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four.

"SETTLE DOWN, CLASS!" IRUKA SHOUTED LOUDLY, getting the large group sitting in front of him to simmer down immediately. With a satisfied smile, he gestured towards the maroon-haired boy standing on his left patiently. "This is Rowan Kingston. He's on exchange, and he'll be with us for quite a while. Treat him with the same respect as the rest of your peers, okay?"

"Hai, Iruka Sensei!" They replied in unison, chatter filling the room once again. The energy wasn't the same anymore. It felt as it everyone was talking about the new kid. His eyes flickered from person to person, listening closely to their conversations.

"Exchange? We haven't had an exchange student in a couple of years."

"Does he even know Japanese?"

"Well..."

Rowan let out a quiet sigh at the questions and comments. He was hoping to at least have someone to talk to, but...

Iruka suddenly rest his hand on the student's shoulder. "Your seat will be by Sara. Sara, raise your hand."

A brunette lifted her arm up in the air immediately, smiling politely at her teacher. Her attention soon shifted over to the boy that slid into his seat next to her, her smile turning into a warm one. "You seem nice. I'm Sara. Obviously."

"Rowan. Obviously." He smiled back at her. "Nice to meet you too."

"Wow, your Japanese is really good!" She commented, her honey eyes widening at the fact. "Guys, listen to him talk!"

Three new heads turned to look at Rowan. They seemed to be Sara's friends as far as he could tell.

"Um, thanks. I've been practicing for a while. I didn't want to look stupid in front of you guys." Rowan let out a soft laugh, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"If I knew any better I'd think you were Japanese. You look like it." A jet black-haired teen hummed. "I'm Kousuke, by the way."

"Ah, yeah. I was born here, but I got adopted and grew up in America." Rowan scratched the back of his head awkwardly, giving a close-eyed smile. "There's more to it but it's pretty complicated."

"That sounds cool regardless. I'm Sakura." The pinkette of their group smiled fondly at him. "And this is Sasuke." Her emerald eyes moved to look at the dark-haired boy sitting next to her. He gave a simple nod as a greeting.

"Hey, loser! Take your headphones out." Sara reached over to yank a blond's earbuds out of his ears, allowing everyone else to hear what he was listening to. He didn't seem to mind though.

"Sara!" He exclaimed in surprise.

"Be nice and say hey to our new friend. He's the exchange student."

Naruto smiled brightly in an instant, a hue of pink appearing on the brim of his cheeks. His blue eyes flickered over to the maroon-haired individual. "Cool. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, ya know. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Rowan. Nice to meet you too."

—

WHY WAS HE DOING THIS? THERE WAS NO REASON TO, and yet he still stood outside the white-painted door of a particular yellow-haired teen. After the events of last night, or should he say a few hours ago, Rowan made sure he was occupied. He dealt with kicking out the guests. He cleaned up the trash so that Sara didn't have to in the morning. He put her and Kousuke to bed, because frankly they were drunk and exhausted. But that wasn't enough. He was finished by 3 am, and it was now 4. He had been standing outside that door for about half an hour, getting the courage to speak to the boy on the other side.

Finally, he reached his arm up to knock. One, two. A shuffle could be heard, and then muffled talking. He was probably talking to himself, which made the latter want to laugh. But he stood there with an unreadable expression as the usual ball of sunshine opened the door to greet him.

"Rowan?" The Uzumaki didn't seem tired at all. Quite the opposite, actually. The boy stood standing tall, his bright blue eyes gazing at the Japanese-American in front of him with interest.

"Hey, Naruto. I..." Rowan paused, trying to think of the right thing to say. "I don't know why I'm here. I tried to busy myself with other things like cleaning the house after everyone left or putting Sara and Ko to bed, but eventually there wasn't anything to do. So I grabbed my phone and my jacket and started walking, and I ended up here. You were on my mind, I guess."

Naruto stepped back, widening the opening of the door. "You wanna come in?"

The maroon-haired nineteen-year old nodded his head, making his way inside the apartment. Everything was just as he remembered it. The wooden table in the kitchen. The green couch in the living room. The small tv sitting right in front of it. The tan painted walls. Everything was the same. He decided to take a seat on the couch. His old friend followed in his movements.

"I want to talk about everything. But I think we only have time for a couple of things." Rowan told him quietly.

"We have time." Naruto matched his tone, assurance also laced into it.

Rowan hummed, resting his hands on his thighs. "I guess I'll start with why I left. I had planned on staying in Japan permanently. Shiro was actually helping me with that. He agreed to sign on as my guardian, and my parents had given me the okay. It was supposed to be a surprise for everyone. I was gonna do this corny party, and we were going to love it. I know we would've. But..." He tapped his index finger repeatedly on his leg. "We happened. You were my best friend, Naru. I admired you so much. So when you... Ah, sorry. What happened at Sara's seventeenth birthday party...I wasn't even thinking about how I openly liked guys and you didn't. And when you asked me to keep quiet, I did. Of course. And it all continued. And I just got tired. I got tired of waiting on you. Because this might seem selfish, but I didn't want to go back into the closet. I really, really didn't. And I'm sorry."

Naruto's expression softened as he continued to gaze at Rowan. The fact that he made him feel that just made him want to comfort him. But now wasn't the time.

"I don't want to make you out as the bad guy. Cause you're not. You're so good, Naruto. Better than I think you realize." He continued. "But I just had all this anger inside of me and I think I wanted to you to know that...

"You were the reason I wanted to stay and you were also the reason that I left."