A/n: Sorry if my writing is a little enigmatic, people often say my syntax is odd.

"Well here we are!" Naruto smiled, "sorry about the mess."

Then he reached into his pocket, grabbing a key and then opening the door. No kidding, the place was messy, ramen cups lay scattered about along with laundry chucked in a few corners. It was still nice though, better than that place.

"Thank you Naruto." You bowed.

He chuckled, blushing a little, "no need to be so formal, (Y/n)."

"I-I'm sorry," you said quietly.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a loud growl from your stomach. You could feel you face heat up.

"Hungry?" Naruto joked.

You nodded, trying to hide your face out of embarrassment.

"You're in luck, I happen to know the best ramen shop there is."

Your eyes lit up for a brief moment but fell soon after, "I don't have any money."

"Don't worry about it," Naruto smiled, "I'll pay."

"T-Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me all the time, (Y/n)."

"S-Sorry," you apologized.

"Or do that."

You tilted your head to the side and confusion.

"Apologize all the time," The blond clarified.

"Oh, I'm sor-. I mean okay."

~Time-Skip~

You and Naruto soon arrived at the ramen shop, now known as Ichraku Ramen, that he had talked about.

"Hey Naruto! What can I get'cha?" The old man greeted.

"Hey old man! Two miso ramens with pork" Naruto smiled.

"Comin' right up!"

As he prepared the meal, a voice echoed from behind the two of you, "Hello Naruto, who's your date?"

Naruto turned around, "Kakashi-Sensei! It's not like that!"

"Really? She has your jacket," the silver-haired man chuckled.

You felt your face heat up as you fiddled with the hem of his jacket.

"How youthful!!" A much louder voice yelled as a different man entered.

"Oh, hey Bushier-Brows-Sensei," Naruto greeted.

"Hello Naruto!" He cheered, "Don't mind us, we'll leave so you two can have your date!"

Before Naruto could say anything else, the two of them left, and steaming bowls of ramen were placed in front of you and Naruto.

Carefully, you detached your chopsticks and looked over at Naruto, his bowl was already halfway gone. He continued to eat until he felt your lingering gaze. He looked up at you and you swiftly looked down. Eyeing your ramen curiously. Without further delay, you took a bite.

Flavor exploded across your tastebuds. You hadn't had something so good for so long. It had been years... Mom, Dad.

Your tiny hands fiddled with the chopsticks. You had always loved ramen but hated using the chopsticks. Your small hands were too small to grip them properly. Luckily, your mom swept in to help. She'd feed you the ramen herself, always with a smile. Dad would chuckle and call you his spoiled princess.

"(Y/n)?"

"Huh?" Your head snapped up.

"Are you okay? You were staring off into space..."

"I'm okay..." you said quietly, ignoring the lump forming in your throat. You quickly finished the rest, wanting to be alone.

"I-I'm going now..."

"Huh? Already?" Naruto asked, "want me to walk you back?"

You shook your head 'no'. Naruto shrugged but continued to eat, "okay then."

You started to walk back until you felt something peculiar across your leg. An insect, how odd. You'd never seen one quite like this. You bent over, extending your arm and letting it crawl across you palm. You straightened your posture and studied the bug. You could see a few more on the ground that began to crawl towards you, but halted rather abruptly. How strange.

"Please excuse my insects." A soft tone apologized from right behind you. You yelped and turned around to face the owner of said voice. (I felt like he deserved to be noticed, so I introduced him sooner since he's always forgotten)

The male continued, "I've never seen my bugs act so strangely, they find your chakra most intriguing."

You nodded, slightly confused.

"Come on! Hurry up Shino! Or we'll leave you behi-" a brown haired boy called before cutting himself off, "Who's the chick?"

The other boy, presumably Shino, turned to me with an expecting look.

"(Y/n)."

"I don't think I've seen you around," Kiba said, eyeing you curiously, "You from a neighboring village?"

"I-I don't know..." you felt a little uncomfortable under all there questions.

"(Y/n)!" You flinched.

"Oh hey Naruto!" Kiba called, "she a friend of yours?"

"Yeah you could say that," Naruto smiled.

Friend... you couldn't remember ever really having one. You'd talked to the adults at the facility, but that didn't really count. A lump began to form in your throat. And you could feel a burning sensation in your eyes. You wanted to cry, but at the very same time, you didn't. You swallowed your feelings and held your usual expression.

"Well, we should probably get going," Naruto said.

"Alright, seeya' later!" Kiba said.

"Goodbye." Shino added.

You internally sighed in relief. It wasn't like you disliked them. They seemed okay, you just didn't like being in such social situations. People made you uncomfortable.

You and Naruto walked back to his place in silence as you zoned out, getting lost in thought.

You hadn't realized you were there until you almost ran into Naruto. Luckily, you stopped yourself.

The two of you entered and Naruto smiled at you, "It's getting kinda' late, so I'll get you futon, want me to show you around tomorrow?"

You nodded, "Thank you."

"Sure, no problem."

Time-Skip

Naruto had already went to sleep, but you lie awake on the futon. This place... although you didn't know where, was actually kind of nice. You didn't really want to go to sleep and wake up right back in that horrible place. And this Naruto person, he's kind of nice.

As you got lost in thought, the next thing you knew, you were asleep.

Screams. Echoing through the dark place. Hands reaching through the bars. Moans and cries.

They hurt you too.

No... stop!

With a scream, you sat bolt upright, hyperventilating. You couldn't catch your breath.

You hugged the pillow tightly, rocking back and forth. Slowly, you started to regain control of your breathing. You turned to face the clock, 4:57. Surely, Naruto would wake up soon and there's no way you'd fall asleep now anyway. So you though you'd stay awake for a while. But just staying inside would've been kind of boring, so you though you'd try something you used to do at the facility.

You opened the window and scanned your surroundings. Luckily, there was roofing for you to sit on since Naruto lived up high. Carefully, you lifted yourself out of the window and climbed onto the shingled surface. Then, you turned around and gazed at the stars. The sky was rather beautiful here and the stars twinkled in the abyss of dark night.

It was so peaceful, especially knowing that nobody else would be awake for a while... or so you thought.

Your gaze turned to a boy, clad in green. He was jumping, on his hands? Although it was strange, he was jumping from hand to hand traveling down the sidewalk.

"997! 998! 999! 1000!"

You shook you head in disbelief, 1000? He was incredible. You watched as he fell to the ground, breathing heavily as he lay on his back. Was he okay? Despite not liking conversation, you pondered the idea on confirming his well being. However, before you could call out to him, he jumped back to his feet.

"Okay! Time to do 500 push-ups!"

500? You couldn't even do 10. You watched as he did them all with only one hand and then you watched him swap hands and do it again.

Then he jumped to his feet, still full of energy, "now! Time to run 1200 laps around the village!"

You sat there, mouth slightly agape as you watched him run around until sunrise. It was right when he hit his final lap when Naruto's voice spoke from behind you, causing you to flinch.

"Hey (Y/n), watcha' doing?"