A/N: Hello readers!

Just so you don't get confused, from now on Naruto 'remembers' his past, but it is told normally. Now he's no longer 35 years old, but only 17. I hope you like it anyway!

~ 18 years ago ~

The lad jumped out of the bus, stretched his arms and legs, and took a deep breath. He hated long trips without break, and the more happy he was that it was over for the day. He put on his biggest grin and turned around, smiling at the red-haired man who followed him. He didn't seem to be satisfied with the situation, his green eyes were tired, empty and at the same time full of sadness.

The other man ran to him, grabbed his wrist and grinned "C'mon! Let's go inside and check out your room!" He went forward, but then he opened his mouth like he remembered something important. "Ah! Wait, I'll take our luggage!!" He walked over to the boot and lifted two big bags onto his shoulders. The redhead watched him but refused to help. He hated that place, that prison. But the man with the blond, spiky hair kept grinning and carried the things up to the third floor, room 133.

"Ha! Heavy!" he complained and wiped away the sweat from his forehead. He looked around and smiled. "Look! This room is awesome!" He walked to one of the big windows, pulled the curtains to the site and wided his eyes. "Gaara! Gaara, this is amazing!! Believe it!!!" he gasped, looking outside. From here they had a beautiful panorama: The whole city, from the first to the last house. But the other man kept standing in the door, arms crossed over his chest, the eyes directed to the ground. The blond turned his head and his face became hard. He stepped to Gaara and put one hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. Remember that you do this for your own sake."

"Own sake?" the redhead repeated coldly, "Don't make fun of me, Naruto. I will die here." The man called Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Die? You would have died if you were still out there, getting high and HIV positive." He was mad. Fucking mad. Just as his friend.

"I prefer to die that way," the other answered and suddenly found himself pinned against the wall. The blond looked up to him, his eyes full with anger.

"You fucking idiot! Don't say anything like that again!! Never again!!!" he hissed. He tried to get control over himself again, letting the bigger man go. His body was trembling and he screamed, "You almost died once! And now I'll keep you here until you are clean! Believe it! I'll not stand there watching you killing yourself!! I'm your friend!!!"

"Friend?" Gaara chuckled. He put his hand on the red tattoo on his temple, the sign for love. "Would a friend force you into pain, suffering and sadness? Would a friend do the same as you, Naruto?"

Now the man had had enough. He clenched his fist and hit the other, so that the redhead fell to the floor, blood dripping out of his mouth.

"Fuck you Gaara! Bastard!!" Naruto screamed, grabbed his bag, and stamped out of the room. He met a nurse and told her to look after the redhead in room 133. The woman nodded and smiled sadly.

"Don't worry. Your friend is going to calm down again. It's the stress, everyone in this hospital has it. It's the fear of withdrawal."

The blond sighed and asked, "Are you sure that it's that?" The woman smiled and nodded, relaxing the lad. He put on a grin and said "Fine. You can tell him that I'll visit him tomorrow. Good night!" He waved his hand and left the drying out center.

The blond had a lot to do. He had just moved into a foreign town and the school would start off next week. He checked out his new, small apartment. Not very big and friendly, but it would work. Surely there was some way he could make it more comfortable, painting the walls orange or something like that... He smiled. He had already found a way of passing the time with his friend. Gaara liked causing messes almost as much as the blond himself. He went over to the small, wooden wardrobe and opened his bag. He took out some clothes, rose an eyebrow and held the shirt in front of himself. "Hm... That's way to big for me..." he rolled his eyes and cursed "Fuck! I took Gaaras' stuff!! Shit!" He jumped in place but stopped when he saw something shiny in the bag. He knelt down and took some things away, his face becoming darker and darker. Seriously looking he grabbed one of the syringes and stared at it. Under the labels was a packet.

Naruto got up, took the whole thing and walked to the bathroom. He opened the packet and let the brown content fall into the toilet. He flushed the toilet, took a hammer and began hitting the the syringes. With every single hit he became more forceful until he lost his control and slammed the things until a thousand little splinters were left. "NO!" he screamed "THAT'S OVER!" He took a cloth and chucked the trash into the bowl. "YOU'LL NOT GET GAARA!!" Messed up he stamped to the bed, jumped in and pressed his eyes together. "I have had enough of that shit!" he whispered over and over again until he fell in a restless sleep.

The two men looked out of the window, watching the lights being switched on and the sun going down. Comparing to one week ago they were unbelievable peaceful.

