Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Masks ❯ Observations ( Chapter 1 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.
“Ugh,” Naruto grunted. He had just gotten into another fight with Sai. After some convincing from Sakura, Naruto made his way to Sai's room to apologize for the fight.
Knock! Knock! He knocked on the door. He didn't receive an answer and decided to go in anyway.
“Hey Sai! I'm coming in!” yelled Naruto. He pushed the door open and walked in.
“Look Sai. I'm so—“ He started before he stopped and gaped at the sight before him.
There stood the very female form of Sai.
Sai, who was in the middle of getting dressed, looked at him; a fake smile was on her face.
“Hello dickless,” she said. Naruto blinked once, twice, and once more until- he burst out laughing. Sai immediately got confused.
“What?” she asked.
“You're a girl!” said Naruto between laughs.
“So?” Sai questioned.
“And you call me dickless!” Naruto exclaimed. Sai shrugged, and Naruto looked momentarily dumfounded.
“At least I have an excuse,” she replied sweetly.
“What!” Naruto's voice could be heard all of the way to Suna. Later, Naruto and Sai would have much more fights. Naruto never remembered why he came into Sai's room in the first place.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.
“Hey Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme!” Naruto yelled as he ran down the road happily.
“Hi Naruto,” Sakura sighed.
“Hn,” grunted Sasuke.
“Guys want to go get ramen with me?” Naruto practically screamed in their ears.
“Shut up baka!” yelled Sakura as she punched him.
“What's so important about ramen? Don't you ever eat normal food?” asked Sasuke, who was glaring daggers at Naruto. Naruto glared back.
“Teme, be quiet. So, let's get going,” said Naruto.
“We can't Naruto. I promised Ino that I'd spend the day with her,” replied Sakura calmly. Naruto looked at Sasuke with pleading eyes.
“Hn, I have training to do, dobe,” he said.
“Fine, I'll just go by myself,” he grumbled, looking saddened. With that, he trudged off to the ramen stand.
“Old man! Get me some miso ramen stat!” stated Naruto as soon as he made it to the ramen stand.
“Coming up,” said the owner. Soon, Naruto was devouring huge bowls of ramen, but he was still sad about how Sasuke and Sakura wouldn't join him. Maybe he really didn't have friends. This thought brought tears to his eyes. He quickly wiped them away, hoping nobody noticed. He saw someone sit down next to him out of the corner of his eye and turned at the sound of a calm voice.
“Unawake,” said the one and only Sabaku no Gaara. Naruto immediately brightened.
“Hey Gaara! What are you doing here?” asked Naruto with a grin. It wasn't as big as it normally was. Gaara noticed this and frowned.
“ I wanted to see you. Why? Are you not happy with me being her?” replied Gaara.
“What? Of course I'm happy! I'm just surprised to see you. That's all,” answered Naruto nervously. Gaara looked shocked for a second before he smiled a small, happy smile. Naruto saw this and grinned wildly. Perhaps he did have a friend after all.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters
Sabaku no Temari was in her living room, looking at her family album. She had put together this album after Gaara's fight with Naruto, for she wanted to have happy memories of her family and show that she cared.
Temari stared at a picture of Kankuro, playing with his dolls or, as he put it, puppets. She laughed quietly, thinking of how she had made fun of him for months and used it as blackmail to get him to do her chores. She turned the page gently and almost was overcome with sadness when she saw the next picture. There was a little, six-year-old Gaara staring up at her with wide, innocent eyes, a shy smile on his face, and a teddy bear clutched tightly in his hands. Temari had never seen her younger brother looking so harmless and fragile.
Tears stained the album. She realized that she should have paid more attention to Gaara when they were younger. She shouldn't have feared him.
“Temari, let's go. Kankuro's whining about you being so late,” Gaara's voice rang down the hallway. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Coming,” she replied loudly. She closed the album and put it back on the shelf. Temari walked to Gaara and Kankuro.
“Finally. Let's go already,” whined Kankuro. Temari fought back the urge to punch him and instead, looked at Gaara.
Don't worry. I'll always be there for you from now on, Gaara, Temari thought, smiling up at him.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters nor do I own the poem `The Mask I Wear'.
Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear
for I wear a mask. I wear a thousand masks-
masks that I'm afraid to take off
and none of them are me.
Sai's P.O.V.
Over time, I've noticed something. Everyone wears a mask.
Take me for example. I wear fake smiles and call people insulting names like `hag' or `dickless'. I even pretend that I don't have emotions.
I do have emotions, though. I feel sad that everybody thinks of me as a replacement for Sasuke, the traitor, and I feel angry, angry at the traitor for leaving Konoha and betraying Naruto and Sakura.
Then there's Naruto.
He hides his anger toward the village for treating him cruelly and his loneliness behind a mask of smiles and a happy-go-lucky attitude, but I know the truth. He's just a lonely, little boy, crying inside.
Sakura wears a mask too.
She has fake smiles and fake politeness to cover up the fact that she's really annoyed inside. She gave me fake smiles once, but she really didn't like me that much back then. She also pretends to be fine and happy, but on the inside, she's weeping for her precious Sasuke-kun to come back home.
Kakashi-san, I've only met him a couple of times, but I can tell that he wears a mask too, not just the black one on his face.
I've watched him stand for hours at the memorial stone, honoring his fallen comrades and wishing that it had been him. He hides his sadness for his dead friends and his loneliness behind his laid-back, uncaring mask. He's just like Naruto and Sakura, wishing for his friends to come back.
Though I've never met him, I can tell from what I've heard that the traitor, Sasuke, wears a mask as well.
He hides his sorrow for his family's death behind a mask of hatred and anger toward his brother. He hides his yearning for friends and his loneliness behind a mask of arrogance.
Everybody has masks. Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi-san, the traitor, and I all have masks. They'll always be there, hiding our true selves, until one day, one day when they'll slip.
On that one day, we'll all finally be ourselves.