Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters used in this fanfiction.
Warnings: This fanfiction is very very very clean, although it might have a little angst or darkness later. Not one swear word, not one bit of violent, no suggestiveness...But I must warn you of the OOC-ness
Rating: K+ for later chapters. First Chapter's K
Type: Three or Four chapters, Sasuhina because I adore this pairing when it's friendship. This is Friendship/Hurt/Comfort.

Yes, hello, after a one month long Writer's Block, Vonna livessss!!! This is a younger fic again. I love younger fics. They're so perfect for cuteness. Hopefully this'll be cute (it's meant to be I think). Ages are...6 or 7ish, first chapter just before Itachi goes wacky and kills everyone, I haven't done my research because I'm feeling lazy, but I think it's 7...The second chapter is more like Chapter 1, the third is going to be the angsty/dark/hurt part (you know you love that), when Itachi goes on killing spree. Now...What else do I need to say? I haven't done this for god knows how long...

Sasuke is impossibly OOC, total opposite of who he really is. Seriously, if OOC was in the dictionary, they would use this fanfic as an example. But I have a reason! Because in the anime (I haven't read the manga for the earlier parts, just the Shippuden manga), Sasuke seemed to be so much more like Naruto when he was young, back when everyone in his clan was alive. So in this, I've tried to picture him back then, although some part, I agree, are too much like Naruto and not enough like Sasuke. Just think of the flashback where he was young, before the full on 'Zomg Itachi you killed them all!' part...yeah...If you're against OOC-ness, then I advise you NOT to continue on, because even the prologue is OOC. If you can't put up with OOC-ness, but don't like it, don't worry, He snaps and changes to what he is now later on.

Personally, I think I've lost my touch, I think I've become a little...I dunno, I feel that I just drag on. Well, not really, but...I think, like, I have a good 'plot bunny' or idea, but I just can't write it very well. Maybe I'm going rusty? But tell me what you think anyway, because I also think I'm just over thinking it.

Self beta-ed twice. Enjoy. R&R

Freedom

Prologue

Uchiha Sasuke had always been a very cheerful boy, despite being envious of his multi-talented perfect brother, and feeling unloved by his father. He was a determined young boy with all the freedom in the world; he was boundless, like a free kite gliding in the wind. His father never restricted him to anything because apparently he wasn't worth it, his mother was just the kind loving person that made her who she was, and his brother didn't even bother noticing him sometimes. The only thing that bound him down to earth was…himself. He was curious, he was playful, and he was everything a boy his age was meant to be like – free. He had self-confidence and charisma second to no other in the Uchiha clan. It was almost as if he wasn't an Uchiha at all.

Hyuuga Hinata was the polar opposite. She couldn't be anything but a Hyuuga. She was shy, quiet and no self-confidence. Her father thought of her as only a weakling with no talent at all. Her mother was too busy looking after little Hanabi. She didn't really know anyone else besides them. But despite the fact that her parents paid practically no attention to her at all, she was still trapped. The Hyuuga compound was like a prison. She had never set foot out of the compound, and she knew she probably never would. She had no one to play with, or talk to, just no one. She couldn't do anything, because she feared disgracing the name of the family. She was like a bird locked in a cage, and someone had thrown away the key, never to be found again. It was inevitability that would keep her in her cage for what would feel like forever.

And it was inevitability that Sasuke would save Hinata from her bounds.

---

Chapter 1
Share my freedom

Sasuke had always been his father's little messenger boy, he didn't really mind though. It kind of made Sasuke feel that he did have some use to his father. But he had been playing when he was asked to take this message to the Hyuuga compound…

…Then again, he had never been in the Hyuuga compound before; he'd seen it a million times from the outside. It was as big as the Uchiha compound, maybe bigger. His was squirming with inner excitement; going to a place he had always been curious about. And his father had said to deliver it personally, so Sasuke had to go inside. For some odd reason, he couldn't wait; curiosity was taking over his mind.

Sasuke suddenly wondered if there was anyone his age in there. He had never seen any other kids come out of the compound, so he guessed there wasn't. It was probably really serious and boring inside – just like adults. Sasuke laughed to himself.

Sasuke continued his way to the compound, still imagining what it was like inside.

