Sorry for the wait!

Beta: landartheconqueror

Chapter 5:

Past:

Blond hair, brighter than the sun, tanned, soft skin. Sky blue eyes gazed down at the dirt and grass in front of him. Tiny face set in sadness. He was a small child, smaller then he should be for his age but the clothes he wore tended to disguise that fact. They overwhelmed him, hiding how skinny he actually was from too little food. Not enough nourishment.

The boy trembled. He was trying so hard not to let the tears fall. So hard not to show any pain. And loneliness.

It was always like this. He would be sitting there, one of the last kids to be picked up. Always alone, always forgotten.

Alway... always ignored.

The people he was staying with... His foster parents... They constantly forgot about him. Forgot that they were responsible for him. That he was a four year old boy that needed love. Needed affection.

Constantly... constantly forgotten about.

Naruto sniffed, bringing his hand up to rub at his leaking eyes. He couldn't help but whisper the one word he always asked himself. "Why?" Naruto wrapped his arms around his legs and buried his face into his knees, shutting out the world around him.

"Naruto-kun!" The shock of someone yelling his name made the tears stop. He scrubbed his face, wiping all the tears away. "Let's go play before Nii-san comes to pick me up!" A black haired child exclaimed as he stopped right in front of the blond who was blinking owlishly up at him. The boy smiled down at him, reaching out his hand, palm open.

Naruto hesitated for a second, just a second. He looked into those warm eyes, and he took the other's outstretched hand. The blond child recognised the other from his kindergarten class. They'd only ever said hello to each other and that was about it. His name was Sasu- something. Naruto couldn't really remember the rest. The boy dragged him over to the playground, asking Naruto a million questions that the blond couldn't answer because the boy jumped to another question almost immediately.

For the first time in as long as Naruto could remember, he laughed.

Giggled.

Had fun.

He felt as light as a feather while running around and playing with Sasu-chan. The boy didn't seem to mind the name when Naruto had first said it so Naruto figured it was okay to use. They had been playing for a little under thirty minutes, but to Naruto it felt much longer. He found that he didn't want it to end.

As soon as he thought that, it ended.

"Nii-san!" Sasu-chan suddenly cried out with a childish giggle, waving at the boy that had appeared in the school yard. Naruto turned and hid behind the black haired boy as an older looking Sasu-chan walked over to them. "This is my new friend Naru-chan!" He turned to Naruto and said in a whisper so that his brother wouldn't hear. "Just call my nii-san Ita-chan, he looks like a girl anyway!"

Naruto peaked out from behind Sasu-chan as the other boy got closer to them. He seemed friendly enough, a smile present on his lips, but Naruto couldn't be too sure. He'd been deceived before. He hardly knew why he even trusted Sasu-chan on sight as it was.

"Otouto, it's time to go home, the driver's waiting." The boy, Ita-chan, said and turned to nod at Naruto. "It's nice to meet you, Naru-chan. I'll be calling you that since you want to call me Ita-chan like my dear otouto." The older boy teased the blond boy, playfully tousling his gold locks.

Naruto bowed his head slightly as he watched them walk away, hiding the blush on his face. The younger one reached out and took his brother's hand as he walked away after waving goodbye to Naruto.

His chest hurt as they got farther away. Once again, the loneliness settled in and the blond couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

He wanted that. Someone that loved him like family...

As soon as the two disappeared into the parking lot, Naruto turned away and made his way to the front steps. He would wait a little bit longer but he doubted that anyone would come for him. Since the day he'd been sent to the school just after being taken to his new home- His 'new' family- he had been forgotten about by them.

Naruto had believed the social worker, believed that this 'family' would love him and want him. Treat him like their child. Like he belonged...

That had been wrong. Completely and utterly wrong.

He'd been thrown into a room and promptly ignored for the rest of the day and night. The next morning, he'd been fed and then taken to the school to register. When they got back 'home', the same pattern from the day before occurred. He was forgotten about. The only time he was even looked at was when he had to go to school. The man would drop him off on his way to work.

