Sparkling! Her silky hair was, flowing in the breeze. Shining! Her beautiful smile, showing only compassion and hope. Orange! Ribbon wrapped around her hair, the colour he adored and loved. You'd think that with these combinations, she'd be an angel, right? Oh, he knew how wrong he was when he witnessed that evil, devilish smirk dance across her lips. Sh*t.

He had fallen in love.

He was a dunce. He was dense, brash, impulsive and oh-so-retarded, but love knew no boundaries. His heart had been pierced with the arrow of love when the smile of the maiden graced his eyes, her hands waving with perfect motion. Her smile! That wave! That feeling!

There was no denying it - love had corroded his body.

He played with his tie, a grin on his face. He buttoned the top of his shirt, his fingers twitching with excitement. He readied his blazer and groomed his hair, put on his shoes and closed the door. He was going to school in style - you know damn well that he'll try his best to catch her attention!

A skip in his step, a hum in his throat. A smile at a stranger, a wave to another. He just couldn't stop the feeling in his body! Never in his life would he imagine getting anywhere close to this feeling, but here he was, bouncing like a child. He enjoyed it!

The school was in sight - he could see heaven in the distance. It shone with an unnatural light, something only he could see. Only a few more steps until he witnessed bliss.

His skip changed to a jog, and from jog he progressed into sprint. His feet felt light, running across the paved ground with tremendous speed. His smile from this morning didn't change one bit.

Naruto Uzumaki was in love, baby, and nothing could stop him!

"Uzumaki-san, take off that blazer."

Okay, maybe some things could stop him.

Naruto Uzumaki, student of Kuoh Academy and a rather peculiar person, could be seen conversing with another student who was a few inches shorter than himself. If anyone bothered to look closely, however, it was no other then Souna Shitori, the Student Council President and a popular figure in school!

The blonde teenager sighed. What a bummer! This girl was simply an obstacle to the prize of this journey. Her glasses couldn't intimidate him, her glare couldn't weaken him, and her pout definitely couldn't-

"Are you even listening, Uzumaki-san?"

He used all the power he could to hide the yelp that erupted from his mouth. Okay, maybe she could scare him, just a little bit. Women had always been a big factor to his life, and most of that factor had been introduced by punches to the face and screaming in his ear.

In short, women were scary.

"Y-Yeah, I am!" Naruto chuckled, but it couldn't hide the shakiness in his voice. On instinct, he rubbed his head and smiled like a dolt. "I was just... well, thinking about how late I am to class!"

She gave him a look. "There's twenty minutes until class starts."

"Uh..." His eagerness really made him arrive at school a lot earlier than usual. He couldn't help it, though! "S-Sorry. A lot's been on my mind lately, and I just-!"

The president could only sigh, her head shaking left to right. She had a lot of work, and this was something she just couldn't deal with right now. "Just give me the tie and blazer and head your way."

"I thought this was part of the uniform?"

"That uniform can only be used when the school is undergoing important events. Are you doing anything important right now?"

"Yep!"

He said that with so much honesty that she honestly nearly rubbed her temples.

"Is it life or death, this... important thing?"

"You bet it is!"

Souna's eyes sharpened. "I suggest you give them to me now, or you won't be attending school."

Naruto brought his head to the ground, the blazer and tie folded neatly in front of him. "Please take them."

The female of the pair stared skeptically at the bowing blonde, before adjusting her spectacles and carefully grabbing the uniform. She honestly expected a bit more resistance, seeing as how she changed the subject so quickly. "I will inform you when you can pick this up."

"Thanks, president! I'll get going now!"

Souna witnessed the blonde sprinting at abnormal speeds towards the nearest exit, leaving her in a cloud dust. It didn't bother her, but the fact that he cut the conversation short did. His manners were clearly lacking, if she had to he honest.

...and, well, he was slightly charming, in the most humorous ways. Perhaps it was the energy surrounding him that made her talk to him despite the amount of work she had.

