Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke and Sakura would've ended up together by now and no one of the three would have to die in the end.

P.S. This is my first fanfiction in a really long while and my first Naruto fic ever. Go easy on me.


Age 1

"Sasu-chan, don't pull her hair. It's not nice." the melodic voice chided as she gently pried the hands of her youngest off of pink strands. The baby whimpered as his play thing was taken away, his wide obsidian eyes tearing up at the loss of contact.

His tiny hand closed and opened, hoping that the [softsoftsoft] hair came within his range once again. Not long after, his whimper turned into a full blown wail. "Oh my…." Mikoto murmured, not knowing what's wrong. Her first child had been rather complacent therefore relatively easy to take care of. But her Sasu-chan was fussy and needed attention, not that she didn't shower him with it. She could probably drown him with her love and would still have enough for Itachi, and that's just saying a lot of things.

But before she could pick up her son, the tiny girl that sat beside him in the spacious crib crawled nearer and nudged his tiny hand with her own. Mikoto looked at the woman next to her who was silent through the ordeal, as green and black shared a knowing look.

His small hand grasped hers and soon, he found a new toy to play with. Of course, not before saying farewell to his old toy. His other hand took hold of a few short strand of pink hair and gave a weak tug and the small ribbon adorning his friend's head came off.

"Sasu-chan…"

Two small giggles erupted from the little ones.

Age 3

"I don't know what's wrong with him!" Mikoto's exasperation shone through her worry-filled eyes. "It's been 2 days now and he doesn't want to eat his baby food or drink his milk. I've tried everything and–"

The two children sat on highchairs in the kitchen of the Haruno household, giggling and blinking at their mothers, oblivious to the on-going problem. Two bowls of food were placed in front of them, both mothers momentarily forgetting their current task.

Unfortunately, forgetting that they were little angles (well that was completely biased), they started making a mess of the little food they were given. Little Sakura dipped her hand in the bowl of porridge and flicked her goo covered hand towards little Sasuke, splattering his face with bits and pieces of liquid rice. Sasuke immediately stopped laughing and turned to glare at his laughing seatmate, the evidence of the crime still covered her hand. Honestly, one would've expected the little boy to cry but he's an Uchiha and Uchiha's don't cry. So in turn, he scooped up a handful of porridge and smeared it on the pinkette's cheek. That made her stop laughing almost instantly, a small pout adorning her lips and a glare of her own was dished.

Sasuke-chan finally had his revenge. And it was oh-so-sweet.

Age 6

"Ne, Ke-chan let's play outside!" Sakura said as she tugged on the boy's hand. "Sakura, there're people outside" her friend grumbled back at her.

At a young age, Uchiha Sasuke already had taken a dislike towards people, and of course, Haruno Sakura being the same age as him, is still naively [And maybe adorably, but Sasuke's never gonna admit that] clueless. But even at age 4, she knew he didn't play well with others.

Age 4

"Ne, Sasu-chan, can you call Sakura-chan for your Baa-chan? " Mikoto gently prodded his son from his picture book. "But Kaa-chan—" The younger Uchiha whined but his mother just went back to talking animatedly with Haruno-baa-chan. Clearly, he didn't want to go outside. Not where there were ugly hags that just keep on pinching his cheeks, ruffling his hair and saying 'I just wanna eat you up' with that creepy grin of theirs. Yes, this happened minutely whenever he steps out of the house.

"Otouto, do what mother says" A boy with raven hair popped his head in the doorway of the living room, clearly just coming home from a mission. Sasuke looked up to his brother a lot. Being a Jounin at 10 years old was not an easy feat and Sasuke was as sure as hell proud of him even if he understood so little about the shinobi world.

With a resigned sigh, Sasuke mumbled a small 'fine' and made his way out the door, pouting. For a while, he had no idea where to look for his childhood friend. He doesn't play with her outside of his home and she doesn't seem to mind. So he wandered aimlessly for a couple of minutes before he finally saw her. And the scene he was witness just made his blood boil.

Sakura was in the middle of a circle of boys, them being a couple of years older, and she was crying. By now, the Uchiha's used to her constant bawling because of his teasing. But seeing her cry because of the laughing boys and them pointing at her, saying something about her forehead just made something snap inside him.

