Hey guys, here's this month's chapter of FL! This is first week back at uni and I've already got 3 assignments to do :( I've got up to chapter 34 written so I'll be able to keep posting even if I haven't had the time to write. I'm a bit stuck with chapter 35 at the mo, I know what I want to happen but I'm having a bit of a block. But hopefully by the time it comes to posting that chapter I'll have more written! From this chapter onwards there will be a few time skips to keep in with what's happening. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 22. Naru POV

"This one." I run my hand across one of the bookcases in the living area. I turn to smile at Itachi, "I like this one." It's the last apartment we went to see and although it wasn't the one I originally like, I think it's perfect. I could see myself living here. It was part of an apartment complex, something similar to my old place though I'm on floor three. And there's a nice view out the balcony at the back of the apartment.

Over the next week we re-painted the walls; cream and orange in the living area, blue in my room, grey and cream in the bathroom and very pale orange in the kitchen. It was the half term holidays at Sasuke's school so he came over to help when he wasn't working. He eventually told Itachi and his parents that he'd gotten a job, but told them it was so he would have something to do during holidays and the weekends. His parents weren't too pleased; after all, they had enough money that Sasuke didn't have to work but they gave in eventually as they could see he enjoyed it. Though they made him promise not to work during exam times. The apartment was partly furnished so I only had to buy a washing machine and a fridge-freezer. I also gave in to Sasuke, and even Kiba's, pleas to buy a television. Though I refused to buy a games console; if I had one of my own I'd never do any work. Because of my connection to Fugaku, I got a discount on the price of the rent so I didn't mind so much paying for the T.V. Since me and Itachi still had to attend lectures this week, Sasuke offered to wait in for the deliveries so I organised for them all to come in the same morning. Kiba even managed to convince me to throw a home warming party so we organised it for the week after when I had the Friday off. Let's just say it's a good job I don't currently have any neighbours because we made a lot of noise that night, and I was still tidying two days later. Itachi, Dei and some of their friends even came, though Itachi told Sasuke he wasn't allowed which put the kid into a huff. So I promised I'd treat him to a takeaway instead when we next work on his English essay. That seemed to cheer him up slightly.

I move my couch, sit on it, and then move it back to where it originally was. I've finally unpacked everything; Itachi had dropped all my stuff off last week after we got the place sorted, but I still can't get this couch right. The downstairs buzzer goes off so I get off the couch again, still not happy with the position of it, and check the screen. Another thing I love about this place, it has a lot better security than where I used to live. Any visitors need to be let in by you so it makes me feel a lot safer. I see Sasuke's face and press the button to let him up. I unlock my door and leave it open for him. I rummage through one of the kitchen drawers, which are packed full of crap already, and pull out a menu for the local pizza place. I turn just in time to see Sasuke close the door behind him. He heads over and starts unpacking Tupperware boxes out of his backpack.

"What's all this?" He starts putting them away in the freezer.

"Mom wanted to make sure that you're eating. She got the maids to prepare some meals for you." I leave him to it.

"There's a menu on the table. Order something while I'm in the shower, yeah?" He grunts, which I can only guess is acknowledgment. "There's money there too. Nothing too expensive mind."

"Yes, mom." I give him the finger before heading for my shower.

"Ahh that was good." I finish off my last bit of pizza and take a drink of coke. "Hey, how come your name wasn't on Ibiki's list for Sports day?" I watch as he answers questions to whatever homework he's doing, business I think.

"Sports day in Novemeber? Are you serious?"

"You know he'll make you whether your name's on or not right? And he'll put you in the worst activities."

"Not if I don't turn in, he won't." We stare at each other for a while.

"Sasuke..." He waves his hand in dismissal as he takes a drink of his water.

"Don't worry, I handed it in late yesterday. Lee wouldn't let it go until I put my name down for at least one." I tap one of the answers on his sheet, even though I know I shouldn't because I've seen the mark scheme. He stares at it for a few moments before dropping his pen. "I hate this crap."

"I thought you were supposed to be a genius." He mumbles under his breath as I clean up.

"Obviously not with business." I just 'hmm' as I grab another can and some water for him.

"How are your English assignments coming along anyway?" I drop back in my chair and toss the water bottle at him. He fumbles but manages to catch it.

"They're coming along. I just need to make a proper start on the 'one you admire' one. The other two just need to be written up."

"How long you here for?" I grab my own work, it's just a practice multiple choice for the exams that are coming up.

"Itachi's coming to pick me up at eleven."

"Plenty time then." I circle answer 'a' but then cross through it and circle 'd' instead. "So where'd we get up to last time?" I answer a few more questions as he grabs his writing pad, presumably the one he used last time.

"You told me about your scars." He points to his own cheek.

