Prologue

A pair of eyes watched the dark sky as the big round moon lit up with bright white rays that seemed to color the sky. The night was simply lonely and the stargazer sat, only admiring the bright stars and the moon. How was it possible they shared the same fate, yet the two were so different? The moon was big and bright colored while the stars each stood out, all alone. That was how the stargazer saw it, both the moon and the stars shared a common solitude.

His eyelids slowly closed as he felt a slight breeze blowing past him. Silently he had wished that he brought along a sweater rather than his usual black tee shirt. He wiped the remaining dirt from his pants and turned to go back inside the house, until he heard a familiar voice calling out to him. “Naruto, if you hadn’t noticed...it’s night.” The voice stated.

Naruto turned, his light blonde hair moving to the cool breeze and he smiled at his friend. “Iruka...you scared me.” He pressed a hand on his chest, expressing the near heart attack Iruka had almost given him. “I know its night but...I couldn’t sleep.” He explained.

Iruka watched him from his brown eyes, his smile fading as he neared the younger boy. The two sat down and shared a pause until Iruka gently asked, “Is it because of the academy?” There was another pause.

“No...Well maybe just a little.” He finally answered. The night grew silent by each passing minute; all you could hear was the loud sound the wind made each time it passed by with a strong gust. “I told you that you‘ll be fine.” Iruka spoke.

“That’s not it. I’m going to a totally different school with people from different places in the world.” Naruto explained, and hugged his knees. “Remember what happened in that other school? What if I get kicked out of this one?”

“You won’t. I know how the academy is and I’m sure you’ll do better then before.” He said, with no doubt in his voice. However his words were not enough to convince the disturbed boy. “I’m sure you’ll meet nice people.”

Naruto didn‘t want to continue the conversation. “I’m sure you’re right.” He said and stood to go back home and rest for his flight to the academy. Iruka trailed behind, his eyes wondered to a shooting star as it passed by the two. Iruka smiled. “I wish Naruto was happy.” He silently prayed and followed Naruto back home, not really knowing if his wish would be answered.

His wish did not go unheard.

Chapter One: Monster
Naruto’s Point Of View

So there I am sitting and waiting impatiently as I wait for this stupid orientation to start. It’s been about five hours since I’ve seen Iruka and about half an hour since I got here in London. I’m all alone in another country and I don’t know anyone. To make this matter worse, the auditorium is huge with students sweating and stinking up the place. This is not the best place to be in, especially when it’s almost ninety degrees inside this school. It’s so much fresh outside and everyone is just wishing that someone would open the goddamn window.

I look at my notebook, which happens to also be a journal given to me by Iruka. He tells me he wants me to be creative and write about my exciting adventures in London. Yeah right, I thought to myself. Going to a very smart school with a bunch of boring kids and studying like crazy isn’t my idea of an ‘adventure’.

Lifting my elbow so that no one would see me writing in my new journal I start to write things about the school that I’ve learned so far. Like there are two other buildings beside the academy itself. They are both campuses, the one on the right side happened to be where I was staying. The other building was a campus for the older students, which consisted of a bunch of sorry sixteen and seventeen year olds.

Three floors belonged to the girls and the other three belonged to the guys. This academy did not believe in girls and guys sharing a room together. In each floor there are about forty rooms and two people in each room. That was about four hundred and eighty teenagers all in the same building.

By this time the orientation has started and no one has opened the windows to let the cool air inside. If you looked around you’d see girls wiping their sweat with tissues like it was very bad to sweat, while the guys just ignored their crazy antics and wiped their own sweat with their shirts. However there is a girl about my age who happens to be fanning herself and I happen to be getting some air. Lucky old me.

“Students are to wake up around six in the morning and attend classes before the late bell rings. Like a normal school, there will be no classes on Saturdays and Sundays,” Everyone starts to groan about waking up so early. This includes me since I was so used to getting to school late. This time I can’t screw this chance up so I make an attempt to keep awake. “Remember just because it is a Saturday or Sunday it doesn’t mean you should go out partying with your friends. This may result into suspension, getting expelled, or even worse...sex.”

I almost laugh at this but because of the sudden struck of boredom I sit down and close my eyes to sleep. “You’ve got to be kidding me...I’m sweating like a damn dog.” I hear a few complaints coming from the front and all I could do is groan in frustration. Their talking makes the place hotter.

