A/N: Okay...(breaths in deeply) yes this is a 9/11 story if you can't already tell. The 11th was a couple of days ago and it really got me thinking, you know? I'm warning all readers now that this will be a sad story, I don't usually do sad I'm more of a happy ending girl but unfortunately 9/11 had anything but a happy ending...but please don't assume that everyone is going to die in my story! Give my story a chance!

I like to write stories that deal with real past events (for ex. my other story Could I Be Forgiven?) so thats why I'm writing about 9/11.

Speaking of my other story...I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been so busy and I would have updated a couple of days ago but because of Hurricane Ike (I live in Houston) I lost power and when it finally came back I lost the chapter I had been working on for it. So again I'm terribly sorry, I'll try and get that chapter up this week but I still got a lot of cleaning and fixing to do because of the hurricane, so forgive me if it takes a while!

Chapter 1: September, 11th

"Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It's a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning. But not only of loss and mourning. It's also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend–even a friend whose name it never knew. "



- President George W. Bush-

...

New York City is the largest city in the United States and this is where I live, along with the other 8,000,000 and more people that make up this city. September 11, 2001, approximately 2,603 of the cities 8 million died in terrorist attacks on World Trade Center 1 and 2.

It's on this day, September 11th, when I thought I lost everything that I held dear, my friends and even the one I loved. Never will I forget the events that happened on this day…never.

(September 11th: North Tower Floor 91 - 7:30 a.m.)

"Well, I'll be damned! Naruto Uzumaki, early to work! It must be the end of the world."

"Shut it, Kiba!" Naruto slumped down onto his orange office chair and glared up at the brunet. "If I didn't have so much paperwork to do I wouldn't have come at all today." He groaned out.

Kiba let out a bark of laughter. "If you weren't such a procrastinator you would have finished weeks ago."

"I don't procrastinate!" Naruto protested.

"Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night…anyways, where's Neji?"

As if on cue, the elevator doors opened on their floor and out stepped said man. He wore a dark gray suit, pressed to perfection; his black dress shoes were shined to the point where you could see your own reflection in them and his long dark hair was tied in a loose ponytail. All in all, elegance was the key word here.

"What's up Neji? You're usually the first one to get here, what kept ya?" Naruto said with a grin.

Neji looked at Kiba in greeting; then turned to Naruto. "My cousin wanted to spend the day with one of her friends up at Greenwich Village and she's scared of going by taxi so I drove her there."

"Your cousin...? Oh, you mean Hinata." Kiba said, his eyes sparkling. Naruto rolled his eyes and smacked the back of Kiba's head.

"Don't be having sex fantasies while at work!" Kiba blushed deeply.

"I wasn't fantasizing!"

"You better watch yourself Kiba, this is my cousin we're talking about and I will not let a...pervert date her." He snarled as he gave him an accusatory glare.

"I-I'm not a pervert!" He yelled but Naruto and Neji turned to face there desks, ignoring poor Kiba.

"Hey, Neji do you know where Gaara is?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, I saw him talking to Uchiha in the lobby, why?"

"Nothing really, just ever since he was transferred to the South Tower, I rarely get to see him anymore."

"Really…? I see him almost every morning." Neji stated.

"Me too, I sometimes even have my lunchbreak with him." Kiba said, leaning on Naruto's desk.

"What! No fair, how come I never see him?" Naruto whined as Neji and Kiba shrugged.

The elevator doors opened once again, revealing a lazy looking man and next to him a much larger looking one.

"Man, it really is the end of the world if lazy-ass is here." Kiba said with a grin.

"I was going to get fired if I came late again, how troublesome." Shikamaru mumbled.

"Ah, they can never fire you Shikamaru, you're too smart!" Choji, the larger man of the two, stated.

"You're so lucky; you never get in trouble for not turning in your paperwork." Naruto moaned as he looked at the huge pile of documents on his desk.

"Uchiha, is gonna have your head if you don't finish those, Naruto." Neji said casually.

"AH! Sasuke Uchiha, can suck on his own balls for all I care! There's no way I'm going to finish this today!" Naruto yelled angrily, oblivious to the frightened stares he was getting by his co-workers. After a few seconds, Naruto realized, well more like felt, the dark presence behind him and he finally noticed his friends' expressions.

"Crap…he's behind me isn't he?"

"Thank you for finally noticing, Uzumaki." Came the cold, smooth voice from behind him. Naruto immediately turned and stood up.

"S-Sir!" Naruto felt his face heat up. Sasuke gave him a blank stare then glanced at the papers on his desk.

"I expect you to get those done by the end of the day…is that understood, idiot?" Sasuke asked, his face breaking out into a smirk.

Naruto clenched his fists, the only thing that was keeping him from punching the man in front of him was the fact that said man was a member of the board, meaning that if he wanted to he could have Naruto...fired.

"Yes, sir." Naruto said through gritted teeth.

Sasuke turned to the rest and they immediately went to work. Choji, who worked up on the 96th floor, turned and dashed to the elevator.

Sasuke gave the blond one last glance before walking off. Naruto stared after him and as soon as he turned the corner he growled and slumped back onto his chair.

"I really hate that guy." Naruto mumbled. Neji and Kiba (Shikamaru had dozed off) rolled their eyes.

