Hey so here is the next chapter. So Naruto may start to seem a bit different from this chapter on. I don't want to spoil anything, so you'll just have to read it to find out. I will warn some that it may be a sensitive subject. So, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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Naruto landed on his side and he turned to look up at the man that threw him out of the store. "And stay out, you monster!" the man yelled, then slammed the door.

Naruto frowned and picked himself off, brushing the dirt off his clothes before he looked around. The few people that were on the street quickly looked away, as if they hadn't just witnessed what had been done. Naruto sighed and started down the street, stopping by a small food stand to get some dinner.

The woman at the stand glared at him, but didn't say anything as she handed him his food and swiped the money from Naruto's hand.

"Thanks," Naruto said with a small smile, but the woman just huffed and turned away. Naruto turned to head to his apartment, frown on his face and tears welling up in his eyes, and looked up at the star filled sky. "Isn't there anyone that doesn't hate me?" He stood there for a moment, hoping that he would somehow get an answer, but when none came, he just headed home.

The next morning, he met up with Kakashi, Sakura, and Sai, who took Sasuke's place when he defected from the village, at their normal training grounds. "Morning guys!" he called out happily.

"Good morning, Dickless," Sai said with his creepy smile on his face.

Naruto glared at him. "I have a dick, you jerk!"

"Oh?" Sai questioned, as if he didn't realize that.

"Come on you two. Stop fighting already," Sakura said, annoyed.

"Shall we get started?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto huffed and turned away from Sai. "Fine. What are we doing today, Kakashi Sensei?"

"Well, I thought we'd work on team building today," Kakashi answered. "Sakura, you pair up with Nar..."

"No way, Sensei," Sakura interrupted. "There is no way I'm doing anything with that idiot. I'll team up with Sai."

Kakashi sighed. "Very well then. Naruto, you'll be with me again."

Naruto was hurt by Sakura's words, but hid it behind a smile. "Ok."

The four worked for two hours on their team building, eventually switching partners, much to Sakura's annoyance, and finally Kakashi had given them the ok to leave.

"Hey, Sakura, do you want to..." Naruto started.

"Don't even think about it, Naruto," Sakura cut him off. "I don't want to do anything with you. Besides, I have to go to the hospital for my shift today." She turned and walked off.

Naruto frowned as he watched her go, again hurt by her words, but then turned to Kakashi. "Kakashi Sensei, you want to go get some ramen?"

"Sorry, Naruto. I have some paperwork I've been putting off. Maybe some other time," Kakashi replied as he walked away, his hand raised.

Naruto turned to look at Sai, but the pale jerk was already gone, leaving Naruto completely alone once again. He looked down dejectedly then headed back to his apartment. Not even his own teammates wanted anything to do with him. He stuffed his hands in his pockets once he got to the street and didn't bother to look where he was going. Everyone always gave him plenty of room, so he wasn't really worried about running into anyone.

'Maybe I should just leave the village. No one seems to want me around anyway. I bet no one would even notice I was gone.' That last thought made the tears well up in his eyes. 'Would anyone even miss me?'

"Hey, Naruto!"

Naruto looked up, quickly wiping the tears away, and looked around. "Huh?"

"Naruto!"

Naruto turned around and saw Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji walking toward him, and he gave them a small smile. "Hey guys."

"Where were you heading?" Choji asked.

"Uh, just home," Naruto replied. "We finished with training, and everyone was busy, so I figured I'd just go home and... uh, clean up the apartment a bit."

Shikamaru frowned, but didn't say anything.

"What, did you cause trouble for them again today?" Ino asked, her hands going on her hips, that familiar glare on her face.

"Ah, no, it's not like that Ino," Naruto said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Sakura said she had a shift at the hospital and Kakashi Sensei said he had paperwork he was behind on."

"What about Sai?" Shikamaru asked, as he placed his hands in his pockets.

