After the long awaited update, IT IS FINALLY HERE! Thanks for reading and enjoy! :)

*Review*

Even though I wanted to live, I couldn't keep going through this every day. I thought, what's the point of living is if it's just going to be full of pain? I went to the kitchen and reached for the knives. This was going to be the last day.

It was all going to end here.

All the suffering was going to come to a halt.

* Review End*

I held the knife to my wrist, "This is going to be the end of all the suffering I've gone through." I held the blade to my wrist, but then hesitated. If I were to end my life, what would that solve? It wouldn't change anything; it would just make matters worse. "It's okay," I convinced myself, "No one is going to miss me anyway."

Right when I was about to cut, I heard a knock at the door, but I just decided to ignore it and pushed the blade on my wrist. I only got to cut a little before I heard the knock at the door again, and this time, more fearsome.

"Naruto, open the door!"

"Crap, what's Arata doing here?" This wasn't going to end the way I had planned. He was going to interfere with my plans. "Go away Arata," I shouted, " Leave me be, Just let me die in peace!"

"Shut up and open this door! Why didn't you tell me you were being bullied?! If you would have told me, then I would have helped you!" I heard him drop to the floor and suddenly his voice got soft," I thought you said you would tell me anything. I thought we promised that no matter what, we would never keep secrets from each other; that we would help each other out, no matter the situation." And here, he started to cry.

I placed the knife down and walked toward the door. Until then I had never seen Arata cry nevertheless be anything less than happy.

I opened the door only to find him weeping on the ground. I felt so awful to make him cry like this. I had never really given any thought to what would really happen if I was gone. Sakura and the others would most likely find some other character to bully. But, what would become of Arata? When I first saw him, he too, was being bullied by Sakura. Seeing other people getting bullied always got me agitated, but when I saw him getting bullied, I don't know, it made my blood boil. All though I knew that I didn't stand a chance against Sakura, I couldn't just stand there and watch him get hurt.

That was the first time I ever stood up to anything in my life and also how I got these so called "whiskers" on my face.

"I'm sorry Arata, it's just… I didn't want to get you involved in this. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I knew you were getting hurt because of me. I just didn't want to put you in harm's way all over again."

He looked up, eyes red and watery. Then, he smiled. His smile was so grief-stricken. How could I have done this to him? I dropped down next to him and held him in a tight embrace.

"I promise I'll never cut myself again and I'll tell you everything! Just please, stop crying. I hate to see you in such distress." Arata looked up with a confused look on face.

"You cut yourself Naruto?" Just like that, Arata changed from relieved to anger stricken once again. He ripped himself from my embrace and shouted, "IF IT WAS THAT SERIOUS THEN YOU REALLY SHOULD HAVE COME TO ME! I can't believe you would be so selfish and not tell me all the pain you've been through so far!"

"What do you mean by selfish?" I spat back, "I told you I didn't want you getting involved and being hurt! I did it for your sake so why are you mad at me?!"

"BECAUSE YOU CUT YOURSELF!" After what was said, Arata stormed off to who-knows-where and I just sat there, outraged. I couldn't stay mad for long because I knew Arata was right. I had no right to get mad at him for something as stupid as this. I ran out to go and look for him. I needed to apologize for my stupidity. I ran all around town looking for him and also getting dirty stares from all the villagers. I checked his house and the places where he usually goes to hide from anything, but he wasn't at either of those places. I stopped running and put my brain to work.

"This is like a wild goose chase," I thought, "If he's not at either of these places, then where could he possibly be?" I stopped my thinking in their tracks as a sudden thought flashed through my mind. "No, it couldn't be," I thought. But the idea just lingered in my mind and wouldn't go away. Finally, I gave in and started running toward the lake I had just barely managed to escape from. "Please let me be wrong."

I hurried to the lake and as I got closer, I could hear terrible, frightening screams that sent chills down my spine. As I inched closer, the screams became more and more fierce. When I finally reached the lake, my heart sank and I dropped to my knees, tears falling down my face. There I saw with my own two eyes, Arata, getting the life beaten out of him. Arata was standing his ground but no matter what he did Sakura kept on beating him down. But like any other sappy love story, Arata didn't know how to give up and he just got right back up.

