Endless Earth

Sunlight comes only rarely, with a sliver slicing down between the ramshackle towers. The light here is fluorescent and the people packed sardine tight amongst twisting corridors. Some of the lower levels are widely considered uninhabitable due to trash. Up the street (if it can be called that) there’s a drug parlor with an unlicensed “doctor” open for business upstairs. They exist openly: there are no police because there is no law.
- Rochak Mystic Places

It was raining today, the only indication of which was the voice of a complaining woman as she shuffled down one of the many small pathways snaking throughout the lawless walled city. Covered, dark and lit only by old, fluorescent lights hanging haphazardly above the ‘streets’ the sky was something you didn’t see on a regular basis unless you ventured outside of the man-made labyrinth. Puddles were a constant phenomenon down here, leaking pipes and humidity being something that came with the territory, so to speak.

Naruto rolled over with a groan and slammed his hand down on the shrill screaming alarm clock that was resting on the floor next to his futon. That was the second time it had gone off, the first time he’d hushed it up in a futile attempt to get back to sleep, but once consciousness seeped into his brain it was a hard thing to shake. Naruto sat up with a soft grunt and rubbed his eyes, blonde hair sticking up on one side and laying flat against his head on the other.

Naruto blinked and squinted across the room, dim light was filtering in through the blinds from the fluorescent lighting outside his window. It was always the same, and so it was impossible to tell what time of day it was without having a clock to look at.

The blonde turned, putting his bare feet on the cool wooden floor as he leaned in to see what the time actually was. This was promptly followed by a string of curses as he shot up out of bed and ran toward the bathroom. “Gyaah I’m gonna be late again!!” He half shouted to no-one but himself as he scrubbed his face clean with a wash cloth. Swiftly following that action was the brushing of his teeth and then his uniform – which he hated.

Naruto darted back into the bathroom, wetting his hair before sifting his hands through it to make sure it was all sticking up in his usual spiky style. As satisfied with his appearance as he could be with so little time to spare the youth ran from his small apartment, slipping his feet into a worn out pair of sneakers and snatching up his backpack from beside the door as he went. There was no time to try and find something for breakfast, not if he wanted to make it to class on time.

He shot out into a corridor and down a small flight of concrete stairs before jumping over a couple of trash bags that had been left at the bottom of them. Skidding along the dusty walkway the teen weaved in and out of various people going about their morning tasks before he felt a tug at his arm suddenly halt his movements. He uttered a small yelp of surprise before turning toward the man who’d stopped him with a cheeky grin.

“Uh... HI JIRAIYA!” He said with far too much enthusiasm. Rubbing the back of his head with his free hand.
“Where is it?” The older man said in a gruff voice. Looking down the curve of his cheeks at the blonde youth, who looked rather guilty at this point in time.
“Where’s what?” He said, feigning ignorance.
“My rent! And that book I told you NOT to touch.” His tone was stern, even if he did have a soft spot for the troublesome teen.
“Ahh-haha... funny thing actually... See... I found it and was gonna give it back to you but I kinda left it in my locker at school, which I’m late for so can I give it to you later? And the rent after work tonight.” He said, still looking cheeky as he clapped his hands together in a begging gesture.

Jiraiya gave a heavy sigh and shook his head, brow furrowing for a moment before he released Naruto’s sleeve. The blonde gave a shout of thanks as he ran off again, leaving a rather bemused old man in his wake. Really, he’d get a reputation for being soft at this rate. Maybe he was turning that way in his old age... With a shrug the white haired man turned and walked back into the make-shift bar he’d emerged from, shortly followed by a chorus of giggling women.

Naruto – still grinning because of his miraculous escape from the ‘clutches of evil perversion’ – started to dart through the artificially lit alley ways again, wondering if he’d make it on time or if he’d be forced into another round of detention after school for being tardy. He swung round a corner and squinted as artificial light suddenly gave way to natural light, dim though it was. Then he groaned loudly as water started pelting down on his head from the cloudy sky above.

