Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I just wish I did.

Beta: the lovely Midnight-Kitsune11. Thank you for all your hard work. ;-)

Warning: Sasunaru! Meaning malexmale love people! If You don't like it, don't read it!

AN: Alright, so most of you will wonder why I started a new fic, when I already have so many I'm working on... *Schrugs* Well, this plot bunny just wouldn't leave me alone!

Summary:

After a nearly deadly beating Naruto gets his soul mark early. Years later he meets his soulmate, who isn't aware of their bond. Things turn for the worst as Sasuke's family gets massacred by his older brother, and Naruto despairs as their bond still isn't completed. How will a soulmate bond between Naruto and Sasuke affect the series? Will Sasuke acknowledge the blond? And once the bond discovered, will Sasuke still leave him for Orochimaru? Soulmate!Sasunaru

Chapter 1: Discovering a mark

Naruto had been alone his whole life. His earliest memories were of hiding in his closet because he knew his room wasn't safe. He had always been in the orphanage - little monsters didn't have parents after all, didn't deserve them.

Or so the matron told him. She was a kind elder lady. Always ready to help the children and play with them. All the children except for him.

On his fifth birthday, Naruto gained some hope. The matron had thrown him out of the orphanage. He knew why she did it. It was the Kyuubi festival today. The villagers were always more aggressive on his birthday. Still that day was different. Villagers liked to beat him up, but this year shinobi got involved. Only one, and he was drunk.

All he remembered was pain, fear, and a desperate wish not to die. For someone to save him.

He woke up the next day, still in a dark alleyway. He collected the rags that were once clothes and tried to cover himself as best as he could. He healed fast, he knew that. Abnormally fast, freakishly fast, as the matron had pointed out to him. Still, he was covered in blood and this time, some wounds were still present. One was a shallow cut across his chest from right over his chest to his navel. It was still bleeding together with a stab wound on his stomach. His small hands covered his stomach and tried to push the broken skin back together.

He sobbed and tried to keep from throwing up as he could still see the depth of that wound. Only later, when he was mostly healed and tried to wash away the blood in a small river on the outskirts of the village, near the shinobi training fields, did he notice the mark that had appeared over his heart.

It looked like a paper fan; the top half was red while the bottom was white. Later as he walked through the village, he noticed a lot of people who were wearing the same mark. On their clothes though, no one seemed to have the mark on their skin. At least not that he could see. He spent days observing the people. He learned they were all part of a clan, the Uchiha clan.

He didn't understand… Why had he that mark? Had one of his attackers given it to him? And if so, why would they do that? Was it some sort of slave brand? But why enslave him and leave him alone afterwards?

It didn't make any sense to him… He wanted to go to the library to find out what he could but faced two major problems; one, no one had taught him to read and two, the librarian had chased him out.

He watched from behind a corner as other people and young kids studying to be shinobi were let in. He frowned and turned back around.

He spend the next two years on the streets of Konoha. Life was hard. While there were other orphans and street rats, all were older than him, and they didn't like him any better than the other villagers. His only speck of light in the darkness, had been meeting the Ichiraku family.

Ichiraku Teuchi had seen him on an evening scavenging what he could from their bins outside the shop. Why the man had helped him, he didn't know, but he was grateful. Ayame, the daughter of the elder man, had practically adopted him on sight. Her mother had passed away some years ago but the girl had always wished for a sibling. They took him in, fed him and gave him a place to sleep. In return he insisted on helping in the shop. He didn't want to be seen by customers and so asked to stay and help in the kitchen. He didn't want to affect their business. Teuchi had been hesitant. The look in his eyes was sad, but understanding. So he helped in the kitchen, boiling the noodles, washing vegetables and the like. Teuchi didn't want to give him a lot to do, insisting he was still a child and wasn't old enough yet to handle knives.

Ayame, who was about 10 years older than him, taught him to read and write. She played with him and cuddled him, not once claiming she was too old for such nonsense as he had seen older siblings say to youngers.

