Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue.

Rating: G (for now)

Pairing: Sasuke + Naruto friendship. Will probably be slash later on, but none yet.

Category: big fat AU!

Warnings: none yet, but this will soon turn to slash.

Childhood Friends (crappy tentative title)

maldita

1.

Sasuke fumbled awkwardly with the shuriken in his hand, scowling at the way his short chubby fingers refused to properly grip the thin metal. His hands were already decorated with tiny cuts and scratches from his previous attempts; stinging shallow wounds that bled a little and brought tears to his eyes and made him wish for his mother.

But no. A ninja didn't cry, and a ninja certainly didn't go running to his mother when hurt. So he had stubbornly continued with his practice, ignoring the pain as much as possible, keeping his father's proud smile at the forefront of his mind, spurring him on.

Squeezing the shuriken between his middle and index finger, Sasuke took a deep breath, glared at his makeshift target, and let the little star fly. In his mind, Sasuke saw the weapon whistle sharply through the air and embed itself right in the center of the target. In reality, it only nicked his fingers and fell with a soft thump not five feet from him. Again.

He glared at the shuriken lying innocently in the ground, fisting tiny hands, aggravating the cuts in still-bleeding fingers. His eyes grew wet with tears of frustration and hurt but he angrily wiped them away with a dirty sleeve, smudging already stained cheeks.

It wasn't fair, he thought, frustrated. He knew in his heart that he could do this, could make the shuriken fly for him. He knew it. It was like a thing in his blood, trying to get out, this knowledge, this instinct of how a shuriken should be held and thrown. But always his body betrayed him, childish fingers unwilling to imitate the image in his mind, wrist too weak for the sharp snap he knew was required.

He wanted to grow up so badly. He wanted to be like older brother and father, their bodies never let them down like this. It was all so frustrating for him. He couldn't wait until his body caught up with his mind, and then he'd show his family how good he was. He would be as good a ninja as his older brother—no, he'd be even better! And then his father would be so proud and would acknowledge him.

He couldn't wait to grow up.

But of course he knew that didn't mean that he could slack off now, Sasuke thought as he went to pick up the shuriken. Just as his fingers made contact with the cool metal, his ears caught a noise that didn't belong in the quiet shushing of the forest.

Human noises.

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke crouched down and moved towards the source of the noise. A ninja makes no sound. He stalked and chanted in his mind all the little tricks his brother told him. Watch out for dry sticks and leaves. Stick close to the shadows. He was getting closer now, and he could make out what kind of noise he was hearing.

Crying.

Sasuke frowned. How boring. He had really hoped it was some kind of secret ninja meeting, or better yet, a spy for another ninja village! That would have been great. But no, he was not so lucky, and it was only a strange boy crying under a big mango tree. Sasuke hunkered down low behind his bush and watched the boy like a hawk. Because ninjas were supposed to be observant too.

Besides, maybe the boy was a spy. His hair was yellow. Bright yellow. Sasuke didn't know anyone with hair that bright. So, the boy could be a spy from another village!

But what kind of village would send such an incompetent spy? The boy had stopped crying and was now hugging his knees to his chest, his face buried in them. He looked dirty and weak. Sasuke sighed, feeling very disappointed. He supposed the boy was just some kid from the village who got lost in the woods near the Uchiha part of town. That happened every once in a while. Father always got annoyed when it did.

Sasuke sat up straighter. If I take the boy back home, he thought, wouldn't that be like doing ninja duties? He eyed the hunched boy with more interest. Well, at the very least he couldn't just leave the boy there, lost and alone. Mind made up, Sasuke purposely rustled about loudly before stepping out of his hiding spot. He was feeling very smug that he was able to disguise his presence effectively. He had to remember to tell older brother later.

At the first sign of the crinkling sounds of the leaves, the boy's bright yellow head snapped up, and Sasuke saw his face for the first time. It was very dirty, and drying tear-tracks ran down his plump cheeks, smudging the whisker-like scars on them. His eyes were red-rimmed from crying but Sasuke could still see their color very clearly. He has very blue eyes, he thought, and was suddenly reminded of the days when his mother would hang the laundry. Bright, sunny days when it hurt to look at the sky directly. Strangely enough, he felt the same way now, looking into this unfamiliar boy's eyes.

"Hey you," Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes and making his voice stern. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" There, that sounded very ninja-like.

The boy got up so quickly he almost lost his balance. Sasuke didn't think it was possible, but those big blue eyes actually got bigger. "Who are you?" The boy asked, his voice breaking at the last word.

"I asked you first," Sasuke pointed out.

"Um, I'm Uzumaki Naruto," came the wary reply.

"Uchiha Sasuke. My family lives along the edge of this forest." Sasuke walked closer to the other boy until both of them were under the shade of the big tree. "Only ninjas and Uchiha children are allowed here."

"Oh," Naruto said, looking down at his feet. "Fine. Whatever."

Sasuke felt a weird tingling in his stomach when he saw those blue eyes glance back at him quickly and then turn away. He remembered feeling the same way when he'd accidentally broken his mother's favorite tea cup. He frowned and watched as Naruto walked stiffly away. In the wrong direction. Sasuke sighed. "You idiot, do you even know where you're going?"

