Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the Naruto characters.
Chapter One
~The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed.~
The sun shined brightly, illuminating everything in sight on a beautiful Monday spring afternoon.
A small raven-haired boy clutched his older brother's hand tightly as they walked up to what would soon be his newest nightmare.
"Don't worry, Sasuke. You'll have fun; you just need to learn to make some friends first." Itachi, his older brother told him reassuringly as they walked past a sign that said Leaf Daycare.
"Hn." Sasuke muttered.
He didn't want to be friends with all of the other children because he hated them.
He wanted nothing to do with their games and imaginary friends.
He wasn't like them in any way, nor would he ever be.
His older brother sighed and then opened the door.
When they went in, they were both greeted by a middle-aged woman.
Sasuke looked at her skeptically as she emerged from the main desk to the right of where they stood.
"Hello! Is this your first time visiting here?" She asked in a cheerful tone, looking at Itachi for an answer with her bright brown eyes.
She was wearing blue jeans and had a red buttoned up shirt with Leaf Daycare labeled on the front in the middle.
"Yes it is. I'm Itachi Uchiha and this is my little brother, Sasuke." Itachi formally introduced them as he nudged Sasuke forward with a slight jab from his elbow.
Sasuke took a step in the direction of the woman, bowed quickly, and then resumed his place by his brother.
"I'm Miss Naomi and it's very nice to meet the both of you. Follow me and I'll show you were everyone else is playing together." She said to them, but Sasuke could tell her command was more directed to him.
Reluctantly, he followed her with his older brother across the plain white room, down a hallway.
As they walked Itachi started talking about Sasuke as if he wasn't even there.
"Sasuke's not the most…" His older brother paused.
"Sociable person." He finished.
Miss Naomi nodded and then Itachi went on saying how he'd like Sasuke to make some friends and he warned her that Sasuke was a trouble maker.
Sasuke huffed at his older brother.
He wasn't that much of a trouble maker, after all it was the other kids that always did things to him that made him mad enough to hit them and start a fight.
He'd been to so many different daycares because he could never control his actions and always got blamed and Itachi had just taken him out of one daycare and simply put him in another one while he was away.
Besides, Sasuke had lived only with Itachi for years now and didn't want to talk or make friends with any other people because he had his older brother and that was all he would ever need.
That and the fact that him and these kids had nothing in common and he hated everything about them without even meeting them.
His older brother looked down at Sasuke and told him, "I want you to make at least one friend today. You never know if you can do it until you try. Just try for me, Sasuke. I know you can do it." Itachi then squeezed Sasuke's hand and in a response Sasuke shrugged with a nod.
He didn't want to disappoint his brother, but he knew that it would take a miracle for him to make even one friend that he liked at any daycare.
So what would make this one any different from the others?
She led them to a closed door and stopped in front of it, as did Sasuke and Itachi.
"This is where you'll be able to pick up Sasuke at when you return for him, Mr. Uchiha." Miss Naomi told Itachi as she opened the door and ushered them in.
Sasuke went in after Itachi, his senses on high alert.
He had to hold back a strong urge to put his hands up and cover his ears that were harshly taking in the different sounds.
Numerous toys were clattering with each other and high-pitched happy screeches filled his ears.
Grimacing, Sasuke looked around at what would be his twelve hour nightmare.
He saw toy bins, scattered toys all around, kids of all different sizes and ages playing, running, or sitting with picture books.
He inwardly groaned as he saw that the carpet was like a ruined canvas, for it was splotched and splatted with blue, pink, orange, red, yellow, and green all throughout it.
Then Sasuke dreadfully glanced up at the walls that had only one window on each side, hoping that they would be one solid color.
But it was clearly not his lucky day today, because they, too, were coated with all of the different colors splashed together.
He scrunched his nose, for the carpet and the walls both looked like someone had vomited one gigantic nasty rainbow.
"Well I have to go to work now. It was nice talking with you, Miss Naomi and I'll be back around five to pick Sasuke up." Itachi said to her and then he turned to Sasuke.
He bent down and Sasuke hugged him tightly, wishing Itachi would change his mind and take Sasuke with him.
"Have fun little brother." Itachi whispered in his ear and then stood back up.
Sasuke watched longingly as his brother walked back down the hallway by himself.
