Disclaimer: Oh, yeah. I totally own them. That's why Itachi friggin' DIED!

Author's Note: SO! I am sicker than a dog. :/ And while I get to miss school all week, then then there's spring break, I'm sick. Which means drinking lots of fluids and (yay?) lots and lots of sleep. I slept all day yesterday. Literally. Unfortunately, it also meant no school. ... Before you rejoice, remember that next week is spring break. What's that spell? Disaster, of course, 'cause I have finals this week, and I'm not allowed back until next Monday.... Also known as the first day of spring break. So I'm currently failing all my classes. XD

So I decided that since I'm spending time with my mum at her school - yes, her school (she's a culinary student, so I gets yummy food all the time! :D ) - I was going to write something. The only question was what. And then it hit me. :] Drabbles!

My goal? Using the 100 prompt challenge (I'm also writing original stories for them... I just did this out of boredom.) words to create 100 drabbles themed around Sasuke and Naruto.

I hope you have as much fun I as I do. :]

Also... These drabbles may or may not follow the timeline. And I have no beta. Mistakes are all my own.

You have been warned.

***

Title: Introduction
Characters: young!Naruto Uzumaki & young!Sasuke Uchiha
Rating: K
Warnings: none
Pairing: none
Summary: Naruto reflects on his and Sasuke's first meeting. AU - does not follow timeline.
Additional Notes: Sasuke make appear OoC. The reason why is that it takes place before the Uchiha massacre, so he has no reason to be bitter.

***

Prompt 1: Introduction

They met by accident.

At the time, they were both six years old, both young, both naïve. But they were already radically different - one growing up loved and cherished, the other growing up lonely and afraid. One growing up, walking along a path that his family had walked for generations, the other growing up, breaking though and creating his own path to glory.

Yet no matter the extreme differences, no matter the fact that they were polar opposites - one being akin to the sun, the other an immitation of the moon - they met.

Naruto was having a bad day. Well, bad compared to all the other bad days he'd been having.

The night before, he'd set his alarm to go off early - at five in the morning, in fact - so that he could get out of the apartment before his neighbors woke up. When he woke up, his apartment was unbearably hot, and his alarm clock appeared to have died. When he went to the fridge for breakfast and found the soured milk, he knew immediately what had happened.

The landlord had, once again, cut his power as punishment. What he'd done to deserve it, he couldn't remember, but it was a punishment nonetheless.

After deciding against attempting to drink the soured milk, he did his best to get dressed and leave. As he was closing the front door - he didn't bother locking it anymore; if they wanted in, they'd get in - he saw the spray-painted words.

Demon.

Monster.

Murderer.

Naruto bit back a sob of frustration and firmly fixed his mask in place. He had to appear like it didn't hurt him, like the insults didn't tear at his heart, like everything bounced off the shield. It didn't, of ccourse, but they didn't need to know that.

While walking down the street to the ramen shop, Naruto almost felt like the day would get better.

Almost.

When he was pulled into the alleyway where three burly men were waiting, he knew better. There was no 'better' for someone like him.

After his beating was over, he waited in the alleyway as the men left, laughing and jeering the whole time. Then came the familiar ache and pain of healing muscles and skin. Naruto knew that as soon as he stepped out onto the street, it would appear as if nothing had happened.

That's the way things worked.

When the pain had stopped, when the healing seemed to be complete, Naruto made his way back out of the alleyway and resumed his trek to the ramen shop. He was stopped twice more, pulled into an alleyway twice more, beaten up twice more. It was only when someone pulled him intot he dead center of the street and kicked him in the stomach did Naruto decide that it was time to forgo breakfast altogether. Instead, he'd just head to his swing, his sanctuary.

That was when he saw him.

The perfect child. The protegy. The genius.

"Hey, you!" Naruto called as he approached the academy and the swing he'd claimed, voice cracking on the last word. "That's my swing; get off!"

The pale boy glanced up, a dark brow arched. "I don't see your name on it."

"Yeah, well...." Naruto faltered, struggling for the words to voice his retort.

"Can't even think up a good reply, can you, loser?" The raven smirked. "You're such an idiot. No wonder nobody likes you."

And that was when the weight of the day came crashing down.

Naruto began scrubbing at the tears that began leaking from his eyes. Every few seconds of he, he'd hiccup, the force of the action causing his whole body to jolt.

The pale boy stared at him, black eyes wide in stunned disbelief. "What... I mean, I... Please don't cry? I didn't mean it, honestly, I didn't!"

Naruto sniffled once, rubbing the back of his arm over his eyes, then his nose. When he finally glanced at the other boy again, his voice was weak and watery with tears that still wanted to fall. "You didn't?"

"No way, 'course not."

Naruto nodded once, slowly. He sat down beside the swing he had claimed as his own and began running his fingers through the dirt. After a minute or so, the uncomfortable feeling of being watched came upon him. He glanced up and found himself inches away from the other's face.

It was at that moment that he noticed that the other boy's eyes weren't black, but a very dark gray. And it was also at that moment, that short, miniscule moment, that he saw what everyone else refused to see in him: an insecure, lonely child. And it hurt. It hurt to know that there were other people like him out in the world.

"Anyway," the raven murmured quietly, clambering off the swing and hunching over so that he was at the blonde's level, "my name's Sasuke. What's yours?"

The blond stared at him for a moment, mistrust plainly visible in his sky blue eyes. Finally, after a wait that seemed endless, a slow smile crept across the blonde's face. "Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

And when looking back on everything that had come and gone, that one memory, that single, solitary meeting, was what would always stand out plain and clear in Naruto Uzumaki's memory.

That was why he refused to give up when Sasuke abandoned Konoha for Orochimaru. That was why he refused to give in, refused to break his promise to Sakura, because it wasn't really just for the pink-haired kunoichi anymore. It was for himself, because without the accidental interoduction to Sasuke, Naruto would never have been introduced to the wonders of friendship.

***

Author's Note: Yeah, it's kinda short, but it's a drabble, soo... :] Out of 100 prompts, I have 4 completed, amd starting on the fifth, and I'm going in listed order. The next prompt will be "Love".

Review and tell me what you think? :]