Naruto had had to walk into the office by himself on that first day.

Terrified had been one way to describe the way he had felt. Terrified and lonely.

Luckily, he had remembered the way from the day before. The secretary had been expecting him. She had seemed more than a little shocked that he was alone but she hadn't asked anything more then if his name was Naruto Uzumaki.

After confirming it, she'd taken him to his class and introduced him to the teacher and that was that. He was way to scared to meet anyone's eyes. He didn't talk during class. Not on that day and not much on the days following it. Though he did watch everyone. He noticed how the children played and had fun. He didn't feel like he belonged with them. And he'd been alone.

Until just an hour before, when Sasu-chan had reached out.

One of the teachers almost stumbled over him at that moment, breaking Naruto out of his lonely thoughts.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto kept his head down as he waited for everyone to leave. It had been six months since he'd become friends with Sasu-chan and Ita-chan. They had had fun for the last few months of kindergarten and after not being able to see them for a few months because of summer break, Naruto had gotten a bit lonely. Luckily, they had both gone to the same school again but that year, first grade, he hadn't been lucky enough to be in the same class as his dark haired friend. They still ended up playing together during recess and after school when his brother was late in picking him up but it wasn't the same for the blond.

That day he hadn't seen Sasu-chan during lunch so he assumed that his friend hadn't gone to school.

Naruto waited until the school yard was empty before picking up his bag and sneaking away. The teachers would think that he had been picked up already. A few weeks back, Naruto had gotten tired of waiting and had just... walked home. It wasn't that far of a walk (that's what he had told himself) and it was faster than waiting for a teacher to notice that he was still there. They would call his foster parents to come pick him up and he'd have to wait another two hours. Then the teacher would get a call to say that they hadn't been able to get out of work and if they could please drop Naruto off at home.

It was easier and the teachers had stopped being suspicious of his foster parents. Naruto knew that if they had continued to forget about him, his case worker would come to see if he was okay. He would see how badly it was. And before he could blink, they would take him away and he would never see Sasu-chan or Ita-chan ever again.

Naruto knew this because it had happened with the family before his current one at the beginning of kindergarten. He didn't want to leave again, not when he'd finally found two friends. Two people that cared. And if he had to walk home by himself to make sure he would stay, then he would do it.

Halfway home, he heard his name being called. The voice was familiar. It was Sasu-chan.

Naruto had forced himself to keep walking, to not look back. He didn't want his friends to know he walked home. They would tell a grown up and he would be sent away. They couldn't know.

He ran.

The next day, Naruto pretended to not know what Sasu-chan was talking about when he'd asked if the blond had walked home.

"My parents picked me up." Naruto blinked innocently at his friend after school as they waited for Ita-chan, neither feeling like running around the playground.

Sasu-chan didn't seem to believe him but Naruto didn't back down. He didn't want to lose them, and he was going to make sure he wouldn't.

"Otouto! Naru-chan!" Both turned when they heard their names. It was Ita-chan walking over to them.

As soon as he was in front of them, he leaned down with a smile on his face. Naruto noticed that he was watching him more than his brother. "Would you like to come to my taijutsu class? We'll drop you off at home, and you can use my cell phone to call your parents to make sure it's alright with them."

Naruto nodded his head before he could even think. The older boy led the two younger ones to the black car, handing Naruto the phone after they climbed in.

The blond stared at the phone for a few seconds, noticing that the brothers were watching him out of the corner of their eyes. Naruto took a slow breath before taking out the paper with the house number. He dialed the number with trembling fingers. After a couple of rings, it went straight to voicemail. Inwardly, Naruto relaxed. He left a short message. "I'll be going to a class after school, and I'll be home a little later than usual." The blond ignored the look Ita-chan was giving him as he handed the phone back. It was almost like he knew something. Naruto hoped he didn't.

That was when he met him.