"Why don't you go off and play, Sasuke? There are all sorts of different things to have fun with." She suggested, smiling at him.
Sasuke looked back at her and gave her a small smile with a slight nod of his head.
He turned to face the noisy room and walked to a spot in the far right corner where a pile of scattered blocks lay untouched with no other kids near them.
Sasuke reached them and sat down, noticing that they had the color blue, yellow, red, or green on each of them.
Sasuke scooped a large group of them together and pulled them over by his knees.
He picked up a blue one and knew instantly that it was made out of wood just by the feel of it.
He took another look around the loud room, making sure that he wasn't near any other kids, and then began to build with the different colored wooden blocks.
He didn't know what his creation was going to resemble, but he worked gingerly with each block he picked up.
Minutes passed by and no one had bothered him yet, which he was undoubtedly grateful for.
But Sasuke knew that his silent and solo peace wouldn't last very much longer.
Tap, tap.
Sure enough, a short time later Sasuke felt a small hand tap his shoulder twice and then stop.
He shrugged it off and made no verbal reply back.
It's probably some snot-nosed kid. Whatever, I don't interact with their kind anyways.
He continued stacking the wooden blocks on top of each other one by one, now beginning to form the base of a pyramid.
Tap, tap.
Sasuke froze when he felt the tapping once more on his shoulder.
"Stop it." He commanded in a low voice, for now he was starting to get irritated.
There was no reply; no more taps either, so Sasuke just assumed that whoever was trying to mess with him gave up.
A minute later, Sasuke paused as he delicately placed one of the last blocks on what would soon be the very top of his pyramid.
He pulled his hand back slowly, making sure that his hand movement wouldn't cause the whole thing to come crashing down.
Sasuke grinned to himself when it was still perfectly standing tall as he put his hand on the soft multi-colored carpet, for he was taking the time to admire his first masterpiece here.
Hopefully he wouldn't get himself into trouble too soon, because he was beginning to like the fact that no one had bothered him so far besides that annoying tapping.
For once he was in a good mood at a daycare filled with loud kids.
Sasuke bet that none of the kids in this very room could even read or write complete sentences with correct spelling.
No one except him that is.
They were annoying, selfish, and stupid kids that were so naive of everything happening around them except for what they were doing.
Sure enough, just as if to prove his point, the small hand acted as if on a cue and placed itself upon his shoulder once more.
Sasuke's smile instantly faded into an unamused and annoyed expression.
He closed his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth, knowing if he made a scene here then he would ultimately be forced to attend a new daycare and that would only make things worse for his older brother and himself.
He silently braced himself, waiting for the moment when either the small hand would leave his shoulder or tap it.
Tap, tap.
Sasuke snapped open his eyes, now obviously mad with whoever was trying to mess with him.
Not wanting to look at whoever it was over his shoulder he growled, "Leave me alone."
Heeding his warning, the small hand disappeared for a third, and what Sasuke hoped would be a final time.
He exhaled a sigh of relief and began to ponder to himself as he sat motionless looking at the colorful wall in front of him.
Itachi wanted him to make at least one friend for the time that he would be here, but Sasuke hated the mere thought of it.
Sasuke would never befriend any of these kids.
He loathed them, every single one of them.
Every day, no matter which daycare Itachi made him go to, all of the kids were picked up by their loving and happy parents.
All of the kids except Sasuke, for his parents were no longer in Sasuke's, or Itachi's life.
That's exactly the reason why Sasuke hated them all, because they had something precious in their lives that Sasuke or Itachi would never be able to get back.
He let out a breath and rolled his eyes.
These stupid kids even probably take their parents for granted!
Although Sasuke nor Itachi had ever taken their parents for granted, they were disciplined and both needed to hold their heads high, because they had a status that their whole family had to uphold.
But in between their parents important work schedule, they still made a lot of time to spend with Sasuke and Itachi, to love them and create many wonderful family fun-filled memories with them.
His parents were the head of the Uchiha Corporation and deemed themselves far too important and busy to find the time to raise their sons.
Itachi had taken charge and found a place for him and Sasuke to stay and had even gotten a job.
Neither of them wanted to rely on the heaps of money their parents continuously supplied them with.
Simply because they hated their parents and wanted nothing to do with them, just like when their parents left them to fend for themselves.
Sasuke let out another sigh, but this one was drawn out and filled with longing.
