You never know (Prologue)

Prologue

- Uff! – A dark-haired teen sighed, stepping inside the building and closing the heavy doors behind him. It was July, and outside the weather was so very close to saying “as hot as in hell”. ‘If I stayed outside a little longer my ears might have steamed’ the teenager thought groggily while making his way to the elevator. He pressed the button waiting for the cabin to come down. At least, it was chilly inside. A soft sound announced that the elevator arrived to the 1st floor, followed by doors sliding open to let the boy in. Once inside, he pressed the button for the 20th floor and rested his head on the glass on the elevator back wall.

One more sigh escaped his lips. This time, a little more relaxed one. He thought about reaching his apartment quickly; maybe taking a shower….Yes, taking a nice refreshing shower, and then grab something cold to drink from the fridge, then reach the sofa in his living-room, and then take some rest….Maybe even take a nap….Yeah, a nap sounded like a good idea…

His thoughts were interrupted by the doors sliding open once again. He stepped foot on a dark grey carpet that lay along the long brightly lit corridor with apartment doors on each side. The boy walked to the right, hurriedly passing by the doors until he made it to the end of the corridor, to the door numbered 200. The teen once again thought about how lucky he was to get this flat (biggest on this floor) exactly when he was looking for a place to settle. And, fortunately for him, the price wasn’t as high as he thought it would be, considering that the apartment block stood in the city centre. He considered it a premature gift for his 19th birthday in October. Well, it was a pleasant surprise for him then…

He took his key from the back pocket of his black jeans and inserted it in the keyhole. Just as he was about to unlock the door, a sense of something being wrong washed over him. He paused, a little confused by this feeling. He didn’t know what it was….but there was just something out of place here….Something….
Was it something with the smell?
He turned the key twice and opened the door wide….

………….Talking about surprises….

***
At the same time that the dark-haired teen was turning the key to enter his apartment in the tall building in the centre of the city, a boy of the same age was lying on a futon in the basement of his house in downtown, music blaring through his headphones, and thinking to himself:
‘What’s my life for?’

Dressed in black baggy jeans and a simple black t-shirt, he lay facing the dark ceiling, his hands under his head with short unruly dark-crimson hair. His eyes were closed, his form relaxed, his feet bare and sometimes shifting over the sheets. He lay there, his features calm, although heavy, gloomy thoughts ran through his mind.
‘Is this all that’ll ever be?’

Grey days, coming and going, not bringing anything with them….Only the numb feeling of drowning in some kind of a swamp, going deeper under the surface of the world…
‘Will I never forget?’

Pain from the memories that flooded his mind and soul every day the moment he woke up. It tore at his heart, angered his reason, dulled his emotions….Until he felt broken…
‘Will this last forever?’

The solitude and nothingness were killing him. Although in fact he wasn’t completely all by himself. His often noisy sister and oddly behaving brother weren’t going to let him forget about them…And it wasn’t that they were that bad or ignorant. No, they weren’t…Strangely enough, they did care somehow…Why “strangely”? Because they didn’t before…Or didn’t seem to, if to tell the truth…Or, rather, were afraid to show they do, to be more precise…It’s just that what he really wanted – whatever it was he still didn’t know himself – he could not get it from them. It just wasn’t there. Although he couldn’t say that he would be better off without them either. No…They were his family after all…Even though often he felt as a stranger that once upon a time was passing by and then decided that it wouldn’t hurt to stay for a while….

Damn…He shouldn’t be thinking this way. They did try to be a family. His brother and sister did a lot to save it, to keep it from entirely falling apart. They did a lot for him. Especially, since that day…

His hands reached for his MP3, and the rock music he was listening to shut off. Slowly, he opened his lids, revealing aquamarine eyes. His sight drifted to the small square window on the opposite from where he was lying. The so-called window rose just some small distance above the ground, as it was a basement’s window. That’s why most of the time all he could see were people’s feet walking past their condo. But when he lay on this side of the basement where he was now, he could catch a small piece of the sky above the low roofs of the houses across the street. He raised his hand to absentmindedly rub his forehead tattoo – a bloody-red kanji for “love”…Yeah…He had family…