"Sensei, this is my otouto's, as well as my friend, Naru-chan." Ita-chan introduced

"Ah, Naru-chan. It's a pleasure to meet you. I've been told so much about you." Golden eyes stared down at the blond boy.

Naruto smiled brightly up at the dark haired man.

From that day forward, Naruto went with them to the taijutsu class whenever it was Ita-chan's turn to pick Sasu-chan up.

Present:

The shrill sound of a phone ringing cut through Naruto's dreams. He hadn't been able to fall asleep very well that night and had just barely managed it a few hours before.

Groggily, Naruto reached out blindly for his phone. He managed to knock over a few of the things on his nightstand before his fingertips touched the vibrating object. Naruto fumbled with it before clicking on what he thought was the answer icon and brought the phone up to his ear. "H-hello?"

There was only silence. Naruto looked at the screen to make sure he had answered it in time. He had. With a frown, Naruto placed the phone to his ear again. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

His phone made a noise that told Naruto the call had been ended. He looked at the screened again before taking note of the time on the top right corner.

"Shit!" He would have to take the truck if he didn't want to be late.

As quickly as humanly possible; Naruto got ready, gathered his school things, found the keys, and finally, dashed out the door. He didn't remember to brush his teeth until he was already halfway down the read. With a grimace, Naruto popped a piece of gum into his mouth. Luckily, no one ever got close enough to possibly smell his bad breath.

Naruto ran into the classroom, clothes askew, and backpack open with his books barely hanging on. He would be surprised if he hadn't lost a few on his mad dash through the halls.

"Naruto, next time don't be late! I'll let it slide this once. Take a seat." His teacher admonished as Naruto bowed apologetically and stumbled to his seat. During the next hour, Naruto didn't even hear the words that came out of his sensei's mouth. He just felt tired and wanted to pass out.

When class ended, Naruto hurried to P.E.. He didn't notice Sasuke and Shikamaru trying to call him. The blond just plowed through the crowd and into the guy's changing room.

That was when he noticed that he forgot his gym clothes. "Damn it!"

"Are you alright?" The voice right next to him made Naruto jump. He hadn't notice Sasuke and Shikamaru walk up to him.

Naruto grimaced slightly, before smiling. He hoped they hadn't noticed his slip up. "I'm fine, just didn't get much sleep last night." He ran his hand through his hair, sighing heavily.

The two looked like they didn't believe him but didn't push as they began to change into their gym clothes. Naruto took the time to zip up his backpack properly before swinging it back onto his shoulder.

"You're not going to dress out?" Sai had just walked in and noticed Naruto's actions.

The blond shook his head before opening his mouth. "I forgot my gym clothes at home."

Naruto left and as soon as he spotted Gai-sensei he stopped to explain his predicament. The green clad man nodded his head, pointing to the bleachers.

"I'll let it pass this one time Naruto, but the next time you don't dress out, your grade will be lowered." The man gave Naruto a thumbs up after the blond had nodded his understanding. With that, Naruto walked away and sprawled onto the bleachers. He shifted a little until he was comfortable. After a moment, he pulled his hoodie up and over half of his face and closed his eyes.

The day was already shoddy and he wondered why he'd even gotten out of bed that day. Since Naruto had started at the Academy, he hadn't missed. Tsunade wouldn't have minded that much if he'd skipped one day. At least, she'd get over it since it wasn't like he ditched school. Never in fact.

Next time he felt like shit he wouldn't even open his eyes, Naruto promised himself. Pressing the palms of his hands onto his eyes, and pushing slightly didn't really help with his head ache. Though it did make burst of color explode behind his eyelids. Naruto stayed like that for a few minutes before grunting and reaching blindly for his backpack. After searching through it, the blond found a bottle of extra strength pain medicine. He popped four tablets into his mouth and dry swallowed them. They would probably take a while to work, he should have taken them during his first period but he'd forgotten that he'd had the pills there until that moment.