"He sort of just disappeared. I'm not really sure where he went," the blonde replied.

"Well, we were headed to Yakiniku for lunch. Want to join us?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto looked at him surprised, but then smiled. "Really? You guys want me to join you?"

"Shika, I don't think that's a good idea," Ino said.

Naruto slumped his shoulders and frowned.

"Ino, it's fine," Shikamaru said, looking at the girl.

"I don't think Asuma Sensei would mind," Choji put in.

Ino looked over at Naruto, then crossed her arms, opening her mouth to say something, but Naruto cut her off.

"It's fine. I don't really have time anyway. I'll see you guys later," he said, then walked past them with a forced smile on his face.

Shikamaru grabbed Naruto's wrist, and Naruto looked at him, shocked and a little afraid. "Naruto, you can come with us. We want you to."

Naruto stared into Shikamaru's eyes, saw that the boy wasn't lying, and a real smile crossed his face. He did enjoy hanging out with Shikamaru and was happy that Shikamaru always tried to include him, but when he saw Ino behind him with a scowl on her face and her arms crossed, the smile faded back into that forced smile again. "It's really fine, Shikamaru. I have other things I need to do," he said as he pulled his wrist from the boy's hand. He turned and continued down the street. "Maybe another time."

He felt Shikamaru's eyes staring at him as he rushed down the street, going faster and faster until he was running past everyone until he reached his home. He quickly made it into the apartment and closed the door, leaning up against it with his eyes closed. 'Why? Why does no one like me? Why can't anyone see me and not that dang fox?'

He opened his eyes, kicked off his shoes, and made his way to the kitchen to make some ramen, then sat down to eat. Alone. Again.

NNNNNNNNNN

Two weeks had passed and Naruto walked into his apartment again, tears in his eyes, holding a broken bag with only a few things in it. He dropped the bag on the ground and carefully toed his shoes off, limping over to the couch and carefully dropping down onto it. It happened again. All he wanted was to get some food, but no one wanted him in their store, and when he finally did find someone who would let him get some, he got mugged and beaten on the way home.

He placed his arm over his eyes as he cried. He was tired of all of it. He thought becoming a shinobi would make people start to see that he wasn't the nine-tailed fox that everyone saw him as, but no matter what he did, everyone glared and treated him like a monster. He hasn't been able to keep food in the house for almost two months now. Sure he was always underweight because of it, but he was doing a lot more now. He needed the energy to perform efficiently on missions, but without food, there was no way he could keep up his strength. It made him make mistakes on missions, and he could barely even defend himself against those muggers that caught him on the way home from the store.

He reached up with the hand not over his face and clutched his shirt in his fist. He would get clothes that someone his age should be wearing, so that he didn't show how malnourished he really was. His stomach growled at the thought of food, but he didn't move.

He dropped his arm down on the couch and his hand hit his weapon's pouch. He glanced down and pulled one of his kunai out and held it out in front of him. He stared at the blade as a few more tears trailed down the sides of his face and he placed the tip of the blade at his throat, closed his eyes, and took a shaky breath.

'What are you doing, brat!'

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he sat up and looked around. "W-who's there?"

'Don't you dare kill yourself!'

Naruto continued to look around, but didn't see anyone. "Who said that?"

'Me, you idiot.'

Naruto looked around one more time, but then realized that the voice was coming from inside him. He looked down at his stomach. "Nine-tails?"

'Yes. I'm here too, you know, so don't go killing yourself. If you do, you kill me, and I don't want to die.'

"B-but why are you talking to me now? You've never talked to me before."

'Because you've never tried anything this stupid before.'

Naruto frowned. "But what's the point? No one wants me around, and I can barely even get any food to survive now. People are getting worse with how they're treating me, and..."

'Will you shut up!'

Naruto's eyes went wide, but then he glared. "What do you care? You don't have to deal with everyone! You don't have to go everyday trying to act happy and show everyone that you're fine! All you do is sit inside me doing absolutely nothing to help me!"

