Chapter 1: First Meeting

On the busy streets of Konoha a man was running around, a look of panic and worry etched on his face as he frantically looked around as if searching for someone or something. He wore a dark orange coat that was wide open revealing a black shirt he wore under it and blue jeans. He suddenly stopped to catch his breath but his blue eyes never stopped searching. Many people were wandering around; it was Sunday after all, which made it harder for him to find whatever he was looking for. Beads of sweet began to gather on his forehead but he just wiped it away with the back of his hand, running a few fingers through his golden-blonde hair. After he caught his breath he turned and began searching again.

Somewhere else another man with black hair and equally black eyes was walking, his face set in a mask of indifference. He wore a dark blue shirt, black leather jacket over it and dark blue jeans.

Suddenly a noise from somewhere caught his attention. He looked around but saw no one till he looked lower down. There in between two buildings was a young girl, no older than eight standing with her face buried in her hands. She had long straight dark brown almost black hair that reached down past her shoulders and skin pale but not as pale as his own. He realized that the noise he had heard came from the girl. It tore his heart apart to see a child crying so he did the only thing he could think of, he crouched down in front of her and began to speak.

"Hello. Are you lost?"

The blonde slumped down on a bench nearby a park. He was exhausted and still no sign of who he was looking for. But he couldn't give up, he could never give up. He continued to take deep breaths till a familiar voice made him snap his head up to look at them. The person who was standing before him was a woman with long pale pink hair and green eyes. She wore a white shirt, dark red jacket and blue jeans. A smile graced her pretty face as her green eyes shone with joy.

Sakura-chan. The blonde thought as a smile crept over his face.

The man forgot about his problems for a moment as he quickly got up and went over to pull his old friend into a hug. The woman named Sakura returned the hug for a moment before both pulled back.

"It's good to see you." She said with a big smile.

The smile then was quickly wiped away as an angry frown took its place. The blonde didn't have time to as what was wrong as sharp pain shot through the left side of his ribs. He bent over, clutching his middle tightly before he looked up into the now furious green eyes.

"Where the hell have you been?!" She yelled out, drawing some attention from a few children who were playing not so far away as well as parents. "You disappear for more than eight years without telling anyone where you went! Have you any clue how worried we were?!"

The blonde seemed to compose himself as he began to explain but was cut off before he could utter a single word.

"NO! You listen to me right now! I don't want to hear any of your excuses! You should've contacted us! But no! You couldn't do that now, could you? Because of your 'family issues' you couldn't call, text or even send a damn letter to either of us!" She yelled. Then in a much quieter voice she said, "Have you any idea how worried I was?"

The blonde was quiet for a few minutes. He was in a way struck speechless. Slowly the feeling of guilt washed over him and the pain in his ribs felt nothing but dull ache compare to what he was feeling now. He looked away, not able to meet his friend's eyes, he was sure that they held nothing but hurt, anger and betrayal.

He was surprised when after a minute or so had passed two arms wrapped around his body, pulling him close to them. All too soon the warmth left and he dared to look up. The pink-haired woman was looking at him with relief and happiness along with unshed tears showing in her green eyes. He felt himself feel even guiltier for the decisions he had made in the past.

"I'm sorry." He said softly. And he really was sorry. Sorry for not calling. Sorry for not leaving a proper note. Sorry for hiding away from them when he knows he can rely on his friends. Sorry for running away from his problems. Sorry for everything.

The old friends sat down on the bench and began talking. Most of it was of her filling him in on what had happened these past years. Apparently his friend was working at Konoha Hospital as a nurse and was engaged to a man who was a lawyer.

Kiba, one of his other friends was a vet like his sister and married to none other than Hyuga Hinata with two kids.

Iruka, who was his former teacher at Konoha High School, hooked up with another teacher a few years ago named Kakashi who he remembered to be his former History teacher.

Half an hour later of filling him in on the stuff that had happened she finally turned to him and asked what he had done. Her question made him realize who he had been looking for. A look of worry crossed over his face but before he could get up and search for that person, a hand grabbed his arm, keeping him firmly in place.

He looked back at Sakura. "What's wrong?" She asked looking a bit worried.

He didn't know what he should say. Should he tell her the truth? Or should he keep hiding away? No. He decided that he should not.

"Naruto?"

Said blonde looked back up. He took a deep breathe before he began explaining what had happened.

The raven was met with a pair of cerulean-blue eyes. Tears were swimming in the depths and spilling over, staining her already flushed cheeks.

"Are you lost?" He repeated again and flashed her a gentle smile. This time the girl sniffed and nodded.

