Disclaimer: Don't own any of the Naruto characters nor do I claim to. However, this is my story, of which I do take full credit - even if that's not saying much.
Baby Steps
This stupid.
Grumbling to himself, Sasuke sat facing the corner of what he had very quickly discovered was a completely bland wall. No interesting wallpaper to study, no incriminating doodles. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And he hadn't even done anything to deserve this boring punishment. So what if he had told the little girl her pink hair was stupid? It was stupid! Who in their right mind wanted pink hair? Stupid people, obviously. And how was he supposed to know that 'stupid' was a bad word? 'Tachi-niisan had said it all the time and Sasuke was pretty damn sure he had never ended up getting a stern lecture, let alone been placed in the naughty corner.
After another infuriating five minutes, Sasuke let out a frustrated sigh and swiped a rather pudgy hand across his face in a half-hearted attempt to remove his bangs from his eyes. Failed. Miserably. Growling at his un-Uchiha like grace, Sasuke harshly tried again and again to remove the midnight-black bangs, each failure fuelling the growing irritation inside him. Finally, somewhere around the sixth or seventh try, and having poked himself in the eye rather hard, Sasuke conceded defeat.
Not, however, without pouting like a three year old child. Then again, he was only four and whilst that did mean he was a big boy now, he supposed he could still get away with acting like a baby every now and then. Rubbing his now watering left eye, Sasuke tried hard not to scream his unhappiness to the world, because he knew that Uchihas, regardless of how young they were, did not throw temper tantrums. They merely glared at things, and after a while, if it didn't start crying or just die on the spot, they'd simply ignore it and carry on with their stoic lives.
Stupid hair. Stupid girl. Stupid time out. Stupi -
Just as Sasuke had decided that he rather liked the word 'stupid', he felt a series of small taps to his shoulder. Whipping around in surprise, Sasuke found himself face to face with what he thought must be the sky contained in two large marbles. It was only when the mouth below them burst into a blinding grin that Sasuke realised he was staring at a face. A face framed by messy blonde hair, sun-kissed skin and what appeared to be whiskers. Sasuke squinted. Yep, definitely whiskers. And had he been in a good mood, Sasuke may have smiled a little, because he liked animals, especially foxes - and the boy standing in front of him certainly looked like one. But he wasn't.
So Sasuke crossed his arms in front of his chest, gave his best shot at the Uchiha glare and snarled. "What do you want, dobe?"
He wasn't quite sure what 'dobe' meant, but 'Tachi-niisan said it was mean and it seemed to fit the blonde boy nicely. When his smile faltered, Sasuke grinned. The standing boy seemed to think, unsure of how to react to Sasuke's rather unfriendly question, before deciding to drop it completely. His radiant grin came back in full force, splitting his face and revealing his missing tooth.
"Hi! I is Nawuto and I is four years old." He stated proudly, before abruptly thrusting his hand into the other boy's face. "We be friends?"
Sasuke was shocked and blinked rapidly at the outstretched hand. When he didn't take it, the fingers wiggled around, as if to say, 'Come on, shake', aggravating him even further. Furiously, Sasuke shook his head - did the blonde not know how to react to an insult? He gave the boy a look.
"Are you stupid or something?"
Naruto started, sending bits of blonde hair flying. "No, Nawuto not stupee. Sometimes Nawuto falls down, but Nawuto not stupee." He paused for breath. "Friends?" He asked again, pushing his hand even closer to Sasuke's face.
Sasuke snorted and his mouth parted to let out one blunt word.
"No."
And with that, he turned back around to face the wall, satisfied and sure that this whiskered little boy would leave him alone. Because, regardless of how bored he was, Sasuke wasn't the type to make friends. He had his niisan, his toy snake Orochimaru, his mother and his father - and that was all he really needed. Hell, if he was really desperate, he had his older brother's annoying friend, Kakashi, as well.
Naruto frowned and promptly dropped into a crouch behind the sitting boy. For a few seconds he simply stared at Sasuke's hair, captivated by its almost blue colour, before he redirected his attention back to his original mission. Friends. Reaching up with his right hand, he poked the small shoulder in front of him. When it elicited no particular response, he did it again. And again. And again. Finally, fed up with the boy's apparent lack of emotion, Naruto pulled his arm back and clenched his tiny hand into a fist. Then, he rammed it forward and punched him.
Sasuke jerked forward with the force and toppled over, his teeth biting into the colourful carpet beneath him, arms splayed wide either side. For a moment, he froze, unable to think with a mouthful of lint and god knows what else, before the realisation hit him. Someone, namely fox-boy, had punched him. The shock of it all was tremendous and Sasuke swore he could feel it creeping over his shoulders. That boy had punched him. And even more horrifying was the thought that Whisker-face had punched him. Had punched Sasuke Uchiha.
