Author's note: Uhm…I hope you like it as much as I will enjoy writing it.
Rating: T (for now. might have to change it to M)
Disclaimer: I have absolutely no rights to Naruto.
*a smidge out of character*
AU: for the fact that their school is a normal school and Naruto still has parents. woot woot
"Ahh she's beautiful Mebuki!" the lady of the house smiled as she looked down at the small pink haired child.
"Thank you, Mikoto" the mother of the child replied with a grin. "Where are your sons?"
"They're somewhere around here," the darker haired woman said as she motioned the two into their mansion-esque home. "Come in, come in. No need to stand out here."
The visitor and her young daughter held hands as they moved into the home. Neat and trim, just as Mebuki had expected it to be. She laughed aloud to herself. Emerald green eyes peered up at her in confusion but she just shook her head with a slight smile. Squeezing her daughter's hand, she lead her into the backyard, where the youngest son was waiting.
At the sight of the strangers, the young boy scrambled around to find a hiding place. Keeping his eyes low to the ground he made himself believe that he was invisible from anyones sight. The pinkette laughed quietly.
"Sasuke, it's ok," the boy's mother told him as she appeared behind Mebuki, closing the door behind here.
The boy's face perked up at the sound of his lovely mother's voice. Running at top speed he leaped onto the deck and grabbed his mother's hands, standing somewhat behind her for protection. Peering behind his raven bangs he caught sight of the pinkette and quickly searched for a new object to stare at. His onyx eyes darting from the sticks on the ground back to the emerald eyes of the little girl made both of the older women laugh.
"Silly boy," his mother said with a smile, ruffling up the child's dark hair, earning a big smile in return. "Sasuke, this is my friend Mebuki. And this is her daughter, Sakura. Go ahead, introduce yourself."
"Hn," was all the boy could say before being forced out from hiding. After receiving a stern look from his mother, the onyx eyed boy glanced from mother to child. Nodding at each, he finally replied with a quiet "hello."
With a slight tinge of pink on her cheeks, the young girl slowly smiled. The moment their eyes met, she quickly grew redder and averted her eyes onto the small pond.
"Sakura, are you being shy?" Mebuki chuckled, moving towards the chairs in the shade. "Go play Sakura, i'll be right over here. Don't worry." Letting go of her daughter's hand, she walked behind Mikoto over towards the chairs, located on the deck, under the shade of a large tree.
Sitting down, she watched her daughter from afar. "How do you like your long hair?" she asked out of the blue, combing her fingers thru her short hair, with a slight scowl on her face.
Mikoto, clearly caught off guard, stared at her friend for a moment before answering. "I like it. I mean, it's all i've ever known, so I guess I'm just comfortable with it." She smiled, watching her son quietly walking towards the pinkette. Sasuke looked back at her, and she nodded in approval, relieving Sasuke of his stress. "I've always known Sasuke to be a tad skittish, but I wasn't aware it was this bad," laughing as she looked back at her friend.
Smiling to herself, Mebuki replied "Could it be he's not used to being around girls? Particularly cute ones?" Hearing this, the boy's cheeks began to turn crimson and he rushed over to the pond. Getting down onto his knees, he pretended to be distracted by the fish. Sakura looked at her mom with a puzzled expression. "Go over there."
Turning slightly in the breeze, the pinkette wandered after the boy. Her light orange dress, swaying in the wind, began making a strange sound, attracting the boys attention. Putting his left hand onto the edge of the pond, a fish came near and caught Sasuke off guard.
With a loud splash, the two friends began to laugh, watching Sasuke in disbelief over half falling into the water. Scared, Sakura began running towards him to help.
"That was unexpected," Mikoto said between breaths. "Sasuke is usually very poised and graceful."
Sakura, with her dress half drenched in water, was holding onto Sasuke, who refused to look at her face. Looking very serious and annoyed, he allowed Sakura to help pull him up before he would fall in again.
"You're all wet," he bluntly stated.
"I know."
"You aren't mad?"
"No."
"Why?"
"'Cuz I thought you were hurt," Sakura smiled down at the boy in her lap. She reached out to stroke his hair, but he brushed her hand away.
"I-I'm ok." Sasuke stood up and looked down at her, meeting her gaze. Slightly turning red, he moved over to the growing tree next to the pond; Sakura following closely behind.
"My sweet sweet girl. She gets attached quickly," Mebuki warned. Her dark green eyes grazing over the scenery, stopping at the onyx pair staring back at her.
"Sasuke isn't going anywhere," Mikoto said, her onyx eyes sparkling at the idea of their kids being friends, or more. "I think our children look cute together. We'll be needing Sakura and you to come over more often," she smiled. "If not for my sake, then for Sasuke's."