But…Nevertheless…Loneliness was still there…As always
Slowly, he closed his eyes again, and fell in a light slumber, when…
- GAARA!!!
Abruptly his eyes shot open again. He inwardly sighed: ‘What is it that Temari wants now?’
He heard happy feminine squeaking upstairs and heavy footsteps descending the stairs leading to the basement. The door opened slightly and a head with as much unruly as Gaara’s hair, but of a calm brown color, popped into the room.
- Gaara? You here?
After a pause there was an answer:
- Yes, Kankuro…
The young man named Kankuro opened the door a little more and stood in the doorway leaning casually against the doorframe. He spoke to his brother again:
- Guess what?
- Hn…- was the only reply from the red-head on the futon.
- Your sister just won a lottery…
Then an angry female voice reached their ears from the living room upstairs:
- It’s not just me, Kankuro, you moron! We won!
Kankuro made a wry face at the “moron”:
- Yeah, right…As if all of us are buying sanitary pads each month…
All that was heard from the red-head teen was a slight chuckle.
***
Just as Gaara was being annoyed by his sister’s happy exclamations concerning their common luck, outside the city, in a small house surrounded by trees, a blonde boy was just waking up for the new day. He lazily opened his eyes, blue as the sky, covering them with his hand from the bright rays of light that shone right on his face from the window near his bed. He stirred slightly, moving his head to the side…And momentarily stilled, feeling as if his head would split in half from even a tiny motion.

‘Yeap…Yesterday night sure pays off right now…’
- Rise and shine!
‘Ugf…That voice…Ever so ironic and cocky with knowing how bad the blonde felt right at this moment…’
- What’s the matter, Blondie? You surely didn’t think the payback for your nightly outings won’t reach you, now did you?
The blonde growled:
- Agh…Kakashi…What is it that ya want fromme this early?
- Early? You think waking up at noon is early? Then you sure have issues, kid…
- Issues? – the blonde growled again. – What’s your issue, Kakashi?

The older man sighed heavily:
- Your issue is that you promised to Iruka-sensei to help him fix his fence today. And it was you who said you’d arrive to his at 10. 10, Naruto, not some hours pass noon.
Naruto jolted up in his bed only to groan from his head spinning round like he was on some kind of star turn in a Luna park.
‘Man…Should’ve listened to Shika…He told me NOT to drink Abcent, yet I had to go my way and try it out…Naruto Uzumaki, you’re an idiot and you got what you deserve’ – the blonde thought to himself.
- Don’t whine, Kakashi, please, - he said instead, rubbing his temples with his fingers.
Kakashi sighed again:
- I’m not the one whining here, honestly…Okay, get yourself up, have breakfast and go to Iruka’s. I already called him to tell you’ll be late.
- Wow, how nice of you, Kashi…What makes you so generous today? Is it my hangover that softens your oh so stoic heart? – Naruto chimmed in a sweetly innocent voice.
Kakashi cast a very annoyed look at the blonde:
- N-a-r-u-t-oooo…You’re trying my patience…
The boy cringed a little. Kakashi, satisfied with the effect, exited the room.

‘Gee…The old man can be scary sometimes, that’s for sure’, - the blonde thought. But still, after a moment, Naruto giggled slightly. Playing on his guardian’s nerves was worth it after all. The boy got out of bed, preparing for the day of hard work. ‘Breakfast will have to wait till supper’, - he thought. ‘I’ve still got work to catch up with.’ With that he quickly got dressed, said bye to Kakashi and went off to his former sensei’s house.

***
Neither of the three boys knew that very soon their lifelines would cross, faith will have them closely entwined with one another and their lives will change like they never thought before.

___________________________________________________________________________

AN: To clear some stuff concerning the text:
Talk - general writing
"Talk" - used in case some things need to be "picked out" :
'Talk' - inner thoughts
- Talk - indicates the beginning of a dialogue
Talk - used to show the emphasis on the word

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