But most importantly, they taught him to smile and laugh. It was a happy time.

Ayame had been the one to see his mark and ask him about it. When he explained he didn't know how he got it, she must have talked to her father about it. Teuchi had spoken to Naruto alone about it, asking more details. The beatings had mostly stopped since he had started living with them so Naruto was reluctant to tell the man about it.

But he did cave in the end. Teuchi had cried for him that night, had cried with him as he hugged the small boy tightly. Ayame, hearing what was going on but not knowing what had caused it, simply joined them in their hug.

Later Ayame surprised him by bringing him books she got him from the library and helped him read them. That's how he found out what his mark was; a soulmark.

Soulmarks were a sign of a soulmate bond.

Usually marks appeared by their 18th birthday, the day their body reached maturity. Shinobi were considered adults earlier, the day they became genin, but it was generally agreed that 12-13 year olds were only adults in name. They needed to be able to do missions without needing to ask parental permission for every single mission. But it was frowned upon for such young children to drink, have sex and other stuff that were considered a privilege of becoming an adult. This was one of the tasks of their jounin sensei; teach them what was appropriate for their age, and what was not.

Naruto had gotten his mark early, and it was nothing to be happy about. Marks always appeared on the 18th birthday, except if the person had come so close to dying his or her soul cried out to their mate. A half bond would be created. The mate wouldn't be aware of it until their 18th birthday. For now he only had half a mark. Only the clan symbol of his mate. Naruto frowned. Uchiha weren't particularly friendly towards him. True they weren't worse that the others, but he still hoped his mate would at least like him.

And he would know, when he met him. His mark would change the moment the met his mate. A name would appear over the Uchiha symbol and the bond would form from his side, only. Bonded pairs were gifted with the ability to feel what the other felt. Couples who had consummated the bond, and Teuchi had blushed when he asked about that before telling him he would explain when Naruto was older, could even develop a telepathic ability.

Still, Naruto had been skeptical about it all. A Soulmate, really? Did everyone get them? It appeared so.

But the idea that there was someone out there who could love him gave him hope. Sure Teuchi and Ayame cared about him, but they were the only ones, and they had each other as well. The idea of a love just for him warmed him from head to toe.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

He would never forget the day he met the Hokage. He had been sitting on the swing in the playground, watching other kids play. He wanted to join but he was old enough to know better by now.

"Naruto-kun." The man had greeted him. Sadness and joy radiated from the old man.

Naruto got up from the swing and took a step backwards. He eyed the man suspiciously.

The man flinched. "Oh, dear boy, how I have failed you."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen. I'm the Hokage of Konoha." He approached the boy carefully, raising his hands in the universal sign of peace.

Naruto let the man approach, but didn't let his guard down. This seemingly harmless old man was the strongest shinobi in the village after all. If he wanted to hurt him, he wouldn't be able to escape. Running didn't have any meaning.

The man sat down next to him. Naruto frowned. Why would the man lower himself like that, sitting in the dirt with him?

"Gomen, Naruto-kun." Started the man.

Naruto stared blankly at the man as he tried to explain why he apologized. Apparently he was supposed to have an ANBU squad, whatever that was, keeping an eye on him. He didn't understand why he was supposed to be guarded, why would people assume the villagers would try to harm him?

The man hadn't know he had been thrown out of the Orphanage, that he had been living on the streets. Naruto tilted his head when he heard this. Why would the Hokage keep tabs on him like that?

He offered Naruto his own apartment, and entrance to the Academy so he could become a shinobi.

"Why?"

"Why what, Naruto-kun?"

"Why would I want an apartment? And why would I want to be a shinobi?"

The man was stunned in silence.

"I'm going home."

The man had followed him to the ramen bar and had seemed stunned to discover Teuchi had taken Naruto in almost a year ago.