"Leave her alone"

"Or else what, pipsqueak?" they continued to laugh obnoxiously. "Gonna call your big bad brother?"

Sasuke just glared harder, his small fist clenching. Sakura's finally aware of his presence as she wobbly stood up and weakly pushed the older boy. "Stop picking on him!" Little snots escaping her nose, tears still in her eyes. The boy answered with an indignant 'hey' and pushed her back with more strength that came with age. Sakura tumbled to the ground and bit her lip to stop the onslaught of tears.

Sasuke just saw red [redredred].

No one was exactly sure of what happened, not even Sasuke himself, but the next thing everybody knew was that the boy that pushed [hishishis] Sakura was knocked out on the ground. The little boy was breathing heavily, barely registering the slight throbbing of his fist and everyone was silent.

"Scram."

The sudden appearance if Uchiha Itachi was not surprising. After all, being the overly protective brother that he is, he already has an uncanny ability to tell if his little brother's in trouble. A menacing glare was dished and the boys scrambled to get away, quite literally dragging their unconscious friend.

" 'Chi-nii-chan!" Sakura all but screamed as she ran to Itachi, her arms already thrown upwards as he leaned down and took her in his arms. "It's alright, Sakura. We can go home now." Sniffles still came from her little body as Itachi shifted his hold on her around his hip as his other hand reached for Sasuke's. Of course, being his little brother's only friend made Sakura an exception to Itachi's dislike of loud and annoying kids. His 'brother's-in-trouble-must-go-and-rescue-him-radar ' reaches out to Sakura as well. Because, let's all admit that even at an early age, it's quite certain that she's going to be his little sister in the not so distant future.

He glanced down at Sasuke, still quite proud of him for knocking the kid down. I mean really, he's only four and he can already render people unconscious. He momentarily let go of his hand and ruffled the little Uchiha's hair, a silent compliment.

No one messes with their Sakura.

Of course, this didn't make Sasuke stop glaring at him though.

"Fine bu'dun't bwame me if I find a new pwaymate" she said, pouting. She crossed her arms across her chest. Sasuke knew that it was the beginning of a fight. Sakura's so pigheaded that the last time she was caught for eating a cookie and said that her stuffed toy ate it, she cried when her mother didn't believe her.

Glare.

Glare.

Glare.

"Fine!"

Sasuke took Sakura's hand and dragged her outside. The rosette's face was practically split to half with her smile as she struggled to not trip. She didn't mind though. Honestly, she was fine with staying inside Sasuke's house, she just wanted to annoy him. It's okay if she doesn't get to have many friends or play hide and seek or make crowns out of flowers. Because she knew her Ke-chan. She knew why he would never let her go anywhere alone, why he didn't want her to have more friends, why he didn't want her to go outside.

Because at the age of four, he promised himself to never let her get hurt again.

Age 8

"—he's so nice and he likes to play games with me and he's funny andandandand—" the dark haired boy tried to tune out his friend's on going rant about some boy she met. He flipped his wrist. 'Bull's eye' he smirked proudly. He's finally old enough to ask his brother to teach him how to throw a kunai. The first two days were disastrous, accidentally hitting a cat here and there, breaking his Kaa-san's window and a few embarrassing others. He got a hang of it after his brother readjusted his form though.

"Ke-chan, are you even listening to me?!" His view of the target was suddenly obstructed by the [greengreengreen] eyes of Sakura Haruno.

"Yes, Sakura."

"Oh yeah? What was the last thing I said?"

"…..'said'"

"Sasuke"

"…"

"You're such a big meanie, Ke-chan. Not even listening to me…."

"Che, the kid sounds like a dobe, Sakura."

"Demo, Ke-chan, I think you two would get along!"

"No."

"Hmph, I already invited him over"

For a while Sasuke remained silent, just staring at his female companion. Kami, if he didn't care about her so much he would never have spoken to her ever again. "Otouto, someone's here for you and Sakura" Itachi appeared at the doorway going to the backyard, a slight scowl present on his face.

"Sakura-chan!" a blonde boy around their age screamed, rushing past Itachi glomping Sakura.

