Chapter 1

The Truth Hurts

I woke up with my alarm blaring in my ears. To be honest, I didn't want to get up, let alone move. But I knew that if I didn't turn off that alarm, I'd get my ass handed to me, so I sat up in bed and reached for my alarm, shutting it off and throwing my feet over the side of my bed.

My whole body hurt, not only did I have to get my ass handed to me at school, I came home and my mother, Kushina, was throwing a fit that the dishes weren't clean and beat me with a fucking broom. Dad only came home about an hour afterwards so he had no clue what happened. Like he'd believe me anyway. Mom was his favorite person, I could be dead for all he cared.

"Get up, I'm leaving in half an hour and if you aren't ready I'm leaving your ass here." My father, Minato, said through my bedroom door and I mentally cursed him out as I got up and turned the lights on in my room.

There wasn't much, I had a bed, a dresser and a computer desk - which I had no computer for and clothes inside that dresser and a small closet. You could say that I should be grateful for everything I have, but having a bipolar mother and a father that's usually not around when she's having her episodes is a little beyond frustrating. Sure, my father was head of the police force, but sometimes I just wished that he stayed home for a week and spent time with me.

Hell, I don't even remember the last time Dad and I did anything with each other.

Sighing, and as quick as I could, I dug into my dresser for a pair of black skinny jeans and a long sleeved orange and black shirt. I grabbed a pair of clean boxers and a tank top to go under the sweater.

It was the end of September, and for Autumn just beginning, it's colder than usual. I'm just glad that Mom took me shopping during one of her good moods and got me a whole bunch of cold weather attire.

I threw all my clothes onto my bed and took off all my clothes, that's when I got a good glimpse of what my 'battle scars' as I call them, really looked like.

I looked like someone ran me over with their car and proceeded to beat me with a bat. A very thin bat to say the least since it was the handle of the boom Mom was hitting me with. God, why couldn't she see a shrink or something and get put on medication? Oh, that's right, Mom refuses to acknowledge she needs help and Dad refuses to listen to me.

There were other scars, too, because once in a while, I'd take a razor I got from Dad's garage and start cutting my legs. I wouldn't dare cut my arms because sometimes I wear short sleeved shirts, but since the weather is getting cold and doesn't look like we're getting any warmer for a long while, I'm probably going to start cutting up there too.

"Fifteen minutes!" Dad's voice echoed from the hallway and I quickly got changed and shoved my feet into a pair of black socks and a pair of VANS street shoes that needed to be replaced soon.

"I'll be out there in a few minutes Dad." I yelled back because I heard him walk down the hall and towards either the living room or the kitchen. I'm going to guess the kitchen because I could smell eggs and toast being made. Great, another morning with an egg sandwich. I'm starting to get sick of eggs.

Sighing once more, I picked up my back pack and rushed out of my room and to the kitchen where I saw Dad sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal and Mom at the stove making eggs.

"Morning dear." Mom said, completely oblivious to what happened last night. It's always like this.

"Morning Mom." I said, trying not to let slip about the beating as Dad sipped at his coffee. Smelling the coffee made my mouth water, so I put my back pack on my seat and grabbed a mug from the cupboard and got me a cup of coffee, drowning it in sugar and milk before stirring it all together and set it on the table before getting a small bottle of orange juice, sitting down just as Mom set two plates of sandwiches down and she sat down between Dad and me.

"So, hon, how long are you going to work today?" Mom asked.

"I think I'll be home on a regular schedule today." Dad said, and he sounded amused that she even asked.

"What about you Naruto?" Mom asked as I sipped at my wonderful coffee.

"I don't know, I remember Kabuto-sensei saying that we might have a project starting this week. He said it'll be with partners, but I highly doubt it." I answered with a shrug of my shoulders, putting my coffee down and picked at my sandwich before picking it up and taking a bite out of it. Yes, I was so totally done with eggs.

"Well, either way, call your father to let him know. I have a double shift at the hospital today." Mom said as she took a bite of her breakfast. Mom was a registered nurse at the hospital and, normally, she only worked one shift and that was usually the first shift so she could be home and have dinner made when Dad got home … if he didn't have a homicide to dig into. "Someone called in sick and I was asked to fill in for her."

"That's okay Kushina, I think Naruto will be just fine, though." Dad said as he finished off his cereal and drank the rest of his coffee. "Lets go Naruto."

"Okay Dad." I said, happily dropping my sandwich and taking only the toast as I got up and grabbed my back pack.

"See you boys later." Mom said happily.

"By Mom." I said, not to piss her off.

"By hon." Dad said as the two of us walked out of the door, keys in his hand and I rushed down the front steps to the car.

