A/N: This story was loosely based on the book by Katherine Applegate. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were created by Masashi Kishimoto. The rest of the story however is mine.

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This story started in the summer and ended before the next summer came fully, or maybe it has started way before that.

This is a story about me and my bestfriend, and a girl, of a year I would never forget. It's a story about life, friendship, but most of all love.

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I was silently cursing Naruto for the predicament I was in right now.

It was our last summer before we start our senior year in high school and before preparing for college but he had to go to the US with his mom. I'm too proud to admit it but life was boring without him around. I had no idea how to spend the start of my summer alone.

I was hitting the streets of Tokyo, playing videogames in our favourite arcade and looking up new releases of our favourite mangas. I should be doing this with Naruto as we've planned but he exchanged me for a trip to the US. Not that I blame him though, he told me he'd be visiting a hospital there with his okaa-san. Must be serious I thought, but hoping it was not too serious.

We've been bestfriends since we were 7. Having the surnames Uchiha and Uzumaki, we were alphabetically seatmates. We didn't hit it off right away though. I was a know-it-all snob and Naruto was an annoying loudmouth.

I was always number one in class and bested Naruto at everything. He always kept on trying to beat me though even if he always came second. He declared us rivals so I called him loser. To me being second place was just another word for first loser. Then he called me a bastard and that was when fists flew.

I have always been sensitive about being called a bastard because I am one. I never minded my otou-san always gone and not spending time with us because I thought then that he was busy with work, not until I saw him happily playing in the park with a boy who looked like me but older. I asked my okaa-san about it and I learned that my mother, Mikoto, was my father's mistress. I was the bastard son of Uchiha Fugaku who lived with his first family and first born son, Itachi.

So excuse me for being sensitive about the topic. It also hurt that otou-san never seemed interested about my activities and grades in school, because Itachi always came first. Next to Itachi, I always felt second best.

Our parents got called and it turned out our mothers knew each other in high school. So really, we were forced to socialize with each other. It wasn't long after that our rivalry turned to friendship. No one else really talked to me except Naruto. It must also be because he was an only child and had no one to play and fight with so we developed a brother-like bond. We were the only ones allowed to call each other loser and bastard but in a fond sort of way. We shared secrets and our stuff. He told me he'd even share his otou-san with me. We often have the same likes and dislikes, except perhaps with regards to ramen and tomatoes.

Not to brag or anything, we were also both considered one of the best-looking in our class. Between the two of us, Naruto was the friendly one, always accommodating and ready with a smile and hello. His disposition is as sunny as his bleached blond locks and bright as his blue eyes. It's no wonder girls flock him. I was the dark one with my black hair and eyes and impassive nature. I was better known as ice prince. I don't know why girls think I'm cool and mysterious when I don't even talk to them.

But both of us were serious with our studies and had no time for girls, or rather no girl has caught our attention yet. However, Naruto was the one always going on about finding the girl of his dreams. He was the one excited to fall in love.

Me, I was always a little wary of love. I'm scared to be like my okaa-san, so in love with my father but sharing his love with another. Just like how I had to content myself with the time my father gives me.

The closest father figure I have in my life next to Naruto's father would be our neighbour Kakashi. He lived alone and had a patch over his left eye. It was rumoured that he used to play baseball and lost his pregnant wife in a car accident while he was the one driving. He was the only one that survived though he lost an eye from the broken glass. In one night he lost his family and career that was why he drowned his sorrows with sake. He taught me how to ride a bike when he saw me fall several times in front of his yard and he would take me in to watch over when okaa-san was busy. He also taught Naruto and me how to play baseball. We never talked about it but I think there was some truth about the rumors.

But even then Kakashi didn't stay long. His liver failed and I was the only one aside from my mother and Naruto to visit him. I was beside him when he passed away. After his funeral, his lawyer came and read his will that I was to receive all of his savings and property when I turn 18. I didn't care for his money, I would miss the old man and how he treated me like his own son.

So who would blame me for being cautious and on guard? After all, it's my heart I'm trying to protect.

It was turning out to be a hot summer. I could feel my hair sticking to my sweaty neck. It was almost 4pm and I better head home before it gets dark. I went for the train station and got suddenly swamped by the rush of people also on their way home.

Fuck! I silently cursed Naruto again, hoping he was having a better time than me.

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We've just arrived in the US, to visit a famous hospital. We were hoping, my okaa-san and I for a second opinion. We were inside a cab on the way to the hospital when my mother experienced one of her headaches.

I handed her medicine, worried. "Okaa-san, here take this." I said.

"Arigatou, Naruto-kun. I shouldn't be bothering you." She said.

"It's okay, kaa-san, it's okay." I reassured her. I was silently enjoying the foreign scenery, hoping I could tell all of it to Sasuke when I get back.

I was anxious and nervous as to what will happen when we get to the hospital. I wish Sasuke was here to distract me with his sarcastic remarks or just bonk me in the head to help me focus, just like when we were children when we would go to the dentist and I would panic.

Between the two of us he was always the tough one. He didn't cry when he fell from a tree when we were 12 and broke his wrist, not even when his otou-san finally left them when we were 13. I think he had stopped crying when Kakashi died when we were 11.

I was thinking of what Sasuke was doing now, hoping he was having a better time than me.