"N-Naru-chan" the rosette breathlessly said.

"She can't breathe, you idiot!" Sasuke grasped the blonde's arm and tried to pry it away. "Oh, right…. Sorry Saku-chan" Naruto nervously laughed, scratching the back of his head and a slight blush colored his whiskered cheek. The girl in between them smiled sweetly and said it was okay. But it wasn't okay. To Sasuke at least. So he smacked the kid upside the head, a scowl on his face.

"Teme! What was that for?!" His obnoxiously loud voice made Itachi, who was by the threshold, wince. Sasuke took Sakura and placed her behind him, as if Naruto can kill her any minute now (he probably will and won't even know why).

"For being stupid, Stupid" he glared harder at the boy.

"Sakura-chan said she's fine!" Naruto glared back.

"Ke-chan, I'm okay" The pink haired girl nervously looked between Sasuke and her new friend, Naruto. She saw him sitting alone on the swing by the Academy and thought that he might need a friend. He looked so lonely and sad. Not to mention all those snobby women gossiping about him. So rude.

"Take that back! I'm not stupid!"

"Tch."

"You can't even say anything back. Maybe you're stupid!" Naruto laughed out loud, some spit escaping his mouth.

"I'm not the one wearing an orange jacket."

"Hey! This is f-fa-fastion! Yeah, that it! You ain't got fastion that's why you're wearing blue!"

"It's called fashion, dobe"

"Is not!"

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too."

"I'm going to be the future hokage so you have to do everything I say, minion!"

"If a dobe like you becomes Hokage, then we'd all die."

"Ne, 'Chi-nii-chan, wen d'ya tink the'll notich?" Sakura sat on a stool in the kitchen, her feet dangling and swinging back and forth, with a fork in her mouth. "I'm not too sure." He too sat on a stool, an apple pie made by Mikoto lay between them. They were watching Sasuke and Naruto fight outside about the most ridiculous things through the kitchen window. Sakura took another bite.

It was a start of a [questionably] beautiful friendship.

Age 10

Sakura was on her way home from the Academy when she found herself surrounded by a group of girls. But upon further scrutiny, she realized, they were her Ke-chan's fangirls. Ugh, what do they want with her now?

"Stay away from Sasuke-kun!"

Of course. What else can they possibly want from adorable little Sakura but her Ke-chan. They were already 10 years old and Sasuke still only played with two other kids; Sakura and Naruto (and again, his stubborn attitude makes him refuse to admit the fact that he's actually friends with the dobe *insert Sasuke's blanch here*). Not only that, but the duck haired boy hated the female population (Sakura and his mother aside) because they always squeal or scream or just be generally noisy. Uchihas don't tolerate noisy idiots.

"And if I don't?" Her pink brow rose challengingly. Needless to say, this happens far too many times to feel threatening anymore. They're just spewing empty threats anyway.

"Well, let's just say you won't feel so pretty anymore" the leader of the gang held up a pair of scissors, the sunlight glinting against the metal surface. "Grab her!" and just like that, Sakura was subdued. She struggled against the 3 pairs of hands holding her still, as the scissors came closer.

In deafening clarity, four snips were heard as clumps of hair fell on the pavement. Her waist length hair was clumsily cropped at varying lengths and for a moment she just stood there, her head down.

The group just laughed and walked away, their screeching voices expressing how weak she is. All bark and no bite.

Whiz—

A kunai connected to the ground as a few strands of hair fell. The laughter was abruptly cut off and their leader slowly turned around with a glare ready but she wasn't able to look at the eyes of the person when she felt a sharp prick of metal behind her neck. Her friends froze when they saw who it was.

"Don't mess with me."

Her eyes grew wide as her lips quivered. When she didn't feel the cool object anymore, she and her friends ran away as fast as they can, stumbling over each other to get away.

"What happened to you hair?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"Oh nothing, just thought it was getting too troublesome to keep" Sakura fingered her shoulder length hair before flicking it away. When she got home yesterday, she asked her mom to fix it and make it decent. Sasuke gets too paranoid sometimes.

"Is it those girls agai—"

"Nah, they don't bother me anymore, Ke-chan. Relax."

