Chapter 1: An introduction, of sorts

It was official- Naruto hated his life. And he gave up. He signaled his defeat by thunking his head on his desk.

Karin, his desk mate, only laughed at his distress. "Lost another one, did you?"

"Ya know, all they would have to do is say 'No thank you' and hang up. They don't have to be so mean about," Naruto moaned.

"Naruto, we're telemarketers. We're one of the most hated groups of people on this planet. Right above serial killers and below child molesters."

Naruto grimaced. That's right, he was a telemarketer. A rather successful telemarketer at that, as far as telemarketers go. He claimed it was due to his amazing wit and charm. Karin claimed it was due to people just wanting to shut him up. That boy could talk!

Karin reached across the desk and patted Naruto's head. "You know what you need?" she asked.

"No, I won't go to that freaky club you keep trying to drag me to."

Karin sighed. "Naruto, you need to get out. All you do is come to work and then go home, alone, to watch crappy sitcom reruns. You weren't made for monotony. It's killing you."

Naruto lifted his head enough to cross his arms under his chin. He shot Karin his best non-impressed look. "I'll survive," he said dryly. He scowled. "And what's wrong with my crappy sitcoms? I like them. They make me laugh."

"Real people should make you laugh, not characters on the TV. Naruto, the only person you come into any kind of contact with is me, and even then, it's only here at work. You spend all of your time alone. And you and I both know that you don't really want to be alone the rest of your life."

Naruto huffed and buried his head back into the folds of his arms. It was an old argument that had gone stale. For the past couple of months, Karin had been harping at him to go to this club with her. It was odd, because before that, Karin did a pretty good job of ignoring him.

Like everyone else. Karin was right about that one thing. Naruto was alone. He always had been. His parents had abandoned him on the steps of an orphanage when he was still a baby. He had been shuttled from one foster home to another. Desperate for attention, he had often acted out- which inevitably landed him back in the orphanage. It was a bitter routine that continued until he had aged out of the program. Now, as a 26 year old man, Naruto had isolated himself.

He remembered the old house mother from the orphanage smiling at him the day he turned 18. He remembered her telling him, "Don't be afraid, Naruto. Don't let your past dictate your future." He remembered laughing back at her and, loudly, proclaiming that he wasn't afraid of anything. Now, older and slightly wiser, he realized that he had done exactly what she warned him not to do. He was afraid of being rejected, cast aside, like he had been so many times before. And so, he never gave anyone the opportunity.

And he wasn't so sure that he ever would be able to.

"Thanks but no thanks, Karin." Karin scowled and opened her mouth to reply, but Naruto cut across her. "Hey, 5 o'clock! Time to go home and watch my crappy sitcom reruns. See you tomorrow!" And with that, Naruto grabbed his jacket and scurried down the narrow hallway and into the elevator before Karin could try to change his mind.

Because he wasn't sure that she wouldn't be successful.

Naruto blearily blinked his eyes open. Stretching, he craned his neck over the back of the couch to see the clock hanging by his bed. 2 am. He sighed and collapsed back onto the couch. The TV was still on. He hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep. He grimaced as the detectives on the TV poked around a rather grisly murder scene. Blood, even fake, tended to make him queasy. Picking up the remote, he changed the channel to some infomercial. He didn't really care what they were selling, he just needed the background noise.

He sighed again and looked around his, admittedly, tiny apartment. It consisted of only two rooms- the bathroom and everything else. His kitchen area was simply a microwave sitting on top of a dormitory-sized refrigerator on the same wall as the door, with a coffee table intended to be his kitchen table, which he never used; his bedroom, on the wall opposite, consisted of the bed and a large orange crate that was currently serving as his closet. At the foot of the bed sat his TV and his living area was a long, black couch that he had hauled home from the foot of someone's driveway. The bathroom was snugly situated on the last wall. It was about the same size as an airplane's bathroom. All in all, he could walk from one end of his apartment to the other in 9.7 seconds flat- he had timed it one evening when he was going stir crazy.