On the ride to school, it was quiet save for the radio playing classic rock music on station 95.3FM. I think ACDC was playing.

"Okay, don't forget to text or call me if you're not going straight home." Dad said as we pulled up into the school campus and he turned right into the parking lot. There weren't that many cars there yet, but since Dad is a cop, he goes into work half an hour before I'm supposed to be here, and I'd rather ride with him than Mom …

"I'll let you know Dad." I sighed when the car stopped.

"I'll also let you know if I'll be home for dinner, you're probably going to have to fend for yourself tonight since your mom is pulling a double shift." Dad reminded me.

"Dad, if all else fails, I'll order a pizza." I said as I got out of the car, slinging my back pack over my shoulder and closed the door, waving bye to each other and I made my way up the stairs and into the building.

When the doors closed, I walked up to my locker since it was close by and changed out my text books for my morning classes and went to the cafeteria. I loved the mornings, I was alone for half an hour at most until some other kids showed up. And I always found this the perfect time to get some writing done.

So, since I've got permission from the principal, Tsunade, I get to use my laptop in school, so I dragged it out of my back pack and set it on the table before I sat down and turned it back on from its sleep and cracked my knuckles before putting in my password and brought back up the document I opened last night but didn't start just yet. Hell, I had the idea when I walked into the school, but now I lost it.

Fucking hell ... Then it hit me, and I typed away like my keyboard was on fire.

Take a hike you low life fucking freak

You're nothing but a disease that doesn't know when to go away

Go away you fucking moron.

Get a fucking life … fucking parasite

Those words repeated in my head like a fucking broken record. I couldn't stand hearing those words again and again and again from others and the voices inside my head every day. It was just too much. Even me taking the razor to my arms when I got home from school didn't help the voices shut up.

"Hey, Amelia, it's time for dinner. I know you got a lot of homework to do, but come eat dinner with us." My mom said outside my bedroom door.

They always thought I was working on my homework when I come lock myself in my bedroom after school. But I always have my homework done before I even go home. That's the amazing planning I got when I got study hall as a last period of the school day.

But, if my mother and father ever found out what I really did after school … I'd probably be sent to some mental asylum, that's what their opinions are about those who cut themselves; "It makes me sick, hurting themselves … it's all just for attention." My mom would say. "They're just selfish pests that ran out of ideas to get attention." My father would say.

Yea, you don't need your parents shoving you there

You'll never see the light of day again, right?

But no, from experience, people who truly use cutting as an escape, are people trying to run away from their problems. Trying to run away from life and everything builds up on them so much that they find it as their only escape from reality because once the flesh is sliced open, all the emotions that have built up inside you are released, even though it's a temporary release.

"Be there in a minute Mom." I said, and she finally walked away from my bedroom door.

I sighed heavily and got up from my bed where I had been sitting since I got home. I needed to clean up, change and get some gauze and wrappings around my arms before I even thought about going to eat dinner with Mom and Dad. And they were waiting, so I needed to be quick.

I grabbed my night clothes and rushed to the bathroom, knowing no one was in there, I closed the door behind me and locked it. I, honestly, was glad I only focused on one arm today, because if I had focused on both, I would have gotten blood everywhere and I didn't need them questioning me … not now.

Dropping my clothes on the back of the toilet, I put the toilet lid down to make sure my clothes didn't fall into the toilet and opened the mirror and pulled down the ace bandages and gauze along with the Neosporin and turned the sink water on.

I grabbed a black wash cloth from the cabinet and got it soaking before I washed off my arm. Some of the blood had dried, just a tad bit, so it hurt getting all the blood off with fresh blood dripping from the three cuts I made. I only made three cuts today, and I felt like I wanted to make hundreds more already, but I couldn't without getting caught.

Wincing a little bit and I finally got the blood to stop, I grabbed the gauze and opened three of the packs and doused them in Neosporin and placed them on my cuts. I liked Neosporin, it helped my cuts heal much faster, and I didn't have many scars thanks to it. So once the gauze were stuck to where I wanted them, I grabbed the ace wrap and wrapped my arm as tight as I could but not so it would hurt like hell and make my whole arm throb up to my shoulder.

When I was satisfied with my bandage, I turned the water off, tossed the rag into the hamper and changed my blood soaked clothes into my night clothes; a pair of flannel night pants and a skin tight long sleeved shirt. I'll be changing into a tank top when I got to my room, but since I'm eating dinner with my parents, I'll need the long sleeves.

"You coming Ami?" Mom asked from down the hall, and I realized I had been in there about ten minutes. I quickly gathered my bloodied clothes and bunched them in my arms so that the blood wouldn't be seen and threw the trash into the bundle as well and put the box of gauze and the Neosporin back into the mirror and went back to my room.