"Of course. It would be great for our children to grow up together," Mebuki smiled in return.
Sakura and Sasuke were sitting underneath the small tree, staring up at the cherry blossoms starting to bloom. A light gust of wind caused a small bud to fall onto Sakura's hair. Sasuke moved close to her and removed it, laughing. Sakura smiled in awe.
"How's Itachi?" Mebuki asked. Noticing her friends uncomfortable stature, she tried to change the subject. "I'm trying to convince Sakura into letting her hair grow out, but she's being stubborn."
"Oh? I think she'd look good with long hair. It's sometimes tough to manage, but if she ever needs help with any tangles, Sasuke can handle it. He's always brushing my hair," she laughed, stroking her own long hair, mesmerized.
"What?"
"What? Is that odd? Sasuke likes to brush my hair. Although I think it's more so he just wants to spend time with me, but either way," she smiled, looking at the two kids playing. They had moved from the tree and back to the pond, watching the fish.
"And Itachi is doing good. He's been to the doctors a few times, and was given new medication. So far he hasn't had any problems," Mikoto finally told Mebuki, looking up at the sky. Slowly, she let out a deep breath.
"That's good. Any idea what it is he has?"
"Not yet. Once they think they have it figured out, he develops a new symptom to disprove them," she shrugged.
Sakura and Sasuke began to play a game of tag when their mother's called them over. Without thinking, Sasuke grabbed hold of Sakura's hand and pulled her with him, using all of his might.
"Let's go inside, it's getting to be a bit chilly," Mikoto told the children. Looking down at the children's hands, she raised an eyebrow with a grin.
"S-She was taking too long," Sasuke quietly said, slightly turning red. He quickly let go of Sakura's hand and ran inside without looking behind him.
"Sasuke!" Mikoto called after the boy. "Wait for our guests to enter the house first," she said under her breath.
"It's all right. Sasuke was more than gentlemen like, right Sakura?" Mebuki said, teasing her daughter.
Fixing her newly dried dress, Sakura looked up at Mikoto and slowly shook her head yes.
"Did you two have fun?" Mikoto asked, curious as to how the pinkette felt about her son.
"Yes. A lot!" Sakura exclaimed. Surprised by her own outburst, she blushed and looked down.
"You know, Sakura, I've been told Sasuke likes long hair. Isn't that interesting?" Mebuki smiled, tilting her head towards Sakura, continuing to tease her innocent daughter.
Sakura looked up, blush still on her face. "I like long hair too…," she mumbled.
Beaming at one another, the ladies entered the house.
"We should get going. Kizashi should be done with work and he said he had wanted to show Sakura something 'special'," Mebuki sighed, shaking her head.
"When would you like to meet again? I know Sakura would love to meet Itachi and play with Sasuke again." At her mother's words, with excited eyes, Sakura began looking around the room for the boy. After a minute of searching, she looked back at the older ladies staring down at her. She laughed at herself and began to stare down at her feet, moving one slightly around.
"I think-" "MIKOTO!" a voice exclaimed, interrupting her. "GET IN HERE NOW. ITACHI!"
After recognizing the voice's owner and hearing her elder son's name, Mikoto went into full alert, darting out of the room while shouting "Sasuke, see them out!"
Sasuke, coming from around the corner of the dining room, with big onyx eyes walked them hurriedly to the front door. "I'm sorry. Itachi needs them right now."
"That's all right. I hope your brother is ok. And tell your mom that we can hang out whenever he gets better, and if she needs anything at all, we'll be around to help," Sakura's mom told the young boy in earnest. She reached out her hand to Sasuke and they shook hands without saying a word.
"I-I'm sorry Sasuke…" Sakura said, unsure of what she should have been saying.
"It's ok. This happens all of the time," Sasuke explained, keeping his face down.
"Come now, Sakura. Let's leave them be. You two will see each other again."
Mebuki started to walk away, leaving the two children alone.
"I-I guess I have to go now. It was fun," her emerald eyes starting to glaze over slightly.
"Hey!" Sasuke started to shout. "No crying."
"But…I'm gonna miss you."
"Hn."
Sakura began to rub her eyes with her right hand when Sasuke grabbed her left hand. Startled, she slowly looked up at him. With a peculiar look on Sasuke's face, he too quietly said. "You're….-"
"Sasuke. What did you say?" Deciding she didn't really want to know the answer, Sakura, took her hand away from Sasuke and started to walk away, worried Sasuke might be mad at her. She started to pick up speed after realizing her mother was far ahead of her.
