The Discovery
I was in love with him.
Completely, clumsily, painfully in love.
Washington State, USA
August 8th, 1989
It was so bright.
Dogs were being walked, citizens were jogging, chatting, and a swarm of children flooded the newly renovated playground that was the benefaction of the city's surrounding wealth.
It was perfect. The sky, the trees, the people; they melded beautifully together to create the scenic tranquillity that was Bremerton Park.
And Sasuke Uchiha wanted to capture it.
"Sasuke, honey, are you ready to go have some lunch, now?"
A tiny four year old boy by said name shook his head frenziedly, gazing up at his mother from his cross legged perch on the grass, pleading, "Not yet, mommy. I'm not done." He fearfully clutched the paintbrush in his chubby baby hands. He didn't want to go home yet. At least, not when his muse was so beautiful.
His mother smiled at her almost twin, also sitting cross legged, yet chose to utilize the dark blue throw she brought along unlike her son, whose affinity for the grass was beyond her comprehension.
Looking at his artwork, the thirty-one year old woman covered her mouth in silent laughter. Her child took everything so seriously, especially when he painted. His mature intensity starkly contrasted the juvenile strokes along the small canvas.
The little black haired Uchiha glanced down at the canvas in his lap and frowned, resting his cheek on his propped arm in frustration.
He was missing something.
Sasuke grabbed the plastic plate his mother squeezed all of his paint onto, his onyx eyes vacillating between his paints, the park, and his unfinished portrait.
What was missing?
"Mikoto! Is that you!"
Simultaneously, the four year old and his mother turned towards the exclamation. A woman of Mikoto's stature flopped down on her knees carelessly next to the two Uchihas and flung her arms around the woman she claimed to know. Sasuke swiftly maneuvered his painting out of harm's way from the strange woman's seemingly boundless tresses of long, fiery red hair.
"K-Kushina!" Sasuke watched as his mother hugged back just as hysterically. "Oh my— what brings you here? I thought you were in Charleston!"
Both women stood, wiping what appeared to Sasuke as tears from their faces, laughing nonetheless. The young Uchiha remained seated, studying their behavior with big, curious eyes. Kushina seemed important, but Sasuke could not recall ever meeting her before. Who was this woman?
"Minato is stationed in Bremerton now! Well, at least for the time being. We moved here last weekend." Kushina moved to grip Mikoto's hands, giving them a squeeze, gushing, " It is a blessing to see you, but a shame that we haven't spoken in so long."
"I agree completely. I'm so sorry at my lack of attempts to see of my dear sister." Mikoto stated, squeezing back just as hard.
Sister? Sasuke thought his mother had no siblings, and they look nothing alike!
The red headed woman shook her head in dismissal, negating the proposed faults of the elegant woman before her. "Nonsense, girl. You still speak it." She then turned to Sasuke, grinning madly. "Oh my lord, child! He has gotten so big!" She kneeled down on the grass gently in front of the Uchiha boy, who was now clutching his painting to his chest protectively, brush still in hand. His large eyes shown shiny with curiosity and apprehension. Kushina simply smiled, extending her tan hand out, "Sasuke, sweetheart, you may not remember me, but I'm your Auntie Kushi!"
Auntie Kushi?
Sasuke continued to stare, his gaze now much more apprehensive than curious. Slowly, very slowly, he placed his pudgy, pale hand into her sunkissed one, and shook it.
Immediate fear struck the four year old's face as he was abruptly pulled into a crushing, bruising embrace.
Don't cry. Don't cry. Uchihas do not cry.
"Goodness, Mikoto he looks just like you! I just wanna take 'im home and eat his cute wittle face!"
A pouty lip quivered, a pale face flushed, and obsidian eyes blurred…
Sasuke started crying.
"Oh no, nonono, don't cry, sweety! I'm so sorry!" Kushina let the protesting child loose, to which he hastefully used the opportunity given and ran for his mother.
The older Uchiha giggled while trying to soothe her child with repetitive pats on dark tufts of hair. "It's alright, he's just very shy, more than even Itachi was. He knows you were merely being friendly. Right, Sasuke?" Sasuke only buried his head in his mother's leg further.
Kushina stood, wringing her hands in thought of a way to right her wrong. Her face then brightened as if she had procured some plan that could be considered either brilliant, or disastrous.
The fiery woman bent over, becoming eye level with Sasuke, and asked, "Sasuke, I apologize for scaring you. Would you like to meet my son? He's around your age and much less scarier!" He said nothing, only peeking out a curious wet eye.
Kushina grinned, knowing she'd won.