Sasuke doesn't really need to know. And besides, Sakura thinks they won't be bothering her anytime soon. She snickered. Sasuke just looked at her weirdly and she shrugged. 'And plus, we don't need mysterious murders ocurring now do we?' she thought to herself.

They continued their target practice in the Uchiha's backyard.

Age 13

A year after being put in the same team and graduating from the Academy, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto were finally Genins and the famous Hatake Kakashi their sensei. They always trained late afternoons but its debatable since their sensei's always late even if he said that training starts at 8 o'clock sharp. The hypocrite.

So when training finally started, everyone was eager to participate. Sasuke and Naruto were sparring while Kakashi trained Sakura to manipulate her chakra. He taught her how to climb trees as well as walk on water but during her free time, she would read medical scrolls and try different jutsus as well.

Sasuke threw shurikens at the multiple Narutos and one by one, they poofed away. Naruto's loud battle cry was heard as he rushed to Sasuke, fully intending to just punch right through. Unfortunately he had to leap away as Sasuke performed Katon. "No fair! Kaka-sensei said no ninjutsu!" the blonde pointed an accusing finger at his friend who glared back.

"You're the one that used Kage bunshin first, Dobe"

"Teme!"

Swoosh—

"Cra—ow"

"What the hell Naruto?!"

Whiz—

Clang.

"Dammit, Sasuke-teme! That hurt!"

Sakura finally looked up from the book she was reading when she heard bodies collide with each other. Sasuke and Naruto were on the ground, throwing punches at each other but upon closer inspection, she can see smudges of blood on their clothes. Her eyes narrowed and she pursed her lips.

"Guys?"

Kick. Punch. Dodge. Throw.

"Uhh…. Guys?"

Kunai. Punch. Punch. Dodge.

"Guys?!"

"Chidori!"

"Rasengan!"

A loud deafening whistle was heard throughout the clearing and the two boys broke apart, thinking that there might be an attack on the village. They redirected their jutsus to the ground, leaving large craters in its wake. Smoke filled the area and nothing could be heard aside from the heavy breathing of both boys as they both lay on the ground.

Sakura let out a frustrated sigh. She should really get paid for being able to handle them so well. Kakashi's gone A-Woll on them and probably went somewhere with Anko. She finally stood up from her place, dusting her red dress. The smoke cleared and she saw both of them had blotches of blood scattered on their clothes. She sighed again and went to Naruto first.

"How many times do I have to remind both of you that this is just training?" She crouched near Naruto's form and began her prodding. He had a couple of bruises, a busted lip and probably a sprained ankle but he'll live. Unfortunately, her familial love for him urged her to heal his injuries even if the hospital is just a few blocks away. So when chakra flickered on her hands, healing and mending, she didn't see the triumphant look Naruto shot Sasuke over her pretty pink head.

He mouthed a big 'HA' and grinned stupidly. Its no secret that Naruto and Sasuke have been playing tug of war with Sakura as their rope. Sakura had to slap them upside their heads on more than one occasion, but it didn't stop them from glowering over her.

He can practically hear Naruto's mind: She likes me more than you~!, screaming in that annoying sing-songy voice. Makes you wanna slap the kid really.

"Tch." Sasuke glared harder at Naruto, silently hoping that we would just spontaneously combust. Sakura was his friend first, they've known each other even before they were born. Literally. So when she turned her attention to Naruto rather than him, let's just say that, in Sasuke-ese, logic be damned.

The Uchiha slowly propped himself up with his good arm, still hoping that Naruto would just drop dead. Sakura's so concentrated on healing Naruto that she didn't even notice Sasuke slip his other arm around her waist. The next thing that pinkette knew is that she's being ripped away from her patient and being engulfed by a pair of arms.

"HEY! SHE WAS HEALING ME, YOU BASTARD!" Naruto practically screamed his head off when Sakura's comforting chakra suddenly vanished. He opened his eyes to see her between Sasuke's legs, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other dangling on his propped up knee.

"Hn."

Sakura, finally recovering from shock, just rolled her eyes but didn't move away from Sasuke's hold. His grip on her tightened as if telling her that she was exclusively his and that she shouldn't go near some other guy [even if said other guy is their other best friend. Talk about issues]. Her boys just kept arguing over her head and she idly wondered when they started getting taller than her. She traced small circles on the arm wrapped around her, settling herself on Sasuke's chest.

