask me what pairing this fic will contain you will be sorry, because I will tell you all of the pairings major and minor and will not tell you how important they are :P So please only ask about 1-3 pairings and I will answer you based on how specific your question is and how much I want to give away.

Next chapter school begins!

Thank you for reading and don't forget reviews are like fuel!

Bee