"Pretty," Sasuke repeated to himself, while watching the pinkette walking away from him. In the distance, he heard his mother pleading with Itachi to keep breathing, his brother choking on air, and his father cursing. With a sigh he closed the door and proceeded to the chaotic scene.
It had been 2 years before the two would see each other again. Sasuke had all but been forgotten by Sakura.
"Come on Sakura! How on earth does your hair manage to be this bad every morning?!" the short haired woman shouted, as she tugged at her daughter's hair.
"Mama! It hurts!" whimpered her daughter, pulling away from her mother, making matters worse.
Sakura had decided to grow out her hair and with a little assistance from her mother, her hair had grown from shoulder length well down past her rear end. Every morning was a struggle to get her hair under control, mainly because Sakura kept insisting in bathing at night and falling asleep right afterwards, with her wet hair.
"I'm going to have a chat with you friend Ino's mother. I don't know how she keeps her hair so neat," Mebuki sighed, still struggling with the comb in her daughter's hair.
"And thus the men shall rule the world as the women are busy with their looks. HA HA HA," the pinkette's father laughed as he entered the main room. Seeing the look on his wife's face, he moved her out of the way and began to untangle his daughter's thick hair.
"I have to run some errands today. Sakura, I need you to come with me so we can pick up some of your school things," Mebuki said, relaxing on a chair. "It shouldn't take long, and you might run into some of your friends."
"But Mama…," Sakura grumbled, looking up at her mother with pleading eyes.
"Sakura, no one is going to be mean to you. It's all in your head, child," Mebuki sternly scolded.
Looking away, Sakura took the brush from her father and finished brushing her hair. "Thank you," she meekly told him and walked into her room to get ready for the day.
Glancing at each other, the proud parents sighed. Sakura had told them, what they were lead to believe were false accusations, about the younger boys picking on her because of her pink hair. Girls too would pick on her for getting all of the boys attention. When the two had approached the children and their parents, the children would deny everything and the parents would get mad at them. To ease the tension, they would jokingly tell the parents they were sorry and that Sakura wanted to be a storyteller when she grows up so they misheard her when she told them the information. Some of the parents seemed to believe them and some just didn't care for their excuse.
"Good luck," the dark pink haired man told his wife, giving her a kiss on the cheek. He said goodbye to Sakura and walked out of the house, going to work in the early morning.
Shortly after, Sakura came out of her room wearing her usual long sleeved black shirt and yellow-green pants. Pausing at the mirror in the hallway, she messed with her hair some more.
"Sakura, let's go. You look fine."
"But Mama," Sakura said, holding out a red ribbon.
Sighing lightly, Mebuki grabbed the ribbon and wrapped her daughter's hair up in it, tugging lightly to tighten it.
Rechecking herself in the mirror, Sakura giggled and gave her mother a childish grin. Throwing her arms up in the air, pretending to be a plane, she "zoomed" past her mom and out the front door. "Let's go!" she exclaimed with glee.
"Oh Sakura…" Mebuki breathed.
The city of Konoha was as busy as ever. Located in the heart of Konoha was the shopping area. The areas surrounding the shopping area was considered to be where the lower income families had lived.
On the edge of Konoha there were 4 schools. The high school was located in the northernmost point, right next to their Hokage, or less used Mayor's office. To the South was Konoha South; to the East was Konoha East and so forth. The smaller schools held all of the children under the age of 13. Depending on where the family was registered, their kids might go to , but their neighbors might go to .
"Sakura, do you know what items you need to start school?" Mebuki quizzed her daughter.
"uhm…paper, pencils, markers, rain coat-"
"So you're going to Konoha West?" Mebuki interjected.
Sakura nodded.
"Do you know anyone else who's going to be there?"
"Ino. Some of those girls…" Sakura trailed off, becoming emotional.
"Sakura. Relax. You're a big kid now, going off to school, being on your own," Mebuki said, frowning. She didn't know why Sakura had such low self-esteem. Her parents had never given her any reason to not love herself. Mebuki even made it her goal for her daughter to love everything about herself and to not be vain. So far, it wasn't going very well.
"I know," Sakura timidly replied. "Oh! Mama, do you see those raincoats?" Sakura pointed out.
As they approached the store, an old friend was coming out.
"Mebuki!" "Mikoto!" the two women exclaimed at once, giving each other a hug as quickly as they could.
Moving out of the way, the three ladies moved over to an unoccupied bench. Sitting down, grinning, Mebuki broke the silence. "It's been awhile! How are you? How's Sasuke and Itachi?"
"My boys should be around here somewhere. Itachi took Sasuke to go get new shoes. His old ones have gotten so muddy," Mikoto laughed. She smiled at Sakura. "Do you remember Sasuke?" she asked.