Great, just what he needed, a rainstorm to brighten his day. He started to run faster now he was out in the open, the few people that were out stepping out of his way quickly once they’d seen him coming. Sliding in a puddle he came to a stop by a bus stop and stood there bouncing on the spot. He didn’t want another detention it was so boring and Kakashi-Sensei kind of creeped him out sometimes.

After five minutes of standing in the rain a bus finally pulled up and Naruto got on, dripping wet as he flashed his bus pass and went to stand – not sit – as the bus started to move again. An old woman sitting at the front was staring at him and he gave her a nervous smile, wondering if he had something on his face other than the hair that was pasted down and sticking to it from the rain. His smile seemed to change her expression though, the squinting turning into a toothy smile and a nod. Obviously placated by his friendly gesture.

It took another ten minutes before the bus came to a stop near the subway station. Naruto ran and managed to get into the station without much more of a soaking, showing his seasonal pass – a Christmas gift from Jiraiya – to the guard on duty. Luckily for him a train was already stopped and he managed to jump on just as the doors started to close.

Heaving a sigh of relief Naruto glanced at the station clock as the train disappeared into the tunnel and decided he was going to be late despite his efforts, he only had five minutes left and the train took nearer ten to get to his required station. Not to mention it was a few minutes walk to his school from Kowloon Bay subway. “Argh!” He muttered in frustration, earning him a few looks from the other passengers on the train, which he promptly ignored.

After what seemed like forever and a day Naruto trudged into the classroom, dishevelled and wet. Expecting to be met with a stick of chalk to the head, he was surprised when he noted people still standing around talking, and his teacher no-where in sight.

“Eh... Where’s Kakashi-sensei?” He said as he walked over to his group of friends and dumped his soggy backpack onto the floor beside his desk. Which he was rather fond of due to the fact it was next to the window.
“I don’t know, he’s later than usual.” Sakura stated with curiosity.
Naruto couldn’t help staring at her for a moment, he couldn’t help the crush he had on the girl and he was sure she knew of it, even though she never said anything to indicate she did.
“Oh... Well then-!” He started, promptly interrupted by a cough and everyone dashing to their seats. Naruto included.

Kakashi walked into the room and sat on the edge of his desk, folding his arms across his chest and looking at the students, amusement lighting his eyes as he glanced over Naruto’s bedraggled form. “Today, we have a new student.” He said in his usual tone.

Talking erupted amongst the students as Kakashi followed that with. “Come in Sasuke, and introduce yourself.” Which quickly made the room drop to silence as a dark haired teen walked through the door, dry as a bone – Naruto noted to his displeasure.

Sasuke stopped in the middle of the front of the room and let his gaze fall on nothing in particular. “I’m Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and there aren’t a lot of things I like.” Then he fell silent, obviously not intending to say any more than that.

Kakashi coughed and held out his hand, indicating a seat in-front of Naruto. “Good, Sasuke. You may take a seat in-front of Naruto there.” He stated before standing and moving behind the desk to ready his teaching materials.

Naruto was staring, and he knew it, but he couldn’t stop. The stare turned to a glare as he noted how all the girls were looking at this new guy, and then he felt even more irritated as said new guy paused before sitting down to look down on him and smirk as if he were so damn superior. Naruto wanted to wipe that look off his damned face.

Sasuke sat down and clasped his hands together on his desktop. Inwardly dreading lunch break when he guessed all the girls would try talking to him, if the looks on their faces were anything to go by – and he’d seen those looks many times before in his previous school. His last thought before it turned to study was ‘how annoying’. This curiously enough was almost along the same lines as the thoughts of a certain blonde glaring daggers at his back.

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I know this chapter is short it's just an intro chapter and the others will be longer hopefully. =w= I will try my best not to keep anyone waiting too long for new chapters though I often need an inspirational shove, and also sorry if there is OOC! @3@