Souna shook her head. He was an enigma, although a dumb one.

"Kaichou?"

Souna turned to see her only male underling staring at her weirdly.

"Why are you holding a guy's uniform?"

Sanji later noted that, sometimes, some things just shouldn't be questioned. The thought alone made his butt hurt a little bit.

Never had he been excited for class. He was giddy, unusually so. He was already normally a cheerful person, but just the thought of her made his body a little more shaky than usual. He was even close to twiddling his thumbs, for goodness sake (he's seen enough of that in manga, thank you very much!).

Do you ever feel like time slows down when you're waiting for something? The slow, agonizing pain of watching the hands of the clock tick by the second at speeds much more slower than what you'd like it to be?

Naruto was having absolutely none of that! His mind was filled with thoughts of a certain girl, and his grin was making time pass by quickly. People could've sworn there were hearts hovering around the blonde's head, jumping about in joy. If they said anything about the boy, then he had no clue what they said - all sound was coming through one ear and out the other.

All of a sudden, time seemed to slow. Naruto was confused, at first, but he took note of the silence that had abruptly come from the other students. The door slid open, the warm breeze filled the room, all eyes fell upon a sight that would be treasured for generations.

She walked with elegance. She smiled with innocence. Her body portrayed what only the most gentle princesses of other-worldly kingdoms could - the aura of something so precious, it was untouchable.

Her presence was intoxicating. The air felt heavy, students feeling overwhelmed by such pressure - but that pressure was one of gentleness. An incredibly confusing contradiction, but she had pulled it off with ease and without flaw.

Her name was Akeno Himejima.

Naruto's breath stopped right there.

"KYAAAAH!"

"UUUOOOH!"

All the girls screamed, while all the guys roared. Just the mention of her name could create a huge uproar in the school, and yet here she was, in the flesh, ready to study the exact same subjects as they were studying at the same time!

The blonde watched the goddess walk to her seat, petals flowing from her hair. That beautiful face! That hair! That ribbon! Oh, kami, that ribbon! Everything about her was perfect, an absolute blessing on this wicked, wicked world! She was just... just...

And yet, Naruto looked down. His brain screamed to look back up and enjoy the view of the goddess walking to her seat, but his heart said otherwise. It felt odd. He knew that this was attraction. He knew that this feeling was the power of love and the want for romance. However, despite knowing all this, experiencing it was all a different story. He had gotten prepared in such an elaborate way, he had ran to school, he was early, and yet...

For whatever reason, all he could do was watch from afar. Watch as the woman he had potentially fallen for act like he was just another student attending school. Of course, this was all probably just a phase, and he'd probably forget about her soon enough. But, you see, that's the problem.

This attraction felt forced.

Don't get him wrong. He absolutely adored her! I mean, who wouldn't fall for such a perfect human being? She was a miracle, a one in a million, the one and only! She was...

...what if his feelings were fake?

...

Nah!

Naruto happily threw those thoughts away and giggled like a madman, his eyes watching her back. He ignored the teacher in favour of his romantic love (albeit a bit one-sided), his eyes tracing the ribbon on her hair with a grin on his face. He was in love with her, dammit! Some thirty-second thought can't throw him off course!

He was fine with this! He loved her, and that was all that mattered!

...

He had no idea why his heart tightened when he said that.

The blonde sat in the tree, eating the noodles that flowed from the ramen cup into his mouth with a smile on his face. The food that hailed from only the best always tasted good, but today, it tasted just a little bit better than he remembered. He welcomed the enhanced flavours with a grin, chomping down his food without a care in the world.

Even the food couldn't stop his brain from thinking about Akeno Himejima, though. The girl just ticked all the good points a girl should have, and he was damn sure that she was the one for him! It was like a match made in heaven - an energetic blonde and his undying love with the untouchable girl.

