Star Shadow: Hello all of you out there in review land!

Dark Stratos: Yo.

Star Shadow: We've decided that we very much like writing in the Naruto section. We seem to get many happy reviews here.

Dark Stratos: Many thanks to our uber spiffy beta-reader of doom and pink bunnies, Krazy Kitty :P

Star Shadow: She deserves applause. :turns on the applause machine:

Dark Stratos: Please enjoy the fic.


Disclaimer:Authors are telling stories to little children who seem to be cowering in terror:…and so the evil, psychotic, hockey masked man pulled out the puppies guts while laughing:both see readers:insert happy faces here: Oh! Hello there! We would like to tell you that we do own Naruto, but that would be lying. Yeah… That's right. We don't own Naruto. Sad, isn't it? Oh well! Back to story time:insert creepy smiles here: So where were we?


I Love You, Because…

Chapter One

Star Shadow and Dark Stratos


At seven thirty on the dot, Naruto internal alarm clock jarred him from his sleep, ripping him away from the sandman's gracious hands and throwing him back into reality. He didn't want to be awake yet. Reality sucked. It encompassed the village's hatred, Sakura's constant rejection, Kakashi and his porno novels, and Sasuke-bastard's superior attitude. Naruto much preferred his hand-crafted dream world. And besides, he had been having a wonderful dream about someone in his room whispering to him. It had been perfect… Well, it had been almost perfect.

Screwing up his face, he tried to remember who had been stroking his hair. He just couldn't put a face to the person who had been whispering gentle secrets to him. Inwardly, he hoped that it had been Sakura. She had probably acknowledged how he was much more handsome and far more skilled than Sasuke. She'd probably been professing her undying love to him… But that was in his dreams, and he wasn't even sure that it had been her.

Knowing there was no way he was going to be able to fall back asleep, he opened his eyes reluctantly. He didn't want to get up; he wanted to remember who it was in his blurry dream. He almost needed to know. He closed his eyes, trying once again to picture who it had been.

His room had been tinged a black-blue and he had been looking up, eyes barely open. There had been a shadow above him, the light of a full moon outlining it, creating an almost angelic feel. Messy hair had been everywhere as the shadow removed his hat, stroking his hair and whispering so softly it's words were mostly unintelligible to his sleep-fogged mind. He remembered a soft smile before his head hit the pillow again, pulling him into a different, clearer dream. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes in frustration, Naruto decided that this wasn't going to help him at all.

He tossed his legs over the side of his bed, and found his clothes hung over the back of his desk chair, bedtime hat laying on top of the neatly folded clothes. Okay, he had definitely not done that. He didn't even want to think about how his hat had gotten on top of said clothes.

Curious, he walked over to them, but not before first grabbing one of the kunai he kept just in reach of his pillow. Every step he took, he was wary of a trap, and his eyes narrowed. Despite the way Naruto normally acted, he could be a damn good ninja when he wanted to be. He was a good ninja. After all, being a ninja wasn't all ninjutsu and stealth, it was acting too, and by now, he was one hell of an actor. After all, it wasn't easy playing the village idiot to get people to notice you were alive.

After checking for traps, Naruto picked up his hat and clothes. What the hell? Nothing. The pile slipped from his hands/fingers. Last night… Last night, in his dream, the shadow. It had removed his hat. It had been stroking his hair.

Naruto choked. That meant…

He almost didn't want to pick up his things. He really wanted to get back into bed and just pull the covers over his head. He wanted to forget - but at the same time, he didn't. Someone had been with him last night, someone who had seemed to care. He eventually picked up his clothes again, but this time a piece of paper fluttered to the floor. Naruto stopped mid-bend. Slowly, he picked up the small folded piece of paper and read:

Uzumaki Naruto,

You are my angel. I wanted to tell you that I love you, because you look so angelic when you're asleep. Even if you do wear that ridiculous hat.

Your Secret Admirer

Naruto stared. What was this? Maybe this was for someone else. He reread the note. Nope. That was definitely his name.

He blushed. Someone loved him? Him! Uzumaki Naruto Konoha's Number-One Loudest Shinobi? This had better not be a joke. He stared at the note for a minute longer before glancing at the clock.

Aw crap! He was going to be late! All because of some stupid, probably fake, love note. This was just perfect. He didn't even have time for his usual ramen breakfast, and that only took three minutes to make! This was not good.

He was going to be ! All because of some stupid, probably fake, note. This was just perfect. He didn't even have time for his usual ramen breakfast, and that only took three minutes to make! This was good.

Shoving his legs into his pants and pulling on his shirt and bright orange jacket, he was suddenly glad his so-called Secret Admirer was nice enough to put his stuff out for him. He scrambled out the door to his apartment, almost forgetting to lock it as he shoved the note in his pocket. He'd think about it later. Ah! If he didn't get to the bridge now, Sakura would never let him hear the end of it. And Sasuke-bastard would have another reason to call him a pathetic ninja. He did not want to think about what would happen if Kakashi-sensei was actually on time today. As he tore down the streets of Konoha, he forgot all about the note in his pocket and his odd not-quite-dream from the night before.


Star Shadow: Please tell us what you think.

Dark Stratos: We kind of know who Naru-chan's secret admirer is, but if we get enough reviews to tilt us in another direction…

Star Shadow: Anyway, please read and review!