'Then undo this seal and let me destroy this pathetic village.' Naruto could feel the fox's smirk.

"I can't do that!"

'Why not? You just said that no one cares about you, so why would you protect them? Let me destroy them and take away your pain.'

Naruto relaxed and the anger drifted away. "Because this is my home."

'Tsk. Some home. You're not even happy here. You were thinking of leaving it just a few weeks ago, and you were just about to kill yourself.'

Naruto looked at the kunai that was still in his hand. He was conflicted now. What the fox said was true. Why did he still want to protect this village? The village that hated him and wanted him to die? Why didn't he just let the nine-tails out and destroy the place that caused him so much suffering?

A knock sounded throughout the room and Naruto jumped and looked towards the door. Fear shot through him and he looked towards his room, trying to figure out if he could make it out of his window in time.

"Naruto? You in there?"

"Shikamaru?" Naruto asked, completely bewildered. He stood up and instead of his escape plan, he went over to the door and opened it. "What are you doing here?"

Shikamaru smiled and held up a bag. "Mom made too much food again and wanted me to see if you wanted some." He glanced down and frowned.

Naruto followed his gaze and saw that he still had the kunai in his hand and quickly put it behind his back. He looked up at Shikamaru's face again, about to come up with some kind of explanation, but Shikamaru cut him off. "What were you doing?"

"Uh, I was just... cleaning my gear. Yeah. I noticed that they were a little dirty so..."

Shikamaru cut him off by reaching for him, but when Naruto stepped back and grimaced, he backed off. "You're hurt?"

"I-it's nothing. I just ran into something on my way home. I'll be fine," Naruto said and placed the kunai back in his weapon's pouch. "You didn't need to bring me food."

Shikamaru just stared at the boy, a little hurt. "Naruto, I'm your friend. Talk to me."

Naruto tried to give him a smile, but it just wouldn't reach his eyes. "I said I'm fine, Shika." He reached down and took the bag from Shikamaru's hand. "Thanks for the food, and tell your mom thanks too. I always like her cooking."

Shikamaru furrowed his brow. "Naruto, please don't hide things from me. I don't like seeing you this way."

"What way? I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto said, giving him a weak laugh as he turned to take the food to his kitchen.

He heard the door shut and footsteps following him and knew that Shikamaru wasn't going to let this go. His heart raced, fear overcoming him. He didn't want Shikamaru to find out he had no food. If he did, he'd insist on bringing more food, or even telling him to come over to his house, and he didn't want to be a bother to him or his parents. He stopped and smiled at him. "I'm really ok, Shika. Go home and get some rest. You have that mission tomorrow, right?"

"Naruto..."

Naruto shook his head and took a step toward the boy, placing a hand on Shikamaru's chest. "Go home. I'm fine."

Shikamaru looked at him sadly. "Ok. Good night, Naruto."

"Night." He watched Shikamaru leave then turned to continue his way to his kitchen. When he opened the bag, his eyes went wide at how much food was in there. He started dividing it up so that he could ration it out, and saw that there was about two weeks worth of food if he ate two meals a day, or four weeks worth if he only ate once a day.

'You idiot.'

Naruto was startled by the voice, but remembered that it was just the nine-tails. "And why am I an idiot? I'm just rationing out my food."

'You say you have no one that cares about you, yet that boy just proved you wrong.'

Naruto smiled sadly. "Yeah, Shika is my only true friend. Choji tolerates me, but I don't think he really likes me."

'That's a lie too, and you know it.'

"Look, who I call my friend or not is none of your business. I only cause problems for those around me, and I don't want to be a bother to either one of them. It's better if I just think of it like that."

'And that's why you're an idiot.'

Naruto sighed, put the food away, decided to eat one portion of food, take a quick shower, and head to bed.