Despite the near claustrophobic characteristics of his apartment, though, Naruto couldn't help but think that it felt empty. It had very nearly overwhelmed him when he had gotten home from work that evening. He had been a split second away from slamming the door and running away before he reminded himself that he was Uzumaki Naruto and that he wasn't afraid of anything, damnit, and had forced himself to close the door with him firmly inside. He had locked the door as an added precaution against any stupidity.

He even knew why it felt so empty, thought the knowledge itself wasn't very comforting. He was lonely. It was a feeling he recognized, like an old friend you don't bother making the effort to acknowledge anymore.

When he was a child, and he had run out of people to annoy at the orphanage, he would find a corner to curl up in and he would imagine. He would dream up a family for himself- a mother who would wrap her arms around him and hug him and kiss his head; a father that looked exactly like him that would smile at him proudly. He had gotten pretty good at his game of imagine. A couple of times, he had even fooled himself into believing that there were a pair of arms wrapped around him. This game of his had been the only thing to get him through the bleak days of his youth. As he had gotten older, his cynicism had kicked in and he had put a stop to that nonsense. Leaning back into the worn couch and closing his eyes, he wondered what kind of family he would imagine for himself now.

He was too old for maternal kisses, but he begrudgingly thought that kisses from someone would be nice. He hasn't ever done anything worthy enough of a father's proud smile, but someone smiling just for him wouldn't be too bad either. And while he would probably punch anyone who tried to hug him, he longed for someone to hold him, protect him, cherish him. If he squinted his eyes shut tight enough and pushed his back hard enough into the cushions of the couch, he could feel that someone's strong arms slip around his waist, whispering loving words in his ear. Naruto let his eyes drift open.

No, he didn't need a family. Just one special someone. Someone very much like a lover.

The physical ache in his chest prompted Naruto to stand. He paced from one end of his apartment to the other before he forced himself to sit down again. He reached forward and grabbed the remote before turning the volume up louder. He wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight, and he wanted the noise to drown out his thoughts.

The next day, when Naruto arrived to work, he stayed standing by his desk, waiting for Karin to finish her first call of the morning. After she hung up and before she could greet him, Naruto opened his mouth to speak. "I'll go."

Karin's eyes widened before a beautiful smile lit across her face. And between making plans for that evening and Karin assuring him that he wouldn't regret it, Naruto felt the coil in chest loose enough to hope one last time.

"Relax Naruto. That scowl of yours is a major turn-off." Karin eyed the blond wearily as his scowl deepened before he threw back his drink. How many had he had already? One, two, ... twenty two? She had lost count when Naruto stood up from the table they were at, declared himself not nearly drunk enough to deal with this crowd, and marched over to the bar. She pitied the boy's poor liver.

"Relax! You want me to relax? I've been propositioned like, five times, and…and…and groped no less than twenty times and we've only been here," he looked at his watch, squinted, "two hours! Karin, if anything, this entire experience has taught me that I'm better off staying in my apartment. Hey! Bartender guy! My glass is empty and I'm still sober!" With that, Naruto's head fell forward and landed, not so gently, on the bar's counter.

Said bartender looked passively at Naruto before turning and quirking an eyebrow at Karin in silent question. She smiled back before pulling on Naruto's hair to get him to sit back up.

"It's not that bad, Naruto. You're just in an unfamiliar location. After the shock wears off…"

"I'm not in shock!"

"…and you loosen up a bit, you'll be able to enjoy yourself."

Naruto scoffed. "Not with any of these freaky people. Honestly, are they for real? Where do you even find people like this?"

Karin rolled her eyes. "Here, apparently. And I'm sure that they can hear you, so watch what you say." She lowered her voice to cut under the ruckus of the bar around them and Naruto had to strain to hear her. "And believe me, you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of any of these people."