They weren't even his biological parents, for his actual parents had perished in a house fire one unforgettable night when Sasuke was only five years old and Itachi was ten years old.
Shortly after their funeral, while Sasuke and Itachi were still heavily grieving it was decided by the Uchiha Corporation that neither of them were capable enough to run the corporation yet.
So, they were adopted by a married couple that happened to be working right under their parents back when they were alive.
That only resulted in their adopted parents becoming the head of the corporation until Itachi chose to take their place, which of course he always flat out refused when asked.
Their adopted parents were nothing like their real parents, for there was no hugs or kisses, no love, no bedtime stories, nothing.
It was the complete opposite.
They practically lived at the corporation once they owned it, leaving Sasuke and Itachi alone all too often.
After a while, Itachi had become Sasuke's sole supporter and caretaker.
They learned to fend for only themselves and provide the necessities and love for each other.
Sasuke learned many things throughout the years since losing his parents and living only with his older brother.
He learned that if you wanted something in life then you had to work for it.
Nothing was ever handed over to you the easy way, and if it was, then you truly didn't deserve nor earned it.
Itachi had taught him not to sugarcoat anything, because it only made everything worse in the long run.
Itachi had also taught Sasuke to read and write, also provided him with not only the necessities, but also books that Sasuke read and was able to expand his knowledge while he waited for Itachi to get home from school.
But then one day Itachi had received a letter from the corporation saying that Sasuke was no longer allowed to spend his days at home alone and would have to be put in a daycare for the time being until he was old enough to go to a school and begin receiving his education.
So, that's why he was here in the first place.
Swish.
Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts and back to the present.
His eyes caught a blur of a yellow block flying right by his nose.
It was so close to hitting him that Sasuke felt the air current change to match the motion and direction of the flying block.
Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise and sudden shock as he heard the block hit the wall to the right of him.
A couple of quiet moments passed, yet Sasuke could still hear all of the kids making an uproar in the room.
He didn't move until he was sure that no more blocks would be thrown in his direction.
After a minute, Sasuke surely, but ever so slowly turned his head in the direction that the block had come from.
Still wide-eyed, he stopped when he saw a girl standing up close to him, but not just any regular daycare girl.
This girl was much different; because the first thing he noticed about her was that she had pink hair.
Sasuke simply couldn't believe or trust his eyes right now, so he did a quick double-take.
Sure enough, she still had short, straight, and pink hair.
Sasuke blinked madly and then burst out in uncontrollable laughter.
He just couldn't believe it!
That can't be her real hair color!
Never before in his life had he saw a girl, or boy for this matter, with pink hair.
He continued laughing until he was distinctly aware of the sudden sound that seemed oddly familiar to him.
Sasuke's eyes bulged when he realized that it was the sound of another block that was now whipping by the top of his head.
His muscles tensed up once more as he heard it hit the same wall as the first one with a thud and fell to the carpet.
Sasuke looked over at it warily and saw that this one was red.
His jaw dropped in disbelief.
Who would want to throw something at him when he hadn't even done anything wrong?
He wanted to know who had done that and the reason why.
Slowly he turned his head in the direction that the second block had come from.
Sasuke looked upon the pink-haired girl again.
She was wearing jeans with a white tee-shirt that had the Japanese Kanji sign faith written in black on the front of it.
She was holding two more blocks in her right hand, which were blue and green, whereas her left was empty.
So she was the one that had tried twice to hit him.
Sasuke glanced nervously at his finished pyramid and hesitated on whether or not to yell out for Miss Naomi or fight back against this pink-haired girl with his own supply of blocks.
He started inching his hand over to retrieve a block from his pyramid, but stopped when he saw that she didn't make an advancement to thrown another one of her own at him.
She simply just kept standing there without making a sound.
Sasuke decided that he was safe for now and took the chance to look at her face for the first time.
It was a light shade of paleness and she had rosy-pink lips that were pulled together in a tight line.
She had a raised eyebrow and her eyes were a stunning emerald reflection.
Sasuke could sharply tell what her expression was visibly telling him, besides that she had an unusually large forehead.
It said 'Try that again and see what happens.'
He took another look at her pink hair again as he tried his best to suppress a laugh, for he didn't want to offend her anymore than he clearly already did.
He was still surprised that her hair was such an unnatural color, but now that he was looking at her full face he could tell that it actually added to the mesmerizing eye color of hers.
