I cannot thank you all enough. :D You guys probably get annoyed with all the thanks, so on towards chapter 6! I hope you like ett. c:

I disclaim. Though, ItaNaru is totally canon. hehe

oOo

My mother liked knitting.

I would watch her quietly as she did, next to her feet. She'd sit on the rocking chair my dad had gotten her for one of her birthdays, a soft, yellow blanket resting on her knees.

She'd hum songs and lullabies, ones that she said she'd thought of just for me. We were poor. She made my every outfit with orange yarn, because I would ask for no other color. Pretty strings mixed with green and white were used for the stitching. We could not afford shopping.

My father worked hard for my mother's yarn.

Her fingers went about the quills in intricate, untraceable patterns, and I would just sit there, watching her in sheer fascination. She had long, red hair. It was pretty. So pretty, in fact, that I'd often spend the time away brushing it as she made my dad new scarves for the winter.

I went about the action gingerly, careful beyond all precaution that I wouldn't hurt her. Sometimes, she would allow me to put her clips in for her. And sometimes, she would tell me how much she wanted to give me a sister.

A little girl, she'd say, to dress in pink, knitted dresses, white frills and doilies framing at the edges. Red bows in her hair, bright, blue eyes like my father's. She would also insist that she wanted her to have the same hair as me, that red would cause her too much tease.

I would beg her for that very sister every time she brought it up. I'd squirm and grovel at her feet, whining for the baby who would wear the pink dresses and have the same hair as me.

But she never came. I never met her, and now, I never will.

"Naruto?"

My father cooked all the time.

He wouldn't allow my mother to set foot in the kitchen under any circumstance. He hardly ever allowed her to do anything that didn't bring a permanent smile to her face, that didn't make her happy.

He liked her knitting, he'd tell her every evening, a kiss to her cheek as she blushed.

My dad would come home covered in dirt every night, smelling of gasoline. Sometimes he had a bag of groceries, sometimes he had a flower in his hand. He'd walk over and put it in my mother's hair if that were the case. I would watch this, giggling and writhing in her lap as she burned a bright red.

"I love you, Kushina," he'd say, ruffling my hair. "And this little man is gonna love you even more. So much, that you two won't even need me around anymore!"

My mother would laugh, playfully slapping him away.

After a while, when my father was done cooking dinner with whatever little food we had, he would come and pick me from my mother's lap.

"Moms need a break, too, little guy," I'd nod vigorously in agreement, watching as my mother attacked the food on her plate. "Can't wait 'till you become a lawyer, Naru! Spoil us and everything, buy us some nice clothes and one of those computer things," he'd chuckle, I could see tears rimming underneath his eyes, his large smile attempting to cover for what he didn't want me to unwittingly notice. "Or maybe a fireman, a police officer.. The next president!"

I would become so excited, I would wiggle in his arms, yelping in agreement. My mom would watch us silently from the kitchen, a sad smile on her face.

I never understood why she always looked so sad every time my father said those sort of things. I never understood why my father cried. I never understood why our apartment was so empty; cracked walls, chipped ceiling, a lone frame somewhere in the hallway.

Why did we all sleep in the same bed? Cramped, while my mother sobbed in the middle of the night? Why did my father have to work all day? From morning to the dead of night, yet we had virtually nothing?

Now I understood. Now I know why. Because we were alone. Because no one would help us.

Because we were nothing.

It's the same even now, except mom and dad are no longer here. The sister I yearned for, never to exist. My mother's yarn, never to be used again. My father's cooking, no longer steaming from the kitchen.

I couldn't help them. Not when the men barged into our house to hurt my mother. Made her cry, tore the flower from her hair. My father came rushing, kitchen knife in hand, his back facing my mother's fallen figure as I crawled over to her side.

She was bleeding, her cheek swelling. There were guns. I closed my eyes.

"I love you so much, Naruto. My sweet little boy.. Please, forgive us for having failed you."

I can't, I don't, ever want to remember the rest.

I look over to the side, towards my nightstand, the last flower my dad had given my mom lying shriveled inside the book I kept it in.