"I'm not sure I want to be on any side of any of them," Naruto replied. And it was true. There were the typical Goths and Goth-wannabes, the Ravers, and even some of the preppy students from the college a few blocks away. All of them were dancing, drinking, laughing, and generally having a good time, or angsting where appropriate. Scattered here and there were businessmen, but most of them were too busy staring into the bottom of their drinks to notice the ruckus surrounding them. But none of these people were the ones that concerned Naruto.

No, the group of people that concerned him was a group of very beautiful and very quiet people dressed in all black. It was a fairly large group of people scattered in small groups around the bar that were standing perfectly still. None of the smiled, none of them were drinking anything, Hell, none of the even seemed to react to the noise and press of bodies around them. They just stood and watched the room, almost as if they were waiting for something.

Occasionally, Naruto would notice one of them break off from their fellows and go up to someone outside of their group. They would speak to them, sometimes smile at them, and then they would both get up and leave out of a back door. Sometime later, they would return, alone, and rejoin their group. Naruto wondered if they were the bouncers of this place, but he was beginning to doubt it. They were creepy and they made the hairs all over Naruto's body stand on end, like a dog raising its hackles in preparation for a fight.

More than once, Naruto had felt eyes on the back of his neck. He had stubbornly refused to acknowledge the feeling, but it was starting to create an uncomfortable itch. And that feeling was back, full force. Naruto turned his head slightly so he could look out from under his bangs to try and determine who was staring at him, but through the mass of bodies, it was difficult to tell. He casually turned on his barstool so his back was pressing into the counter and he could look out over the club easier and without raising suspicion. He scowled, about ready to give up on the feeling and chalk it up to his paranoia from being so close to too many people all at once when a flash of red caught his eye. He squinted, trying to make out what could cause such a flash when he realized he was staring into coal black eyes.

Naruto tried to turn his head to break off the eye contact, but found that he couldn't move. The figure was set back in the shadows across the room, so Naruto couldn't discern any features other than he was male and was very well built. Slowly, the figure stepped forward so Naruto could see him better. He was pale with midnight black hair. Irrationally, what bothered Naruto the most was the he was wearing all black. Black dress pants, black silk shirt, black coat. 'No red anywhere,' thought Naruto, panic starting to creep up his throat. This man made Naruto want to run.

And he was still staring, almost accusingly. And Naruto couldn't look away.

Finally, their stair down was broken off by Karin's concerned face. "Naruto, are you OK? I think you stopped breathing there for a second." Naruto turned back to see if the man was still staring at him, but he was gone.

Naruto was about to reply with a "No, I'm not OK, there's a man staring at me like he's going to murder me," but he was interrupted by another voice.

"Karin."

Karin's back immediately stiffened and she turned slowly to face the new voice. Naruto started to panic when he realized that it was one of the beautiful people from before. And, did he have blue hair?

"Suigetsu."

And wait, Karin knew him?

But before Naturto could voice his question, an arm was slung around his shoulders.

"Hey Blondie, let's say you and I go some place quite and let them have their lovers' quarrel?"

Naruto turned to look at his assailant. Another one of the beautiful people, with brown shaggy hair and what Naruto decided were tattoos in the shape of upside down red triangles under each eye. He turned back to Karin and what apparently was Suigetsu in time to catch a piece of their conversation.

"…you deliberately disobeyed…"

"I did not. He never said that I couldn't bring him…"

"You were supposed to just observe, Karin, not flaunt him around!"

"I'm not flaunting anything! And why shouldn't he be able to have a life..."

Naruto nodded dumbly at the man and he felt the arm around his shoulders pressure him into a standing, forward motion. Looking around the room, he saw all of the beautiful, black clad people's eyes were on him, watching him wearily as if he had just threatened to blow the place up. He was so concerned with the looks he was getting that he didn't notice where he was being led. He looked up in time to see the man usher him to the door of no return, but before he could put on his breaks, they were through the door and in…

'…the alley?' Yes, it was definitely an alley. Maybe these guys were bouncers after all?

The man led him to the far wall before he himself leaned back against it.