Sasuke wriggled from one foot to another as he stood in front of the Hyuuga compound's giant front gates. He wondered about what to do. Knock on the door? Ring the doorbell? Just walk in? He decided knocking on the door would probably be best. Nodding at his decision he knocked on the large wooden gates three times. A kind looking lady holding a little toddler came to the door. The woman was wearing a white kimono with a black design on the sleeves and at the bottom. The obi (1) was black as well. The toddler wore a very little navy yukata (2), probably tailored to her size, with sky blue butterflies embroidered on it. The yukata was much more casual than the woman's kimono. Sasuke wondered why anyone would dress so formally at home.

"Oh, hello, how can I help you?" She asked, her white eyes strangely warm. Sasuke grinned and was about to reply when another voice interrupted.

"You didn't have to answer the gate, Miss, that's why we're here! And you were busy with Hanabi-sama too!" A voice, probably a maid's, said from behind the woman.

"It's no problem," The woman turned to the maid, "here, take Hanabi-chan back to the gardens." She handed the strangely quiet toddler to the maid, who nodded and took the child before heading off to the gardens.

"Sorry, now what was that, dear?" The woman turned back to Sasuke with a smile, She looked at the Uchiha fan on Sasuke's shirt and suddenly felt the need to be even nicer to avoid getting into the little family feud that had been going on for a while now.

"My dad sent me over to give, uhm…Mr. Hyuuga this." Sasuke showed the woman a scroll tied with a red and white ribbon to symbolise the Uchiha Clan.

"Ok then." The woman held out her hand as if to take the scroll from Sasuke.

"No!" Sasuke yelped all of a sudden, hugged the scroll to his chest, surprising the woman, who drew her hand back. The scroll was his only ticket to get into the compound; if he handed it over he would have to leave without going in.

"I mean…uhh, my father told me to give it to Mr. Hyuuga personally." Sasuke was a little embarrassed at his sudden unnecessary outburst. The woman contemplated letting in an Uchiha, but smiled when she decided it would be okay, seeing as he was so young. Why a father would send such a young boy to send messages was beyond her knowledge.

"Ok then, come in." Sasuke grinned again and nearly ran into the compound.

It looked bigger than the Uchiha compound. The gardens surrounded white buildings in the centre, smaller buildings were scattered in the gardens. The house was outlined with an old Japanese style veranda and everyone was also dressed in kimonos and yukatas. It was like stepping back in time. The gardens held water features and stepping-stones led the way to the veranda.

"This way then." The woman smiled. Sasuke nodded and followed her as she walked along the steeping-stones, onto the veranda and into the building

"So what's your name?" The woman asked, with more curiosity than suspicion in her voice.

"Sasuke." Sasuke replied with a smile. The woman smiled back, but didn't share her own name.

"'Mr. Hyuuga' is in here – his study. I'll wait outside, mm kay?" Sasuke nodded.

"Hyuuga-sama, delivery from the Uchihas." The woman said from behind the door.

"Come in." A cold stern voice replied from within the room. The woman nodded to Sasuke and he opened the door and stepped in.

The room was walled with bookshelves. There was no window, or if there was, they had covered it with a bookshelf. A huge desk sat in the centre of the room, and at that desk sat Hiashi Hyuuga, who looked at Sasuke coldly.

"What are you doing here?" Hiashi asked, not expecting an Uchiha to step into his study.

"My father wanted me to give this to you." Sasuke said as seriously as possible. This man looked like an 'all work, no play' kind of person, what a boring way to live life.

"But what are you doing here?" Hiashi asked again. The Uchiha clan never sent messages personally, usually with messenger hawks or something. The man was unbelievably unnerving.

"My father told me to give this to you. I don't know why, I just do it." Sasuke replied seriously, his voice hardly faltering at all.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Give it to me." Hiashi ordered as if Sasuke was a Hyuuga. Sasuke nodded and stepped forward to the desk and gave it to Hiashi, who opened the scroll and read it with an expressionless face.

"Stay here until I've got a reply done." Hiashi stated in a dismissive way. Sasuke caught on, nodded and left.

"What did he say?" The woman asked when Sasuke stepped out of the room. Sasuke smiled, he didn't think she would really stay here waiting around for him.

"Mr. Hyuuga told me to stay here until he's finished a reply." Sasuke replied. She chuckled to herself.