Suddenly, he remembered how he'd been woken up that morning. Naruto opened his eyes, and with a grunt, he reached into the pockets on his jeans. Naruto pulled out his phone. The blond was incredibly lucky that he hadn't forgotten it at home since he'd left in a hurry.

He scanned the call log and saw that the latest call was from a blocked number. "What the fuck is it with people and private numbers?" Naruto couldn't help but grumble to himself as he scrolled through the rest of his call log. The blond frowned as he noticed a pattern with the calls from blocked numbers. They had started on that day when Tsunade had essentially kidnapped Sai, Shikamaru, and Sasuke. He'd gotten one phone call from a blocked number every day since then. At first it was only in the late afternoon. Then they had gotten earlier and earlier with every single call, and multiple times a day as well. Most of them he missed because his phone was on silent during class. "Is it all from one person?" Naruto muttered with a raised eyebrow. After contemplating that for a moment, Naruto shook his head. If it continued though, he would ask Tsunade if he could change his number to stop the annoying calls.

Just then, the email icon popped onto the upper left hand corner of his phone. Naruto opened it and noticed it was a P.M. from .

From: Fanfiction

To: Me

You have received a message from:

TheYaoiLover

Subject: Hi

Hey, I was just wondering if you were alright? You haven't been updating any of your stories recently and you usually do a few every week. I was just checking up to make sure you were alright.

Hope to hear from you soon!

-TYL

With a start, Naruto noticed that it was true. He hadn't updated anything for a few weeks. The only thing he'd even worked on was the story for the short story contest and that had been it. He'd finished it and hadn't written anything else that was related to his hobby. Guilt went through him then. Naruto was pretty sure that he'd promised more than a few updates to several followers. He hadn't even noticed till that moment either.

Naruto didn't even have a legitimate excuse either! He'd just been feeling a lot more down(creeped out), and just hadn't... written.

The blond sighed. He then clicked on the reply link and began typing.

Hey TYL! I'm sorry I haven't been updating. Just got a little distracted and couldn't seem to write. I'm fine and thank you for checking with me, 'm sorry I had you worried! I'll try to update things soon!

-Kyuubi

Pretty soon after that, Naruto noticed that Gai-sensei was introducing someone to the class. He couldn't tell how the new student looked because, like Naruto, he had a hoodie over his head. Since he was too far away, Naruto didn't hear the kids name either. Naruto shrugged and leaned back again. He'd find out later, it wasn't like it was important.

This time he just stared up at the ceiling. From out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw the new guy head over towards him. He stopped a few yards away from Naruto and sat down, taking a similar position to Naruto's. He didn't show any signs that he wanted to talk. Since the blond didn't feel like socializing at the moment, he ignored him and went back to staring up at the ceiling.

"Naruto!"

Naruto jerked up in surprise, almost hitting his face against Shikamaru's. The brunette had been leaning over him, trying to get him to wake up.

"What?! Kami, what the fuck was that for?!" Naruto groaned, rubbing his face. The action made the hoodie fall down. He hadn't even noticed that he'd fallen asleep in the middle of class.

"I called you a few times, you wouldn't wake up. Is everything alright?" Shikamaru asked and Naruto noticed that other than his new friends and the new kid that seemed to have frozen halfway to the door, they were alone. "Really? Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night... must have passed out. When I'm in a deep sleep, it usually takes a bit for me to snap out of it." Naruto forced a grin on his face. Shikamaru didn't seem to buy it, but Naruto pushed himself up and grabbed his bag. "Right, lunch time! Let's hurry, I'm starving!"

The blond walked towards the doors, the three S's right beside him. When they got to the locker room, the three changed quickly while Naruto waited patiently, and then all four went to lunch. They walked through the doors into the bustling cafeteria when he heard it.

"Naruto?"

Naruto almost tripped as he spun around to look behind him. That voice was so similar. The new kid was standing just behind them. The blond's eyes widened when the other's brown and cream colored hood was pulled away from his face. The bright red hair, the tattoo that was kanji for 'love' on his forehead, the sea foam green eyes that pierced straight through Naruto's heart... it was achingly all familiar.