"Be there in a minute Mom." I said, tossing my clothes into my hamper by my door and I made my way out to the kitchen … not prepared for dinner at all.

Then the bell rang and I hissed for losing track of time. I couldn't believe half an hour had already passed, and I wanted to get my laptop put away before too many kids came into the school. That just comes with being in high school, I guess.

And once my laptop slid back into my back pack, the kids stormed into the school and half of them lined up for breakfast as usual. I just continued to sit where I was and pulled out my notebook, hand writing the rest of what was on my mind until the next bell rang in fifteen minutes for us all to get to class.

"Hey, blondie, whatcha working on?" A familiar voice asked behind me and I sighed heavily.

"None of your business Kiba." I grumbled as he sat down on my right and Chouji sat down on my left … the school's two bullies of the Sophomore class. Kiba Inuzuka and Chouji Akimunchi, uhm, I mean Akimichi, and both of them just loved making my life a living hell.

"It's always my business when it comes to you, blondie." Kiba said with a smirk, then he managed to somehow take my notebook from me, and I was glad I didn't get to write anything down in it … I really don't want him to know what I'm working on.

"It's completely empty." He huffed and tossed it back to me. He now looked bored out of his mind … and I hated it when he was bored out of his mind.

"What do you think we can do now, Chouji?" Kiba asked, turning so his back was to the table and leaned back as he put his arms on the table. His usual pose that meant something bad was on his mind.

"I guess we could drag the blonde to the bathroom and give him a swirlly." Chouji suggested, but Kiba scoffed at the idea. They did it to me so many times, I could guess that Kiba was bored with the idea.

"I'd love to take the blondie outside into the woods behind the school and beat him to a bloody pulp and make someone find him." Kiba sighed.

"Sometimes I wonder how you two forget that I'm the son of the police chief …" I sighed heavily and picked my notebook up and forced my way out of the bench I was sitting on since the two were sitting so close to me. I was beyond annoyed now.

"Oh, I remember blondie." Kiba said, and when I looked at him, he was smirking … and that made my stomach flip and sink as far as it could possibly go.

"Then leave me alone." I hissed and made my way to my first period class, glad that I didn't have any classes whatsoever with either of those two and, honestly, I looked forward to talking with Sakura when I got to the classroom. We had Advanced Biology together and I prayed that we'd be partners for the upcoming project we were supposed to be doing, that is, if we even got assigned partners.

Oh, I only prayed … I really didn't want to be paired with the school's asshole … Sasuke Uchiha. And asshole was, honestly, an understatement in my opinion. Yes, I know his parents died last year, but he didn't have any right to yell at me in front of the whole school, telling them how much of a fag I am and proceed to try and beat the shit out of me before Tsunade pried him off of me by his hair and sent him to the office.

We were going out at some point before that, but I don't even know what I did to set him off, and he's never answered me whenever I asked. And since he's become somewhat an anti-social jerk who cares only for himself, I don't care if he ever answered me.

"Oh, Naruto! I didn't think you'd be here this early!" Sakura's charming voice rang into my ears from the back of the classroom as she waved from her seat that was next to mine and I smiled, for the first time this morning. I guess I was happy to see her.

"Hey Sakura." I waved back and made my way to the back of the classroom and sat down next to her. "How was your weekend?"

"It was boring, as usual." She sighed in sarcasm, something she's mastered since she started high school. "What about your weekend?"

"You know how it is in my house!" I whispered sharply. "I don't get the chance to go anywhere because my Dad works in the police station and my Mom is a total nut case that works at the hospital with Tsunade as a registered nurse."

"I know, but you can tell me if you made any progress on what you started writing." She said with a small wave of her hand. "The story you told me about yesterday."

"Oh, I didn't actually start it at all last night." I told her. "My muse ran away and I went to bed with writers' block, I got started on it this morning, but I didn't get very far. I'll email you a copy after school."

"I can't wait, but first, is it depressing?" She asked.

"Of course, I only write depressing shit if my life is nothing but depressing shit." I said, crossing my arms as I looked down at the work table. Sighing, I started praying that my mother would get the help she needs, and soon, because I'm going to start going to Tsunade every time she raises a hand to me from now on. But deep down … I know I won't even try. I'm too much of a coward to go for help.

"What did your Mom do this weekend?" Sakura asked, her voice low, and I knew exactly what she was wanting to know.

"She beat me to a bloody pulp with the broom handle Friday after school because I came home late. I told her I sent her a text, but she claims she never got it. And after arguing with her about it for an hour, I go to my room and find out my phone never sent the message." I said, my voice also low, but for some reason I couldn't make eye contact with her. And that never happens.