"Oh yeah." I circle another answer. "What else do you want to know? You asking questions will probably be quicker than me telling you my whole life story." He nods and we're silent for a few minutes while he thinks. Finally he points to his chest.

"How you get that scar?" I lower my head slightly so that my bangs cover my eyes.

"Next question." I bite the end of my pen. I don't think I'm ready to talk about that quite yet.

"Okay." I smile slightly at how quick he dropped the subject. "You said you hated your parents for moving you away?" I nod. "Is that when you first started drinking?" I tap my pen against my chin.

"Honestly I can't actually remember when. Probably when I was around thirteen, fourteen maybe? So it must have been a few years after we moved. I was angry at lot, I ended up falling into the wrong crowd at school and they introduced me to alcohol. I don't think my parents ever knew what I was doing when I didn't come home some nights, though they probably suspected it. A lot of the kids my age were drinking and hanging out in dodgy places." He scribbles some things down as I finish the last question on my sheet. I'll compare answers with Kiba and Neji next week.

"What about the drugs?" I lean back in my chair and sigh.

"After my parents died. The people I used to hang around with introduced to them. I was hooked straight away. I hated myself for my parents' death. The drugs seemed to make everything better."

"How'd they die?" I let my eyes drop to the table. It always hurts to think of them.

"Car crash. It was my fault my dad wasn't paying attention to the road that night. We were arguing about something or other and he turned back to look at me. Next thing I know, I'm in hospital and they're dead. And even though I was the one not wearing my seatbelt, I lived and they didn't."

"Do you want to stop?" I shake my head and laugh.

"You should become a shrink, you know. It's what you sound like." I catch his smile as he focuses on his paper. "So yeah, started drugs after that, ended up in an orphanage. Met Gaara not long after and we ended up dating. He tried to get me to stop taking them but I was a lost cause, so the only thing he could really do was make sure I kept out of trouble."

"You mentioned that you had to ermm..." He looks away, a slight blush on his face. "That you had to, you know... to get your fox back."

"Have sex, you mean." I can't help but grin as his face gets redder. "You're so cute when you blush like that." I notice his ears start to turn pink and that makes saying what I did worth it. He's too easily embarrassed by things.

"Err, yeah. Did you have to do that very often?" Although I don't really want to be having this conversation with him, I did say he could ask me questions.

"Sometimes. If I couldn't afford to pay my dealer he would send me to someone who would pay for me, if I gave them something in return. It wasn't always full blown sex, but sometimes that was worse. There are some sick fuckers out there. I think I need a drink." I get up to grab a small bottle of vodka from the cupboard, a glass and some more coke, though I don't know how the vodka survived the party last week. I pour some in my glass before topping it up with my coke and sitting back down. "None for you though, mister." I smile at him so he knows I'm only playing with him but he doesn't seem to mind.

"Why did you stop then? It must have been hard but why did you come back here?" I neck the drink before pouring myself another one.

"Itachi." I smile slightly at the thought. "At the time he didn't know what was going on, though I don't think I've ever actually told him he's why I stopped." He looks at me slightly confused. "In his last letter to me he told me all about his time working for your dad and that he couldn't wait to go to Uni. It made me finally realise that I wanted something more out of life; that I didn't want to end up on the streets with a kid of my own, begging for money to pay for my next fix. He gave me his number once so I just left. I broke it off with Gaara and used the money that was supposed to be for my next fix to get here and rang Itachi. He helped me get clean, found me a place to live, I got my jobs here and I went to college. I owe a lot to your brother, even though he doesn't know it. If it wasn't for him I'd still be in Suna or worse." I left out the bit that I could have been dead by now. Best not put that morbid thought out there. We sit in silence as Sasuke makes his notes. "And here I am. So is that enough?" He finally looks up.

"Yeah I guess. I'll let you know if I need anything else"

"When's it due again?" I take a drink from my glass and frown. Beer is definitely better than this.

"Before the Christmas holidays. I'll probably start writing it up next week." I lean back in my chair. "Oh, I almost forgot." He starts packing his stuff up as it's nearly time for Itachi to come get him.

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Are you taking part in the staff sports events?" I sigh before standing up and walk him to the door.

"I'm Ibiki's assistant. Did you really think I'd get away without doing anything?" I hit him playfully as he sniggers. "It's not funny. He made me enter them all. Apparently I'm supposed to set an example to all you kiddies." I pinch one of his cheeks.

"Gerroff." He shakes me off before opening the door. Stopping just outside he turns back to me and I can't help but think he looks a tad bit uncomfortable. "Urm, Naru?"

"Yeah?" Before I can do anything, he steps forward and pulls me to him. I automatically wrap my arms around him as he holds me close. I feel his breath against my ear as he lowers his head and I can't help the shiver that runs through me. I just hope he didn't feel it.

