Naruko Uzumaki, age 16, awoke alone in the dimly lit alley's of Konoha City. She sighed as she looked around at her surroundings, a messy trash filled alley, before pulling a small pocket watch from a hidden pocket within her jacket. Te only remaining memento of her parents. Flipping it open she was greeted by the cracked glass encasing the small clock inside. The other half containing a small photo of a tall handsome mad with spiky yellow hair and vibrant blue eyes much like her own, standing next two a smaller redheaded woman. In her arms lay a sleeping infant. It was the only photo she had left of her and her parents and she cherished it with all her heart.

Noting the time, Naruko pulled herself up and out of the make shift lean-too she had made. Stretching her arms high above her head she smeared a smile across her face and grabbed the duffel bag that lay beside her makeshift home. If she intended on getting a shower in before school she'd have to hurry up and beat the rush. Stepping out into the streets of Konoha there were a few people up early and headed into work, but for the most part the world was still peaceful and quiet. Naruko's smile almost became genuine at the peaceful atmosphere of the morning before she took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Goooood Morning Konoha! You better be ready for me!"

Naruko couldn't remember when she had begun shouting that out in the mornings, but it had become an almost ritualistic part of her days now. Not a day went by without her shouting that at the top of her lungs. It just made her feel alive and quite frankly a little bit better. Naruko wasn't surprised when a window in the nearby house slid open and a young boy with brown spiky hair popped his head out, the sound of a dog barking slipping out of his window with him as he shouted.

"Hey! What the hell! Some of us are trying to sleep here!"

Naruko stared up at the boy in shock for a moment before pulling on her left eye lid and sticking her tongue out at the boy. The look on his face was priceless as he puttered in shock at her immaturity and before he could muster a response she was off, sprinting down the sidewalk, headed off to school.

Kiba Inuzuka, age 18, watched in a mixture of shock and confusion as the girl ran off giggling aloud to herself. With an indignant huff he slammed his window shut before spinning around to point a finger at his dog as he shouted.

"Akamaru! I swear, you need to zip it! It's too early for this shit!"

Akamaru was quick to quiet down and Kiba was thankful for that. Looking at his clock he realized that he still had two hours before school, but there was no way he was getting to sleep again after that. He slowly made his way over to his dresser and grabbed a change of clothes before heading into his bathroom to shower. As Kiba stood there, hot water cascading down over him, he thought back on that strange girl from moments before. Something about that girl was familiar, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

When he finished his shower, Kiba got dressed in a ripped up pair of jeans and an old tank top with long red slashes all across it in the shape of claw marks. Making his way down stairs and too the kitchen he found his sister busy making breakfast. As soon as his feet hit the kitchen floor she spun around and pointed a spoon at him shouting

"I don't care if you just took a shower, go wash your hands!"

Kiba froze in his tracks as Akamaru pushed his way between Kiba's legs before holding up his hands grumbling, "Oh come on sis, I did just wash them." however the look she shot him had him quickly back peddling towards the nearby sink. Kiba mumbled to himself as he washed his hands and was ared stiff when his sisters voice rang out from behind him

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Kiba said quickly before drying his hands and making his way to the kitchen table."So what's for breakfast, oh amazing sister of mine?"

Hana smiled at her little brother before setting a plate, piled high with bacon n sausage and eggs, in front of him. She giggled as his eyes practically popped out of his head and he dug in mercilessly.

"I heard today was your first game, so I figured you'd need all the energy you can get!"

Kiba grinned like an idiot, food practically spilling from his mouth as he scooped up another forkfull of bacon.

"Myeah!" Kiba said with a mouthful of food before fist came down hard over the top of his head.

"How many times do I have to tell you to not talk with your mouthful!" Hana screamed at him, even though she was amused.

Naruko had arrived just in time for one of the Janitors to let her in with them. She was lucky they knew her well enough to let her in, but that kind of came with the territory when you were constantly in detention with two options. Sit quietly, or help the Janitors. Today it was Jiraiya, the only janitor she actually liked. Even if he was a pervert. Her and the older man had quickly bonded over their love of ramen, and the fact that he had authored her favorite story of all time 'Naruto: Rise of the Shinobi'. A tale of an misunderstood outcast, who had no one, and grew to become loved by all and became the Hero of the Shinobi Nations. It was a truly riveting tale, even with it's plot holes.

"Ahh! Morning Naruko!" Jiraiya had greeted her when as she came bounding up behind him at the front entrance of the school.

"Morning old man!" she greeted happily drawing out a string of curses from him as he ranted about how he wasn't old. This only drew a fit of giggles from the much smaller girl and in the end no ones feelings were actually hurt as they slipped inside out of the cold.