"That's just so … unforgiving of her Naruto." Sakura argued.

"I know, but you know just as well as I do that she's bipolar, but she refuses to see it and doesn't get any help for it." I sighed. "I don't know what to do anymore."

"You should talk to Tsunade, she is your 'grandmother', tell her about it." Sakura said, and I knew she was right in me going to her and confide in my so called grandmother. But honestly, I don't even know where to start with Tsunade. She's just as bipolar as my mother is.

"You really think I should go to her?" I asked, though it's something I've asked myself a million times, and wondered why I haven't done it yet.

"Yes, I think you should." She said, and just before the bell for everyone to get to their classes, so we had another five minutes to freely talk with each other before class officially started and five minutes before creepy Kabuto-sensei walks through the door. I swear, Kabuto has to be schizophrenic or something, no one is obsessed with chemistry or biology like he is, unless you want to count crazy Orochimaru-sensei next door who teaches advanced chemistry and biology. God, I'm so glad I'm not in his classes!

"I'll think about it … and if I've made up my mind, you won't see me in class early tomorrow." I told her, and she seemed okay with the idea, and we went silent on the subject as students started flowing into the classroom. And for once, Kabuto-sensei was early. I guess he's excited about these projects he's making us do also.

"Everyone hurry to your seats, I want to get class started." He said, slapping a ruler on the desk as he started opening his planner and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, not until I notice he's looking at me with a freaky ass grin on my face and all of a sudden I felt like I was being targeted. I always felt like that around him when he stares at me like that.

"I hope we aren't made to be partnered with people we can't work with. I don't know what I'll do if I have to work with Ino-pig." Sakura muttered under her breath and crossed her arms as she glared at the blonde that sat at the front of the class with the class genius, Shikamaru, whom I'm surprised isn't in advanced classes. I guess it's because he's a lazy ass bum … a smart ass lazy bum.

"I hope so too, I'd rather work with you than anyone else." I told her. "I don't get along with anyone else but you."

"I know." She agreed as the last bell rang and everyone quickly took their seats as Kabuto-sensei stood up with his planner and cleared his throat.

"Good morning class, and as you all know, last week I suggested that we all start our semester projects, and this semester, we're working in the animal field. Now, based on what animal you're going to be researching on, some of you will be doing a presentation and the others will be doing a dissection. Since I have thirty students, I've devised the classroom into five different groups, then each group will have a sub group and each sub group will have three students working on the same project. Here are your sheets showing what animals we're going to be going over." He said before grabbing a stack of papers and handed a portion of it to the front of the class to pass back, and by the time I got it, I wasn't looking forward to the stupid project at all. But when I looked at the sheet, I think I got some of the spirit back;

Mammals-

Cats

Dogs

Amphibians-

Frogs

Toads

Fish-

Catfish

Sharks

Insects-

Beetles

Worms

Shellfish-

Crawfish

Clams

"Now, I'm expecting you all to get along with your groups. And no one is choosing their own partners, I already have them planned out." Kabuto-sensei said, and he had that grin on his face again and I sank in my chair. God no, please, don't tell me he's partnering me with that bastard!

"Okay, first group, the three students working together on the Cats family, is Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha."

I cheered mentally when I heard Sakura's name … but my stomach sank all the way to the floor when I heard Sasuke's name being called. And when I looked over at Sakura, she looked pissed, but also happy she wasn't paired with Ino.

"You three will be choosing a cat to work on and your project will be a presentation." Kabuto-sensei continued saying, and I wrote down my partners' names along with what cat I think we should work on and Sakura had the same idea on what cat we should work on too when I saw her notes; black jaguar.

To be honest, I had hoped we got the dog part of the four legged mammals bit … I would love to look over information on the fox and shit, but no, the universe hates me.

"Okay class, now that we have our designated groups, gather your things and lets go to the library. All this week that's where we're going to meet so use this time wisely to do your research." Kabuto-sensei said and everyone groaned, including me, as we all gathered our things and headed out to the library.

"I can't believe we have to work with him." I grumbled to myself, though I hoped Sakura heard me too.

"I know, but we'll have to deal with it for now." Sakura whined.

"Why couldn't my Dad get a restraining order against him?" I whimpered, my head falling as we walked into the library and we found a table to work at. I was going to use my laptop instead of a school computer … I hated those things. Apple sucks butt if you ask me.

"Okay, how are we going to do this?" I asked, honestly, I wanted to put the report together and get the presentation in order. I did best in those areas anyway.

"I'll do the research!" Sakura sang as she raised her hand when Sasuke sat down, then our whole table got quiet.