“We will tolerate no romance or any relationship of any sort unless it is friendship. The worst thing to happen is you falling in love with a student. This school is worldwide.” Everyone rolls their eyes. This trip is like a one night stand kind of thing, where you flirt with a guy or girl and they give you their phone number. The next day it’s all, I’m sorry do I know you? Or it could end up with, He/She never called me back!

A kid two seats away from me starts to yawn real loudly, causing everyone to look up at him. “This is so boring..” He mumbles and stays put in his seat while the other kids yawn. I wondered if you see a kid yawning and you do the same...are you just copying the kid? Or are you really bored? Yawning is like this contagious disease. While I’m sitting and wondering about yawning the girl who was sitting next to me stops fanning herself and decides to simply put up her hair.

The girl has pink hair. Nothing too pinkish but a nice rose pink color. As she puts her hair up I watch her and notice she has green emerald eyes. I write down how many cute girls I’ve seen lately and I’ve already lost count. “Sex is not tolerated here and as young students you need to fight those urges you may have.”

“He talks like he’s never been a teenager before. For heaven’s sake we sound like these horny apes,” I mumble and receive a fair amount of snickers. “Or maybe he’s just never had ’urges’.” Another kid says. I smile. This is a sort of relief to everyone and finally they decide to open the windows, letting cool air enter the auditorium. Five minutes later the man starts to finish up his speech and then leaves.

Just when they let us have the cool air after being in a big sweaty hot auditorium we have to leave. “This is so stupid. I wish I went to soccer camp instead,” The boy who had sat in back of me sighs. “A few minutes in the auditorium is like sweating after two hours of non-stop sports.”

“What brings you all the way here in London?” I ask. “My parents think that I slack off after a hard ten months of non-stop studying. They want me to study harder instead of playing soccer professionally. You know how parents are..”

I nod, not really knowing what he meant. My parents died before I turned two so I have no idea how they used to look like or how they were. But I keep this all in my head, I don’t need to be pitied. “I’m headed to my new room and I don’t want my new roommate to get the best bed.”

“So then,” I grab onto my bags tightly as we enter the building. “Let’s get a move on.” We both smile and run to beat the crowds before out roommates could take the better bed. Surprisingly he and I both have the second floor but his room is 238 while my room is 221.

When we get to his room we see a guy with dark sunglasses that happened to be finishing up his packing. “Damn he got here first.” He says. I laugh. “Oh! I forgot...my name is Kiba.” He offers his hand and I take it. “My name is Naruto.”

“Oh! Shoot, my roommate might be moving in on the good bed. I’ll see you later, Kiba!” I yell and run out almost too quickly and as I trip on my own two feet I grab on to a random person, dragging him down with me. I rub my head and I give him a sorry look. He gives me a cold expression and picks himself up. “Watch where you’re going.” The redhead hisses bitterly.

“Sorry about that!” I apologized. The boy only grabbed his belongings and walk away, not really much of a talker. What got up his ass? I thought and continued to make my way to my new room. Then I remembered what Iruka had told me about some of the kids around here. Like high school there was also a labeling system here. You’ve got the punks, goths, normal kids, geeks, freaks, assholes, and my personal favorite...the nobodies.

Right now I was the only one under the list of a nobody. As I watched the redhead pass my room I was relieved and let out a loud sigh. However when I saw that my roommate had gotten there before me I almost yelled. The best bed to get was the one near the window so instead of getting the crappy bed I got the one near the window. I looked at my roommate as he got to start unpacking in his little dark corner.

“Uh...Hiya!” I greet. He says nothing for a moment and after he finishes some of his unpacking he finally turns. He greets me back with a cool, “Hey.” Like the redhead, he’s wearing dark black clothes. However he doesn't have piercings, make-up, jewelry, bracelets, or black nail polish anywhere. It almost makes me relieved to see this.

I sit down and instead of unpacking all of my clothes like everyone I take out a picture of Iruka and me, sitting under a tree while I’m putting up my fingers shaped like a ‘V’, giving Iruka a look as if he had horns. I take out my journal and I get writing.

September 14.

Today was hell and it felt like hell too. Orientation was boring and it was hot. I met a kid named Kiba. From what I know he probably likes soccer better than studying. But then again who likes studying? Oh! I got ’hissed’ at by some redhead freak on my way to my room.