I miss them. I want to cry in my mother's hair, to rock with her in her chair. I want my father to carry me in his strong arms, to tell me that, one day, I would become the next president.

I remember his smile still, and I wish he and mother weren't dead.

I hate thinking. I hate remembering.

I truly wish at times to be with them, and I think of the knife beneath my bed.

"Naruto!"

My eyes shift slowly, towards my name.

There's a woman there. Black wavy hair, strange eyes, a large belly, and a clipboard in her lap. I think her name was Kurenai.

I wondered if that were how my mother was to look if she had conceived my sister. My eyes narrowed, forcing back the tears that burned to escape. That counselor wasn't there because she cared. Certainly not. Her next paycheck merely depended on it.

"You skipped school today," she began, the look on her face showing that she had repeated herself to me many times. "Why? Tell me what happened."

"I.. felt sick", I lied, my hands awkward somewhere on my lap.

She sighed, making sure that I would hear the stress behind it. "You can't go on doing that, Naruto. You know this."

I'm an idiot. A waste of space. I know no other way.

"I understand.. It won't happen anymore."

I didn't bother to look at her, already knowing that pity would be the only thing I would be faced with. If she truly cared, she'd take me in. Into her home. Perhaps allow me to brush her hair. My mom always said that I was good at it, that I knew how to make a girl happy.

"How have you been doing, Naruto?" she asks, her pen prepped against the clipboard.

"Fine.."

She writes it down.

"Any problems at school?"

"..No."

There is a pause. I could feel her looking at me, but I avoid her gaze at all costs.

"We will have a foster home set up for you soon, Naruto."

She says the same lie every time.

"Okay.."

"Are you sure you're fine?" she presses, putting her clipboard down. "You can tell me anything, Naruto. You know this."

I close my eyes, the thought of earlier tempting me to speak up. But I say nothing. She wouldn't care to understand. No one would.

"Yes. I'm fine."

The room is quiet for a long moment, and before I can change my mind, her perfume is already gone.

I could hear the front door shutting with the twist of the lock.

oOo

At school, I took contrary routes.

I did everything differently, hoping beyond anything that I wouldn't run into Sasuke.

The day before was still fresh on my mind, the brief conversation between him and Itachi making my heart hurt from even having it. Kiba said something about me being a cockless twit during one of my classes, the teacher having assigned him as my computer lab partner for the rest of the month.

I didn't argue. I hadn't the strength.

I nodded absently at his insult, and that seemed to have shut him up for a while. We completed the worksheet in silence. I think my crying had turned him off. He asked me if I wanted to be taken to the nurse, and I kindly turned him down.

He didn't throw paper balls at my head like he usually did when I made my way down the crowded hall.

Instead, he simply looked the other way.

oOo

During lunch, I contemplated deeply whether or not I should've taken my usual seat at the empty table.

After a few minutes of awkwardly standing in the middle of the quad area, I decided against it. Sasuke would probably stop by, allowing him the opportunity to poke fun at me. To rub in my face that he had what I didn't. Had what I couldn't. What I could never attain or touch ever again.

Itachi.

My legs led themselves blindly towards the general direction of the field, my feet barely lifting from the ground as I walked. Several girls stopped and stared, whispering to each other in their ears. I looked down, towards the cement, not daring to listen in on what they had to say.

I was destroyed just enough. The job had been done. I wanted to officially die.

When I stepped onto the muddied grass, I pondered within myself whether the knife that I kept beneath my bed would be sharp enough. A single tear fell from one of my eyes, the flare of my mother's long, red hair having caused me to further desire the liberation that came from the promise of death.

I sat somewhere against a tree, one that was far back into the school's field. It lied weathered, its blossoms withered and dried from the cold. I hugged my sweater against myself a little tighter, pressing my back against the bark of the tree for some kind of warmth. I shivered. There was fog all around. My gaze met with the chain linked fence not far from where I sat, wondering if I would be agile enough to hop it and run.

My body began to move on its own accord, deeming it'd be an easy enough thing to accomplish without being seen. Before I could bend my knees to stand up, however, a voice from somewhere near pierced me away from my initiative.