Another two weeks passed and Naruto was again trying to find someone who would let him get some groceries. Thanks to the nine-tails insistence, he ate all the food Shikamaru brought over, so he was out of food again. He walked into a small store and started grabbing some instant ramen and a few frozen dinners when he heard someone call out to him.

"Hey, Naruto. It's been a while."

Naruto smiled. "Hey, Shika. Yeah, it has been. How've your missions been going?"

"Troublesome as usual," Shikamaru sighed out, "but good. I just got back from a three day mission this morning, and mom, being the troublesome woman she is, made me go grocery shopping for her. I just wanted to go home and sleep."

Naruto laughed. "You just can't get a break, can you?"

Shikamaru smiled and placed his free hand in his pocket, his other arm holding a basket that was already packed with food. "Getting some more groceries for your place?"

"Yeah. Ran out yesterday, so I thought it'd be a good idea."

"What else you getting? I'll help you out."

"Uh, this was it," Naruto said as he looked at his own basket. It held four instant ramen cups and three frozen dinners, enough to last him a few days.

"But didn't you say you ran out of food? How is that enough to get you by for a while?"

Naruto panicked. He completely forgot that Shikamaru didn't know his situation. He didn't know that he was attacked every time he went to get groceries, like the jerks were just waiting for him, didn't know that those attacks ruined most if not all of his food, so he only got a few days worth at a time so he didn't waste too much money. "Ah, well, I..."

"Come on, surely you've made enough to get a few weeks worth of food," Shikamaru said, but then frowned. "Unless there's some reason why you can't buy more than this."

Naruto took a step back and raised his free hand. "N-no, I just... I have a mission coming up that will take me out of the village for a while, so I figured why take a chance of my food going bad while I'm gone."

Shikamaru looked at him skeptically. "Really? You have a long mission like that coming up?"

"Y-yeah," Naruto said as he unconsciously rubbed the back of his head. His heart was pounding in his chest, and sweat started to form on his brow. He hated lying to Shikamaru like this, but he couldn't tell him the truth.

Shikamaru was silent, just staring at the blonde, which didn't help Naruto's anxiety in the least. "You're lying."

Naruto's heart stopped. "Wh-what?" he asked, eyes wide.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. "You're lying to me. Dang it, Naruto. Why can't you just tell me the truth."

Naruto looked down. 'I should've figured he'd catch me.'

'You were an idiot if you thought he wouldn't. The kid's not stupid, unlike you.'

'Shut up!'

"Naruto!"

Naruto looked back at Shikamaru and saw the worried look on his face. "Huh? What did you say?"

Shikamaru sighed and walked past the boy. "Come on. We're filling your basket up before we leave."

"N-no. Shikamaru, I can't..." He slapped his hand over his mouth, begging to whatever god was out there that Shikamaru didn't catch that.

"Can't what?" Shikamaru asked as he turned back to look at the boy.

Naruto was in a panic again. 'Crap, crap, crap! What do I say now?'

'The truth.'

'I can't tell him that.'

"Naruto, why can't you get food?" Shikamaru stared at him then his eyes went wide. "Is it the reason you had a broken bag with only a few things in it the last time I was over? Do you get jumped on your way home from buying groceries? Is that why you were hurt last time?"

Naruto stared at him completely shocked. "H-how did you..."

"How long have you been without food, Naruto?" Shikamaru suddenly asked, aggravated.

"I... I..." Naruto couldn't speak. All of his fears of Shikamaru finding out were coming true.

Shikamaru reached down and pulled Naruto's shirt up, exposing his slim waist and malnourished body.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled and pushed his shirt back down, a blush covering his face.

"You're practically skin and bones," Shikamaru said, horrified. He looked back up at Naruto's face. "How long has this been going on?"

Naruto looked away, no longer able to stand the hurt and disappointed look on Shikamaru's face. "A-a few years?" he said as if he didn't really know.

"Years? You've been starving yourself for years?"