"Uchihas never show their anger," He could hear his father quoting.
But...
With a terrifying war cry, Sasuke turned around and pounced on the boy behind him. Naruto, clearly not expecting a reaction at all, had the wind completely knocked out of him as they fell together, tumbling into the middle of the room. Completely oblivious to the other wide-eyed toddlers, Sasuke sat atop Naruto's middle and glared down at the somewhat dazed boy.
"You're so annoying! I don't wanna be your stupid friend!" He spat loudly, knowing that he couldn't physically hurt the boy. Because if he did, that'd mean trouble, and trouble meant spending another 15 minutes staring a wall - something he'd rather not do again. Naruto snapped out of his stupor, gaped, and then growled.
"Nawuto told you, Nawuto isn't stupee! You stupee because you not want to be Nawuto's friend!" He shouted back, hands flying into the air in a frenzied attempt to grab something.
Sasuke caught Naruto's searching hands, held them away from his face and leaned down, making sure he was right by the blonde's ear. "DOBE!" He yelled.
"TEME!" Naruto retaliated, having remember what his father usually said to the people who irritated him.
Not quite understanding the insult, but feeling insulted nonetheless, Sasuke let one of Naruto's hands go in favour of using his own free hand to punch the squirming boy. Sasuke had expected the shot to be marginally off because, well, the boy was wiggling around a fair bit. But what he didn't expect, was the wiggling to stop altogether.
Because Naruto had felt the blow hit the left side of his chest and stopped dead. Looking down at the first just underneath his head, it took a few moments of complete silence for Naruto to register that Sasuke, his potential friend, had just hit him. Wide, baby blue eyes turned back up to meet Sasuke's own, confusion and a little bit of hurt flashing through them, before he shoved the sitting boy off him. Using all the brain power a four-year old could muster, Naruto tried to join the dots - Sasuke's fist, the throbbing on the outside of his chest, and the little ache that had started to spread from somewhere inside his chest throughout his body.
"You broke Nawuto's heart!" He screamed, sitting up and clutching at his shirt.
Sasuke reeled backwards, utter disbelief written on his face. "I whaaat?"
"Nawuto is going to die!" Naruto continued screaming. "Nawuto's heart won't work no more because you stupee teme broke it!" He pointed a finger viciously in Sasuke's direction.
Sasuke was not used to being accused of anything and hollered back, "Did not!" He knew this sort of argument was childish, but you couldn't break a heart by punching someone. Right?
"You did too!" Naruto was almost crying now. When he'd seen the other boy sitting by himself earlier on that morning, Naruto had decided that he looked lonely and instantly made up his mind - he'd simply become the pale boy's friend and unlonely him. That was all he had wanted and now... he was pretty sure his heart was broken and that his chest would start to turn that nasty purple colour because it always did that when something inside of him hurt. And it was all that teme's fault! If Naruto died, that'd mean no more mummy, no more daddy, no more Ruru-chan, no more ramen...
With his own furious battle cry, Naruto lunged at Sasuke and sent them rolling, determined to break Sasuke's heart too - because that was only fair, wasn't it? Lifting his arms up, he let down as much of a barrage of punches as he could. But, unbeknownst to him, Sasuke had always been a quick learner and soon recovered from his initial shock. He kicked and bucked underneath Naruto, trying to sit up but damn it, this boy was like a rock! He emitted a loud growl of frustration before he finally managed to flip their positions around, only to have his back hit the floor again within the next minute. But Sasuke never gave up easily, and the two continued to roll and scrabble around the floor.
Suddenly, a strong hand grabbed Sasuke by collar and hoisted him into the air. Similarly, Naruto was also yanked up from his position on the ground and both boys shared a fearful look at the teacher's thunderous face.
"And just what is going on here?"
Sasuke rubbed his cheek, eyes downcast. It was sore and it stung, but he knew he hadn't broken the skin because he wasn't bleeding. Naruto, on the other hand... He glanced at the other boy sitting on the chair opposite - his lip was bleeding. Whether it was from one of his punches or from his current lip biting, Sasuke wasn't sure.
Stupid dobe. Sasuke grumbled to himself.
At the sound, Naruto eyes snapped up to meet his own, and Sasuke was mildly surprised to find that they were watering.
He's... crying?
Cautiously, he slipped down from his chair and across the room, watching as Naruto dropped his head down to avoid his questioning gaze. When he came to a stop in front of the whiskered boy, he paused, suddenly unsure of what he was doing. But, at this age at least, curiousity won and Sasuke dropped to his knees and turned his face up to see.