I faltered, my head turning towards the voice as I sunk back against the earth.

"I've been looking all over for you, moron, where have you been?"

I met eyes with none other than Sasuke. I hardly moved, hardly fazed. He was the last thing I wanted to face. I turned away without saying anything, digging my spine against the trunk of the tree so it would hurt. My hands fisted themselves at my sides, eyes narrowed somewhere straight ahead.

I was resentful. Angry. Afraid.

I heard him approach, the noise from the chains he wore impossible to ignore from within the thick afternoon's fog. The field was like a cemetery, quiet in all directions, exempt of all people.

How did he even find me? Surely he must've followed me.

"Kiba said he saw you moping your way over here, lookin' like you were marching to your death, or some shit," he went on, ignoring the fact that I was being blatantly unresponsive to his presence.

He took a seat somewhere next to me. This time, he wore a hoody; an imprint of some screamo band he listened to marking its exterior. His warmth relieved me of some of the shivers, but I still didn't want him there with me. I shrank into myself, holding myself as far away from him as possible.

He must have noticed.

"What the hell's your problem?" he snapped, shifting in his position to face me directly. I looked away even more, nearly breaking my neck in the process.

I scooted a little from him, hiding my face from behind my knees. He looked really pale, and his lips looked really pink. I seethed, my brows clasping against each other in growing irritation.

"Nothing. Leave me alone. I'm not in the mood."

He sat quiet for a while, likely registering the fact that I had just spoken to him the way that I had. My anger had seeped through my voice, my choler, my rancor, and the new-found hostility that I now had towards him, and only him. I didn't want him anywhere near me, he was like an insufferable, perpetual reminder of what I knew I couldn't ever attain. He reeked of Itachi even then.

Maybe they'd kissed earlier. Maybe Sasuke had been in Itachi's arms. Maybe they slept in the same bed..

My jaw clenched, my teeth grinding against each other in a nearly painful way.

"What the fuck? What the hell's with you, you moron?" he finally said, his voice rising a few amps in volume.

I turned towards him, just once, and was met once again with a face that was a thousand times better than my own. His black hair was ironed neatly from the front, the back of it carefully spiked. His dark brows were furrowed, his sable eyes narrowed in incredulity. He glared heavily at me. I honestly thought he was going to beat my face in.

I wasn't scared, however. I could take him.

"Nothing. Just.. leave me alone," I hissed, looking away so that my voice was a pathetic whisper. Who was I kidding? I was no match for someone like him. The only thing I could truly do was writhe, wallowing in my endless despair.

His face softened, I didn't even have to look. He scooted towards me, closing the gap that I had created between us. I felt like throwing myself at him, to wail my heart out on his shoulder. Anyone's shoulder.

Tears brimmed again. I hoped dearly that he would not notice.

"Why'd you run off like that yesterday?" he said, looking somewhere straight ahead. His voice was much quieter now, almost.. hurt. "Why are you avoiding me?"

I said nothing, a sniffle escaping me before I could hold it back. I hugged myself against my knees in a sort of fetal position, hiding my face from within the crevice of my knees and chest. I prayed that he would leave. I prayed he would just disappear, to leave me to my withering.

"Naruto? Answer me," he pressed, his eyes boring holes at the side of my head. "What did I-"

"I DON'T KNOW, ALRIGHT?! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! GO AWAY!"

I couldn't control myself, I had turned towards him, shouted in his face like a mother suffering from the loss of her child, tears marring and painting at my face.

He stared at me, wide-eyed. Possibly in shock.

We froze that way for a long moment, tears spilling from every corner of my eyes as I struggled to keep them open. His look of shock slowly turned into a look of sheer bitterness, his brows creasing tightly from the middle.

"Fine. I will. Fuck you."

He shifted in order to stand up, the look on his face having been something I would never forget. He had looked so hurt. As if he cared deeply of what I had said to him; as if I'd actually caused him pain.

I sat completely still, watching blankly as he stood. Before he could leave, however, I reached for his sleeve, causing him to look down towards me.

"What," he bit flatly.