I wanted to write more but I decided to write everything down later at night if things get even more exciting. I don’t know why it was so important for me to write in this journal anyway, nothing exciting would ever happen. Right? “Hey Naruto,” Kiba says. He’s standing outside the door and behind him is the boy who had dark shades. He still has them on. “You busy?” He asks.

“Na, I'm too lazy to unpack.” I answer. He smiles in relief and walks into my room, not noticing that my roommate minded. “Shino and I are thinking of going to the dining hall. A lot of the girls are going there. You wanna come?” He asks. I jump up and hide my journal, if everything goes well then I’ll have at least something to write about. “Hell yes!” I yell excitedly.

Kiba then looks back at my new roommate. “You wanna come?” He asks. Again he doesn’t reply for a minute and then he shakes his head. “Thanks, but not interested.” He says simply. Kiba scratches his chin and walks toward him. “Not interested in girls? Or not interested in having some fun?” I half expected him to punch him, but to my surprise he didn’t.

“Just not interested,” he replies. I imagine him to be the party pooper type of person, I actually believe he likes studying rather than having a good time. “That’s too bad, we’ll be at the dining hall if you change your mind. Oh by the way. I’m Kiba and that’s Shino. And you should already know your roommate Naruto.”

The boy only nods. “My name is Uchiha Sasuke.” His English isn’t bad at all and for a moment I thought he really was American. We all leave, wondering whether or not he’ll really show up. Kiba says he said those things to make him come. He didn’t want to drag him to the dining hall like he did with Shino.

Which brings me to the conclusion that Kiba and Shino might have already known each other before the academy. Kiba tells me he’s never seen him or met him and I kinda believe him. I wouldn’t be surprised if I found out everyone was his best friend. The guy could make friends in less than five minutes.

When we get to the dining hall we were fortunate enough to see the place filled with girls. “Holy shit, we’ve hit jackpot!” I say. The three of us must have been drooling because I swear I saw water coming out of my mouth.

“Hey, there’s Hinata!” Kiba shouts. A girl looks up at her name and smiles at us. Again I wouldn’t be surprised if they had just met. Kiba was the type of guy to meet new friends so easily. If it weren’t for him then I’d probably be bored out of my mind in my room.

Hinata is a shy American girl who knew Kiba even before this program started. They went to the same high school and then Kiba tells me he’s had a crush on her for a few months already. He tells me that they’re only friends and they can’t be anything more. “It’ll only be awkward.” He told me as we were heading toward her.

She stands and shakes my hand smiling shyly. “H-Hello...my name is Hinata.” Her other two friends stand up to introduce themselves. The girl next to her happens to be the same pink-haired girl who was sitting next to me at the orientation. However she doesn’t recognize me. “My name is Sakura.”

The last girl brushes her hair. “I’m Ino.” Like them we introduce ourselves. We grab a bite to eat and then we sit down in an empty table.

“Can you believe my parents? The nerve of them! They send us here claiming to want us to get an education when the truth is they want us out of the house!” Ino says, mentioning to us earlier that when she gets pissed she tends to yell with a British accent.

“Totally,” Sakura agrees. “My parents sent me here cause they want some alone time. For heaven’s sake they get alone time all the time!” We all laugh at this.

“You guys are lucky,” I say as I swallow the remaining ramen from my mouth. “You guys get to be sent away by your parents. My old teacher sent me here cause he thinks I’ll do better.” Kiba looks at me.

“You mean you’re parents didn’t mind you coming to London?” He asks. I shook my head. “I really don’t think they would say anything about it.” I laughed. Everyone looks at me like they cannot believe I said that without making a big deal out of it. It really wasn’t a big deal.

Kiba pats my back and says. “Dude that’s tough. That‘s totally child negligence.” I shrug and keep quite, not bothering to mention that my parents were dead anyway. Why would they care if I went to a school in London?

“I think that’s great!” Sakura says and giggles. But the truth was child negligence wasn’t so great. It was far worst than your parents being dead. It was like you were the dead one instead of your parents being the dead ones. “That’s horrible.” Hinata says.

I give her a thankful look; she catches on and smiles at me. “I think this program is great,” Shino says and takes a bite out of his ham sandwich. He knows perfect English like Kiba and Hinata does so I’m wondering if he really is American. “I’m out here in London without any parents. It’s just terrific.”