"Hey!" Naruto said, abruptly turning around and glaring at Sasuke. It didn't look scary at all, considering his eyes were puffy from crying. "Don't call me idiot! You're the one being mean to me and I haven't even done anything to you! So leave me alone!" Naruto yelled, then started crying. Fat big tears started rolling down his cheeks and he covered his face with his arm, trying to wipe them away.

Sasuke took a step back, surprised. "Oh, hey. You don't have to cry." Sasuke felt his face getting hot and went to the sobbing boy, putting a hesitant hand on Naruto's shaking shoulders. "I'm, ah, sorry. Um, you can stay here if you want. Maybe if I tell father…" Sasuke trailed off when Naruto suddenly raised his eyes, looking at him with a really funny expression on his face. Sasuke dropped his hand. "What?"

"You—you—" Naruto stuttered, his face screwing up like he had something important to say but couldn't figure out how to say it. "You're not leaving?"

Sasuke frowned. "Of course not. If I leave, you'll get lost. It's really easy to get lost in this forest, that's why kids from other clans aren't allowed here. Didn't your mom tell you that?"

"No," Naruto said, looking quickly away. "I don't have a mom."

Sasuke blinked, not knowing what to say. "Oh." Naruto didn't have a mom? Well, that's not really all that unusual. Sasuke knows two other kids whose moms had died on missions. "Well, what about your father?"

Naruto didn't answer and instead looked down. Sasuke realized that Naruto must not have a father either. "Um…"

"I live alone," Naruto muttered.

Sasuke stared. Naruto lived alone? But he was only Sasuke's age! Didn't he have anyone to take care of him? "Oh," he said, feeling very uncomfortable. "That must be pretty lonely."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, a little."

"What about your friends?" Sasuke didn't really know why he kept talking to this boy, because he really had other things he should be doing, like practicing his throwing technique, but he couldn't stop himself.

"The other kids hate me," Naruto replied bluntly.

"Oh. I don't have a lot of friends either," Sasuke admitted. "Most of them are stupid anyway, but you don't seem all that bad." Wide, blue eyes suddenly pinned him, and Sasuke blinked. "What?"

"Hey, wanna be friends?" The question was asked so quickly the words ran together. Naruto seemed to be holding his breath. Sasuke automatically frowned and Naruto flinched like he'd been hit. "I mean, whatever—if you don't want to—"

"No, no," Sasuke said, looking down at his bruised hands. "I don't have a lot of friends because I'm always here, training."

"Training?"

"Yeah, to become a ninja," Sasuke admitted grudgingly and waited for the inevitable 'but aren't you too young?'

"Really? That's really cool, 'cause I want to be a ninja too!" Naruto grinned. "I want to be a great ninja when I grow up!"

Sasuke smiled; Naruto's excitement was kind of catching. "I want to be better than my big brother."

"Is your brother a great ninja?"

"Oh yeah," Sasuke boasted, "he's the youngest member of ANBU!" He was gratified to see Naruto look really impressed.

"Wow, that's sounds so cool," Naruto said, blue eyes wide with awe. "You're really lucky to have a big brother like that."

"Yeah, I know," Sasuke nodded. "Sometimes he tells me all kinds of ninja tricks. Then I go here and practice doing them."

"Hey, I know!" Naruto said, grabbing Sasuke's shoulders. "Maybe we can train here together!"

Sasuke nodded solemnly, but inside he felt giddy. "That could work. It's better to practice in groups than alone. That's why ninjas always come in teams, you know."

Naruto grinned and jumped a little. "This will be so awesome!"

"You want to meet here tomorrow after lunch time?" Sasuke asked. "We can train all afternoon."

Naruto nodded excitedly. "Yeah."

"Okay," Sasuke said, looking around. It was almost time to go home. "I need to go home for dinner soon. Where do you live? Is it far?"

"Not really," Naruto replied, "it only took me fifteen minutes to get here from the schoolhouse."

Sasuke turned and began walking to the exit with his new friend beside him. "You go to the main one, right?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, then asked, "hey, how come I've never seen you around?"

"Uchiha children go to a different school," Sasuke explained.

"Oh, I see." Naruto nodded. "Hey, what's your favorite subject?"

The two boys walked companionably side by side, getting to know one another. Soon, the trees disappeared completely and they stepped on the paved road that signaled the beginning of the town proper.

"Do you know your way back from here?" Sasuke asked.

"Yup," Naruto answered, looking around. "I live down that way," he pointed at the road that lead downtown and the mountains, "I have an apartment at the top of one of the buildings."

"Really?" Sasuke had to admit that was pretty cool. He didn't know any other kid who had his own apartment. "Well, I live over there," he pointed to his left where low buildings clustered together to form a quiet neighborhood, "that's where all the Uchihas live."

Naruto grinned. "So, see you tomorrow, right?"

"Tomorrow," Sasuke nodded.

Naruto ran a few steps ahead before turning back and waving. "Bye, Sasuke!"

Sasuke waved, and turned toward home.