Gaara...

It was him... It really was him!

Naruto got closer and raised his trembling hand and gently trailed down Gaara's face. "Gaara..." Naruto whispered, eyes trailing down Gaara's face before locking on his eyes. Those amazing eyes...

Suddenly, arms were around him, pulling Naruto flush against the other's body. The feel of those arms were familiar, oh-so familiar. They held onto him tightly, he wouldn't be able to break away from the hold, even if he had wanted to. Cerulean eyes looked slightly up at the taller teen. Vaguely, Naruto remembered that they used to be the same height.

"It really is you... I've missed you..." Gaara whispered, eyes softening slightly before his head descended and captured Naruto's lips in a kiss that the blond gladly welcomed with a soft groan. He completely forgot that they weren't alone.

The once noisy room now shocked into silence.

:Flashback:

Naruto hunched lower, almost trying to hide in his hoodie. He was the new kid. Again, he was the new kid. When was that going to stop? When was he going to find his forever home?

"Probably never." Naruto whispered to himself as he looked at the numbers next to the classroom doors. Finally spotting his destination, Naruto took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

"What can I- Are you our new transfer student?" The sensei asked.

Naruto nodded his head slightly, not speaking just yet. Students seemed excited about him. That probably wouldn't last long. It never did.

"What's your name?" The teacher continued, oblivious to Naruto's dread.

"Naruto Uzumaki..." The blond said, hunching as everyone recoiled as he said his last name.

The sensei nodded slightly and pointed to a chair at the back that was empty. "Go ahead and sit over in that empty seat. And here's your book for this class. Make sure you don't lose it."

Taking the book that was held out to him, Naruto quickly moved to his seat, ignoring the way people shifted away from him. That's how it always was when he transferred to new schools. Students would flinch away from him and then when they noticed that he stayed to himself, the bolder ones would pick fights. It was a cycle that always happened, without fail.

Naruto slipped into the seat, already bracing himself for a horrible first day.

Then something caught his eye.

Well, someone.

Green eyes. Red hair. A tattoo on his forehead...

And he was looking at Naruto.

It wasn't a bad look either. It was something else... Naruto could feel himself turn red as their gazes caught and held each others.

Maybe that day wouldn't be so horrible after all.

:End Of Flashback:

Gaara pulled away from the kiss and looked tenderly down at Naruto, arms tightening a fraction more. "I've missed you so much Naruto... I'm sorry..."

Naruto blushed slightly before frowning at the apology. "You don't need to apologize Gaara. You didn't do anything wrong."

"No, I do. I promised never to leave you, and I didn't keep my promise." Gaara whispered, eyes showing the conflict that was going through him.

Someone coughed behind them.

"So.. You two know each other, obviously..." Sasuke stated, looking the redhead over.

"Is Gaara the one you got your tattoo with and for?" Sai asked looking interested.

"You have a tattoo?!" Both Shikamaru and Sasuke asked more than a little shocked.

Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly, looking up to glare at Sai. "He's seen your tattoo?"

A/N: It's Gaara! Kudos to the ones that guessed it was him that was the new student! Sorry if it's more past then actual present time but I wanted to show more about his past and how Naruto met people that he doesn't know are currently in his life(except for Gaara).

I split this chapter, otherwise it would have taken me longer to finish it, so I hope you enjoyed! I'll try to start the next in a few days so you won't have to wait long but I can't promise anything.

Thank you for the readers, followers, favoriters, and reviewers!

Special thanks to: tiki, yumenohime-sama, RvsB, PurpleOmpski, and TigrezzTail: for reviewing Chapter 4!

TigrezzTail: Naruto's memories are from when he was around five so they are fuzzy. He also tried to forget about it so things aren't clear whenever he gets nightmares. That's why he can't really remember Sasuke and Itachi's faces either.