"It's not like I wanted to," Naruto said quietly.

"You!"

Naruto and Shikamaru both looked up to see the shop owner looking at them with a mad look on his face. "I thought I told you never to come back here," he said as he walked right up to Naruto, grabbing the basket from the boy's arm. "And now you're disturbing my customers as well?"

"I-I have the money," Naruto said as he stared at the man. "Please, I just want..."

"I don't want your money! Get out of my store!" the man said and raised his free hand to strike the boy.

Naruto closed his eyes and braced himself for the blow that knew was coming, but when it didn't come, he peeked out and saw that Shikamaru had grabbed the guy's hand.

"Just what the heck do you think you're doing?" Shikamaru asked angrily.

The man jerked his hand out of Shikamaru's grip and turned his anger onto the Nara. "Getting the scum out of my store. Stay out of this..."

Shikamaru shoved his basket into the guy's stomach. "Well you've now lost two customers. The Nara clan will never buy anything from your store again."

Naruto and the store owner looked at Shikamaru with mouth and eyes wide, but Shikamaru grabbed Naruto's wrist and dragged him out of the store. He stared at Shikamaru's back as he stumbled to try and keep up with the angry boy. "Sh-Shika, slow down. I..."

Shikamaru stopped and turned to Naruto, the angry look still on his face. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

Naruto took a step back, fear coursing through him and tears welling up in his eyes. He had never seen Shikamaru so angry before, not even that first time when he told Shikamaru that he thought it would be better if he died. "I..."

"I told you to come to me if you needed anything, Naruto. Why did you hide this from me?" he asked, voice still raised.

Naruto looked down, tears falling down his face. "I... I didn't..."

"Didn't what? Didn't want anyone to help you? Didn't want anyone to know that you were being mistreated and hurt?"

Naruto looked up at his friend, tears streaming down his face, but the anger was just as strong. "I didn't want you to pity me! I didn't want to pull you into my problems. I..." He looked down again and wrapped his arms around himself. "I didn't want you to see how pathetic I am." He closed his eyes and waited for Shikamaru to continue yelling at him, but instead felt arms wrap around him.

"You're not pathetic, Naruto," Shikamaru said in a gentle tone, the anger completely gone. "You are the strongest person I have ever met." He pulled away from the boy and smiled at him. "I'm sorry I was too blind to see that you were suffering like this. I should've seen the signs way before now. I'm sorry."

Naruto felt something warm fill him and something in him just broke. He let out a loud sob and buried his face in Shikamaru's chest, wrapping his arms around the boy and clinging tightly to Shikamaru's vest.

Shikamaru just stood there, rubbing his hands up and down Naruto's back for comfort. "I'm so sorry, Naruto."

They stood there for a few more minutes, letting Naruto cry out, until Naruto pushed back and wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket, sniffing a bit. "I'm sorry, Shika. I-I never wanted you to find out about this."

Shikamaru grabbed Naruto's hand and dragged him down the street.

"Hey! Where are we going?"

Shikamaru just looked back at him and smiled. "My house. You're going to be staying with me until we get you back to normal."

"Wh-what?" Naruto asked and pulled his hand from his friend's, which made the other boy stop and look at him. "Shikamaru, I... I don't want to intrude on your family. I..." Naruto's eyes went wide.

Shikamaru was now right in front of him, eyes closed, and lips against his. A warmth he'd never felt before washed over him. When Shikamaru pulled away, he just smiled, placing his hand on the side of Naruto's face. "You troublesome blonde. You wouldn't be intruding."

Naruto finally snapped out of his shock and pushed Shikamaru away, taking a few steps back as well, face completely red. "Y-you just... kissed me."

"Yeah. I did," Shikamaru said, a smug smile on his face, as he placed his hands in his pockets.

"W-why would you do that?"

"I'd think that was obvious, but I guess this is you we're talking about.

