AN: Wow, my first story on fanfiction... I'm so excited! I've been trying to write this one for a while now, having little ideas pop into my head out of nowhere, and I finally got it down on paper. I'm also writing a bunch of other stories at the same time right now, so I hope you all don't mind if it takes a looong time to get chapters for this out. The first chapter is kind of un-related to Naruto, but you'll begin to see the relevance starting in the next chapter.

Also, do you guys mind if it takes a long time to finish the story? It might take a while to get to the resolution... I'm not even sure when or what the climax will be! But I know how I want to end it.

Disclaimer: I'm on a fan-fiction site. Enough said.

Introduction

As morning greeted Kazuki, she quickly got out of bed and got ready for school. Her last day of school before the summer break. Her last day of school before leaving this orphanage. Children were required to leave before they turned eighteen, and Kazuki's birthday was less than a month away. Twenty-five days, to be exact.

The way to school was the usual routine: walking. The teenager's backpack was unusually light today. The schoolbooks that normally inhabited her pack were now returned to the library. The only thing in it was her sketch pad, pencil, notebook, and wallet consisting of her student ID and several one-dollar bills that she had acquired through her job at the local supermarket.

Kazuki's job was to help restock the shelves in the back of the store. It required no socialization simply because Kazuki didn't have any social skills. Or at least that's what everyone else thought. If they had given her a chance, she could have been, perhaps, one of the most popular people in her school.

She got excellent grades; in fact, this would be her fifth straight year getting a 4.0 GPA. She was one of the fastest and strongest girls in her grade, but she didn't really care. Her grades and health were simple for her to multitask with her job and her art. Singing was something that she commonly did while she was drawing, but she didn't really focus on it the way she did with everything else. Anything that was cheap or free was fine with her. After all, even her job didn't pay her quite as much as she would have hoped, but it was more than any other place's offer had been.

With no parents or siblings around to distract her, the past six or so years she had been trying to improve herself as much as she could. Ever since she met him. But now, he was gone, followed by her motivation. All she could do was keep doing what she was doing. By now, she didn't even need to think about it.

Kazuki brushed off her school uniform and walked into her first class. As she sat down in the very back corner, the bell rang and the other students took their seats, one by one.

"Class, since it is the last day of school, you can take this time to sign yearbooks and say goodbye to your friends. You have all become fine young adults, and I wish you the best of luck after high school." The teacher announced. The class cheered in response, and started moving around the desks and chatting to friends.

Kazuki just sat in the back, working on her latest drawing. This one was one of her best so far, a sketch of what she believed a ninja must look like. She had always believed in them in some way, and was shunned for her beliefs as well as the fact that she had always been an orphan. It might also be said that her style was shunned as well, considered emo, punk, Gothic, some had even called her suicidal before. But Kazuki knew better than them. She didn't understand why some people had to out-cast people such as her or the fact that they couldn't possibly begin to understand someone like her.

Yes, her sense of fashion was one to be questioned by the preps and jocks at her school. She wore black most of the time, sometimes mixing in other colors to her wardrobe such as purple, red, blue, and gray. Her long, black hair stayed long even when the other girls were cutting their hair short or getting bangs. She painted her nails black, and didn't wear an overwhelming amount of makeup like the other girls did. She didn't need it, actually, and she believed they didn't either.

In fact, Kazuki believed that the only reason most of them wore it was because they were so unsure of themselves that they needed it to feel beautiful. She accepted herself the way she was, but no one else did. Still, she didn't let that bother her too much. After all, she managed to surpass a majority of them.

The bell rang, and the students all walked to their next classes. Virtually the same thing repeated in all her classes, and finally at 2:30 she was free to go home. Well, not home for her, she had her job to go to. The last shift of her job for the week. She was due there at 3:30, so she had some time to drop by her room in the orphanage.

She walked in, stepping over her stuff that was spread across her room from last night when she had lost her library book. The book was still in her pack, and she was going to return it right before her shift at the supermarket.