"You say the same thing everyday. Weren't you guys like best friends before?" Kiba asked as he laid a semi-neat stack of papers on his desk.

"Yeah, when he wasn't a total bastard…! But that was years ago…" Naruto trailed, staring at his lap before quickly changing the subject. "…Anyways we got a lot of work to do today, so let's get to it!" Naruto yelled, thrusting a fist into the air.

Kiba laughed and Neji just snorted. Yes, the morning was starting out just fine.

(8:20 a.m.)

Naruto yawned and stretched out his body. He had been racing through the many papers that his desk held, madly signing whatever needed to be signed, sorted what needed to be sorted and throwing out whatever he was too lazy to go through, and yet even through all his effort he had barely even made a dent in his workload.

Naruto frowned at the mountain of papers, wishing with all his might that the pile would spontaneously combust, the thought made him grin. He looked over at his friends hoping to start up at least a little conversation but they were too busy working, along with the many others that worked on his floor, to pay him any mind. Naruto stood up and walked over to the window closest to his desk and stared down at the bustling streets below. Naruto worked on the 91st floor, so the people of Manhattan looked like small busy little ants.

"Uzumaki."

Naruto yelped and turned to see Sasuke, who was smirking down at him.

"Christ, don't do that!" Naruto held a hand to his chest, his heart was pounding so hard against his hand he was sure it was about to burst. "Jesus…what the hell do you want, bastard!"

Sasuke cocked a brow and looked out of the window. "Nothing." He said simply.

"Then why the hell are you here?" Naruto asked, his heart finally slowing down.

"I can be anywhere I want Uzumaki, I don't remember ever having to ask for your permission to stand here." Sasuke replied smugly.

"…C-Cocky bastard." Naruto muttered. Sasuke, for a split second, let a smile grace his lips before it quickly turned into a smirk.

"You haven't changed at all, Naruto." Naruto's eyes snapped up to met Sasuke's amused dark ones.

It had been so long since the last time Sasuke had called Naruto by his first name that he thought for sure that he had just imagined what had been said. Shaking his head he chose to glare at the tall man beside him.

"What's this now, you suddenly want to reminisce on the past? Tsk…well, no thank you. I'm going back to work." Before Naruto could even move, Sasuke had swiftly trapped him between himself and the wall by placing his hands on either side of Naruto's head. Naruto pushed himself against the window behind him as Sasuke's face leaned forward ever so slightly.

"You're in my way." Naruto hissed.

"I need to ask you something-"

"You have 2 seconds."

Sasuke sighed in exasperation, "Fine, listen I…do you want to go get some coffee with me later…?" Naruto was so confused that at first he didn't even know what to say. He examined Sasuke's face for any evidence that he was just joking around but when he found none he sighed and locked eyes with Sasuke's.

"I don't get you Sasuke…"

"Do you want to or not?" Sasuke asked, getting a little irritated.

"…I guess…but I hope you know questions will be asked." Naruto said, slipping under Sasuke's arms. Sasuke let his arms fall to his side and he nodded, knowing full well what to expect.

"Meet me by the lobby at twelve." Sasuke said and with that he turned and left, heading towards the elevator.

Naruto walked back to his desk, where his friends (including Shikamaru) were waiting for him, they had watched the whole scene and were bursting with curiosity.

"Dude, what was that all about?" Kiba asked in wonder.

Naruto looked over to the elevator that showed it was now on the 101st floor.

"I…really don't know myself."

(8:40 a.m.)

"GAARA!" Naruto lunged at his long time friend, the hug sending them crashing to the ground.

"Get. Off." Gaara hissed. Naruto grinned and quickly stood up, helping the red head up as well.

"Hehehe, sorry Gaara. It's so good to see you, it's just been sooooo looooooong!" Gaara dusted himself off, rolling his eyes at his spastic friend's exaggeration.

"It's only been a few weeks."

"Yeah well, that's a long time to me! Anyway, what brings you to the North Tower, raccoon boy?" Gaara's nonexistent eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"Don't make me have to kill you Naruto…" Gaara threatened.

"Maa, maa, calm down." Naruto said raising his hands up in defense.

"I just came here to see how you're doing, knowing you, you're work is probably piling up to the ceiling." Naruto blushed and glanced at his desk.

"The pile isn't...that high…" Naruto said, trying to convince himself more than anyone else.

"Don't lie to yourself like that Naruto." Neji said, smirking at the blond, "It almost hurts to hear it." Kiba finished. Shikamaru looked at Naruto's pile lazily before slamming his head back on his desk mumbling something about how not even he had that much paperwork; Kiba laughed and patted Naruto's back.

"Don't worry man I'm sure you'll be able to get that work done by the end of the month." Kiba said, earning a glare from Naruto.

Naruto was about to hit Kiba for making such cruel jokes, when he heard a very odd sound. Very odd...and very loud sound.

"Do you guys hear that…it kinda sounds like an...airplane?" Naruto asked, everyone turned to the window and were immediately frozen in shock.

"O-Oh…my…god."

A/N: ...So tell me what you guys think, okay? Review please. (I hope I got my 9/11 facts right.)

Oh and I dedicate this story to all those who lost there lives on 9/11 and I pray for those families who lost loved ones that day.