The man yawned as he stretched his muscled arms, his long, flowing red hair blowing in the wind. He grinned as he looked at a picture of a family of three, a smiling blond boy in the middle between his parents. 'It's almost time, after twelve years I will finally see you again.'

…

Naruto's eyes snapped open as he sat up quickly, hurriedly trying to escape from the confines of his blankets. He panted as his heart pounded a mile a minute in his chest while tears fell down his scarred cheeks like small waterfalls. Naruto sighed as he wiped his eyes, "Shit." He held his hand to his forehead, 'I can't even remember what it was about.'

Naruto plopped his head back onto his cushy pillow, finally relaxing from the scare of his nightmare. He turned and looked at the clock sitting diligently on his bedside table. Naruto frowned, 4:30 A.M. He groaned and stuffed his face into the pillow, knowing he probably wasn't going to get back to sleep again. Naruto ran a hand through his messy blond hair before pulling the covers away and sitting up. He scratched his belly absentmindedly before stretching his arms out and yawning. He sighed as he lazily pulled his school bag next to him and got out his English notebook to do vocab and uncompleted homework.

Several hours later, Kiba rang the doorbell at exactly 7:00 A.M, punctual bastard. Naruto yawned, tired as hell. He opened the door and let his dog like friend into his tiny abode. Kiba looked around before settling on his blond friend, "So, what happened yesterday?" Kiba stepped closer and sniffed around Naruto's head. "I don't smell any blood. That's good." He relaxed a little and wiped his nose before taking a seat on the couch.

Naruto yawned, "I'll tell you some other time. I'm tired and even I don't know exactly what happened." Kiba shrugged, "Let's get going then. Oh, and next time at least warn me when you're gonna stand me up. I waited like an idiot over an hour for a person who had supposedly been gone since lunch." Naruto grinned, "Sorry dude. I honestly didn't even know until I woke up."

Kiba's face became serious, "Did you faint again? Are you okay?" Naruto shrugged, "Yes and yes, I'm fine." Naruto picked his bag up at slid one of the straps onto his shoulder while Kiba got up from his place on the couch. He yawned again, "I've been up since 4:30 doing my homework. I finished English but I need some help on a few of the math questions." Kiba chuckled, "Are you seriously asking me to help you with math? Dude, you're better off on your own." Naruto groaned, "I didn't do like half of them."

Kiba patted his best friend's back, "Maybe we can find Shikamaru? He's really good at shit like that. I think he's taking like college math or something already." Naruto nodded, knowing full well about Shikamaru being a genius, a really, really lazy genius. The two of them walked down the stairs, chatting about the teachers and homework. Kiba tossed his backpack in the backseat of his mustang before getting into the driver's side. Naruto did the same, before relaxing in the seat next to Kiba.

Kiba pulled out of the parking lot for the rundown apartment building. Naruto turned on the radio, grinning as he heard a familiar rock song come on. He belched the lyrics as loud as possible and fake strummed a guitar in the air. Kiba flinched and quickly turned the radio off, much to Naruto's dismay. Naruto frowned, "What? You don't like my singing?"

"I swear my I probably would have bled from my ears if you continued." Naruto rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as they stopped at a stoplight, "Whatever, jerk." Kiba shrugged. The two arrived at the school five minutes later, and Kiba pulled into one of the few parking spots left behind the school. Naruto yawned and wiped his eyes, "Do you think Shikamaru is here yet?" Kiba nodded, "He's always here an hour early because his mom drops him off so he won't sleep in. He usually sleeps on the bench by the front gate. The one you always have to climb when you're late."

Naruto frowned, "I have gym today." Kiba chuckled, "Good Luck with that. Don't be late or Guy-sensei will make you run laps all hour." Naruto groaned as he got out of the car, "This sucks."

"How's your leg?" Naruto pulled up his pant leg and showed Kiba the fading purple bruise, "Better. Still a little sore, but better." Kiba furrowed his eyebrows in thought as they continued walking, "I still don't understand how you heal so freakishly fast. Your leg looked like it could have been fractured the other day, but now it's almost fully healed."

"I told you already. It's a freak skill I have." Kiba shook his head, "Still weird. Anyways, what hour do you have gym?"

"The period after lunch, it really sucks I don't want to work out after I eat." Kiba heartily chuckled, "That does suck." Kiba nudged Naruto's side and pointed to a spiky haired figure staring up at the sky on a wooden bench underneath the shade of a tall tree. "Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled laughing loudly as the figure twitched in shock. Shikamaru slowly sat up and lazily turned to look at the blond.

Shikamaru yawned, "What is it, Naruto?" Naruto grinned, "I need help with math." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "That's such a drag." Naruto nodded, "Iruka will kill me if I fail. Please?" Shikamaru yawned, "What kind of math, Calculus?" Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Algebra 2?" The brunette's eyes widened, "Isn't that remedial?"

"Shut up! I need help, can you help me or not?" Naruto grumbled. Shikamaru smirked, "Just show me the problems." Naruto nodded and pulled out his math notebook while Shikamaru took out a pencil. He watched with wide eyes as Shikamaru took less than ten minutes to complete all of the answers, including explanations. He let out a small whistle as he examined the work on the paper, "Thanks, I owe you one." Shikamaru shrugged and lay back down on the bench, probably preparing to skip first hour.

Kiba wiped his nose, "Something smells good." Naruto had to stop his best friend from acting like a dog and chasing after the smell and pulled Kiba to first hour. Naruto beamed as he sat in his seat and Sasuke didn't arrive, even after the bell rang. 'Today is going to be a good day.'

School was actually turning out to be decently fine. The hours passed by quickly and he was actually learning something. He let out a sigh of relief as the lunch bell rung and he quickly scrambled out of his seat. Naruto rushed to the cafeteria and ordered a bowl of ramen, his favorite. He did everything in his power not to drool at the sight of it as the lady handed it to him. Naruto gave her his free lunch card and she nodded before she wrote something down on a sheet of paper and handed him the card back. He smiled and turned to find a seat in a cozy, empty corner. He blinked in surprise as his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Come to the roof. –S

Naruto rolled his eyes, 'He's still ordering me around. Well, he can fucking wait.' The blond plopped his plump little ass down at an empty seat he luckily found in a dark little corner. He clapped his hands together before greedily slurping down the hot ramen and then the warm broth. Naruto wiped his face with his sleeve and checked the time, fifteen minutes left of lunch, damn. He scratched his head, 'I guess I should go.'

He stood up from his seat and put his hands in his pockets while he walked out of the lunchroom. He bit his lip as he climbed up the stairs, not sure what might be behind the doors. Naruto pushed open one of the doors, frowning at the sight of Sasuke glaring at him openly in the midst of a circle of his childhood bullies. His eye twitched.

Hey look at that, I updated. Thank you for staying with this story.