"Mmhmm," the pinkette mumbled, a shiny yellow raincoat catching her eye.
"Oh? Were you getting a raincoat? Does that mean Sakura is going to Konoha West?" Mikoto asked.
"She sure is. Just like her Mama and Papa," Mebuki beamed. "What about Sasuke? Or are you homeschooling him like you were with Itachi?"
"Well, we had to with Itachi. He'd miss too many classes and i'm afraid that the children wouldn't be so understanding about Itachi's predicament," Mikoto explained. "And Sasuke is going to as well!"
"Too bad they keep the girls and boys separated into different classrooms," Mebuki shrugged. "Do you remember when they merge them?"
"I think it's at 8 or 9 years old, depending on how they scored on their placement tests. But I don't remember, it's been so long!" Mikoto laughed, shaking her head. "There they are," she smiled.
Jumping up in excitement, Sakura launched herself off of the bench and into the middle of the busy street.
"Sakura!" Mebuki shouted, not being able to see her daughter very well.
"Huh? Mama? Mama!" the pinkette shouted, getting lost in the crowd. Being pushed and shoved around by the crowd, she knelt and grabbed her knees, starting to cry.
"Hey, take my hand," a man told her.
Sakura looked up and was mesmerized by the man's smile.
"It's ok. I'm going to help you," he said, starting to worry.
"Sasuke…?" Sakura asked in disbelief, blinking several times.
"No, no. Itachi," he replied with a grin, pulling the young girl up onto her feet.
Grabbing the man's left hand as he began to leave she felt a jolt.
"What was that?" she asked, staring at their hands.
"Hey, I have her!" Itachi shouted at his mom, not hearing the girl's question.
Sakura and Itachi crossed through the traffic and reached the bench, now empty.
"Don't do that to me!" Mebuki scolded.
Sakura slowly moved behind Itachi, trying to hide from everyone's view. Her embarrassment grew as her mom continued to scold her.
"She's ok now. That's all that matters," Itachi said, trying to calm the angry mother.
Blushing at the fact that she was being defended after just being saved by the man, she hid her face even more before anyone else could see.
"Hey brother, you left me behind!" Sasuke complained as he finally caught up to everyone. "What happened to you?"
"Forgive me Sasuke. I had someone I had to save," he grinned.
"What?" Sasuke asked, trying to see who it was he was talking about.
Cautiously returning into view, Sakura's cheeks were still red. She refused to meet anyone's face.
Sasuke, astonished, ran his hand through his hair, contemplating.
"H-Hi again…" he meekly said.
"Hi Sasuke," Sakura said, avoiding his eyes still but not letting go of Itachi's hands.
Blood boiling, Sasuke glared slightly at Itachi before he turned away. Mikoto patted his head softly, noticing his reaction. Sasuke sat down on the bench, looking down at his feet.
"Sakura, why don't you go pick out a raincoat?" Mebuki asked.
"Oh. O-Ok," Sakura stuttered. Never letting go of Itachi's hand, Sakura led them into the shop.
Before entering, Itachi's onyx eyes met with Sasuke's. Mirroring expressions, Itachi averted his eyes and mouthed 'sorry'.
Sasuke's cheeks began to flush.
Sighing amongst themselves, the elder women looked at each other with worried eyes.
"Was Sakura missing her bow?" Mebuki inquired.
"I think so," Mikoto confirmed, chewing on the inside of her mouth.
A few minutes passed in silence before Itachi and Sakura returned.
"What color did you get?" Mikoto mused, tilting her head, smiling.
"Green," Sakura replied, smiling at her bag. She let go of Itachi's hand and froze for a second before she handed the bag over to her mom.
"Sasuke, don't you think green would look cute on Sakura?" Mikoto asked.
"Hn."
"Did you know you two are going to the same school?"
"Hn."
Sasuke kept his eyes down while everyone watched him. Itachi approached Sasuke and put his hands on the younger child's shoulders. Looking up at his big brother, Sasuke started to revert back to his older self.
"How about some ice cream? I can take Sakura and Sasuke, so you two can finish shopping and catching up," Itachi said.
"Mama can I?" Sakura asked, clearly excited by the way she was tugging at her mom's shirt.
"I don't see why not," Mebuki said.
"Meet back here in half an hour you three," Mikoto commanded.
Itachi nodded his head.
Sasuke got off of the bench, putting his hands into his pockets, sighing.
Sakura cheered to herself, grinning from ear to ear.