"That's just like him, ordering someone he doesn't even know around…" She said to herself.

"Uhh, are there any kids here to play with?" Sasuke asked.

"Hmm…you're not against girls are you?"

"No, why?"

"Most boys I meet this girls have 'cooties' or something…" Sasuke gasped at her words.

"Girls have cooties?!" Sasuke covered his mouth with both hands in horror.

"Uhh…No…no, girls are just like you really…just…girl-ier." Sasuke sighed in relief, so girls didn't have cooties…phew. [A/N: That was so Naruto, and so not Sasuke

'What are cooties anyway?' The woman wondered to herself.

"So is there anyone to play with?" Sasuke asked again, wondering if the woman had forgotten his question.

"I think there is someone, I'm sure she'll be delighted to play with you." The woman replied. Sasuke grinned and wondered about who it was.

---

By 'delighted to play with you', he didn't think the woman meant, 'totally scared and shy of other people'. But Sasuke was feeling particularly social today, so he didn't let this stop him, being the determined little boy he knew he was. Still, he frowned slightly at a little girl hiding behind a tree with short black hair and lavender eyes. But he quickly replaced it with a smile.

"Hi!" He called out to her as the woman left him with the girl behind the tree, "I'm Sasuke! What's your name?"

There was a very quiet murmur from behind the tree. Sasuke stepped closer to hear the girl a little better, but only caused the girl to hide behind the tree even more.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Hinata…" The girl said again, her voice dying at the end, making the 'ta' inaudible.

"Hina?" Sasuke repeated just to be sure. A deep red blush spread across the girl's face, no one had ever called her anything but 'Hinata'.

"I-It's Hinata…" Hinata said a little louder. Sasuke frowned. He'd never met anyone so shy before. It made her hard to become friends with.

"Can I call you Hina-chan anyway?" Sasuke asked, knowing that nicknames were part of being friends. Hinata blushed even deeper.

"Uhh…o-okay…"

"Can you stop hiding from me please? I'm not going to bite you." Sasuke said with a smile, his voice didn't show any signs of an order. Hinata felt as though it was the first time she had ever had a choice, even if it was just 'come out from behind the tree or not'. Hinata nodded slowly and came out of her hiding place, and sitting on one of the two swings hanging from the tree. The swing gave her a weird feeling of reassurance. Sasuke sat on the other swing next to Hinata, which just made her blush even more. She'd never swung with someone else because there was no one else in the first place. Hinata sat in the swing idly while Sasuke swung as high as he could, looking at the girl every time he swung by.

She was surprisingly short for her age. She was in a plain blue yukata with a darker blue obi. Her bangs were longer than the rest of her hair and her skin was very pale. She was fragile and delicate.

"So…what do you like to play?" Sasuke asked, as he swung even higher.

"…I d-don't know…"

"Oh…Where do you like to play?" Sasuke asked.

"H-here…" Hinata replied.

'How boring…' Sasuke thought.

"What about a favourite park? Or the waterfall?" Sasuke suggested. The waterfall was his absolute most favourite place to play. The water was cooling and it was fun the splash in. Once, he had pushed his Aniki (3) into the water when he wasn't looking, and it was hilariously funny to see him come out of the water again sopping wet. His Aniki didn't end up getting angry at him though, he had just pushed Sasuke in as well. That was probably the fondest memory he had of his brother, seeing as his brother never just let go and relax that often.

"T-there's a w-waterfall out th-there?" Sasuke was surprised. How could any kid not know about the waterfall?

"To not know about the waterfall is like…never stepping out of your house!" Sasuke joked with a smile.

"Ano…That's b-because…I…I've n-never b-been outs-side these w-walls…" Hinata stuttered.

"What?! You're joking right?"

"N-no…I'm n-not joking…"

"So this is like a giant cage?"

"Y-yes…I g-guess it is…" Hinata looked down sadly.

"That's no fun…Want me to show you something that'll make swinging even more fun?" Sasuke offered, deciding that he was high enough to show her his all time favourite thing to do on swings (4).

"O-Okay."

'Good, Hina-chan needs the fun in her life.' Sasuke thought to himself.

"Could you get off your swing, just in case?" Hinata hopped off her swing slowly and stepped back from it.

"Okay, check this out!" Sasuke grinned.