I saw that he was trying to say something to Sakura, but we both knew that she wouldn't have any of it. We both knew that Sakura would just keep beating him up until she was satisfied.

I just stood there, watching, that was all I could do. Arata tried his hardest to get his point across and finally I couldn't stand to watch anymore (so he sat down lol), it was just too painful to watch. Whatever he was trying to say to her, I didn't care, I just needed to get him away from Sakura and get away from here. As I inched closer to their location, Aratas words started to become more distinct and I could hear the words more and more clearly until I finally reached Sakura and he shouted, "Please leave Naruto alone! I'll take his place for him, just please don't beat him up anymore. He doesn't have anybody to support him except for me! So please just allow me to take his place instead!"

Just like that, Sakura, who was still holding Arata by the collar, stopped and stared at him in awe. I, on the other hand, just stood there shocked. Arata just let himself get beat up to say that? I was happy but sad at the same time. I was so caught up in my emotions that I didn't notice the smile that creeped onto Sakura's face. Then, my thoughts were interrupted by a loud laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You think that just because you come to me and let me beat you up for free, I'm going to leave that sorry excuse of a human alone? HA! You're just as dumb as you look."

I was so angered by this. He did all of that for me, just to get spit on right back in the face. I wasn't going to allow this to happen. I grabbed a frying pan full of hot grits right off the stove (wait….. how … where did that come from?! XD) and slapped Sakura right in the face. I felt so accomplished, and then I remembered Arata. I grabbed his arm and once again, ran back home.

The second we got in, I rushed for my first aid kit and tended to his wounds. I was responsible for this mess, so it was my responsibility to fix everything. I felt Arata's eyes lock onto me. His emerald orbs stared into my soul' making me feel very uncomfortable.

"Naruto, you know you could have stood up to Sakura this entire time, so why didn't you? Why didn't you defend yourself? I mean you can make objects appear out of thin air apparently."

"Arata look, I didn't care. Even though she was beating the crap out of me, it's not like if she didn't it would change anything. I'm hated by everyone in this village except you. I'm pretty sure they thought Sakura was beating me up for them. So defending me really would-"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE! What about that one teacher Iruka-Sensei? He likes you and he seems like a person that could put up with you."

"Well, I guess…. OH! Remember that one time when Iruka-Sensei came to class late and he was covered in honey and feathers! He was so mad, it was hilarious!"

"Oh and that one time when he forgot his phone in the classroom and Neji read to the class that 'Love Letter' he sent! HAHAHA, it was so corny!"

We stared at each other for a couple of seconds, barley able to keep a straight face, then just broke out laughing. For the rest of the day, we just told each other amusing stories and watched TV until we got tired. We decided that it would be best to sleep together because we both lived by ourselves and we didn't want to be alone.

"Good night, Naruto."

"Good night, Arata."

We looked into each other's eyes and laughed one last time before falling asleep in each other's tight embrace.

I woke up to the smell of something burning. At first I thought Arata was in the kitchen because after all he's not the best cook. But, when I looked to my side, there he was, sleeping peacefully right by me.

As you could guess, by now I was pretty worried so I jumped out of bed and was about to run out of the room when I heard Arata's voice.

"MMM… Naruto what happened?" He said, rubbing his eyes, "what's burning?"

"I don't know," I replied," I was just about to check it out."

"Okay. I'll come with you." Arata grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around himself and came to where I was. I opened the door and I was greeted with a wall of flames.

"NARUTO WHATS GOING ON!? WHAT HAPPENED!?"

"Arata, calm down, First, we need to figure out how to get out of this room and out of this house." I put my mind to work trying to figure out how to get out of this house without either of us getting burned. I looked all around my bedroom to find anything that could be useful in this situation. Then my eyes landed on my bathroom door and an idea quickly formed into my mind. "Arata, we need to go to the bathroom and douse ourselves in water. The only way to get out of this house is through the front door, but as you can see this house has somehow been set on fire. The only way I could think of us getting out of here unharmed is by running through the flames covered in water. I don't know if this will really work, but it seems to always work in the movies." Arata nodded and moved quickly.