Naruto was crying in honesty now, his sky-blue eyes filling and shedding big silver tears. He sniffled a bit, and brought his hands up to cover his face, realising a little too late that Sasuke had already seen. And frankly, Sasuke was more than shocked. He knew that perhaps he had a been a little rude, a little bit of a bully, but he really hadn't expected the boy to react this way - and it made him uncomfortable, for some reason. Maybe it was because he hadn't dealt with this before, considering he was the youngest child in his family.
"Don't... Don't be a crybaby." He tried.
It was an attempt at comfort, an empty insult said in the hopes that maybe the blonde would fire up again. But when Naruto began to bawl more loudly and hunch further in on himself, Sasuke panicked, feeling tears begin to well in his own coal-black eyes. Gently, very gently, he grasped the other's wrists and pull them away from his face. Now that he could see it properly, Naruto's lip looked red, swollen and painful. And Sasuke regretted putting it there. Uncertain again, Sasuke stared as Naruto continued to cry.
Suddenly, though, he could hear something.
"If you make a mistake, outoto, you have to fix it."
But Tachi-niisan, he should have asked, what if I hurt someone? How do I fix that?
Then Sasuke remembered falling off his bike, throwing his hands out to save himself and feeling the sting of skin against gravel spread through his palms. He had screamed, and his mother can come running out to him. When she realised it was just a few scratches, she had smiled, bundled him up, taken him back inside and bandaged his wounds. But it still hurt, and he had said just that, so she had leaned over, raised his hands, and kissed his boo-boos better.
Sasuke gave Naruto an uncertain look - he didn't have any bandages, and he obviously couldn't carry Naruto home to either of their mothers to get some. So, he did the next best thing.
Slowly, Sasuke let go of Naruto's hands and reached up, cupping Naruto's face. Naruto jerked a little, his crying slowed by his surprise, before he tried squirming to get away. But Sasuke didn't give him that chance, sternly looking Naruto in the eyes as if to say, 'Don't move.'
And then he leaned in and, as gently as he could, carded his lips over Naruto's.
Realising that he had just kissed another boy that wasn't related to him, Sasuke abruptly pulled back and flushed whilst Naruto stared at him with wide eyes. He had stopped crying entirely and could register nothing but that tingly feeling on his otherwise numb lips.
"Feel... better?"
Naruto nodded dumbly. Sasuke had just kissed him, which mummy and daddy did when they wanted to say 'I love you' but were giggling too much to actually do it. Did that mean Sasuke loved him too? But he was so mean before! He didn't want to be Naruto's friend! The blonde shook his head, utterly confused as to what had happened and oblivious to the mixed signals he was sending.
Sasuke clenched his fists. He thought he had been forgiven when Naruto had nodded 'yes'. But then Naruto had furrowed his brows and given him an anxious, even slightly suspicious, look and left Sasuke completely bewildered. What more could he do? Well... Sasuke knew what else he could do, but he'd never done it before and he still didn't really want to. On the other hand, he realised, if he didn't, Naruto might start crying again and he wasn't confident he could handle that a second time.
So Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and tried very very hard to say the right thing.
"I'm sor... ry."
As soon as the words had left his mouth and ventured into Naruto's ears, the confusion Naruto previously held disappeared. 'Sorry' was a good word, Ruru-chan had told him so, and it meant that everything was okay now.
Sasuke peeked an eye open and, at the sight of Naruto's beaming face, felt the tightness in his chest that he wasn't aware of beforehand ease. He sighed in relief, put his hands in his pockets and made his way back to his own chair, across the room. Halfway there, he was stopped by a tug on his sleeve. He glanced back and realised that Naruto had followed him, obviously wanting something. He pivoted on the spot and raised his eyebrows.
Naruto merely grinned, no longer perturbed by the boy, and thrust his hand into the pocket of Sasuke's pants. He fished around for a bit, while the slightly taller boy looked at him in pure shock, until he managed to grab hold of one of his hands and bring them both back out into the open. He looked down at the conjoined hands and marvelled at how much contrast there was between their skin tones.
"Friends."
This time, it wasn't a question. It was a statement and Sasuke looked at his hand wearily. This boy was just so persistent.
A defeated sigh escaped him.
"Friends."
First meeting between Naruto and Sasuke, location: Kinder (In case you guys didn't get any of that).
So, let me know what you guys think? First story, first time, and I don't have a beta because I reckon I look out for myself pretty well, but if you guys can't understand a thing I've written - I may consider taking one up.
There will definitely be more to come because, after reading so many good (and so many shitty) SasuNaru stories, I've got so many ideas that, hopefully, I'll be able to put down into words. So keep checking up here, okay?
Peace out,
Madam Jekyll.
