How She Trusts || Naruto Uzumaki X OC

{Chapter One}

  Despite the fact that she could hear the friendly chatter of two voices down the stairs and the rushing of cars hurrying down the street to get to their day jobs, Naomi tried to convince herself that she was in complete solitude. It was the only way that she could stay calm. With her eyes shut and earbuds in, she let herself believe that she was finally alone. But when she heard her sister calling to her from down the stairs, any sense of serenity that she felt was replaced with the flooding feeling of anxiety.

"Naomi! Dad says it's time to go!" her younger sister, Momoko, yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Unlike her nervous-wreck of a sister, she was actually excited for her first day at her new school. She was looking forward to meeting new people and joining new clubs; everything that Naomi was dreading.

"I'm coming," Naomi said in a shaky voice, even though she wasn't loud enough for her sister to hear her response. She dropped her legs off of her bed and planted her feet on the light rustic wood floor. She leaned back over her bed to straighten out the ruffled comforter, then did the same to her outfit. A white romper and light blue floral kimono cardigan and white wedges. Clean and simple, just like her bedroom. She grabbed her backpack off of her desk chair, slung one strap over her shoulder, and then took slow steps out of her room and down the stairs.

"Naomi! Let's go or you won't get your tour before classes start!" she heard her dad, Nobuo, yelling from the garage. Even though he was acting the part of the impatient dad, Naomi knew that her father was just as nervous for her first day of school as she was. He knew of his daughter's troubles in the past and would spend his entire day worrying about how she was doing. But the way he saw it, if she never took a chance she would never get better.

"I call shotgun!" Momoko giggled and jumped into the front seat of the family car.

"Whatever," her far lesser excited sister mumbled as she crawled into the back seat, right behind her little sibling. Momoko turned around in her seat to look at her sister.

"What's got you in such a bad mood?" she asked.

"Momoko." Nobuo warned his daughter as he sat in the driver's seat and started up the vehicle.

"What?" the young one asked defensively, although a little part of her did know why her sister was in such a mood this morning. She'd been acting this way the entire week, only feeling relaxed for the first second that she woke up until she remembered what was to come in September. Momoko huffed and faced forward in her seat, and Nobuo turned out of their driveway and down the street.

Five minutes of swerving through morning traffic had passed and the family had pulled up in front of a middle school. It gave off the look having been renovated in the past year or so because of the clean, smooth pavements and unchipped bricks. Momoko gazed at her new school in awe, pressing her hands and face up against the car window. Nobuo chuckled from beside her, while Naomi tried to calm her breathing from the backseat.

"Have a good day at school. Make new friends, pay attention in class, be respectful to your teachers, and... ah, what am I forgetting?" Nobuo scratched his head and went over his first day of school speech in his head.

Momoko laughed and kissed her father's cheek. "I'll make sure to have fun too." She got out of the car, and Naomi also exited the back seat so that she could sit up front with her dad.

"Have fun today, Momo. Be good," Naomi said and brought her sister into a tight embrace. Despite the fact that the younger sibling was slightly embarrassed at her sister showing so much affection in public, she hugged her back. She knew what a tough day it would be for her.

"You too, Nao." The two girls let go of each other, one going back into the car, and the other down the pavement path and into the school.

"Ready to go?" Nobuo asked gently as Naomi buckled her seatbelt. She nodded her head once, and the man pulled out of the parking lot.

Another agonizing five minutes passed before the car paused in front of a different school. This one was larger with far less students wandering the courtyard due to the fact that the older students began classes slightly later in the morning. Without saying a word Naomi grabbed her backpack from the backseat and opened her car door. She paused with her hand on the handle, and turned her head back around to give her dad a reassuring smile.

"I know you're worried. But I'll be fine. I've grown since last year," she said quietly. The corners of her mouth were twitching with every lie that she spoke, but she continued to force a smile for the sake of her father.