Kiba grins and asks him, “Are you’re parents hippies?” I nearly choke on my food again. Shino shakes his head. “No. They’re both scientists. Why do you ask?”

“No reason really,” He picks up a cookie and eats it whole in his mouth. “It’s just that everyone’s parents always gotta work in the same category. Like yours, Shino. They’re both in a scientific department. My dad is a doctor while my mom works in a vet, taking care of animals.”

Ino smiles. “I see what you mean! My dad is a historian and my mother is a librarian. They both work in the boring department.” She mumbles. I look down and continue eating some of my ramen.

Hinata laughs lightly. “Boring? I think it’s interesting. Studying facts and reading books. Both my parents are archeologists.” Ino smiles at this and shakes her head. “My parents would just love you.”

It was Sakura’s turn. She paused for a minute and sighed. “My mother is a model and my dad is the photographer. We always travel the world,” She paused. “But this year they decided to drop me off here.”

Everyone looks at me, waiting for my answer. I look up, slightly confused. “Huh? Oh! My parents? Right now...they’re six feet under.” I tell them. “Oh. Are they archeologists like Hinata’s parents?” Ino asks. Not exactly. In hundred years future archeologist will by studying my parent's bones for heaven sakes.

I shook my head. “Nope. They’re dead. They died before I turned two.” Everyone stares at me...again. No one really knew why my parents did what they did. They were ‘good people’ and when everyone in town had found out they were giving birth to me they were just excited as my parents were. This was when everything went terribly wrong. Fights happened, screaming, and pounding. That’s all you’d remember if you were a year old. I couldn’t even walk or talk.

There‘s a quite pause. “Man...That’s real bad.” Kiba says, interrupting the silence. This conversation comes to an end when all of a sudden the girls start talking about how much fun it would be if they had a sleep over. At least the conversation didn’t go further because Shino and Kiba start talking about how cool it would be to sneak over the girl’s dormitory.

“So how about it Naruto?” Kiba asks. My eyes however are almost shutting down. It must be around one in the morning of something because everyone in the dining hall is leaving. Probably to get a good night’s sleep. “Na, I’m heading to bed.”

I wave good-bye to everyone and I can’t wait to get up to my room and write everything in my journal. When I get up I see Sasuke; his eyes are closed so he must be sleeping. But he’s sleeping in a pile of books. He must have worked himself to death or something because when I tried to wake him up he didn’t move.

I wondered how my parents must have felt as they looked over me and watched in silence as I slept. Did they feel disgusted? Or did they love me before they died? I haven’t thought of my parents like this since Iruka told me how they died.

I shake the thoughts off my mind and smile. “Good night.” I tell him and get to my side of the room. I take out my journal and write important notes on everyone I met today.

Note to self: Never talk about dead parents with anyone.

I bet there wasn’t any kid in this academy that was just like me. Just parentless and lonely like I used to be back home. This was possibly the first time I ever talked to anyone about my parents in four or five years. When I was about nine or ten years old I wanted to know so much about my mom and dad. I made Iruka tell me about my parents, more like forced to tell me. There was so much hesitation and awkwardness so he ended up telling me that my parents were just great people.

That’s not what I wanted. I had wished I never went on further with my discovery. What I discovered made me the miserable little fifteen-year-old that I am today. My parents were once these happy two couples trying to make it in the world. They were teenage parents. Iruka told me they were not experienced and life was hard when they were two eighteen year olds with a kid.

My parents could no longer take it. They could no longer take me. They couldn’t bear the thought of leaving me in a foster home or orphanage. I don’t know if they were really selfish but my mother thought, if we can’t get rid of Naruto then let’s get rid of ourselves!

So my mother committed suicide. She drowned herself, and I wondered...was she thinking about my future as she killed herself? Did she think I would be alright? My father was so poignant about her death that he no longer ate and then after a few days he too committed suicide. He thought he couldn’t live his life without my mother. But what about me? What about Naruto? The only memory he had left of his wife!

Since then no one has wanted me in their homes. Not foster care and not any orphanage. Maybe it was my attitude? I was never bad or rude to anyone but they still didn’t want me. It didn’t matter if it was my attitude or me. It was because of my parent’s mistakes that I was hated. My life was screwed as soon as my parents got married. When I was born I got shunned.

I was known as a monster.

A/N: I know this is my second Naruto fic...and my first isn't even finished. Creative critism would be nice. No flames please! Please review!