"So, Blondie, my name's Kiba. And your name is?"

Naruto hesitated, but Kiba continued to smile like a lunatic at him, showing almost all of his teeth. "Naruto."

"Well, Naruto, are you enjoying yourself so far?"

"Not really. Clubs aren't my thing, apparently."

If possible, Kiba's smile widened even further before he pushed himself off the wall and invaded Naruto's space. He braced both arms on either side of Naruto's head and leaned in close to his face.

"Well then, why don't we go have a private party, just the two of us?"

Before Naruto could react (he swears he was going to push the man away), a deep voice sounded across the alley like a gun shot.

"Kiba."

And Kiba was off of him like a gun shot too. Naruto blinked, and Kiba was on the far wall and turned towards to newcomer.

"Sasuke! I was just making friends here! I wasn't going to do anything. Promise!" Kiba laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

Naruto raised one eyebrow in disbelief before turning to this Sasuke to see if he was buying this bull, but his breath caught in his throat instead. It was the man from before! The one that had been staring at him. With his dark glare settled firmly on someone else, Naruto took a closer look at the man. He looked like the classic Aristocrat- high cheek bones and sharp features. He was, admittedly, handsome. But Naruto couldn't get around the feeling that he should be running from this man, rather than staring at him.

"Go back inside. Now." Kiba immediately reacted, scuttling around Sasuke and back through the alley door. Sasuke followed Kiba's progress with his eyes, but as soon as Kiba was back inside, Sasuke's focus snapped back to Naruto. Naruto, very visibly, flinched.

"You do not belong here."

Naruto forced back his reply of agreement and said instead, "It's not a private club, is it? So I have every right to be here, just as much as you. More so because I'm not a bastard." Naruto mentally smacked his head. Great, now said bastard was going to kill him for calling him a bastard. He really should start thinking before he spoke.

Sasuke, however, didn't even react to the insult. "Who brought you here?"

"A friend." Like Hell he was going to give Karin's name. Who knew what he'd do to her.

"You don't have any friends."

Naruto's jaw dropped. He didn't, but that was besides the point! This man was so rude! And a right bastard. Naruto decided to tell him so. Again.

"You bast…"

"Did Karin bring you here?" Sasuke interrupted.

'Yes' "No." A pause. "You know Karin?"

Sasuke scoffed. Naruto stared at him for a second before he realized his slip up. But before he could correct his mistake, Karin herself barged through the alley door. She looked pale and was visibly shaking.

"Naruto! Are you ok? I looked up and you were gone! Don't you ever…"

"Karin." Karin flinched before turning and facing Sasuke. She gulped.

"S-S-Sasuke! I…"

"Send him home. Now. We will discuss this later." Karin nodded and Sasuke swept past her and back into the building. Naruto finally was able to suck air back into his lungs before he leaned back against the wall. Karin turned to him and eyed him carefully.

"Come on, Naruto. I think it's time that you went home." Naruto was about to tell her to not let herself be bullied around by that bastard, but his knees started to go out from underneath him. Then there was Karin's hand was on his elbow, and Naruto found himself almost being dragged around the building and onto the street. She hailed a Taxi, and when one pulled over, she forced him into the back seat. She then lent down to the passenger window and told the driver Naruto's address and paid him. She then leaned back down to Naruto's still open door. "I'm sorry about tonight, Naruto. I was only doing what I thought was best. You go home and go right to bed, all right? And I'll see you tomorrow." With that, Karin slammed the door on any reply Naruto tried to make and turned around and went back inside the club.

Naruto couldn't remember the ride home. He remembered vaguely thanking the driver and tripping, twice, on his way up the stairs to his apartment. He remembered his hands shaking as he put his key into the lock, and then falling, face first and still clothed, onto his bed.

'Something happened tonight,' he thought. 'Something I don't understand.' He decided he'd corner Karin tomorrow at work and make her explain it to him.

And with his next exhale, Naruto fell into a deep sleep.