Naruto fell asleep in his nee-chan's arms that night, instead of on his futon. He wouldn't leave the only people who cared about him. He wouldn't!

Still, Ayame and Teuchi tried to raise his enthusiast about starting at the Academy. The Hokage had handed in his application before their talk, so he would have to go whether he wanted to or not…

"Maybe you'll meet your mate there." Suggested Ayame, and really how could he say no to that?

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

His first day at the Academy nearly brought him to tears.

His sensei singled him out and made sure Naruto knew he hated him. His classmates laughed at him and no one tried to talk to him. It wasn't anything new, nor had he expected different, but still he had allowed himself to hope and hated himself for it.

He had met his mate and the less said about that, the better.

Uchiha Sasuke seemed nice. They were in the same class. The boy was considered a prodigy but only seemed to care about getting stronger. The first day of school and he already had a fan club.

Naruto had gasped and grabbed his jacket above his heart as he felt the kanji of Sasuke's name ink themselves into his skin, on top of the Uchiha clan symbol. It hurt. Was it supposed to hurt?

He had been unconscious when he had gotten the first part of his mark.

The boy was annoyed most of the day. The bond had opened on his side and he had trouble adjusting to it. Their teacher had taken them outside in the afternoon and set them up for taijutsu spars. Why, he had no idea. Iruka-sensei said it was to see where everyone was in their education, but Naruto thought that should have been obvious. Most children were from civilian background and, like him, didn't have any knowledge or experience so children from clans had a distinctive advantage.

Somehow he had ended up paired with Sasuke. The boy was still annoyed. His raven bangs hung on either side of his face as he frowned at Naruto. The spar was over before it had begun. Naruto, so used to being beaten up, hadn't reacted as the other boy beat him up. The Uchiha stopped as his sensei called the match to an end. He sneered at the blond, who laid on the ground where he had been thrown and sneered.

"Dobe."

He turned around and didn't look back.

Naruto felt his heart break a little.

It didn't get better. Naruto had a hard time adjusting to his side of the bond. At school Sasuke was impatient and annoyed, clearly not pleased by his progress. The girls bothering him didn't help. After school hours, his feelings got lighter, but not by much. Naruto tried to act overly cheerful to counteract those feelings. He starting pranking people to distract him from his pain. It hurt that Sasuke wouldn't acknowledge him and when he did it was to sneer or glare at him. Still Naruto wasn't going to stop trying. Slowly gaining confidence, he started challenging the other, claiming Sasuke as his rival. He improved with every spar they had and after the last one, Sasuke had studied him for a few seconds.

But one night everything changed. Again.

Naruto woke up crying out in pain and fear and neither Ayame or Teuchi could calm him down. Until suddenly, the feelings disappeared, leaving emptiness. He was too out of it to do more then let the two cuddle him back to sleep.

The next day he would hear rumors. Sasuke wasn't in school and Iruka-sensei explained his whole family had died. Sasuke was in the hospital. Naruto wanted to feel shocked, and sad, but the empty feeling was so big he couldn't manage a smile for the next two days. He snuck into the hospital, only to be intercepted by the Hokage, who had just left Sasuke's room. The man wouldn't let him visit, but assured Naruto Sasuke would be okay.

When Sasuke came back to school, Naruto's heart broke, utterly and completely.

The boy had changed, so much. True he had never been happy go lucky, but this was… Sasuke was brooding. It was all he ever did. Brooding and hating. He hated everything, everyone around him.

The hatred would lessen slightly over the coming years, but that first hate filled look the raven gave him killed him. It seemed no bond had formed on Sasuke's part despite being in the hospital for multiple days. Hadn't Sasuke been in a life-threatening situation? Wasn't that a condition to unlock a soul bond early? Or did that simply mean that Sasuke wasn't meant to be his? Would he be alone for the rest of his life? The hate, the disgust aimed at him, broke Naruto's heart in thousands of pieces and he wasn't sure anything could ever pull it back together.

TBC?

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