Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…but I do own the character Kuro (in this story at least…probably a lot of other Kuro's in the world. XD)

It was a beautiful day. The birds were chirping and the dew on the grass was shining as the sun came up. I breathed in the fresh air as I made my way to the bridge. I wanted to get there before Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme, and Kakashi-sensei got there so I could enjoy myself before I had to put my mask back on. Yes Naruto Uzumaki wears a mask. Everyone thinks I'm a loud-mouthed, ramen loving, orange wearing idiot.

The truth is…I'm actually not. I can't stand ramen or the color orange, I hate loud noises-minus loud music, and actually I'm very intelligent. Before Itachi killed the Uchiha clan he was my tutor along with several other people who will remain nameless for certain reasons. Also I love the color black! I'd have a whole wardrobe of clothes from Hot Topic if I could. Why do I hide behind a mask you may be wondering? It's quite simple in all actuality. The villagers still see me as the demon from 12 years ago and I don't know about you but if I were forced to live in a village with a "demon" I'd feel more comfortable with a dumb one than a smart one.

I sighed as I kicked a pebble onto the bridge to see a familiar form lying there. It was the black dog I've been taking care of for the last couple of years since I found his paw caught in a bear trap. I had to leave him out but I'd always feed him everyday and if I couldn't I could trust Kiba to do it for me. I ran over to him expecting him to sit up and give me a kiss on the cheek like always but he didn't move. I slowed down and shook him only to find out he had died. As I looked over the body I saw several puncture wounds. I guess the villagers found out that I was close to him and decided to take him away from me as well. I felt several emotions well up as I sat down next to him. I started stroking his cold body to keep him company until someone took the body to get rid of it before it started to decompose.

I looked into the river watching the fish swim happily when I heard a scream. I quickly turned around ready to draw out my kunai when I saw Sasuke and Sakura-I'm assuming Sakura waited for Sasuke before arriving here.

"Naruto! Why are you petting that dead dog! That's so gross" Sakura screamed. I wanted to glare at her, hit her, but as usual I just smiled not taking my hand off the dog.

"He looked soft?" I said trying to be as loud as I usually was but it came out cracked and quiet.

"Dobe?" Sasuke questioned me walking closer to me. I looked back at the dog as Sasuke tried to see the connection between the dead dog lying on the ground and myself.

"How long have you been taking care of him?" Sasuke asked gently as he stroked the dog's head as well.

"The last couple of years." I muttered sadly, watching his black coat move gently as a gentle breeze blew against us.

"Name?" I heard Sasuke ask gently. I tilted my head still acting like the 'dobe' they all expect me to be.

"Wah?" Was my intelligent answer.

"What was his name?" Sasuke asked getting annoyed.

"Um…Kuro…" I mumbled slightly embarressed…after all it was a lame name.

"Do you want to have a funeral for him?" Sasuke asked as we heard a poof come from behind. I nodded my head slight not trusting words anymore. I heard Kakashi-sensei walk up behind Sakura and ask what was going on. She filled him in.

That day consisted of telling Kiba the news, finding a safe spot to bury Kuro, going to Ino's shop to buy flowers to place on the grave, carving a tombstone for him, and quickly changing out or my normal orange into black.

When I got to the area we were going to bury him I saw all of my friends there. Sasuke stood next to a handmade coffin that held Kuro's body.

We each placed a flower on his coffin before Sasuke cleared his throat.

"Naruto…do you want to say anything?" Sasuke asked me in an understanding tone. I nodded my head as I walked back over to Kuro's coffin.

"You were my very first friend. You were always there for me when no one else was. You were always there to cheer me up. I remember the time were you and I sat under the stars and I talked to you for hours because I had no one else to talk to and even if I did you always understood me more than any one else ever did. I'm going to miss you. I know Kiba and Akamaru will miss you. I remember one day Kiba told me you were just like me. But now your in a place that knows no pain and all I can ask is for you to wait for me so we can play again sometime." I finished speaking. My final words were being choked out as my throat tightened as the feeling of wanting to cry overflowed my being. My knees gave out and I cried as if no one was there. Everyone watched me not knowing if they should just leave and give me space or comfort me. Sasuke slowly made his way toward me and patted my back in a soothing-as much as an Uchiha could allow- gesture. That's when I lost it completely and clung to him soaking his shirt with more tears that refused to stop.

"It's alright Naruto. Go ahead and cry for as long as you need to." He mumbled into my ear so only I could hear him-because if anyone else heard him they would assume it was an imposture since Sasuke never acted like that-but I just continued to cry. Everyone watched the sight in shock or amazement as Sasuke just held me as I cried into my arms.

I stayed in Sasuke's arms for who knows how many hours. My friends all started to leave after a while. Finally when the sun had set and both our stomachs were growling Sasuke whispered in my ear again.

"Naruto…we need to go." That only resulted in me clinging to his shirt more. I don't know why but I didn't want to be alone nor did I want to leave Kuro's body.

