The darkness in the night was heavy and suffocating, most people had sought refuge from the suffocating night in their warm and comforting homes.

The streets lay silent and empty, and the only thing you could hear was the ruffle of the wind in the trees.

Nobody saw the silent shadow that practically flew through the village, never being at the same place more than a second, mingling with the shadows perfectly.

Not even the stationed guards at the gate noticed when the shadow flew past them, still not making a single sound or unwanted movement.

And before the guards could even turn around, the shadow had disappeared in the quiet forest that surrounded the village of Konoha.

And Uzumaki Naruto was finally free.

He never thought that this day would come, the day where he would run away from his beloved home, but he needed to get away. He hoped that he's friends wouldn't be too mad at him, but he knew that they would understand, he trusted them. And he also knew that this was not the last time he would see his home, he would be back one day, one day.

He never stopped running, he knew this forest as the back of his hand, so he let his thoughts wander over the last day's happenings.

Flashback.

Drip...drip...drip...

All I could hear was the dripping of my own blood, staining the road with the deep crimson red colour, but I just kept on smiling, smiling because I had finally kept my promise, I had finally managed to get Sasuke back home.

And my smile just grew when I finally could see the gates a little ahead.

It was hard to keep going, if not my own injuries wasn't bad enough, I also had to carry the unconscious Sasuke on my back.

Finally I collapsed in front of the giant gates of Konoha, loosing Sasuke while I fell.

I landed in a heap on the ground, while Sasuke landed nice and smooth on the ground thanks to that I tried to soften he's fall.

A crowd soon started to gather at the gates, both shinobi and civilians, among them I recognised Gai, Kurenai, Asuma, Kakashi and the rest of the konoha 12 in the middle of the crowd, trying to fight their way up to the front.

Sakura was the first one to arrive, she sent a small smile to the barely conscious Naruto, but that was before she noticed Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun" she suddenly cried out before throwing herself on top of the unconscious Uchiha, she then stepped right up and walked over to where I was still laying on the ground and proceeded to slap me hard on the face, sending me flying a few meters, her hatred showing clearly in her eyes.

At this point also Kakashi had managed to reach the front; he only gave me a look that only showed disgust, and then proceeded to pick his priced student of from the ground and started on his way to the hospital.

Leaving his other student to the mercy of the villagers for hurting the last Uchiha.

The last thing Naruto could see before slipping into unconsciousness was the villagers closing the distance between them fast with murder in their eyes, and his friend's (the remaining sensei's and konoha 12) struggle to reach him while people where holding them down.

When I woke up all I could see was white, so I guessed that they had brought me to the hospital, looking around I saw my friends lying on different chairs around the room, fast asleep.

At my left side I saw a sleeping Sasuke lying in a white bed identical to my own, and Sakura was lying faithfully at his side.

Sakura looked at me with hate in her eyes as I carefully sat up, she quickly closed the curtain that hung between the two beds.

It was in that exact moment that I decided that I needed to get away for a little while; I waited in the hospital until Tsunade-no-obaa-chan said I could go.

While I was in the hospital I heard stories about that my friends had saved me from the angry mob which tried to kill me, they where almost to late too because of some idiots that had tried to hold them down.

Later that day I cleaned up my apartment, wrote a letter that explained everything and then just waited for the night.

End flashback.

I could feel the tears gather in my eyes, trying to get out, but I wouldn't let them, I promised myself that I would not cry again.

My thoughts then wandered to the content of my backpack; there wasn't much, the forehead-protector I got from Iruka-sensei, the picture of my genin squad, and all the cards I had gotten from friends while I was in the hospital, those thing and the necklace I got from the old hag was the only things I couldn't bear leave behind.

While all these thoughts was running in his head, the silent shadow was moving further and further away from Konoha

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi, this is my first story, so I would really appreciate your opinion of it, please review. also pairing is not yet decided, i'm thinking naruhina, but not sure. give som tips about what you would like. no yaoi or yuri