She turned to the playground flooded with zealous children, shouting, "Naruto!"
Sasuke's one eye squinted at the playground in annoyed confusion. There were too many kids. He didn't know which one his apparent Auntie Kushi was yelling at.
Then, a yellow and orange blob came careening towards them at full speed, halting his dusty black sneakers right before the dark blue edge of the throw.
Sasuke lifted his head, staring with tranced eyes at the slightly taller boy before him.
He was so bright.
"Yes, ma'am?"
The boy had not noticed Sasuke, and instead was panting at his mother's side waiting for her response with big, blue eyes.
"Say hi to your Auntie Mikoto and her son, Sasuke."
The smaller Uchiha flushed when those blue eyes landed on him, thinking of how those eyes held the true color of what the sky might have primitively been.
The blonde grinned, waving cheekily, "Hi, Auntie! Hi S'uke! I'm Naruto Namikaze!" He then outreached a not-so chubby hand that was slightly darker than his mother's.
Sasuke couldn't help but note how much the boy emulated his mother. They were both too friendly.
"It's Sasuke."
"Huh?"
Sasuke frowned slightly, because repeating himself prompted him to speak more than he wanted to. "Sasuke. It's not S'uke."
Naruto's happy attitude faltered, and he dropped his hand, "Oh, sorry."
They continued to stare at one another in dismay, both too stubborn to initiate anything more than what had just occurred.
Mikoto coughed lightly, rubbing her son on the back, "Why don't you show Naruto your painting, hmm?"
The pale boy reluctantly released his mother's leg, and did one final glance up to gage his mother's demeanor to confirm whether or not he absolutely had to go show his artwork to the other boy.
Yes, he had to.
Sasuke dragged his sandal clad feet to where he had flung his canvas in neglect when escaping his supposed Auntie Kushi. He picked it up and dusted the grass off of it. Some grass, however, dried within certain spots of wet paint, and to Sasuke, his artwork was now ruined. He glared at nothing in particular and handed the canvas to the other boy without care.
"You painted the park? Wow! It's real good S'uke! And you put real grass on it, I love them!" A blinding grin was then aimed at the Uchiha, who turned his face away, blushing. "Can I have it?"
"...no."
"Why not!"
"It's not done yet. Give it to me." Sasuke snatched the canvas away and hugged it to his chest, careful not to let it brush against his blue shirt. It was his favorite shirt.
"When it's done may I have it, please?"
The young painter forcibly looked anywhere else in the park than at the troublesome boy in front of him. Naruto seemingly had the powers to keep his cheeks warm with an aggravating shade of pink. Now he understood why his parents fancied the use of manners so often. It made people feel good.
Manners were also favorable for the second party, seeing as they prompt others to give you what you want. Sasuke had an aching suspicion that this boy usually got what he wanted.
"Maybe." The Uchiha's brows furrowed further at the victory smile Naruto proudly wore.
Yeah, apparently to the young Namikaze "maybe" usually meant "yes".
"Naruto, let's get going, your dad is probably home from work by now with lunch!" Auntie Kushi hollered from afar, making her way to the profusion of parked cars, primarily SUVs, towards the edge of the expansive park. "Bye, Sasuke, honey!"
The blonde child turned from Sasuke without an ounce of farewell and sprinted to his mother. Once he grabbed her hand to hold, Naruto and the older springy Namikaze turned to wave at the two Uchihas. Sasuke barely returned the gesture.
"Alright, Sasuke, I think it's our time to go as well. Are you ready for lunch?"
"Yes, but I have one more thing for my painting." Sasuke took to his former position on the grass, gathering his brush, paint, and canvas once again.
He knew what he was missing.
He neatly dipped his paintbrush in yellow, and smoothly applied it to his artwork, ensuring that he avoided any grass pieces.
"There, done." He held it up next to the scenery of the park to assess his final work. With a slight blush and a small smile, he beheld his painting, highly pleased at its new edition.
The Sun.
I know this didn't need to be rated M, but I didn't want anyone to get interested when that will soon be the true nature of the plot line. With this story, I'm trying something a tad out of my comfort zone as an attempt to challenge myself as a creator. I've garnered inspiration from Fanfiction authors such as CerealK, Uzumakiflame, Fiend Maz, Usami-Sensei, and so, so many more.
This work of fiction may come out to be the similar to every other cliché NaruSasu out there, but I hope that it doesn't. I want to offer a fresh scent into the fandom and portray these characters in the light that I view them, while also giving you readers a glimpse of myself. Soo...
Thanks for the support, y'all!
S.A.