"I'm sorry I forgot you." My breathing quickens as my fingers grip the back of his shirt. "And I just want you to know, I'm not afraid of them anymore." He pulls back slightly, placing he lips against my left check before doing the same to the other one. He finally lets go but doesn't look at me as he heads towards the elevators. He turns the corner and I finally close my door and lock it. I go over to the drawing he did for me, hanging above my television. I bring my hand up to my left cheek, tracing the three scars there. Heading over to the couch I move it one last time so that it's facing the picture before dropping down into it. I lean back, letting my head fall over the back slightly and close my eyes.

"What are you doing to me?"

"Come on!" I whistle using my fingers. "Move those legs Uchiha!" Itachi laughs beside me. It's finally sports day and thankfully it hasn't rained yet, though it is a bit cold. I'm standing with the public observers, mainly just family of the kids though there isn't many seeing as most of them are at work. Though I'm not the only one cheering Sasuke on. Whenever I'm at school I treat Sasuke exactly the same as all the others but right now I'm just someone in the audience and not a member of staff. Though the girls don't seem happy that he gives us a wave as he passes us. I wave back as I shout out; "You call that running? My Grandma can do better than that!" I laugh as he shakes his head but keeps his position in first place.

A few minutes later and he's won. His fan club go crazy as he receives his little medal and I can't help the smile that makes its way to my face as he jogs over to us, blatantly ignoring them. I hold my hand up and his own slaps against it in a high five. A few of the other lads come over to join him.

"How come you didn't cheer us on, Miss?"

"Yeah that hurts our feelings, you know." They all give me high fives anyway. They're all in my favourite class for phys. ed. I always come away after that lesson laughing at their silly antics.

"I'll cheer for you guys next time yeah? Now go shower. You all stink." They all give me mock salutes.

"Yessir." They all run off laughing dragging Sasuke along with them.

"You're quite popular with the kids aren't you?" I cuddle into Itachi as I shiver. I really don't want to be participating in this weather.

"Hmm I don't think I'm popular with the girls at the moment. They're all giving me the evils." I wave over to them; they give slight waves back, almost reluctantly, before wandering off. Probably to stalk Sasuke.

"Well you've always gotten along better with the guys." I look up at the sky and groan.

"I hope it doesn't rain while I'm running."

"Could all participating members of staff please report to the main desk. I repeat, could all participating members of staff please report to the main desk."

"Well that's me. Cheer for me, yeah? I want to see your pom poms and everything." He laughs as I walk away. I jog over to the desk which is just a desk from one of the classrooms with a big umbrella attached to it in case it starts raining. At least someone gets to keep dry.

"Ahh Naruko. There you are. I was afraid you'd chickened out." Ibiki pats me on the back as I stop beside him.

"Hah! I love a challenge. You'll be eating my dust in the race, sir." He laughs, patting me again.

"Oh, you're going to regret that missy!" He heads off to try frighten some of the other teachers. I've been training for this race since I found out I had to take part. I don't care much about the rest but I've made a bet with the teachers that I'm going to win. Apparently even the students are having bets between themselves.

"You do know Ibiki has never lost a race, don't you?" I smile at Kakashi.

"Yup, but there's gunna be a new champion this year, believe it!" I pump my fist in the air before jogging over to the start line. I hear a few of the teachers laugh at me. Quite often me and Ibiki challenge each other to silly competitions and it brings great amusement to the other staff. I unzip my tracksuit jacket and hand it to one of the kids that are collecting any valuables etc from the teachers. I hop from foot to foot before doing my warm-up stretches.

"You're going down, Uzumaki." We shake hands as some of the kids from our classes cheer us on. Even the kids enjoy the banter between us.

"Just you wait, Morino. I'm gonna make you eat those words." We let go, grinning at each other before getting into position. I kneel down, pushing my right foot behind me. It's me and Ibiki in the middle lanes, I don't think any of the others wanted to get between us.

"Okay. Ready." We share one final look before focusing to the front. "Set." I stretch my back up. "Go!" The gun goes off and I push myself away. I hear the kids shout out our names, some of them even chanting. We have to do three laps of the track whereas the kids only had to do two, lucky buggars. I glance to the side and see I'm neck to neck with Ibiki. I smirk over at him as I push my legs harder, getting a bit in front of him. I hear him growl behind me but that just pushes me further. We hit the second lap and I realise the other teachers never even set off and it's just between the two of us. I focus on keeping my breathing controlled as he catches up so he's alongside me again.

We hit the third lap and the shouting and chanting gets louder and louder. Even the teachers are cheering us on now. I can feel the adrenaline running through me as I make my legs go faster; just half a lap to go. The sweat drips down my face as I get in front again, though it's not by much. Come on, just a bit more.