"Itachi.." I began, swallowing away my every nerve. I shook a little, daring myself to ask the question that I had discarded from asking much earlier before. "Is he your.. Lover?"

A single brow rose high on his face, a look of sheer disgust and disbelief taking over his entire expression. I had never seen him show so much emotion in one go. I felt incredibly intimidated. I could feel my body prepping itself to take a blow to the face right then. I cringed, yet I did not look away from him.

"Dude, what the fuck? Are you sick in the head, or something? That's fucking gross."

Stunned, I let go of his sleeve. My mouth parted, completely forgetting about how cold I'd been the entire time.

"Then why did you say that he-"

Before I could finish, he immediately lifted me up by the collar, his hold harsh and solid. I winced, knowing what was to come. He slammed me against the tree, the impact of it having made my brain jolt from within my skull. His knuckles dug into my neck as his fierce, ebony eyes pierced blades into my own cowering ones. He leaned closer towards me, a hellish glare on his face.

"What are you playing at, dobe?" he hissed, almost as if he didn't want anyone else to hear. "First you act like a self-righteous piece of shit, and then you ask me if I dangle my ass in the air for my own fucking brother?"

My eyes widened the more he went on, squirming from underneath his metal grasp. He completely overpowered me, his figure crushing my own as he squeezed the breath from my lungs.

"If you didn't like me hanging around you, you could've just made it clear. I don't need you anyway, I can have whatever the fuck I want."

Gasping for air, I tried to push him away, for the sake of a breath, but he wouldn't budge the least bit. I wanted to say that I was sorry, that I didn't mean to accuse him of such things.. That I.. That I truly believed that he and Itachi had been.. in some sort of relationship. He mentioned living in the same house as him, I could think of no other reason besides it.

I felt like a complete idiot. Yet, instead of relief, I felt like hanging myself even more. I had just lost my first and only friend thanks to my incredible amount of stupidity, and it was all my fault. And now said person was going to beat my ass straight into the hell I deserved in. I cringed, awaiting the bone of his fist against my face at any second.

But instead..

"Fuck you, Naruto. Look at me," he growled, sounding infernally angry. I looked towards him, catching a breath in my lungs at long last. His sharp gaze grew further in scrutiny as he pressed me harder against the tree.

And then.. He kissed me.

The moment was a quick flash, I can hardly remember the entirety of it. His weight was a rock crushing the air out of me, his lips having been almost no different. He pressed against my mouth in unpremeditated severity, the intensity of it having erased all else from my mind.

I think I forgot to breathe, and couldn't even after he had let go of me. It was nothing like what Itachi had done two days ago, but it was still soft, regardless of how brusquely Sasuke had gone about it.

A sheen of mint covered my lips after he pulled away, and I knew he had gum in his mouth even then. He looked straight at me, his eyes hazy, his breath marking my cheeks. I finally remembered how to breathe, having taken large gulps of air as I stared right back at him.

He was warm. He began to press himself against me again. This time, however, without the use of violence.

I stood completely frozen, shocked, not knowing what to make of the situation. He leaned towards me, waiting for me to do the same.

But I didn't.

A moment later, the bell gave a loud, blaring ring. He gave me a slight look of confusion, but to my complete and utter ease, he pulled away rather casually, looking somewhere to the side.

There was a blatant veil of red encasing the entirety of his face, something I thought I would never see.

"If you tell anyone about this, I'll kill you," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "Meet me here after school."

And with that, he disappeared into the fog, not bothering to notice the way I had stupidly nodded at him as if I were some sort of brainless zombie.

The very tips of my fingers traced gingerly against my mouth at first, a rush of blood surging towards my cheeks. But when I thought back to Itachi, and the way his had felt against me, I immediately wiped the kiss away with my sleeve.

Without another thought or word, I left the field, the taste of mint lingering somewhere on my lips still.

oOo

God, I love this so much.. x'D

This is the only story that I feel I can truly let myself cry to. I know the love Naru feels for his sexy teacher.. My love for my own reeks of the same devotion. le sigh~

Anyway, thank you so much for reading guys. c: This was so much fun to write. A comment, pweez? Ideas? xx