Whilst walking down the crowded street, Sakura watched the boys walk in front of her. Itachi was a lot taller than Sasuke but he also seemed a lot more frail. Their hair color was the same and they matched each other with how they walked. Something about the elder brother attracted Sakura and she wanted to know more about him, but with there being a big age gap, she was afraid he would just disregard her.
"H-How old are you?" Sakura blurted out without thinking.
Itachi turned around, confused as to why she would ask.
"11," he stated.
A tinge of pink started to appear on the pinkette, and Itachi laughed at it.
"We're here," Sasuke interjected, not liking the way his brother and his friend were acting. Sasuke had only ever felt jealousy a few times, and that was whenever his father would compare the brothers. Sasuke always felt like he came up short somehow, despite not being the sick one.
"Which one would you like?" Itachi asked the pair.
"I'll get it myself," Sasuke snorted, trying to act older than what he really was.
Itachi handed him some change and Sasuke approached the vendor. Staring, Sakura watched Sasuke as he picked out the flavor her wanted. Amazed at how little effort Sasuke had needed to approach someone he didn't know, Sakura didn't notice the elder brother laughing at them.
Returning proudly, Sasuke showed off to Itachi. Itachi nodded in approval and took his turn at the vendor.
Emerald eyes softening at the sight of Itachi ordering and joking with the vendor, she was in awe of him, her mouth opening slightly.
Annoyed, Sasuke pushed Sakura to move behind Itachi.
Breaking out of her trance, she accidentally bumping into Itachi.
"Are you ok?" Itachi asked.
"Y-Yes," Sakura blushed.
"It's your turn, here," he passed her money and walked over to Sasuke.
"You really should be nicer to her," Itachi chastised his younger brother. "You want to be friends, right? Friends don't hurt friends."
Sasuke scowled at his brother as he took a small bite of his ice cream. It was too cold for Sasuke's liking. Looking around at the other vendors nearby, Sasuke noticed one that was selling hair items and utensils.
Reaching into his pockets, Sasuke pulled out some extra change he had had from earlier today. "Hold this," Sasuke told his brother, shoving his ice cream into his hands. Sasuke ran off to the vendor.
Shortly after, before Sakura had even returned from picking out her ice cream, Sasuke returned with a red ribbon in his hand.
Itachi gave him a questioning look. Sasuke's onyx eyes darted towards the pinkette for a split second but Itachi had seen it.
"Here. Hold this. I don't want it to get sticky," Sasuke told Itachi, swapping the ribbon for his ice cream.
Sakura arrived to see Sasuke's ice cream dripping all over his hand. Laughing, she offered him a napkin and quickly turned to offer one to Itachi. Eyes widening, Sakura caught sight of the red ribbon in Itachi's hand.
"Is that…mine?" she questioned, placing her free hand onto her head. "My ribbon?"
"Oh, I guess so," Itachi replied, looking at his younger brother.
Sasuke's happy demeanor quickly turned sour and he looked away, using the napkin to clean off his hand.
"Can you put it on me?" Sakura asked, moving in front of Itachi.
"Sure. Hold this," Itachi told the pinkette, handing his ice cream over to her. He quickly placed the ribbon into its rightful place, but kept it loose.
With a twinkling smile, Sakura handed Itachi his ice cream back, noting that they had both picked the same flavor and thanked him.
"Sakura! It's time to go!" Mebuki shouted, taking sight of her child.
"Coming Mama!" the pinkette shouted back, forgetting about the boys. Quickly running towards her mom, her ribbon started to come undone.
"Wait!" the younger boy yelled.
Sakura turned around to see Sasuke chasing after her, abandoning his ice cream onto the ground. Sasuke caught up with her and grabbed hold of the ribbon before it fell off.
"It wasn't on right," Sasuke quietly said, staring into her eyes.
Sakura didn't respond, making Sasuke feel nervous.
"I'll help you…" Sasuke trailed off, moving his hands into her hair.
After he finished putting the ribbon into her hair and tightening it, he held onto a strand of her hair, seemingly mesmerized.
"You're….pretty…." Sasuke absentmindedly whispered to himself.
Despite himself, Sakura had heard him and had begun to blush feverishly.
"Th-Thank you Sasuke."
Jumping at the realization that he had said it out loud, Sasuke quickly let go of her hair and started running down one of the busy streets.
"I'm on it," Itachi said, rushing past the still stunned pinkette.
"What did he say to you?" Mebuki asked after Sakura finally arrived in front of her.
"N-Nothing," Sakura stumbled.
Behold! The end!
Next chapter will be about the two youngsters finally being in the same class after a few years absence.
I hope you enjoyed this little 2 chapters in 1 enough to continue on with me into the next part. :)