After we were drenched and made sure that we didn't have anything that could easily catch fire, we headed towards the bedroom door. We stared at each other, not wanting to leave the safety of my room. I hesitated as I reached for the door knob.

"We run on three, agreed?" I looked at Arata who was clearly more scared than I was.

"Agreed," He replied, "let's hope for the best right." He looked up and smiled, I smiled back reassuring Arata that was going to be alright. I was about to start my count down when I heard voices outside.

"I wonder why," I thought, "no one except Arata ever comes here." I decided it was best to ignore them for now and get Arata and me to safety.

"You ready." I started.

"One."

"Two."

"Three!" I burst open the door and ran into the flames. The air was very hot and it was hard to breath. We were about to reach the door, but then, just as we were about to be home free, a wooden plank covered in flames fell on top of Arata.

I rushed to help him, but the wood was too hot for me to pick up. I looked around for something to help me lift it, but by now everything was engulfed by the flames. I didn't have much else so I took off my shirt, made gloves for my hands, and lifted the plank off his legs. Anyone could clearly see that Arata had been severely burned, but we had to get out of here before the entrance got blocked.

"Naruto," my thoughts were interrupted, "go, save yourself, you'll be better off without me." I looked down at Arata with a blank face. -_-

"Is this boy serious?" I thought. "Arata," I started, "shut the fuck up and get your lazy ass up before I really give you a reason to burn in this hell I call a house."

Arata looked up at me with the most shocked expression on his face, not that it was any kind of surprise. This was, in fact, the very first time I've ever cursed like that, but I was just mad because Arata was willing to give up his life just like that.

I helped Arata up and walked towards the front door. Right when we exited, the house collapsed before our very eyes. Just one more second and we would have been as good as dead. I looked down at Arata, who was leaning on my arm not able to use his legs without support anymore.

"Arata," he looked up with tired, worn out eyes, "please never try to give up on life ever again."

Before he got a chance to reply, Iruka ran up to us and pulled us in for a deep hug.

"I'm so relieved that you guys are okay. When I heard that there was a fire, I ran over here as fast as I could. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I knew that one of my students died." He looked at the both of us, eyes full of relief. Then suddenly his facial expression changed to… worried? No that's not it, it was more… angry and… sad. "How did your house catch on fire anyway?" Just as he asked the question, we heard screaming off in the distance.

"RUN!"

"SHE'S COMING!"

"SHE'S GOING TO KILL US ALL!"

Next thing we knew, there was psychotic laughter filling the air around us. It was quite obvious who that laugh belonged to. We all looked around; trying to figure out where she was but neither of us had any luck. She was nowhere to be found.

"So, you escaped the fire, huh? Tch. I was hoping you both would die. Well, whatever, I'll just kill you now!" We looked up and saw Sakura jump down from the burning house with a sharp blade in her hand. No matter where we ran she would catch up to us. There was no escape.

Iruka-Sensei moved quick and pushed Arata and me out of the way just before Sakura came down. He himself, managed to dodge, but only a little. She sliced his face from eye to eye, right across his nose.

He winced but showed no fear. Iruka pushed Sakura off himself, grabbed the knife and threw the object in an unknown direction. He grabbed her arms and restrained her by throwing her to the ground and pinning her arms behind her back. Then he quickly called for me to grab the handcuffs that were in his back pocket. I reached for them and quickly handed them to him as he rapidly restrained her arms and anything else that could be used to physically harm another.

He took out his phone and called the police, asking for a car and an escort.

"Iruka-Sensei, do you work for the police station?" Arata asked out of confusion.

"Yep! It's my side job I only work the night shift though."

Shortly after the call, we could hear the police around the corner. We all just sat there in silence as sudden realization struck me. I no longer had a place to live, no longer a place I could call home. Arata must have seen the expression I had on my face and figured out what I was thinking. He looked at me, smiled, and told me something that I will never forget for as long as I live.

"Naruto, home is neither about where you live nor where you stay. Home is where you're family, your friends, and your heart lies. It doesn't matter where you are in this world; home is always a place in which you can return."