"Okay, teme, I'm doing the report, Sakura is doing the research so I guess the presentation is your part." I told him, crossing my arms as I waited for my laptop to fully turn on.

"I'll do some research too, and I'll supply the presentation stuff." Sasuke mumbled, his gaze completely off to the side and it sounded like he hadn't really used his voice in forever. Not only that, but he looked like he didn't even want to be here in the first place.

"And students, before you get too far in your research, Wikipedia is off limits." Kabuto-sensei said, and I heard the whole room groan. I guess everyone was using wikipedia.

"I'll go get a computer from the desk, so we can sit here together and do research Naruto." Sakura said as she got up and skipped up to the front desk and checked out a computer.

"I'm going to go pick out a book …" Sasuke sighed as he got up.

"We're doing the black jaguar." I told him, but I honestly think he let my words go in one ear and out the other

I scowled at him when Sakura came back with a laptop and sat down next to me, I slammed my password in and pushed the enter button and crossed my arms again. God, I must really be hated here.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked as she got the school laptop up and running with her log in and password.

"Teme, is what's wrong. I tell him what were researching on and he disappears into the damn book shelves." I hissed, opening my web browser and went straight to Google.

"If I know him, Naruto, he's off looking for a thesaurus." Sakura said, and I couldn't believe she defended him. But it is understandable; Sasuke would never let his grades fall no matter who the hell he worked with.

"Whatever." I grumbled and typed in 'black jaguar' after I got the images to come up since I want to see what the damn kitty looked like before I did some serious research on it.

By the time lunch came, I was all ready to go home. I didn't want to even get my lunch I was so tired. Gai-sensei knows how to make you work so hard you wished you were dead.

I just want to know who's bright idea it was to make classes an hour long, because I sure as hell could go without an hour of gym.

"God, why can't Tsunade-baa-chan tell Gai-sensei that he needs to tone it down in gym?" I asked, totally skipping the lunch line and sat down at my usual table with Sakura, who got herself some food since she doesn't have Gai-sensei until later in the day.

"I know right?" She agreed as she sat down on my left.

"He should meet my father, my Dad could use a workout like that every day." I mumbled, though I know it wasn't true. My father can beat anybody's ass with a hand tied behind his back.

"Naruto, you know your father could wipe the floor with Gai-sensei." Sakura giggled, getting my joke as she took a bite of whatever it was the school decided to call food these days.

"I know, but it's all because Gai-sensei gets frustrated while he's fighting my Dad and my Dad knows how to take the upper hand." I laughed when someone shoved their lunch into my back and something cold fell from the top of my head.

Oh, my God … what the hell just happened?

"Looks good on you Naruto." Kiba's jeers laughed as I heard footsteps walking away from me … and the whole cafeteria laughing at me.

"That's not funny Kiba!" I heard Sakura yelling after him, but to be honest, everything around me started sounding dull, like my ears were starting to be clogged with ear wax or something.

And I didn't realize I was standing up until I was already walking out of the cafeteria and into the hallway with Sakura yelling my name behind me.

"Naruto, you need to call home. I doubt you have a spare change of clothes that doesn't smell like sweat." She said when she caught up with me a moment later. But I wasn't really paying attention to her. I was trying very hard to keep my thoughts from ripping someone's head off right now.

"I know that Sakura, but thank you." I said, turning a corner and barging into the main office.

"Shizune! I need baa-chan now!" I yelled when I got inside the main office, and for once, Shizune jumped at my sudden entrance.

"Oh my, what happened Naruto?" She asked … like she really needed to fucking ask.

"Do I really look like you need to ask!?" I yelled. "Kiba and his smart ass friend Chouji dumped their fucking lunches all over me!" I added, pointing to the snot the cafeteria was serving today along side what Sakura was eating.

"There is no need to be yelling in my office you brat! What do you want me to do?" Tsunade yelled from her office before she opened its door and walked out behind Shizune … before she tried to stifle a laugh.

"It's not fucking funny!" I yelled at the top of my lungs before I suddenly picked up a chair and threw it through the glass doors behind me in anger. "I've fucking had it with everything!" I added and stormed out of the office and out of the school. It might be a half hour walk home from the school, but I didn't care.

"Get back here Naruto!" Tsunade yelled, and she sounded pissed off, but I ignored her as I continued walking. Let her call my father, I don't fucking care!

It didn't hit me how cold it was until a gust of wind smacked me across my face, reminding me that I had some sort of liquid in my hair and all over my clothes, which made it twice as cold as it really was.

"Shit!" I yelled. "I forgot my stuff in the classroom! Oh fucking well, Sakura will bring it over for me after school."

