EDIT: So originally, this was going to have the lyrics to Cinema by Benny Benassi playing through Madara's headphones, but apparently the admins didn't like that. As a result, they took the original down. Here is an edited version, so hopefully they won't destroy this one.
Ok so I kept telling myself that I was going to try to post more stories… and then I got distracted by videogames. Ugh . I'm so scatter-brained.
Anyways, this is a oneshot for StormDragon666's contest. The rules are as follows:
The theme is visiting a new place.
Must include the words strawberry, thunder, luminous, queen, and justice.
Deadline is June 15.
So yeah :D I hope that you guys enjoy. This is kind of an idea that I have been toying with for a while and this particular version is the first of about three different versions of a multi-chaptered monster that was cut down to this size. Please tell me what you think!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
"But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold."
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
The first time they had seen each other, he was 10 and she was 8. She had been shoving his younger brother's face into the sand for stealing her coveted four-leafed clover that she had found next to the swings. And he had been standing there watching and laughing at the fate of his baby brother, his iPod playing 'Cinema' on repeat into his ears. Poor Sasuke didn't know what to do with himself; warring between the manners ingrained into him since birth ("No, Sasu-chan, you cannot hit girls!") and hitting her back like his pride demanded.
It was love at first sight.
Well not really, he amended. It was more like a sort of…puppy love? No, that's not right either. Fascination would probably be a better word.
It was fascination at first sight.
0-0-0
It had been St. Patrick's Day, and his parents had dragged him, his twin brother, Itachi and his youngest brother Sasuke to the park for some sort of picnic with their business partners, who were also bringing their children. He could only hang his head and suffer in silence; there was no getting out of this one. Sasuke had sat in the middle, excited to see his best friend Naruto Uzumaki and boasting to everyone in the car that they were going to find the ever-elusive four-leafed clover. Itachi had sat on the opposite side of him in the backseat, seemingly asleep. However, if Madara knew Itachi as well as he thought he did, then the younger twin was plotting a way for them to leave as early as possible.
Once they had parked close to where the event was being held, Mikoto and Fugaku had warned the boys to be on their best behavior.
"Or else," Fugaku finished, giving each boy a stern stare before climbing out of the car. The clearing had been rented out and decorated for just the occasion; green balloons rising from green wooden tables and numerous children running from one side of the green field to the other in a game of tag. It was just so…green. The parents of said children came over to greet his mom and dad, the men firmly shaking hands while the women gave hugs before turning to the three Uchiha boys.
One woman had pinched his cheeks hard enough to make his eyes water. The audacity of people these days. Really.
At first, he had simply been curious and content enough to explore the park. While the park itself wasn't new, it had been his first time to this particular park. The swings made that horrendous squeaking noise, the slides were covered in a thin layer of dirt and there was even a sandbox. If you had asked for his professional 10 year old opinion, he would have told you that the park sucked more than being forced to go grocery shopping with his mom.
After all of his curiosity had been sated, the eldest had made his way back to the table his family was seated at, only pausing long enough to grab some food before sitting down. Surrounded by others, the conversation seemed never-ending, and he mentally cursed Itachi for sneaking the book that he was currently reading out of the house before they had left.
Forlornly nibbling on his ridiculously green sugar cookie, Madara watched with one headphone dangling pathetically from the one still connected to his ear as Sasuke ran around with a blonde haired, blue eyed boy around his age, both with their faces close to the ground and intense looks of concentration as they picked through a random patch of clovers.
"Why don't you go join them, Madara-kun?" Black eyes gave Mikoto a dull stare, trying to determine if she had seriously just suggested that he play with eight year olds. Such blasphemy.
A shout drew the attention of everyone at the table towards the sandbox.
0-0-0
Luminous green eyes were shooting daggers at the pair of boys in front of her, small fists shaking from the strain it took to keep from introducing them to the smug face of the dark-haired boy. She turned to the blonde boy.
"Naruto you jerk, tell your stupid friend to give me back my clover! I found it first!" She was angry. Here she was minding her own business with her special clover when her cousin, Naruto, and his friend had come over and taken it from her! She didn't do anything wrong, so why the heck was Naruto doing this?
Said blonde only gave a sheepish smile to his smaller cousin. "Sorry Sakura-chan, but we need it. You can find a new one." Oh no he didn't! It had taken her hours to find that clover!