When he swung back as high as he could, he began to twist to the left. Hinata gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. His swing back down was twisted so he faced the other way, still he continued to twist until the swing was twisted up about four times. He stopped twisting around and let the swing untwist itself, so it spun rapidly while swinging. Sasuke whooped at the speed and thrill of twisting and swinging at the same time so loudly it bothered people in the vicinity, but no one came rushing to stop him for some reason, probably because he wasn't a Hyuuga.

Sasuke's swing slowly stopped twisting and slowed to a stop. Sasuke hopped off instantly after that and stepped forward unsteadily a couple times before falling from the dizziness and giggling.

"Sa-Sasuke-kun, th-that was dangerous!" Hinata almost reprimanded, sitting down next to Sasuke's lying figure and looking down at him with a worried look.

"But it looked fun, didn't it? Didn't it?" Sasuke grinned up at her, the sky still spinning a little.

"I-it looked dan-dangerous." Hinata replied.

"But dangerous can be fun, take a risk! Try it! Try it!" Sasuke urged. Hinata shook her head nervously, a little scared about refusing Sasuke's offer. Her father would have gotten angry at her for refusing any offer he made for her. Not that her father ever made any offers to her.

"Suit yourself," Sasuke sat up and smiled before standing up again, "I'm doing it again!"

"N-no, y-you shouldn't! I-it's dangerous…" Hinata said again.

"I haven't done it for ages," Sasuke said, ignoring her words as he walked back to the swing, "I broke the swing at the park doing the same thing, so there's been no other place to do it." Hinata gasped.

"Y-you broke it d-doing th-that?" Hinata stood up as well, "Y-you really sh-shouldn't do it a-again!" Sasuke was happy at the fact that she was talking a lot more than before.

"I won't do it again if you try it." Sasuke said, sitting back onto the swing. Hinata contemplated trying it, but decided not to.

"The m-maids will try t-to s-stop me…" Hinata excused.

"But they didn't stop me."

"N-no offe-nce, but I'm k-kinda m-more important h-here…" Hinata smiled slightly. Sasuke just laughed.

"True, true. But you're not important enough to stop me!" Sasuke started swinging up high again with an intent to start twisting again.

When he finished swinging, Hinata persuaded him to stop. Sasuke lay back down on the grass, Hinata sat next to him again. Sasuke watched the clouds through the branches of the tree.

"Ano…" Sasuke turned his head to Hinata at her voice.

"What's it l-like outside?" Hinata asked.

"Uhh…it's…big, lots of different people, more things to do…" Sasuke summed up off the top of his head.

"O-oh…I w-wish I could—" Hinata was cut off by another voice.

"Sasuke-kun! 'Mr. Hyuuga' wants you to go back home with the reply!" It was the woman that had answered the door.

"Okay. One moment!" Sasuke called back before turning to Hinata and expecting her to keep talking.

"Uhh…n-never mind…"

"No, no, keep going!" Sasuke urged, Hinata looked behind him and saw the head maid waiting for Sasuke to come. Hinata decided she might as well say it so the maid could stop waiting.

"Uh…I wish I could…c-could go outside…" Hinata finished with a blush. Sasuke grinned and got up to get the reply from the woman. He suddenly had a brainwave and turned back to Hinata.

"Hey Hinata!"

"Y-yes…?"

"I'll share my freedom with you!"

-x-

(1) The thick belt around the waist on a kimono, it's tied like a big bow at the back.

(2) A more casual summer garment. It's like a kimono. Men and women can wear Yukatas.

(3) Older Brother.

(4) And my all time favourite thing to do on swings. hehehe

Now do you see how crazy OOC this is? Do you think I made Hinata talk too much? I considered making it Naruhina instead of Sasuhina, but it wouldn't work. I'd have to think up a whole different way to get Hinata out of her cage to see Naruto, or get Naruto into the cage. Where as it's not too hard to get Sasuke into the compound because I've given him a little more reason. If you're wondering what the message was about the truth is...I don't know! Maybe the Uchihas are planning war against the Hyuugas or something...The war over who's the coolest, richest, highest classed clan...

What a waste of time. We all know the Uchihas were most important, they had a police force or something didn't they?

Anyway, Review please, Hope you enjoyed!

V. Plum.

Written: 17th November 2007

Words: 2,717

-TBC-