The raven studied the little girl more closely now. She looked very fragile; she was as he had observed before to be quite pale and kind of skinny, like she wasn't being fed properly. Her dark hair framed her face nicely and although she was skinny her face was quite round. She wore a brown jacket that was slightly open revealing a white top that she wore underneath and blue bottoms. She also wore a necklace with a turquoise stone attached to the black string.

"Would you like me to help you find your parents?" He asked softly. There was a short silence before the girl sniffed and nodded once more. She then seemed to remember that she had been crying because she began to wipe the tears from her cheeks and eyes. The raven couldn't help but chuckle. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, he then gave it to the girl who accepted it with a grateful nod.

Once she got rid of all the tears the raven stretched out a hand for the girl to take; she hesitated for a moment but eventually took the hand. He gave her small hand a reassuring squeeze before getting up as they made their way through the crowd.

"You have a daughter?!"

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the disbelieving look that crossed over Sakura's face. It was too funny.

"Yes. I have. Ai is her name. Uzumaki Ai." He said after he had gotten his laughter in control.

The pink-haired woman seemed to calm down as well. "Wow. Who would've thought?" She said. A look of confusion then past her features. "But if you have a daughter, then where is she?"

Those words were enough to send the blonde to his feet again as he looked around.

"Don't tell me." His friend said and got up as well. "You lost her." It was a statement not a question. The blonde nodded anyway and she sighed. "Unbelievable."

Naruto didn't seem to hear her as he continued to look around; when he saw no one that looked even slightly similar to his little girl he turned back to his friend.

"I'm sorry Sakura. But I really need to find Ai." He said. He didn't wait for a reply as he bolted.

"What's your name, pretty?" The raven asked the little girl. They had wandered around looking for her parents for a good ten minutes but there was no sign of them anywhere. The little girl's face didn't light up once in recognition of any of the passing adults. She also hadn't spoken a word which made him feel slightly uneasy; he thought that if she talked he could get some information out of her so that the searching would be simpler.

"Ai." The little girl said softly. "Uzumaki Ai."

Uzumaki Ai. Okay that's a start. He thought and glanced at said girl.

"Where did you last see your parents?" He asked next.

"Daddy left me with Uncle Gaara to go do something." She said softly. "I got worried and decided to follow but I couldn't find him. And when I went back to where I think I last saw Uncle Gaara, he wasn't there."

The raven looked down at Ai whose bottom lip trembled and eyes shone with tears. He led her to the side by a store before he crouched down in front of her. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder as he looked into her blue eyes.

"You did nothing wrong, pretty. These kind of things happen all the time." He said softly. Ai didn't look convinced so he spoke again. He didn't know what it was but he wanted her to feel like it wasn't her fault, he didn't want her to feel bad.

"I'll let you in on a little secret." He said and leaned in closer. "I used to get lost a lot in my younger days." This seemed to make the girl light up, if only a little bit.

"Really?" She asked softly.

"Really." He removed the hand from her shoulder and stood up. "Shall we go?" He asked and stretched out a hand for her to take. The dark-haired girl took the hand, this time without hesitation.

They walked for another ten minutes till finally her face lit up in recognition. She immediately let go of the raven's hand and ran up and into the arms of a man with spiky red hair. The man let go of her as the raven approached the pair. The red-head looked around the same age as himself; he had pale jade eyes with black eyeliner surrounding them and fair skin. He wore sand colored cargo pants, a dark red tank top and an open white shirt on top.

The man didn't look similar to Ai so he assumed that this was the 'Uncle Gaara' she had told him about. Ai then ran up to him and grabbed his hand; a bright smile was playing on her lips which made his heart feel warm.

"Mister here helped me look for daddy or Uncle Gaara." She said and turned to the red-head.

The red-head looked at the raven up and down, as if studying him. The raven felt slightly uncomfortable but he soon stopped and flashed him a small smile.

"Thank you for helping Ai." He said truly looking grateful. He then stretched out a hand for a handshake. "The name is Sabaku Gaara."

"Uchiha Sasuke." The raven said and shook his hand briefly.

Sasuke saw something alike recognition flash across Gaara's eyes but it was gone as soon as it had arrived.

"Could you look after Ai for a moment longer? I need to make a call."

"Sure."

The red-head walked a few feet away before he pulled out his cell phone and began dialing what Sasuke thought to be the father of the child. He tore his eyes away from the red-head when he felt a tugging on his clothes. He looked down and saw the little dark-haired girl looking up at him with pleading eyes.

He crouched down before her before he asked, "What's the matter, pretty?"

"I need to use the toilet." She said softly.