Naruto frowned. "What does that mean?" he asked angrily as he crossed his arms.

Shikamaru just chuckled and stepped closer to the blushing blonde. "It means, I love you." He reached up and cupped both of Naruto's cheeks, placing his forehead on the boy's. "I've loved you for a while now, but never had the courage to tell you until this moment."

Naruto lowered his arms, shock once again taking over his face. "Y-you... l-love me?" That warmth he felt earlier flooded him again, and his face got even warmer.

'That is what he just said. Are you deaf or something?'

'Shut up! This is between me and him.'

"Yes, Naruto. I love you. I have for a few years now, but like I said, I just never had the courage to say anything until now."

Naruto pushed Shikamaru back enough to look at his whole face. "But why me? I have nothing to offer you. You could have anyone in the whole village, so why would you choose me?"

Shikamaru took a step back and put his hands back in his pockets. "I chose you, because you're you."

"What? That doesn't make any sense."

Shikamaru chuckled again. "You're a great guy, Naruto, and anyone that doesn't see that is an idiot. You're strong, funny, smarter than you think, and way too kind."

"Too kind?"

"You put others before yourself. You would rather hurt than see someone else hurt. You would help an enemy rather than let them suffer, even if it meant putting yourself in danger. You love even the people who can't love you."

'He's right. You refuse to let me destroy this village even though it has brought you nothing but pain and suffering. It's sickening.'

Naruto laughed, which caused Shikamaru to raise an eyebrow. "Sorry, I just... I never thought about it like that. I never saw myself as someone who mattered."

Shikamaru frowned and walked up to the blonde again, grabbing one of his hands. "Promise me, Naruto, you won't hide something like this from me again."

Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled. "I promise, Shikamaru," he said and squeezed Shikamaru's hand a little tighter.

Shikamaru smiled and pulled on Naruto's hand again, but this time, Naruto kept up with him. They walked hand in hand to wherever Shikamaru was leading them.

Naruto kept glancing down at their hands, the blush never disappearing from his face, and smiled. He felt happy for the first time in a long time. He closed his eyes, tightened his grip just a little more, and moved closer to Shikamaru, longing to continue bathing in this warmth that was going through his body.

They ended up stopping at a small stall to get four meals before heading back to Shikamaru's house. Naruto was nervous when Shikamaru pretty much dragged him into the house.

"Mom, dad, I'm home," Shikamaru called out as he kicked off his shoes then bent down to fix them so his mom didn't yell at him.

"It's about time you..." Yoshino started as she rounded the corner, but stopped when she saw Naruto. "Who's this?"

'Oh, yeah. I never actually met Shikamaru's mom before,' Naruto thought as he too took off his shoes.

"This is Naruto," Shikamaru replied as he stood back up then grabbed Naruto's hand again and pulled him toward his mom. "He's going to be staying with us for a while."

"Oh?"

Naruto turned and gulped when he saw Shikaku walking toward them with his arms crossed.

"Yeah. Something came up, and he needs to stay here," Shikamaru said.

Shikaku looked down and Naruto followed his gaze and realized Shikamaru still had a hold of his hand. He tried to pull his hand from Shikamaru's, but Shikamaru's grip just got tighter.

"And where are the groceries," Yoshino asked as she put her fists on her hips. "I specifically told you that I need those groceries to make tonight's dinner."

"That's why we brought these home," Shikamaru said as he raised the bag that contained the four meals. "I told you. Something came up."

Naruto felt Shikaku's gaze and turned to see the man frowning. "Then I guess we should eat before they get cold, and you can explain just what happened."

And they did just that. Shikamaru told them everything, much to Naruto's dismay. He tried to deny it all, but just like Shikamaru, Shikaku and Yoshino could see through his lies. He couldn't convince any of them that he didn't need to stay there, and ended up in a room across from Shikamaru's.

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So there it is... I hope you will continue to explore this new journey with me.

See you in the next chapter