"So, I take it your off for the showers again this morning?" He said inquisitively, one eyebrow quirked upwards a bit.

"Yeah and I better not catch you peaking you old perv!" She teased as she took off down the empty corridors laughing out loud as the old man cursed at her again about how he wasn't into children. They both knew she was only joking, but she always loved watching the way the older man over reacted at her accusations. Slipping into the girls locker room, Naruko did a once over to make sure it was clear before heading to an open locker and sitting down on the bench in front of it. Setting down her duffel bag she rifled through it pulling out a bottle of almost completely empty shampoo and half of a bar of soap.

She then stripped out of her dirty clothing and tossed it in her bag before stuffing it unceremoniously in the locker. Making her way into the showers she walked up to the nearest one and turned the hot water all the way up. She watched with a smile as steam slowly rose from the water, before reaching out tenderly to feel it. Her hand shot back the moment she touched it, happy to know it was indeed hot, but a little too hot. It took a bit a fidgeting with the water until she got the correct temperature, but once she got it just right and she sliped under the stream of oothing heat, a low sigh escaped her lips as she felt the dirt caked to her skin sliding off.

In order to not draw too much suspicion from the janitors, she had made a rule to only shower once a week, and living outside left her with plenty to scrub away each time. She stood there for awhile just running her hands over her skin, doing her best to get the dirt, and dried blood from her skin without soap. She had to conserve what she could, so most showers were just water. Today however was a cheat day, and when she felt her skin was smoothed enough she grabbed her sliver of bar soap and rubbed herself down. She hated the way the bar would drag slower over the scars on her skin, always reminding her of her past. But it was something she'd grown used to, and something she could put up with if it meant she could smell good for once.

Once she'd used her allotted amount of soap for the day, she swapped it for her shampoo, pouring a small pool into the palm of her hand. She didn't mind not using the bar soap if she didn't have too, but she wished she could use more shampoo. Her hair was so long, running all the way down to her lower back, and she just wished she could get it as soft as possible. Naruko wasn't a girly girl, but whenever she was stressed she loved to run her fingers through her hair, so the softer it was the better. It didn't take her long to wash her hair and as she rinsed it out she let a small sigh escape her lips as her fingers ran through her newly cleaned, and much softer hair.

Another great part about showering at school, was the free towels. She used at least four of them to get her hair completely dry, not counting the ones she'd used for her body. But it was worth it for the silky smooth feeling it left her with. Once she was properly dried Naruko made her way back to her stashed stuff and rifled through what few clothes she had before settling on a cleanish pair of skinny jeans, and tight fitting orange and blue turtleneck sweatshirt.

Most of the kids in school made fun of how often she wore that damn sweatshirt, but they could all go to hell. It was precious to her. Not only was it soft, and actually fit her, but it was one of the last things she had of her mothers. She still remembered buying the sweatshirt with her father when she was 6. The moment she saw those bright vibrant and flashy colors she knew her mother would love it. Sure it hadn't been the greatest mothers day present, but it was the first one she'd ever picked out, and too this day she could still remember the way her mother had smiled upon receiving the garment.

Naruko sighed at the memory as she slipped her feet into the over sized pair of sneakers she'd gotten from a homeless shelter, before making her way over to the mirrors. She stared at herself for a long time just taking in her appearance. She was thin, almost too thin if you looked close enough. Her cheeks were gaunt. She had a dark circles under her eyes from poor sleeping, and if you looked close enough you could barely make out the sign of a scar popping up from under the neckline of the turtleneck, just in front of her left ear. Naruko took a long deep breath as she stared at herself in the mirror before saying quietly to herself.

"You better be ready for me."

Kiba grinned behind the visor of his motorcycle helmet as he pulled into the only designated Motorcycle parking space in the school parking lot. He could feel the eye's of girls, and boys on as he put the kick stand down. In one smooth motion he slipped the helmet off and gave his head a good shake to fix his helmet hair before clipping it the the back of his bike. His mother of course had detested the damn thing but considering he had saved up his own money to buy it, and he was a legal adult, she let him keep it on the condition that he wore a jacket and a helmet when riding. The jacket part was fine, considering he owned like a hundred leather jackets and looked damn good in them too. The helmet part, as much shit as his friends gave him, he actually agreed with himself. If your going to ride, ride safe. None of that ride or die shit, as his driving instructor had said.

As Kiba hopped off his bike and pocketed his keys he heard a familiar voice call out to him from the front doors.

"Yo Kiba!" Of course it was Lee, shouting across the entire parking lot like he always did. "I am most glad to see you have arrived safely to school!"