The library was one of her favorite places to go, despite the fact that one was not allowed to sing there. Reading was an excellent past time, especially in the summers when there was nothing to do.

She smiled at the picture on her bookshelf, but that smile quickly turned into a look of despair. She tried to shake it off, remembering what she had come here for. She got a snack for later during her shift, because she didn't have a dinner break. Or rather, she didn't need one. She normally didn't eat a large dinner. Her breakfasts and lunches were always relatively big, which helped her to maintain her stamina throughout the day.

She left her room and traveled downstairs to the front door.

"Off to your job, I see?" A voice from behind her sounded, and she knew exactly who it was.

"Yes. I might be getting back kind of late tonight, if that's okay, Maki."

"Oh, it's fine. You have a key, so as long as you lock the door after you, that's okay."

Maki had always been a good head-mistress, the closest thing to a mom most of the kids here had ever had. She, the cook, and the maid acted by themselves most of the time to take care of the children, but a lot of them, like Kazuki, did a good job at taking care of themselves. Some, in fact, had parents that had abandoned them here and paid the orphanage to take care of them. That money, along with the donations they were given, was what allowed the establishment to keep its place in this town.

Almost eighteen years ago, Kazuki had been left on the porch of the orphanage. Maki had taken care of her until she was five, when she started acting on her own more and growing more independent. This is when she started developing her beliefs and personality, and when people mysteriously started to withdraw from her and act strangely towards her, even Maki and the other kids here.

The girl remembered once when she had asked Maki why people treated her the way they did. Maki replied that she didn't know, and that people were just the way they were for unexplainable reasons. 'I can't change the way I am,' Kazuki said back.

Kazuki was at this point the oldest one here, and sometimes babysat or helped take care of the other kids when she had time. But most of her time was spent doing her schoolwork, job, or hobbies. Anything else was considered a waste of time.

As she finished her night shift at the supermarket, Kazuki cleaned the floors one last time and made sure everything was in order for the next day. She walked outside, followed by the store manager.

"So, do you know yet if you're coming next week?" the manager asked her.

"Not sure. I think I might go ahead and take that vacation," Kazuki replied while looking down, thinking. Glancing up, she said, "Tell you what: if I call, I'm coming, and if I don't then assume I'm not coming. This last week, I've been trying to finish things up for school and such... It's been pretty hectic."

"Okay then. I'll ask Makoto to take your shift, for now. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to work overtime; he always is!" the manager stated as he locked up.

"Well, I've got to go. It's pretty late!"

The manager just grunted in reply, something he commonly did, as he searched for the right key for the front door.

Kazuki's walk home was short, but she tried to make it as fast as she could. It was dangerous for her to be out so late. She thought, mostly about what she was going to do now that she had all this time off.

'Perhaps I can check out that business I was planning to apply to... pretty boring, but it beats sitting around all day.'

Ever since he had left four months ago, things had been pretty boring for her. She sometimes spent her days off sulking in her room or sitting in the park, staring at clouds, wasting valuable time.

Reaching the end of her walk, she let herself in the front door of the orphanage. It was dark, but she could barely make out the stairs. Quietly stepping up them and reaching the second floor, she got to her room at the end of the hall. The clock beside her bed read ten-thirty.

"Is it really that late?" she said half to herself, "I should start cleaning up around here."

She cast her gaze across the small, messy room as she turned her light on. There were clothes on the floor, and a small collection of books lay scattered on her bed.

It didn't take long to pick up the mess. By the time she was done, it was only eleven o'clock. Exhausted from her long day, she lay down on her bed before she even had a chance to change her clothes.

At twelve, Kazuki found that she couldn't sleep. She sat up and stretched, only to find a hand covering her mouth and someone restraining her arms and legs. All attempts to break free were futile; this person was even stronger than she was. She tried to scream through the hand, but it was no good. No one would hear her.

AN: Hope you like it so far! I might put up the next chapter really soon, just to keep the story going and not-so-boring. Remember, the "Review" button is your best friend!!! XP