Sasuke blinked again, adjusting his eyes back to normal and then he coughed slightly while muttering, "Sorry."
There was a flicker of understanding in her eyes when he apologized, but then she put her empty left hand up to her pink hair and behind her ear, as if telling Sasuke that she didn't hear what he just said.
Grunting, he shifted uncomfortably and then looked back at the colorful wall in front of him. "I said I'm sorry." He repeated quietly.
Sasuke immensely hated himself right now.
Here he was saying sorry to a girl with pink hair who had just tried not once, but twice, to hit him in the face with a yellow AND red block!
She was probably the one that had tapped him continuously on the shoulder, too.
He groaned.
What a great way to start off my first day here. Instead of getting in a fight using scissors against another kid like last time, I end up being the one threatened. Hn. That's not like me at all. I'm usually the one that does the threatening, not the other way around.
Pulling up his knees to his chest, Sasuke wrapped his arms around them and set his head down.
He didn't care about the silent-pink-haired-block-throwing girl.
She hadn't even said a word to him yet.
His eyes flickered back to where she was standing before, but she was no longer there anymore.
"Okay children its naptime so get your blankets and lie down!" Miss Naomi announced.
Sasuke lifted his head up and watched as the other kids went to a green set of cubbies and each took one mat out and quietly chose a place to lie down.
"Hn. They're finally being quiet." He muttered, not bothering to move from his spot.
He saw Miss Naomi walking up to him with a puzzled look on her face.
"Sasuke? Aren't you going to get a mat like everyone else?" She asked.
Sasuke was about to open his mouth to reply, but a small hand appeared from behind Miss Naomi and tugged on her red shirt lightly a few times.
"Oh, well it looks like you're already covered." She said to him as she looked behind her.
"You two are such good friends all ready!" She exclaimed happily with a clap of her hands as she walked off to help the other kids.
He snorted at her comment, for his only friend was his older brother.
But in her place now stood the silent-pink-haired-block-throwing girl with two mats, one tucked under her left arm and the other was in her right hand which was outstretched towards Sasuke.
There was a warm and friendly smile on her face as she nodded to him, yet Sasuke was momentarily confused by her actions.
Wasn't she just mad at him?
So why was she smiling and offering him an extra mat that she had gotten?
With a grumbled "Thank you," Sasuke took the mat she offered, although he didn't understand her one bit.
He got up and unfolded his mat out on the floor; likewise she did the same with hers near his.
She took out a small notepad and a pencil from her back pocket as they both laid down on their mats.
Sasuke turned on his side, looked at her pencil and notepad, and then faced her with a raised eyebrow, "Do you do this a lot?"
She shook her head and cocked it sideways, pointing a finger at him.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, wondering why she couldn't just speak to him.
To answer her question he shook his head and added, "Two can play at this game."
It was her turn to be confused now as she had a puzzled look on her face and took her pencil and wrote down something and then held it up to show Sasuke.
He read her small scribbled handwriting and answered bluntly, "Not speaking."
She had a pained expression on her face and hastily wrote on the notepad again.
This time, she thrust it in his face angrily and he read it, feeling instantly sorry for saying that as he read each word.
"I'm mute, so I can't speak. Geez first you make fun of my hair and now my voice!" Sasuke read her words.
He looked up from the notepad and tried to redeem himself, "Look I'm sorry. It's just…"
But she quickly wrote something else down and shoved it in his face again before he could even get another word out.
"Just the fact that you feel sorry for me now? That I'm different from you?" The notepad said.
Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration, how was he supposed to interact with this girl without making her instantly mad at him?
She was nothing like how Itachi behaved, and Itachi was the only person that Sasuke knew how to interact with easily.
Choosing his words carefully, he spoke in a low voice, "You're not the only one that's different."
He read her reply as she wrote it out and interjected, "Not my fault if you can't talk."
"You're nothing like me, and I don't mean by not being able to talk." He added.
She pouted and wrote down a reply to everything he said to her, soon enough they were in the middle of a quarrel.
Sasuke hardly took notice that Miss Naomi had left the room and shut the lights off, making the room cast moving light spots from the sunlight outside.
He had just got done verbally bashing her pink hair style and she had just finished angrily making comebacks about his spiked hair style.