Kiba chuckled to himself as he made his way through the parking lot. He still remembered Lee being his only friends against the Idea of him getting a bike because it was "An Impractical Risk of Your Youthful Life!" nonetheless he still loved Lee like a brother. Kiba met up with Lee who was quick to unload his excitemant for their first basketball game of the big tournament. Everyone on the team had apparently already headed inside to go hang out in the cafeteria while they waited for classes to start.

As Kiba entered the lunchroom, Lee still blathering on enthusiastically, he noticed that the cafeteria was more full then usual. The whole team was there for a start, but so were the cheerleaders. Not to mention those who got dropped off early. It was kind of weird actually to see the cafeteria so full this early in the day. He couldn't quite place it but there was something about today that just seemed different to him.

"Hey, Kiba! Lee! We've been waiting for you guys!" Shouted an enthusiastic Choji as he munched on a bag of chips. That boy was always eating and somehow, considering his size, was one of the most in shape kids on the team. How? Kiba would never know. Beside him sat Choji's best friend Shikamaru. Ever silent and lazy he was laying down on the cafeteria table napping away. Sai of course was just doodling away, off in his own world. Kiba couldn't help but snicker at his rag tag group of friends.

"Hey Jiraiya!" Kiba's ears perked up at the sound of an all too familiar voice, and he quickly turned to see a short girl, with long blond hair pulled back into a messy bun wearing an orange and blue turtle neck, patting her hands together as if to clean them. "I went ahead and took all of the trash too the dumpster for ya!"

Kiba stared in shock as the girl conversed with a much older man, who was now berating her for over working herself before school.

"Come on girly, how many times do I have to say it. That trash is too heavy, and it's not safe back by the dumpsters." The older man said at the young girl beaming up at him.

"I know but your sooo old! I couldn't let you throw your back out!"

Kiba was snapped out of his stupor when an elbow jabbed into his ribs eliciting a yelp of surprise from him.

"Come on man, snap our of it. We need your head in the game for today." Sasuke Uchiha droned lazily. "What were you staring at anyways?"

Kiba spared one final glance at the girl and the older man as they left the cafeteria before he turned back to Sasuke saying "Do you know who that girl is?"

Sasuke just scoffed and sat back down ignoring the question all together when a familiar mop of pink popped into his vision.

"She's nobody, "Sakura Haruno said disdainfully, " she's just some silly little girl. I'd recommend you steer clear of her. She's nothing but trouble."

Kiba was instantly intrigued. He'd only seen Sakura show that much disgust for Uchiha fangirls, even though she was one herself, so seeing this kind of disdain for a girl who he'd never seen hanging around his team mate was new.

Classes went by slowly, Naruko barely able to pay attention. All she could think about was her cup of after school ramen. Jiraiya had given her a cup of Ichiraku ramen, her favorite, as payment for helping so much before school. But she'd have to wait until she could get to a gas station to microwave it. Sadly the cafeteria for all it's wonders did not come equiped with microwaves . . . go figure. It was now the last class of the day, P.E, with Guy sensai and she was crammed in the locker room with a full class of snooty bitches who meant nothing to her. Slipping out of her sweatshirt she placed it gently beside her on the bench as she reached for a tank top she had in her bag.

She could feel eyes on her, and as she looked up from her bag, she found none other then Sakura Haruno, glaring at her with a look of disgust on her face. She'd gotten used to it. Ever sense they met, Sakura hated her, and looked for any reason to call her out. Naruko knew what she was looking disgusted about. It was the same thing she was disgusted about whenever she looked in the mirror. Her upper body was not a smooth blank canvas like the rest of her class, instead it was a marred road map of her life. She had a long jagged scar that ran from her naval down to the right side of her body, dipping down over her him. She had a cluster of small burns across her lower back, as well one long scar going from her left shoulder and up her neck just in front of her ear. Her arms were no better, with a mixture of self inflicted scars, and some inflicted by others.

Slipping into her tank top she reached for her sweatshirt when it was suddenly scooped up by the pink haired girl. Her reaction was instant as she shot too her feet screaming in the other girls face

"Give that back!"

Sakura reeled back holding the garment in her hand out like a piece of trash, just out of Naruko's reach as she spoke. "This ratty thing? What on earth for? I figured I'd just do you the favor of disposing of it."

Naruko lunged for the article of clothing but was promptly met by a foot sticking out and tripping her, sending her crashing into the lockers with a loud clatter. She didn't wait for a reaction and was on her feet again in an instant as she lunged for the garment again screaming louder this time

"I said give it back!"