"I know you have. Call my office if you need anything, and I want you to tell me all about your day at dinner." Nobuo smiled and patted his daughter's shoulder. Naomi nodded and stepped out of the car, then gently shut it behind her. The principal said that I should go to her office if I wanted a tour, Naomi thought. She strolled in through the front entrance, which led her into the front rotunda of the building. Directly across from the series of doors was a large split staircase leading to the second floor, and various hallways and doors leading out of the room. To her left was a series of windows and a glass door that looked to lead into a small office. Inside a woman was sitting behind a large oak desk with various filing cabinets decorating the room. A platinum name plate was placed at eye-level on the door that read 'Main Office', exactly where Naomi needed to be. She gathered her confidence to enter the office, and opened the door.

The woman behind the desk was young and pretty, and briskly typing on her keyboard. Her eyes were closely watching the computer screen and seemed to be tuning out everything else around her. Naomi took a step into the room, and was startled when the woman's alert eyes poured into her own. Her determined eyes softened when she saw the young lady, and smiled warmly to her.

"Oh, hello. What can I help you with?" the black-haired woman asked kindly. On her desk was a name plate that read 'Secretary Shizune'.

"U-Um, my name is Naomi Mizushima. I was told to come and see the principal for a tour of the school," Naomi explained.

"Yes, Miss Mizushima. You can go and see Ms. Tsunade right through that door," Ms. Shizune said and pointed to another door to the right of her desk. Naomi thanked the woman, and stepped around her desk to make her way over to the second glass door. She knocked once, to which a demanding voice commanded her to enter from the other side. She did as told, and slowly pushed the door inward. She poked her head through to see what was on the other side, which was surprisingly near identical to the other woman's office. Although it was slightly larger and messier, and there was the faintest odor of alcohol in the air. A rather busty blonde woman sat behind the desk with her head in her hands. Naomi didn't know what to say to her, so instead she remained silent.

"Sit," the woman commanded, which caused Naomi to spring into the nearest arm chair in front of the principal's desk. She waited for her to speak again. Tsunade pushed her hands from her face to her hair and stared at the young girl in front of her.

"You're Naomi Mizushima. My name is Ms. Tsunade, the principal here at Hashirama High School. Welcome to our school," she said nicely, but her voice was still firm. "You're aware that I've scheduled a guide to help you find your way around, yes?" she asked. Naomi nodded. "Good. The school is quite large and can be confusing to maneuver through, especially with the hallway traffic. Your guide is simply there to help you find your way around until you feel settled, which I'll be guessing should take a week or so. He's a nice boy, you'll be fine." The woman smiled kindly.

"Where is he?" Naomi asked quietly.

Tsunade sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I'd like to know that as well. He was supposed to be here before you arrived. Instead we're waiting on him. I swear that boy's gonna be the death of me." A vein popped on her forehead at just the thought of the boy. "Have you gotten your schedule yet?"

"Oh..." Naomi said and fiddled through her bag. In the pocket of her agenda she had folded her schedule into a neat square. All last night she had been folding and unfolding it as a way of keeping her hands busy. The creases were crisp and once she unfolded it the paper bent back to being closed. "I have it here."

"Have you looked over it?"

"Yes, many times."

"Great. I've given your guide a copy of it so that he knows where to take you. He'll meet you after your classes to take you to your next one. You can eat lunch wherever you want. In the cafeteria, outside, some sit in the Art hall or on the stairwell. You can spend your lunches in the library, but there's not food allowed in there. Make sure that the two of you meet back up, or you could eat lunch together. Whatever you please." Tsunade smiled and clasped her hands together.

In the other room a loud bang could be heard, followed by a yelp from Shizune. Naomi jumped in her seat, and spun towards the door expecting a masked-murderer to barge into the room. Instead a tall blonde boy walked in with a bounce in his step.

"I'M HERE!" He panted and hunched over in fatigue.

"Naruto, finally. You're about twenty minutes late," Tsunade said coldly and glanced at the clock on the wall.

The blonde rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and smiled. "Heh, sorry. There's still fifteen minutes until first bell, that's plenty of time for a quick trip around the school."