"Tomorrow is the first school day." the blond whispered and the other nodded. Naruto grinned "You're lucky. I have to walk over 30 minutes to get to school! You've just to take the elevator, haha."

"We can swap." Gaara answered monotonously. Naruto sighed and shook his head.

"When you are clean we'll move together, so we can go to school together as well."

"If I survive the pain." the redhead added. The blond rolled his eyes and stood up.

"I have to leave. I don't want to oversleep." He headed the door, but turned around one last time, walked over to his friend and hugged him tight. "You can do it! Just keep walking forward!" he whispered with a lowly voice. He rubbed his cheek on the red hair and said "I don't want to lose you. You have to stay with me, understood?" Gaara nodded and hugged his friend back, trying to smile. It looked somehow strange, maybe because of the pain running through his body.

He hoped it would pass soon.

Naruto put on his new school uniform. It was a simple, dark blue suit with a white shirt. On the left part of the chest was the symbol, a circle with a triangle. It almost looked like a leaf. But more then anything else the blond fell in love with the blue forehead-protector. He liked bonds, especially when they catch the sweat. With a big smile he locked the door to his apartment and went to school. He wasn't late yet – YET. What wasn't could still become.

And when he – finally – arrived at the school building he had only five minutes left. The blond hurried and asked over ten times were his class was (he had looked up the name three days ago) and jumped in with the last sound of the clock. He took a deep breath and a grin spread over his face.

He put his hands in the air and called, "I'm not late! Believe it!"

"Yes, I can see that by myself." a dark, male voice said from behind him. The blond, shocked, looked over his shoulder and saw a mad, brown-haired adult. Naruto tried to smile, but the man didn't seem to calm down.

He ordered striktly "Get a seat immediately."

"H-hai Sensei!" the lad answered and ran to the first free place he saw. It was in the second to last row, next to the window. The brunet walked over to his own desk, put his back on it and laid on the table, facing the class.

"Good morning class." he greeted with a soft smile. Naruto understood with one glance that his teacher was only mad because he was late. He didn't seem to be a bad person after all. "I welcome you all in class 9Ac. My name is Iruka Umino." He looked around, eyeing every single one of his students. "Ah... As far as I can see there is only one new face in this class." he grinned slightly. "Our latecomer with the blond hair? Would you introduce yourself to the class?"

Naruto looked around a bit nervous, got up and cleared his throat.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki." he answered and sat down again quickly.

He already noticed how his classmates eyed him, talking about his tan skin, the bright-blond hair and those deep, bright-blue eyes. He had problems with that everywhere, every time in every possible way. But what should he do? That was how he looked. And he hated it.

Iruka sighed heavily. The teacher already knew that the lad was going to get in trouble. He knew his class well. They wouldn't let him live until they accepted... or excluded him.

"Okay, then I'm glad that you found your way to our class, Naruto Uzumaki. Now we should vote for our class president, should we?" he asked and the students agreed with loud screaming, laughing and whistling.

Naruto just sighed and lowered his head to the table. Great. The new class-victim. Just great. He watched the teacher with only one eye and looked outside. The school was awfully big. He would have problems finding his way.

After the vote of the new class president – he hadn't heard the name of that guy – they got their schedules. The blond shook his head and read it over five times. Three hours of math in a row? Impossible. Unbelievable! How the hell could a human being work out such a killer schedule?! The teacher talked through the remaining time, reading out the rules, telling them the things they needed, blah blah blah...

Then the bell rung and Naruto woke up in no time. Break. Break on a new school. He usually was out of the room with the very first sound, but this time he thought about what to do. Iruka seemed to be already annoyed with him and if he came late to class again he would surely get in more trouble.

But his thinking was interrupted when the teacher said "Naruto?" He looked up and saw the brunet standing in front of him with a smile. "Are you new on this school or only from another class?" he asked and the blond blinked.

"Uhm, no. I moved here a week ago." he answered and Iruka touched his jaw and nodded.

"I see... I think it would be better for you if someone shows you the school. Sasuke?" The blond heard a murmur from behind. "Could you show our new student around?"

"Why me?" a dark, bored, and shady voice asked.

"Because you are the president. Be so kind, please." Iruka smiled and Naruto eventually turned his head, seeing a young man sitting right behind him in the darkest place in the room.

He saw black, well cared hair, an opened, white shirt, pale skin and dark, endless eyes. The face was bored, the onyxes directed to the – suddenly – nervous, blond boy.

That was the very first time Naruto saw Sasuke Uchiha – the man who lived in the shadow.