"Come on Naruko!" I glance over to where I was previously standing and see Kiba and Dei have finally turned up and cheering along with the two Uchiha's. Sasuke whistles at me like I did to him as we pass by. "Show that old guy who's boss!" I grin and push my legs harder still putting a bit more distance between us. I reach the finish line and skid to a stop. Ibiki stops beside me and leans on me for support. Clinging to each other we laugh as we pant like dogs.

"And the winner of the Naruko versus Ibiki race is Naruko!" I laugh harder and punch my fist into the air, whooping. A few of the young lads run over fussing over me and lift me up onto their shoulders cheering. I watch Kakashi come over and pat Ibiki on the back. I look over to Itachi and the others, grinning at them. I give them a victory sign, my gaze lingering on Sasuke slightly, before looking back at Ibiki who's looking up at me. I pump my fist in the air for the second time,

"Wahh-hooooo!"

In the end I only won the race and the javelin but I was happy with just winning the race; I was too worn out to concentrate on the others. Because I won Ibiki had to buy the drinks for all staff on the next night out. Our race was the talk of the school almost every day after. It even managed to spread to Uni, courtesy of Kiba. I kept getting pats on the back from people I don't even know; apparently it's 'cause they all had Ibiki when they attended the high school.

I run out of the exam hall, Kiba and Neji hot on my heels. I stop outside and jump on them both pulling their heads towards my own. I hear a few people laugh, most of them are used to my strange antics by now.

"No more exams!" They push me away, wiping their cheeks where I'd given them each a sloppy kiss. Kiba mumbles something about not wanting to catch any 'Naruko germs'.

"You do realise we still have three more, don't you?" I stick my tongue out at Neji.

"Did you have to ruin my delusion? Can't I look forward to Christmas without thinking about silly exams?" We set off to the car park and they wrap an arm each around my shoulders.

"Sorry my friend, but you need to revise if you want to pass." I huff.

"Not all of us can be geniuses you know." He smirks at me and opens his mouth to say something but I stop him, pressing the palm of my hand against his mouth. "Don't you dare start going about destinies and all that crap... Hey!" I pull my hand away. "You licked me..." I smirk back at him and wipe my hand across his cheek. He stands shocked for a few seconds before narrowing his eyes at me.

"Naruko..." I pull away from them and run in front a bit trying to hold my laughter in.

"Hey Naru..." I turn around to look at Kiba. They both grin at me before dumping the contents of their water bottles over my head. I stand their shocked for a few minutes before glaring back at them.

"Why you..." They break off into a run and I head after them, grabbing my own water bottle out my bag and squirting them with it. "Get back here you cowards!"

We eventually fall down onto the grass in the park, out of breath. We chased each other around the Uni grounds for a while before ending up in the park. They finally gave up after I managed to push both their faces into the fountain. Luckily though, we usually carry towels around with us so we were able to dry ourselves off after our water fight. We lean against a tree and I'm glad it hasn't snowed yet otherwise it wouldn't just be our heads that were wet.

"How come you're so excited about Christmas anyway?"

"I'm spending it with the Uchiha's." They nod, leaning against me slightly. They don't say anything else about it, they don't have to. I'm finally gonna have a normal, well normal as can be, Christmas; it's been a long time since I had a proper Christmas. Both Fugaku and Mikoto are going to be there, even though they're sometimes absent throughout the rest of the year they always make and effort for Itachi and Sasuke; and that hasn't changed ever though they're older.

"Oh that reminds me. I want you to meet a friend of mine sometime." I turn to look at Neji.

"A friend?" Kiba sits up facing us both and nods in what I think is agreement?

"Yeah. You see we've been discussing your love life, or rather lack of, lately." I turn to glare at him.

"Kiba..." He holds his hands up.

"Don't worry, we're not gonna make you meet up with him by yourself." Neji moves as well so that they're both kneeling in front of me and I feel a bit trapped.

"Exactly. You're not working tonight right? We thought we'd head out to Kyuubi, play some pool, have some drinks and you could meet him there. Get to know him."

"Urmm..."

"Come on, Naru! It'll be good for you! You need someone to focus on now that you're not after Itachi no more. He can even tag along if it makes you feel more comfortable." They both stare me down before I hold my hands up.

"Okay, okay. I give up; can you's back away now? You're breathing in my valuable oxygen." They grin at each other.

"Great!" Kiba grabs his phone and I watch puzzled as he sends a text.

"There's one more thing though." Neji also sends a text.

"What..." I'm almost afraid to ask... They grin at each other one last time before helping me up to my feet.

"Tenten and Hinata are going to help you get ready." Oh great. That means they're going to make me dress up, doesn't it?

Well there you go, hope you liked it! Next chapter will be out sometime in October! XD