"I know how you feel Naruto…you can spend the night at my house." He mumbled. I loosened my grip on him as he stood up and helped me up. I grabbed the back of his shirt feeling extremely vulnerable at the moment. He led me to my house and instructed me on where everything was in his house and told to go take a bath. I nodded solemnly and sluggishly walked to the bathroom. I quickly washed my body because I felt drained from all the crying I did. I got out of the bath and dried myself before exiting the bathroom with the towel wrapped around my waist.

"Sasuke?" I called out wondering where he was.

"I'm in the kitchen. I have some clothes laying out for you on my bed." Sasuke called back. I called out thanks and quickly went to his room. I smiled as I found out they were the clothes I've wanted to wear from Hot Topic. He left out for me a Dir En Grey black tee, Tripp Black And Purple Strap And Chain Zip-Off Pants, and a couple of spike thin wrist bands as well as some pajamas for the night. Since I've wanting to wear them for the last several years I wore the Hot Topic clothes. I smiled and saw some eyeliner on Sasuke's desk. I applied some on and pulled out a mirror from my clothes that lay on the floor. Satisfied I went downstairs. When Sasuke saw me he was more than a little surprised.

"Na-Naruto?" He asked probably mentally hitting himself for stuttering.

"What?" I asked pretending to be confused while inwardly smirking at him.

"Why are you wearing eyeliner?" He asked in awe.

"Um…I…" Great Uzumaki…you can't even think of a smooth lie…

"Naruto do you even like orange?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"No…" I mumbled loud enough for him to hear me.

"Ramen?"

"Eww"

"Your habit of being obnoxiously loud?"

"Can't stand loud noises…well except if it's music." I sighed sitting myself on a couch.

"Then why do you act like you do?" Sasuke asked probably not liking the fact that he didn't know everything like a great Uchiha should.

"Because…" I paused for a while. If Sasuke found out about the demon he might hate me but if I don't tell him he might hate me.

"You don't have to-" He started but I cut him off.

"A demon was sealed in me 12 years ago and the villagers think I'm the demon but I'm not! I'm it's jailer and to keep myself safe I have to act dumb because if they knew I was smart they'd throw me out of the village!" I all but screamed. Sasuke blinked as he let this information sink in. "I'll leave now if you want…" I stated sadly getting up. Before I was at the door I heard Sasuke call out for me to wait.

"Naruto! Don't leave if you don't want to." Sasuke ran so his body was between the door and myself.

"Y-you don't hate me?" I stuttered out in shock.

"Naruto you're not a demon. You're my friend. I won't do that to you." Sasuke said before smirking as a grumble came out of my stomach.

"Hungry?" He asked rhetorically. I rolled my eyes but made my way back into the kitchen. He cooked up some curry, rice, and soba noodles.

"Sasuke…why are you taking such good care of me?" I questioned after our meals were set in front of us.

"Because I know how it's like to lose someone you love…even if my loss were humans and yours was a dog." He said calmly.

"Yeah…there is also one more difference…I can't seek revenge for Kuro while you can seek revenge for your entire family…" I mumbled sadly.

"Why not?" Sasuke asked his eyes trained on me now curious to the reason.

"You saw it to didn't you? The wounds on Kuro…the villagers did that. They probably found him last night and realized somehow that he was something I was close to. Kuro being a dog they realized they could get away with killing him since they couldn't kill any of my human friends. The villagers don't want me to get close to anything." I mumbled while taking a bit out of some curry.

"And you're just going to let them walk all over you!" Sasuke yelled slamming his hands on the island we were eating on. I looked sadly down at my plate.

"I can't do anything about it. If I attack the villagers they will believe the demon had come out and the ANBU will come and kill me. If I go to Tsunade-baachan she wouldn't be able to do anything about it because we have no way of finding out who killed Kuro. I can't do anything." I mumbled sadly as a lone tear slid down my face. Sasuke winced knowing I was right and sat back down and continued eating his dinner. We ate in silence the rest of the night and Sasuke brought me to an extra bedroom after bringing me into his room again to grab the pajamas. I changed in the walk in closet in the guest room-since I think it would be weird for me to change in front of him- before going to the bed.

"Night Dobe." He said turning the light off but leaving the door open probably so he could keep an ear out for me if I started crying again.

"Night Teme…and Thanks…for everything." I said watching him. He smirked-not the I'm-better-than-you smirk but a Sasuke smile smirk.

"Anytime." With that he left to go to his room. That night I dreamt that Kuro and I were playing in the field like usual when kunai came out of no where stabbing Kuro. As a bunch of black human-like figures surrounded me laughing as I was Kuro die painfully looking at me with pleading brown eyes for me to save him. I shot up from my bed as tears ran down my face. Suddenly I heard someone walk into my room.

"Naruto? Are you okay?" Sasuke asked nervously.

"Yeah…just a bad dream." I said and rested my head against the pillow when I heard the door open.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sasuke asked. I shrugged my shoulders and he came in and grabbed my hand.

"Sasuke what are you doing?" I asked confused to what he was doing.

"When my mom was alive she would always make hot chocolate when I had a nightmare and let me tell her all about it." He stated. I nodded in understanding since after all I'm not really an idiot and let him bring me into the kitchen. It was silent while he made the hot chocolate. After he was done he pulled out two mugs and a bag of marshmallows and dropped a couple in each of the mugs.