Sakura without flinching tossed the sweatshirt into Naruko's face and side stepped as the girl blindly tumbled over a bench between the lockers. Naruko clutched the article of clothing to her chest protectively as she came crashing down hard onto the cold cement floor, the sound of laughter filling the locker room as the girls filed out one by one echoing words of congratulations to Sakura. Naruko just lay there, clutching her mother's sweatshirt to her chest, until the voices finally faded away. As silence settled in the locker room, she slowly pulled herself to her feet, her whole body was tired and weak. Now ontop of that she hurt. But at least she still had her mother's sweatshirt.

When Naruko held the sweatshirt out to examine it however, her heart stopped. There, halfway down the sleeve, was tear. It must have caught on something when she tripped over the bench. Naruko could feel tears well upin her eyes as she hugged the garment close to her chest, sadness over whelming her before slowly being replaced with anger.

Kiba was shooting hoops, preparing for his big game in a few hours when the girls made their way out of the womans locker room laughing and carrying on loudly. He over heard the tail end as he made another shot ' . . . know! Who wears something that ugly? I mean the colors don't even match." Turning his head curiously to see who was talking, Kiba noticed Sakura, smiling smugly to herself, as the girls surrounding her sung her praise. He didn't know what they were talking about but whenever Sakura had that look on her face it usually meant something bad for another girl.

Kiba's eye's were then drawn from the pink haired cheerleader, to a sunset stream of golden yellow hair, marching out of the locker room. He watched in silence as this short blue eye'd beauty marched right up to Sakura, clutching a clump of orange and blue in her hands, marched right up to Sakura who was now staring at the shorter girl with hate in her eyes. He watched as Sakura opened her mouth to say something but before she could utter a single sound, the blond reached up and slapped Sakura across the face so hard even Kiba could feel the force of it.

"What the hell!" shouted a girl as Sakura reached up to cup her cheek. Kiba was dumbstruck. He'd never seen anyone do that to Sakura before, but before he could really even process what had happened the girl was running right past him and out of the gym. As she ran past him that's when Kiba noticed it. She was crying. He knew Sakura could at some times be a vindictive bitch, but he had never witnessed first hand before the realities of what it was like. Kiba didn't know why but as he watched the girl dissapear through the gym doors, his feet just began to carry himself after her.

She was fast, like really fast, and it took all Kiba had to keep up with the girl as she zipped through the halls of the school. Kiba kept her pace, following her through the school until she finally slowed down and collapsed to her knees sobbing. He froze at that sight, but something inside of him ony spurred him onwards. Slowly Kiba walked up to the girl and it wasn't until he was no more then a foot away that she noticed his presence. Her head snapped up to look at him, tears pouring from her eyes. Her face was full of anger as she looked to him, but it slowly turned to confusion when she suddenly realized he was not who she was expeting, and then as quickly as the anger had hit her she was crying again.

Kiba slowly knelt down bside her noticing she was clutching the sweatshirt from earlier, the sleeve ripped, and realized that Sakura must have done that to it. Kiba wasn't very good at comforting people, in fact he'd never really had to except the time his sister, Hana, had lost her dog. He swallowed hard before placing a gentle hand on her shoulder only to pull it back when she flinched away from his touch.

"L-look I uh, I'm not sure what happened back their, but uhm, you know . . ." Kiba rubbed the back of his neck hesitantly for a moment as he continued to try and comfort the sobbing girl, " . . . It get's better, and uh all that. Right?"

Naruko's breath hitched as she looked up at him, and something inside of Kiba snapped. She wasn't just upset. The look in her eyes said it all. She was destroyed. Devastated. Obviously the sweater meant a lot to her so Kiba did the only thing he knew to do.

"Uhm, hey." he started "If the sweater means that much too you, I can take you back to my place after school and I can mend it for you. I'm not the best at sewing but I think I could fix it."

Naruko's crying slowly dissipated, and whiping away tears she looked up at the older boy confusion in her eyes as she spoke

"W-why would you do that?"

Kiba was floored, he didn't know why he was doing. It just felt like the right thing to do. Kiba couldn't just say that though, it was too uncool so instead he flashed the smaller girl a toothy grin and said

"Well I geuss I just can't stand to see a cute girl crying." The blush that spread across the girls face at those words was enough to send his blood flowing from his brain . . . to his head. Kiba practically choked on nothing before holding his hand out to the girl flashing another toothy grin saying "Anyways, I'm Kiba! It's nice to meet you, uhm, come to think of it. What's your name?"

Naruko swallowed dryly, wiping the remnants of her tears away, before taking his hand gently and saying "Naruko. Naruko Uzumaki."