I sighed and shoved my hands under my under arms to keep my fingers warm, glad that I never keep my keys or my wallet and cell phone in my back pack, I'd be totally fucked over if I did.

That's when my phone started ringing, and I was only half way home.

"Hello? Naruto speaking …" I said when I managed to dig my phone out of my pocket and opened … but I wasn't prepared to hear my father yelling in my ear.

"What the fuck is your problem Naruto?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe I'm trying to keep myself from beating in a couple of faces by walking home for a change of goddamn clothes!" I yelled back.

"What are you doing? You know it's school hours!" Dad yelled once again.

"Well I'm sorry if I want to change out of sludge soaked clothes, Dad." I yelled, putting nice emphasis on the word 'dad' on purpose. "Now I'm hanging up, talk to you later father."

And I slammed my phone shut before shoving it back in my pocket, but I didn't do it without turning my phone off. I'm also glad that Dad called, it made me walk home much faster and I was on my street before I even knew it.

"I'm going to have to yell at him more often." I shrugged, turning onto my street and up to my house through our yard since it was the third house from the corner and pulled my key out as I ran up the front steps and unlocked the door.

And lo and behold, my fathers' car skidded to a stop in our drive way and I heard a door slam as I entered the house and closed the door behind me. I made sure I ran up the stairs to my bedroom before he got in and slammed my door closed. Before I started getting undressed I looked in my full body mirror on my closet door to see what damage was actually made. It looked like I had chocolate milk dumped on my head and what the school called Mac and Cheese on my back along with what looked like mashed potatoes and gravy on top of it.

Fucking hell, my shirt is officially fucking ruined!

"Get your ass down here Naruto! Now!" Dad yelled as I heard him come up the stairs.

"I'm getting in the shower." I yelled at him, taking my shirt off and throwing it in the hamper by my bedroom door and went into my dresser for a clean change of clothes.

"You are going to explain yourself first for why in the hell you threw that chair in Tsunade's office!" Dad said loudly before coming into my room, and now I wished he hadn't. He could see every scar on my body, every bruise I've had since Friday and every scab that was starting to go away from late Friday night since I decided to cut myself after Mom beat me. And his silence showed me that he wasn't pissed off at me anymore.

"I'll explain it to you when I'm more calm." I told him, grabbing my clothes and pushed past him and locked myself in the bathroom. I wanted to get this lunch filth off of me.

I took an hour in the shower, not something I had planned, it just happened. But one thing was for sure; I was clean and I was completely calmed down. And I could talk to my father this way, if he was still here that is. I knew I couldn't return to school, if I did, I'd only be there an hour and it'd be a waste of time for me.

"You done Naruto?" My fathers' voice asked through the door, and I was startled that he didn't go back to work.

"Yea, I'm done." I said, wrapping the towel around my waist when I was done drying off and unlocked the bathroom door and stepped out to find Dad standing there waiting for me, and it was strange because of the way he looked me over.

"Seriously, I'm getting dressed before we talk." I sighed and went back into the bathroom to grab my clothes and went into my room. The only reason why I didn't change in the bathroom was because I had the water too hot. Well, I also decided to get dressed into something more comfortable since I'm not going back to school.

When I was dressed into a pair of my flannel night pants from last night and a tank top, since the news of everything is out of the bag now, there's no need to hide it anymore, I went downstairs and into the living room where I found Dad sitting in the recliner, so I sat down in the couch. I didn't want to look him in the eye.

"So, what's going on at school?" Dad asked after a few minutes.

"It's all from gym." I lied, leaning back in the couch and sank into it.

"I know you're lying, Naruto." Dad sighed heavily, and from the corner of my eye, I could see him rubbing his temples in frustration.

"Well I'm not, and you know how much of a damn clutz I am. I hurt myself all the time." I sighed, hugging myself to keep myself from picking the skin around my nails, another habit I wished I never had.

"Could you not talk like that around me, please?" Dad asked, but I always tried not to curse in front of him. "Now, tell me what happened at school?"

"Kiba and Chouji dumped their lunches on me … after Kiba threatened with the idea of taking me to the woods behind the school and beat me to a bloody pulp and just leaving me there for someone to find. Oh, and lets not forget that Kabuto-sensei decided that I needed to be paired with Sasuke-fucking-teme for our science project." I ranted, my voice getting louder unconsciously as I spoke. "Thank fucking God that I'm also paired with Sakura."

"Wait, you're in a group project … with Sasuke?" Dad asked, now he sounded pissed off … now that I think about it, he wasn't supposed to know about that.

"Uhm … yea?" I said, hesitating because I know he'd possibly blow up in my face.