"So what's wrong?" he asked. I repeated the dream to him as a few stray tears made there way down my face. He nodded his head while taking a sip of hot chocolate-something I'm assuming his mom did to him- before placing the cup down before asking me if I wanted to stay in that room or sleep in his room. After a while of thinking and several mugs of hot chocolate later I nodded my head in consent. We walked back out of the kitchen and to his room. He stood staring at his closet probably wondering if he should pull the futon out or if it would be better if we shared a bed.

"Whatever you think is best Sasuke…this is the first time I've done any of this…" I said scratching my cheek slightly embarrassed.

"Alright… he said walking away from the closet and patted the side of the bed. I walked over to the bed and rested my head on a pillow once again. That night I slept as well as I had ever in my life.

The next day I awoke to the smell of food. I wasn't quite sure what it was since it didn't smell like any Japanese food I knew. I got up and got dressed in the clothes Sasuke picked out for me yesterday not quite ready to part with my most wanted clothing right then. I walked downstairs figuring I'd take a shower when I got home.

"What's that?" I asked sniffing the air in the kitchen as I reached the island we ate at last night.

"Pancakes…my mom would make them anytime I had a nightmare and would make Itachi crepes anytime he actually confessed to her about a nightmare…which was rare." Sasuke said placing a plate of pancakes in front of me. I smiled and thanked him for the food before digging in. He poured some maple syrup on one of my pancakes saying it made them taste better and which to my delight it did. I smiled at him and told him I liked it before adding more on. After breakfast we made our way to the bridge. The villagers were staring at me in shock-after all I wasn't wearing orange. I noticed Sasuke glare at the ones glaring at me discreetly and inwardly smiled so he wouldn't notice I noticed.

As soon as we got to the bridge we saw Sakura standing there in shock.

"Nar…Naruto?" she asked as if it weren't really me.

"Yes Sakura-chan?" I asked smiling my fake smile getting a displeased look from Sasuke. I guess he hated it when I faked stuff around my friends but I just pushed it to the back of my mind to save for later analyzing.

"Um…you look different today…" Sakura said trying to form complete sentences.

"Thanks Sakura-chan. Sasuke let me borrow his clothes." I smiled. She looked confused but before she could ask any more questions a poof came up from behind us.

"Yoh! Sorry I'm late but I had to go feed my dolphin only to find out we didn't have milk left so I had to go get some more. That dolphin really doesn't like his cereal without milk.

"Liar!" Sakura shouted while I just blushed and looked away.

"Sensei can you not talk about that in front of me please! I don't want to hear you and Iruka-sensei's love life…" I mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear and Sakura's eyes widened when she realized what Kakashi had just subtly implied.

"Eww! Sensei you're a pervert!" Sakura said wide-eyed.

"Awww little Naruto you ruined all my fun!" Kakashi pouted before his "U" of an eye smile returned. "Well just wanted to let you all know that training is being cancelled and that Hokage-sama would like to speak to you two Naruto, Sasuke." He said looking at us as he spoke. I knew immediately what Tsunade- baachan wanted to talk about. Shortly after that Kakashi left to find his "dolphin" while Sakura went over to Ino's to probably tell her how I was fairing.

As we made our way to the Hokage's room people would glare at me as usual and Sasuke would do something that was usually…well…unusual and glared right back at them for me. After several minutes Sasuke got fed up with them and took a protective step in front of me. I'll have to remember to thank him later.

When we reached her room we opened the door to find Tsunade drinking straight from her sake bottle…truthfully now I was worried about anything living in a 50-mile radius.

"Um…Tsunade-sama…" Sasuke started just as nervous as I was. Neither of us wanted to have her attention on us…after all a menopausal alcoholic is just terrifying to be near no matter what you say and having said menopausal alcoholic watching you like you tried to steal her sake is even worse.

"When she remember why she sent for us she calmed down and relaxed in her chair signaling for us to plant out buts to a seat as well.

"Kakashi told me what happened yesterday Naruto. I thought you would like to know that I'm instituting a law stating that no animals will be killed unless given an order to from the Hokage. I'm sorry I can't do anything about your friend though. If we do find them though they will be punished severally." She stated watching me as if I might break down any moment.

"Thanks Grandma…" I said smiling at her with a smile Sasuke couldn't disprove of since this one was sincere. She smiled back and told us we could leave. Sasuke cleared his throat as we made it to the road again.

"Hey Naruto…I was wondering if you wanted to move in with me?" Sasuke asked not looking at me in embarrassment.

"Sure Sasuke." I smiled before taking his hand in mine. For some reason I felt this was the start of a beautiful relationship.

(A/N: I wrote this fanfic as a sort of dedication for my dog Bevis –we got him the human society so we didn't have a choice on his name. We had to put him down March 27th and he will be severally missed. He was about 13-15 years old and I spent a wonderful 11 years with him. I'm considering writing another chapter of this set several months after this but it will depend how popular this gets so read and review ok. )