I looked at him, tears forming in my eyes, and rested my head on his shoulders. He was right; I have nothing to worry about.

The police pulled up and arrested Sakura. Iruka told Arata and I to get in the car because we had some stuff to discuss at the office.

We pulled up to the station and immediately, Sakura was taken to the interrogation room. Arata and I were taken to a separate room where Iruka started asking us our own set of questions.

"Naruto, where are your parents? Why weren't they home with you and why did Sakura burn down your house?"

I looked down, afraid that if I answered the questions, he too, would start to look down on me.

"M-My parents are dead," I slowly answered with a trembling voice, "and S-Sakura has been bulling me for as long as I remember. Sh-She probably tried to kill us because I stood up to her and kind of burned her in the process."

Iruka put his fingers to his forehead and shook his head in disbelief.

"Naruto, if your situation was that bad, why didn't you tell anyone?" He sat up and looked at me straight in the eyes. "You do know that we are going to have to put you up for adoption," he looked at Arata, "That goes for the both of you."

At this we both looked down. They were going to send us to a place where we would just get bullied by other people. Nothing would change.

"Well, I would tell you to go home and pack your things, but…." There was no need to say anymore. "Before we take you two to the adoption center, we need to get that burn on Arata's leg looked at."

"Forget my legs," Arata said, "look at the size of that scar on your face!" Iruka brought his hands up to feel the cut that was now implanted on his face.

"Oh this," he started, "I forgot all about it!" He shined a bright smile in our direction and stood up. "Let's go get these bruises looked at, shall we. Care to join us Naruto?"

I stood up and followed them to the nursery. They told Arata that surprisingly, the burns weren't that severe and that they would heal in only a couple of weeks.

After the examination, we headed straight for the adoption center. By the time we got there, we were very tired. It's as if our bodies just suddenly remembered that we were sleeping not too long ago. When we walked in, they showed us to our room and said we would do introductions tomorrow. We jumped in bed, glad to be on a warm bed once again, and instantly fell into a deep slumber.

The next morning we were awoken by a loud knocking on the door. Surprisingly, Arata got up before I did to answer the door.

"Hello boys," she started, "my name is Miss Kurenai and I'm the supervisor of this adoption center. You need to hurry and eat breakfast; it seems as if someone wants to adopt you already. I have a feeling that you guys will get along just fine." She walked away with a friendly smirk on her face and disappeared down the hallway.

Arata and I just stared at each other, confused. We haven't even been here a day and we were already being sent away. "Man, these people work fast."

We ate our breakfast, freshened up the best we could, and headed to the office. Of course, we got lost a couple of times because we didn't know our way around this facility yet, but we finally managed to find our way. My hand shook as I reached for the handle. Arata put his hands over mine in a comforting motion.

"It's okay," he told me, "as long as we're together, right?" He put his hand down and I opened the door.

"Boys! What took you so long?! We've been waiting for you for a while. Don't tell me you got lost! Well, that's to be expected; it's your first day here after all. Anyway take a seat I'll be with you in just a second, just have to finish signing a couple of papers is all."

We sat down, glad we didn't have to meet our new "parent" just yet. For the couple of minutes that we had to wait, we just sat there, unable to make a sound.

"He's ready for you know!" Miss Kurenai yelled from the separate room inside the office.

We walked in and our jaws dropped and our eyes grew wide when we saw who wanted to adopt us.

"IRUKA-SENSEI!" We yelled in unison

"Well, I guess that makes sense," I thought, "he's the only person who knew we were here anyway and no one else in this village likes me."

Iruka-Sensei stood up and held out his arms with a warm and welcoming smile.

"Naruto. Arata. Welcome to the family."

*( end flashback )*

SO there are probably a whole bunch of grammatical errors in this chapter. but I'm working on it! ^_^)/ Also i Know this chapter is like two months late but... I had a writers block. I couldn't figure out how I was going to write this so I'm really sorry for my tardiness. As an apology gift, I plan on there being a little action next chapter when Naruto is in high school ^_^.

THANKS 4 READING

~ The Yaoi Master