"Your nonstop poking me was getting on my nerves!" Sasuke hissed at her.
She bit her lower lip defensively and then wrote her response.
He read the words she wrote when she was finished, for a patch of sunlight was slowly passing over it.
"Yeah, well you not answering me made me mad so I threw those blocks at you to get your attention Mr. Sulky." The notepad said.
Sasuke was fed up with the girl at this point, especially considering how she just made a nickname for him when she probably didn't even know his real name, yet he didn't want to hurt this girl and be kicked out, but he would win this taunting war no matter what it took.
"Hn. You may be able to read and write like I can, but you still have things in your life that I'll never get back in mine." Sasuke murmured as hate mixed with sadness in his voice.
Sasuke looked around the room of sleeping kids as he gave the girl time to write her comment back to him.
"All of you…" He whispered to the other kids as a passing sunlight beam hit his inexpressible face.
They all looked so peaceful and carefree in their sleep, for they were free of haunting nightmares and were probably having a good dream about their family, unlike how Sasuke's sleep was.
He clenched his hands into fists, thinking back to the nightmare he had only just last night.
Why couldn't he have just stayed awake that horrific night so he could have gotten his parents out too?
If he did then Itachi and himself would still have a mother and a father to call their own, they wouldn't be the way they were now and Sasuke wouldn't be arguing with this girl right now.
Sasuke looked back down at her notepad to distract him.
It was now in his lap; he slowly read what she had written and was shocked at her words.
"Like loving parents?" The notepad questioned.
He could only nod his head as he stared down at the words she had written.
How did she guess right?
Sasuke didn't look up from where his eyes were, not even blinking when she gently took it from his lap.
How was she able to guess that without even knowing his name or anything about him?
He heard her pencil writing on her notepad and the soft sound of kids breathing.
How was it that she had just read him like a book with no words, yet knew the whole story?
Her notepad hit his lap again and he looked at her words that instantly shattered the hate between them, but much more importantly, the sole root of their differences.
"I lost mine too. Maybe we're not so different after all." His eyes widened, for there was actually another kid like him.
Sasuke looked up at the girl, her emerald eyes were saddened, but she had a wide smile spread across her face.
She wrote another thing on her notebook and gave it back to him as he returned her smile, suddenly feeling a strong connection between the two of them that he hadn't ever felt before.
Simply because Sasuke hadn't met someone else similar to him before since his parents passing.
He read what was on her notebook and stifled a small intake of breath at the words on it.
"You don't have to be alone anymore." He read.
Sasuke looked back up to her and nodded, "You don't have to be alone anymore either."
The girl blinked, tears beginning to form in her eyes as she nodded with a dip of her head.
"I'm sorry," He told her quietly, repeating it several times until she made a movement with her small hands.
He closed his mouth and watched as she pointed a finger at herself and then held up two fingers with her other hand, Sasuke guessed it was her way of saying 'me too.'
He noticed that the traces of tears forming in her emerald eyes had vanished, as if they weren't even there in the first place.
He nodded and she stopped, grabbed her notepad once more, wrote down something, and then handed it back to him.
"I'm Sakura, and your?" The notepad asked.
"Sasuke. My name is Sasuke Uchiha." He introduced himself, holding out his right hand to her.
She looked uncertainly at his hand and then slowly moved hers forward.
Sasuke grasped her hand, it felt warm and small, yet seemed like it belonged there.
Sakura warmly smiled at him and Sasuke friendly smiled back.
Then, just as a sunlight beam slowly passed over their clasped hands, they shook each other's hand, forming more than either of them could ever begin to explain.
As it faded away they released each other's hand and both laid down to sleep.
Sakura fell asleep quickly, breathing softly in her slumber.
"You're the same. You've lost what I lost. That makes you my first friend, Sakura." Sasuke murmured to the sleeping girl beside him.
Sasuke closed his eyes, letting sleep overtake him as he thought one last sentence.
I finally made one friend, someone who knows what it's like to lose their parents, someone that's the same as me, someone I hope I never lose… Because I don't think I could find anyone else like me ever again.
And that's the first chapter of Muted Melody! Let me know what you think of this story, because this is my first fanfic. As of right now, the next few chapters will continue being set during their childhood times because there will be things that will explain how and why they act certain ways and it will lead up to a time skip to when they're older. I would love some feedback!