Comrades

A Lonely Heart

I could feel the sharp steel cutting a hole in my uniform, my left arm became slack. My vision blurry, I tried to see anything...anyone that I knew. In the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of white, before being struck once again. I couldn't keep up, there were too many of them. I saw some shrapnel heading to the white, despite my right arm becoming limp as well, I ran with all my might, trying to stop it. I had to even if I......

Wake up to a sunny morning. Don't you hate it when your dreams don't finish? It leaves a terrible feeling of suspense in your chest, but the memory of the dream was already leaving my mind. Anyway, I should probably introduce myself. I'm Nikorasu Takahashi, of the Hidden Leaf Village. Despite my formal introduction I was less graceful getting out of bed, since I mostly fell out of bed. I stumbled down the stairs, luckily not falling down them, and realized I was almost late for graduation day.

So I bolted straight out the door, barely eating anything for breakfast. Luckily we didn't need to bring anything today, since we would be tested on jutsu today. The village was busy, mostly because grown shinobi still make the same mistake as me most of the time. The buildings were full of flashes of green as they ran to their posts around the village. Since I wasn't looking where I was going, I was bound to run into someone. Today it was Naruto. With my luck he was running the opposite direction as I was, so it hurt ten times more.

" Sorry Naruto I didn't mean to run into you!" I quickly apologized. He rubbed his now swollen head. " It's ok, I should've watch where I was going..." Suddenly, this older man grabbed Naruto and threw him to the ground.

" What do you think your doing! Do you know how much that cost!" He yelled enraged at Naruto.

I looked behind me and saw a freshly smashed pot, and a thin trail of blood leading to my ankle. I must have tripped over it when I crashed into Naruto.

"Sorry sir, it was my fault that the pot broke, I will gladly pay f-" He suddenly looked at me like I had just grown a tail. " No, no it isn't your fault, this brat here pushed you over that pot, so he is going to pay for it, and your hospital bill too!" His grip tightened around Naruto's neck. " Isn't that right, kid?"

Reluctantly, Naruto brought out his wallet and and the man instantly took it and emptied it onto the floor. I was starting to see this was getting out of hand, there was already a small crowd forming.

"No really, I remember running into Naruto, it was my fault sir, so I can pay for it." I said, trying not make a scene. With his fake smile he responded almost gleefully, " What are you talking about? I saw the whole thing, you were running and he tripped you, he just fell back to make you feel sorry for him." He then began to count the money that fell from Naruto's wallet.

The crowd around us grew, but none of of them stepped in to help. They mostly were staring at Naruto with a gaze of pure hatred. They all unnerved me because when everyone looked at me, their faces changed into kind ones. It was like everyone has a mask hidden behind them when they looked at me.

Finishing counting the money, he gave a pile of the coins to me. "Here's your share pal." The cold coin clinked as he dropped them in my hand.

"Sir, I don't want this. This is his money, not mine. Could you please give him his money back?" He looked at me again with a surprised expression. "Is this a joke? Why would you give money to a bully like that?"

Sadly, he seemed honestly surprised. Like he wasn't committing any acts of crime.

"Sir, I'll...uh teach him a lesson later?"  I tried to sound convincing, but I think he was more fixated on the words 'teach him a lesson'. "Hah! I like your style kid! Fine, I'll leave him to you." He gave me all of Naruto's coins and returned to his shop, scattering the broken remains of his pot.

I helped Naruto up and gave him his money back. He quickly turned and ran to the school. I looked at the pot one last time, and followed him.

The test went by easily. The clone jutsu was simple enough, so I got my headband and passed. I saw Naruto again while walking home. He was with Mizuki sensei. I decided not to bother him, since he was probably in trouble again. So I went home and fell asleep.

(Hah! You thought I would actually stay awake for the entire night watching Naruto fight Mizuki? As if! There wouldn't be any cool action music anyway...)