"If he lays one finger on you, you tell me and I'll make sure there's a restraining order against the brat." Dad hissed, but he didn't blow up like I thought.

"I know Dad, and you know I'll tell you if he did." I said, rolling my eyes a little bit and hoped he didn't see it.

"But, I am having a word with Kiba's and Chouji's parents. This has got to stop." Dad said, yea, now he cares. "And don't think I'm done with you yet either, you are going to help pay for a new door at Tsunade's office."

"Are you fucking serious?" I yelled as I shot out of the couch. "No way am I paying for anything! I've told you people thousands of times that I'm tormented! If this is what it takes to get it through your fucking thick heads then I'll do it again and again." I kept yelling before I jumped up the stairs four at a time and slammed my bedroom door closed and locked it when I got into my room.

There was no way in hell that I'm paying for shit when it's not my damn fault …

Oh, my God … I'm sounding just like my Mom!

That's when I sat on my bed and dug into my bedside table drawer and dug for my razor that I hide in there and I almost dug the blade into my arm when there was a knock on the door, making me jump and throw the razor into the drawer and slam it shut just as the door opened.

"I wasn't done talking to you, Naruto." Dad said as he walked in and closed the door again.

"Don't you have to get to work?" I asked.

"Work can wait, right now, I have a problem at home that needs taken care of." Dad said, and I was getting pissed off again.

"Oh, I throw a chair in Tsunade's office and you finally realize that there's a problem at home?" I asked, and I could feel my eyes stinging. "You don't know half of what goes on here."

"Then tell me damn it!" Dad yelled. "I'm here now so tell me what I should know!"

"Like hell you'll believe a single word that comes from my mouth!" I yelled back. "I've told you time and time again that Mom needs fucking help for her goddamn bipolar issues and now I think I got the same fucking problems!" I added, but not without grabbing my lamp and threw it into my mirror. And in anger, I grabbed my computer chair and threw it into the same general area as my lamp and it broke into five pieces since it was a wood chair.

To be honest, I wanted to throw everything I could get my hands on, but I, instead, grabbed a handful of my hair and started pulling on it before I screamed at the top of my lungs and fell down onto my knees. By now, the tears that were stinging in my eyes earlier were freely falling down my face.

From where I sat, I saw a gleam in my carpet and realized that there was a sizeable shard of glass sitting there and picked it up, looking at my reflection in the shard and saw nothing but a despicable creature staring right back at me.

"How often does Kushina … your mother … have bipolar episodes, Naruto?" Dad asked, his voice calm and it scared me … a little bit.

"Every damn night before you come home. She's always tripping over the smallest things. Friday, she went off about how dishes weren't done and hit me with the handle of the broom until it broke. Usually she uses her hands to slap sense into me when I come home after she does." I told him, my voice hoarse from the screaming. "I love Mom, don't doubt me, but I'm just sick and tired of being the target of her episodes."

"I'll have a talk with your Mother when she gets home, okay?" Dad said. "Want me to help you clean up?"

"No … I'll get it as soon as I find the stupid vacuum cleaner." I sniffed.

"Well, start picking up the larger pieces and put them in your little trash can, I'll go get the vacuum." Dad said and left my room, with the door opened of course, but I took this opportunity to grasp the piece of glass in my left hand and squeeze my grip around it until my blood dripped from where the glass cut my hand and down its surface onto my gray carpet. Honestly, I didn't care if I got blood everywhere, it was something that released all my pent up frustrations that never left even after my 'little' emotional outbreak..

Then I wanted more of that release when I felt everything building up inside me again, and I took the shard and dug it into my right arm. And when once wasn't enough, I pulled it out and stabbed my arm a total of five times before Dad walked back into my room and dropped the vacuum, running over to me and grabbing me by both wrists to stop me from hurting myself anymore.

"Stop this Naruto, please." Dad said when I started struggling against him, and that's when I realized he was crying. Great, I made my Dad cry.

There were two reasons why I stopped struggling against my Dad, well, three. One is that I was just too mentally and physically exhausted to keep struggling, two, I made my Dad cry and he never cries, three, I'd never get free of him anyway. And it took both of us about ten minutes - half an hour or so in our minds - to stop crying and for my Dad to let my wrists go and take the glass out of my hand.

"Come on, lets go to the bathroom and clean you up." He sniffed, wiping his eyes and face dry with one arm as he pulled me up to my feet with the other. And, since I'm being honest with myself, I felt too weak to even stand up on my own, so when Dad went to take his hand away that was supporting me, I felt my knees buckle underneath me.

Thank God that Dad wasn't too far off because he caught me before I even got close to the glass covered floor and he carried me to the bathroom.