"I was hoping you put more effort into it. I'll spare the lecture for now, just get a move on," she instructed, and Naruto gave her a thumbs up.

"Don't worry, I'll be a great guide. Come on!" Naruto said and grabbed Naomi's hand. The girl blushed at his hold, but allowed him to drag her along. They came to a stop out of Shizune's office, and he gestured widely.

"This is the front rotunda, those are stairs, and those are the front doors, okay now this way," he said and marched down one of the hallways. Naomi followed his every move. Every so often he would lazily point to something and describe what it was. It wasn't as helpful as she imagined it would be, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"So what's your name?" he asked randomly.

"Naomi Mizushima. You're Naruto, right?" she asked timidly.

"Yep! Naruto Uzumaki, the one and only!" He smiled widely. "Oh hey, what's your schedule like?"

"Oh, uh, I-I thought that Ms. Tsunade said she gave you a copy of it."

Naruto laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, heh. I kind of lost it after she gave it to me. Do you mind if I take a picture of yours?"

"No." She took off her backpack and reached inside for the paper. She unfolded it and handed it to him. He took out his phone, snapped a quick picture, then gave it back.

"Sweet. Oh hey, we have a few classes together! Chemistry, Study Hall, and English. Bleh, that means you have Mr. Nobuko. He's really strict. Last year he taught my English class and I remember he practically bit my head off for talking in class. But as long as you're quiet he's pretty chill. You'll be fine, you give off a sort of quiet vibe," he rambled, and Naomi began wondering if they were even on a tour anymore. He stopped showing her around and was more so wandering the halls aimlessly while sharing his high school horror stories. While they were taking their stroll, more students had begun wandering into the school. It got louder and more crowded with every passing minute.

"Hey, I almost forgot. I haven't showed you your locker yet. The bell's gonna ring pretty soon so we'll head to your class right after," he said and started walking faster in the direction that they just came from. They weaved through the groups of people and up the staircase, down the right hall, down a left hall, and finally stopped by a row of lockers next to a water fountain.

"Locker #2156. It's pretty close to mine actually. I'm back down that hallway, locker #2051. It'll be easy to meet up before school!" He smiled, and like every other time that Naomi saw his face light up she felt her heart skip a beat. He's so pretty. She blushed at the thoughts that she was having of him. She knew she couldn't be the only one who thought that he was handsome, surely any girl in the school would answer the same if they were asked. Naomi became flustered by her inner conflict, convincing herself that just because she thought he was attractive it didn't mean she was attracted to him.

"Hey, Naomi. You there?" Naruto asked and waved a hand in front of her face. She blinked repeatedly, then flinched back from him.

"S-Sorry, I was thinking," she said and blushed in embarrassment.

"We should go, the first bell is gonna ring in like two minutes," Naruto said and glanced down at his phone in his hand.

"Alright," was her answer, and both of them traced their steps through the halls and down the stairs. First period; History, Naomi recited in her head without needing to look at her schedule. She had memorized all of her classes the night that it came in the mail. It calmed her slightly to be able to remember her schedule, like she had the slightest bit of control. She savoured the teeny sense of peace that came with it. But right now her breathing was becoming unsteady again as she thought about walking into her class with all the other students watched her every move.

Her nightmares came true when Naruto halted next to an open classroom door that definitely looked like a History class. Completed with world maps, country flags, an old timey pictures decorating the otherwise plain white walls. Five rows of seven desks filled most of the space in the room, and the other quarter fit a teacher's desk, TV exhibition stand, and filing cabinets. There was already a dozen or so students scattered around the room. Some sitting in their desks, others were standing near the teacher's desk or by the windows.

"I get let out of class a few minutes early while I'm your guide, so I'll be waiting out here for you after class. I'll catch you later, 'kay?" Naruto asked while walking backwards and pointing to her. She nodded, then sucked in a breath and went to the back of the room and quietly took a seat. I've been fine so far. I'm sitting down, no one's noticed me, I'll be fine. I'll be fine.