Setting the cup aside, the blonde noted that he had a little more time until the bell rang for class to start once again. It was currently time to eat lunch and obviously ramen was his choice. Seeing as how the rest of the guys were just boringly plain, however, Naruto felt that sitting to the side and wallowing in his thoughts was the best thing to do.

And what were his thoughts right now?

Naruto grinned. He knew the answer to that one.

His eyes traced the many students that walked around the campus. All the girls he saw just couldn't compare and pretty much all the guys were fawning over them, acting like today was the last day Earth would see and confessing their brains out. Man, if only he had the courage to do that.

...wait. That's a great idea! Naruto hit his palm with a fist like a hammer. Why didn't he just confess to her? He was the Naruto Uzumaki, for Kami's sake - surely, he had the courage to do something as easy as this, right?

"If only things were that easy." He sighed, slumping against the tree. Seriously. He was taught about this kind of thing from easily the most questionable person and he still can't do it, that confessing thing. Though, in his defence, this was his first time feeling something this positively intense - it felt like his heart was going to burst every time he caught sight of her. The nervousness was just too much for his poor, old heart.

...well, if he was going to be honest, there was also something else that was holding him back. He couldn't figure it out, though. It didn't feel wrong to feel this way, but at the same time, it felt... like he had no choice but to love her. To feel attraction as intense as this, like it was natural. It felt weird. A bit off. Slightly scary.

...

Naruto waved that thought away with a 'pfff'. What was he? Was he, using modern language, a pussy? Nah. He was better than that. Thought, he would admit, he wasn't mentally prepared to commit to a relationship just yet. He was going to, for lack of a better word, spy on her with these oh-so-trusty binoculars that he conveniently had in his pockets.

He shrugged, jumping from tree to tree to the infamous old building that held the Occult Research Club. What? He was taught to do this, dammit. Peeping was just one of the few abilities that had been passed down to him, and he was gonna treasure until he died.

Finally resting on a tree where he could see the Occult Research Club's room relatively clearly, he leaned against a lone, strong branch in front of him and brought the binoculars out. He was interested in her activities, after all. Researching occults did sound weird, though.

He put his eyes against the glass and squinted.

She smiled. Hands clasped in front of her, her head tilted to the side. "Is everything alright?"

The other figure sipped into her tea, steam floating in front of her ocean eyes. She had a peculiar smile on her lips. "Yes. Thank you for your concern, though. Now, where were we?"

"We were discussing about him."

"Ah, yes." She shifted in her chair, leaning on the right arm of the chair. "He's gotten livelier these days, wouldn't you say? It's like something infected him with a happy virus."

"He's certainly more energetic." A giggle was heard. "Interesting just can't be the only word that can describe a man such as himself."

"It sounds like you've taken an interest in him."

"How couldn't I? You did task me to keep an eye on him."

"Don't you think that you're taking things a bit too far?"

"Oh, don't be like that." Her eyes shifted to the left, a small smile gracing her lips. "I'm just having a little fun."

The other girl sighed, sipping her tea once more. "Don't get too involved with him. We are just keeping an eye on him, after all."

Her small smile changed.

She now looked eerily similar to the devil.

"Ara ara, don't worry. I've got him under my finger~"

She ignored the blur that fled the trees.

He ran.

He ran like the world was ending. He felt his heart pound in all the wrong emotions. He felt his mind swirl downwards with all the reasons. His muscles tensed, his breathing was ragged, his eyesight was starting to get blurry.

He could see his house. He was only a few more metres until his hand would reach the handle to the door, the entrance to his house, the gate to his haven.

Something was wrong.

There was something off about all this.

He wanted to deny. He wanted to shake his head. He wanted to say no.

But there was something holding him back.

He was a shinobi. He was a warrior. He was a hero. He was a survivor.

So, why couldn't he fight back?

He looked at the door in front of him with a shaky breath.

Naruto Uzumaki was in love with Akeno Himejima.

...

...right?

He opened the door. "Sh*t."