"I'm calling Tsunade to see if she'll do a house call." Dad said when we got to the bathroom and set me down near the toilet and helped me sit on it. "I'm also going to ask that both you and your mother take a psyche eval."

"She takes one first." I mumbled, surprised I even got words out. "I'll take one after her."

"I know Naruto, but you are taking one at the same time she is if we can help it, but with another psychologist. It'll take two days with both of you and right now, I'm not sure if you need to go to the hospital for a few days or not." Dad said, and I knew he was right on the money.

The first thing Dad did, was take a worn out towel from the closet and tore it into six strips before getting them soaking wet with cold water and tied each one around the five stab wounds on my arm and around my hand before he dried his hands off and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Yes, Tsunade … I need to know if you can make a house call … it's an emergency … Yea … Well, lets just say his bedroom looks like a crime scene right now … He broke quite a few things including his mirror, lamp and his computer chair … Uhm, he managed to stab himself pretty good with a nice sized shard while I went to get the vacuum cleaner after his episode that I thought was done and over with … Okay, and alright, see you in a few."

Why did he have to stay in here and talk to her … I really wasn't in the mood to hear about my outburst, once again.

"She's on her way, and Sakura has your stuff so she's coming over after school is let out in half an hour." Dad said as he put his phone in his pocket.

"You're letting her come over here?" I asked.

"She's only dropping your stuff off."

"We have a project in Advanced Biology that we need to get done." I whined, leaning back against the toilet.

"I'll think about it, okay?" Dad said, just as there was a loud bang on our front door and Dad jumped out of the bathroom and probably skipped steps as he went downstairs and answered the door. Tsunade must be here, there would be no other reason for there to be someone here at this hour. That's when I heard the light arguing coming up from the stairs and down the hallway before Tsunade came to the bathroom door way and dropped her black medical bag and stared at me like I had died where I sat. Hell, I felt like it, guess it's the blood loss.

"What the hell did you fucking do!?" She yelled, more in panic than anger or frustration than I thought she'd be screaming in.

"I had a bipolar moment, for the second time today in two hours." I mumbled, finally realizing I had very little feeling in my right arm as I tried to use it to get up.

"Don't move Naruto." Tsunade said as she walked into the bathroom and knelt down in front of me, removing the towel from my hand to see that damage first. "And you'll need stitches, I'm also going to need to work at a table, the kitchen table okay Minato?"

"Yea, want some cold water and a bowl for your rubbing alcohol?" Dad asked.

"Yes, Naruto and I will be down in a minute." Tsunade nodded and Dad rushed off down the stairs to do what she asked for.

"Want to tell me what happened?" She asked, and I knew she was talking about when it all started; at school during lunch.

"Kiba and Chouji dumped their lunch all over me, and I was already pissed with Kiba because he threatened to drag me to the woods and leave me there a bloody pulp this morning. I'm surprised that I didn't attack him in the cafeteria, but I think Sakura took care of it for me. I'm not sure." I repeated, but this time with a hoarse voice from all my yelling.

"Sakura, actually, nearly got hit by your flying chair. She also got some cuts from the glass that flew onto her, but you really need to be more aware of your surroundings." Tsunade said, and now I felt like the worst friend in the world. "And what happened in your room?"

"I started yelling at my Dad and I ended up throwing my lamp into my mirror and my computer chair into the same general area I think. I didn't look where I threw it at." I told her as she wrapped the towel around my hand again because it started bleeding again.

"Alright, well lets go downstairs and to the kitchen so we can get you fixed up okay?" She said as she stood up, helping me to my feet and grabbed her bag before we went downstairs with her helping me because I couldn't get my footing right and almost fell on the first stair.

"There we go." She said softly once we were down the stairs and she let me use her as a crutch into the kitchen and into one of the chairs. Dad already had the bowls ready and sitting on the table.

"How's he doing?" Dad asked as he sat down between baa-chan and me. God, he had to ask something as stupid as that?

"I don't know, but seeing as how dizzy he is, he might have to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion." Tsunade said, and I frowned.

"I don't want to go to the hospital." I hissed.

"Naruto, I'm afraid of taking the towels off of your arm in case you bleed out, you're already pale as a ghost." Tsunade argued.

"Then do what you will, I don't care anymore." I said and leaned forward, resting my head on the table. I just wanted to go to bed and lay there.

"I'm gonna take him to the ER Minato, you stay here and clean up the mess." Tsunade sighed a few seconds later before getting up.

"I'll take him to the car for you." Dad nodded as he got up too, but to be honest, I don't remember much after that because as I closed my eyes to blink, everything around me went dark.