Her scowl intensified as Naruto's smile grew. The other boy was obviously dismissing her as some weak little cry-baby. Oh heck no.
It was on. It was on like Donkey Kong.
A pale, skinny finger pointed at the face of the strange looking kid that was holding her clover.
"Hand it over pasty-boy and nobody gets hurt."
Said pasty-boy only snorted and turned around to walk away, obviously dismissing her. Sakura scowled. Sure, he was bigger than she was and he was pretty, but he looked like he was used to people just bending to his every demand. Well, he was going to learn today. Haruno Sakura didn't take crap from anybody. She was queen chibi of this universe and he was going to return her clover, be it over his dead body or not.
With a fierce battle cry that echoed like thunder, the petite girl launched herself at the boy that had dared to steal her treasure. Yes, her parents had warned her to be on her best behavior while visiting her auntie, but dang-it he took her clover and she demanded justice! A solid body tackle sent them both into the sandbox, where she proceeded to show the dark-eyed boy exactly how she felt about bullies.
She shoved his face into the sand, making sure that her grip on his hair was strong before dragging his face back and forth.
"Eat dirt pretty-boy!"
0-0-0
It had taken a total of three adults to separate the rabid girl from Sasuke. The pinkette had been determined to beat her lesson into the boy, and said boy was trying to ignore the laughter of his oldest brother that didn't even lift a finger to help free him from the demon girl.
Madara, in his defense, had been laughing so hard that he had gotten a cramp, making helping his brother nearly impossible because of his inability to move. Now, he simply sat in front of his brother yet behind their parents, one ear tuned into the lecture they were delivering to the abused 8 year old and the rest of his attention focused on attempting to telepathically sending the message to his baby brother that he was never going to let him forget this day.
After a while, he had begun to get bored though. One could only stare at an 8 year old hold ice to their face for so long. Madara lazily dragged his eyes across the landscape of the park, taking in the green-ness of it all, when his eyes landed on the girl that had brought Sasuke so much humiliation. She was sitting with her back to a tree, seemingly still too angry to enjoy the festivities. Making an impulsive decision, Madara made his way over to the lonely girl, swiping the candy bowl along the way.
Ignoring her surprised face when he plopped down next to her, Madara happily snagged a blueberry Jolly Rancher from the bowl he had placed between them.
Insert awkward silence here.
"Uh, who are you?" She said after a few minutes. Her mother always said that she had a way of getting straight to the point.
"I'm Madara, who are you?" He replied, holding out his hand for her to shake. She took the offered hand and returned the hand shake.
"I'm Sakura. Why are you over here?" It was an innocent enough question, but as he looked into her expressive deep green eyes, somehow he knew that she was going to be an important person in his life. Her eyes shone with intelligence and promised never-ending adventures, which was what he desperately wanted in his boring everyday life.
She was like one of the girl super heroes in his comic-books.
It probably didn't help that his favorite song was still blasting into one of his ears.
They had sat there and talked for hours underneath the tree, talking about their likes and dislikes. Sharing their dreams of becoming famous in the future and changing the world. Finally, the Sun had started to set and the parents were calling it a night. Looking at the pink-haired girl that caught his interest in the oddest of ways, Madara made another impulsive decision.
Taking her hand, he placed something on her palm and closed her fingers around it before she could see what it was.
"Sakura-chan, I promise from this day on that I will be the bestest friend that you ever had. I will help you reach your dreams, and I will never leave you behind." Sending her a rakish smile and her returned promise and basking in the determined gleam in her eyes, Madara turned and ran towards his family that were making their way to the car. Turning to her one last time, he held his pointer and pinky fingers to his face and mouthed 'call me' before slipping into the car and shutting the door.
Smiling as her new-found friend left for the night, the small girl opened her clenched fingers and glanced at her gift. There, sitting on top of the phone number that he had scribbled onto her hand with the pen they had found, was a strawberry flavored Ring-Pop and tied around the ring part was a big, undamaged four-leaf clover.
Fin
There you have it. I'm not too thrilled about the end, but like I said, it's the multi-chaptered idea shortened down to about five pages. Anyways I do hope that you guys enjoyed it!
Please review!