He smiled. "Okay. Wait here for a moment and I'll go tell Gaara." He got up and walked over to the red-head who was still talking on the phone.

"…found her." He heard him say as he approached him. He cleared his throat and Gaara turned to him for a moment. "Hold on a sec." He said into the phone before turning to him.

"Ai and I are going to the restroom."

"Okay, make sure to keep an eye on her. She can be quite slippery."

"Alright." He said in a flat tone before he turned away and walked to where Ai was waiting.

A few minutes later they returned from the restroom. Sasuke couldn't see what Gaara had told him about Ai being slippery; she was such a smart and good girl.

When they began to approach the spot where Gaara was waiting for them two others were standing with him. One he recognized to be one of his friends but the blonde he did not recognize at all.

"Daddy!"

The blonde turned around and Sasuke felt himself looking into the same cerulean-blue eyes Ai possessed. Said dark-haired girl let go of his hand a second time to run up and then throw her arms around another man. This embrace lasted much longer though as the blonde picked her up and balanced her on his hip. He was smiling brightly at the little girl in his arms. The smile made his stomach do a strange flip but he didn't have time to analyze what that meant as those cerulean-blue eyes turned to him.

The blonde put down Ai and then walked over to him. A smile playing on his lips.

"I heard from Gaara that you found Ai. Thank you for that."

"It was nothing."

"Oh! Sasuke-kun!" The pink-haired woman exclaimed and then walked up to the blonde and raven. "I didn't know you were back from Kiri."

He nodded. "I came back two days ago. Sorry for not calling."

"Don't worry about it." She said waving her hand as if dismissing the apology.

"Um… Sakura-chan?"

The pink-haired woman turned around to face the blonde. He had a somewhat nervous expression on him. Sakura looked back at Sasuke's neutral expression. She turned back to the blonde then.

"Sorry. Naruto, this is Uchiha Sasuke." She said gesturing to the raven behind her. She then turned to said raven. "And this Sasuke is Uzumaki Naruto."

The two men nodded in greeting, too far away to shake hands with each other.

"Daddy." Both the raven and blonde snapped their heads to look at Ai. "I'm hungry."

The blonde smiled and patted his daughter on the head. "Okay, what do you want?" He asked simply. Sasuke noticed that there was a glint in his blue eyes that clearly said that he knew what her answer would be.

"Ramen!" The little girl exclaimed.

"Alright then, ramen it is." He said and watched his daughter walk towards Gaara who stood a few feet away. He then turned back to Sasuke. "You're more than welcome to join us, if you want."

Sasuke wanted to say yes, but it felt like he would then be interfering on their 'family time' together so he decided to politely decline.

"That's very kind of you, but I have to go."

He thought he saw the blonde's smile slightly falter but decided to ignore it.

"That's alright, maybe next time?" The blonde said.

The raven said nothing and just nodded. He was just about to turn and go when the blonde pulled out his cell phone and walked towards him.

"If you don't mind, I would like to have your number."

Sasuke was struck speechless for a few moments till he seemed to find his voice.

"Okay." He said simply and pulled out his cell phone as well.

The pink-haired woman watched the two men exchanging phone numbers, a smirk playing firmly on her light pink lips.

After the men had exchanged numbers the raven left, the blonde watching him leave in silence. He finally tore his eyes away only to stare into a pair of green eyes that were shining with mischief.

"W-what?" He asked after a moments of silence.

"Oh, nothing." Sakura said. The look in her eyes not faltering for a second. "I just noticed how you were checking Sasuke-kun out."

A pale blush spread over the blonde's cheeks.

"I- I was not." He said.

"Oh yes you were!" She exclaimed. Naruto was just about to open his mouth to protest but a hand lifted into the air silenced him. "Don't try to lie to me. We may not have seen each other for a while." At this she glared at him for a moment. "But I can still read you like a book. You're interested, aren't you?"

The blonde sighed. No use arguing with the woman, he thought.

"Yes. I'm interested." He answered simply.

Sakura seemed more than satisfied with his answer as she grinning widely, the blonde ignored her.

"But there's no way a guy like that would be interested in someone like me." He suddenly began saying. "I mean, the guy is fucking gorgeous."

Sakura nodded, agreeing with him on the gorgeous part.

"Are you guys coming?!"

The blonde and pinkette turned around where Ai was standing, her face scrunched up in annoyance for being made to wait.

"I'm hungry, you know!" She exclaimed.

Naruto laughed. "Sorry, honey." He turned to Sakura. "Are you coming?"

The pink-haired woman nodded and soon the group left, on their way to lunch.

I hope you liked the first chapter. Please review.