"YOU'RE SUCH AN ASSHOLE, BASTARD!" Naruto was still screaming. This is going to take longer than she thought. She closed her eyes and dozed off.

'Meh. Boys….'

Sasuke tucked Sakura's head underneath his chin when he felt her breathing even out. Sakura is his. Only his.

Admittedly, thirteen year old Uchiha Sasuke is very much selfish.

Age 17

"Oyasuminasai, Sakura-san" Ayumi, the girl at the front desk, greeted her superior as she walked past. The girl only gave a slow nod in acknowledgement, her eyes already half closed. After pulling a 42-hour shift and living on nothing but coffee for the last few days are finally taking a toll on her body. She trudged her way towards the glass doors and the moment she was outside, she was seriously considering on just sleeping on the ground for the night.

A couple more steps and she squeaked in surprise when she felt herself airborne. 'Woah, must be more out of it than I thought.' She was engulfed with warmth but couldn't feel her feet on the ground yet. She shook her head a couple of times before she felt a deep rumbling near her face and a hauntingly familiar voice spoke.

"Sakura." [deepdeepdeep]

"Mmhm—'Ke-ch'n?" The medic in his arms looked at him blearily, her head resting on his collarbone as he carried her. This girl is an accident waiting to happen. Well, not much of a girl anymore, if her growing fanbase is an indication. In fact, if Sasuke were asked, she's just begging for an accident to happen. She always goes home at some ungoddly hour [he tried talking her out of them once and let's just say that he's somewhat scared to do it .] and it has him worried. Not that he's ever going to admit it, along with other things.

A girl –woman now, he corrected himself, such as her had gathered some unwanted attention from various people and it was his duty [yes his,not Naruto's but his] duty to keep her protected. Not that she needed it 'cause she is perfectly capable of pummelling anyone with her pinkie. But something inane part of him would scream at him incessantly if he wasn't anywhere near her.

Maybe, if the dark haired teen is actually honest with himself, he'd admit that he didn't want these precious moments of seeing her sleepy and vulnerable to be shared with anyone else. Maybe he didn't want others to see her rub her eyes with her tiny fist or watch her crinkle her nose when she felt a cold rush of air and definitely maybe not let anyone close enough to her so she can snuggle into the warmth being emitted by someone else's close proximity.

Sasuke sighed. The trouble this tiny girl brings into his life. Heck, he'd [definitely] jump in front of a lethally poisoned kunai for her. Emphasis on Lethally.

So when he finally got home, he went straight to his room and tucked Sakura in bed and watched her snuggle farther into the covers. A sigh escaped her lips and a content expression plastered on her face. Finally satisfied that she was there with him, Sasuke threw his shirt off and shimmied out of his pants. He lied down next to her and for a while, just watched her sleep with a small smile on his lips. When he finally felt sleep tugging his eyes close, he didn't fight it. He just drew Sakura closer to him and buried his nose in her hair.

Sakura groggily walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. She merely sat on a stool and held her head up with the palm of her hand. She watched the dark haired man make breakfast, no doubt completely aware of her. She just sat there waiting for breakfast to be placed on the counter.

"Orange juice?" a quiet voice asked and she nodded in return. Her green eyes were downcast, gazing at nothing but soon enough, she was staring at a glass of the bright liquid. "What time did you come home?"

"Around 4 I think…" A yawn escaped from her lips. She glanced at the clock hung on the opposite wall. 10 a.m.

"Mother gets worried y'know. Both of you not being home and all." Itachi finally turned the stove off and placed the omelette on a plate with strips of bacon on the side. He sat next to Sakura.

"Then tell Sasuke to go home. He's not the one that's needed in the hospital." Sakura pouted and swiped a piece of bacon off of Itachi's plate. "Honestly, 'Tachi-nii, he acts as if I'm gonna die the second he leaves me alone." She huffed and continued to munch on meat.

"You know how he gets when it comes to you –" Itachi stood up and pushed the plate towards Sakura. "—and besides, with that increasingly confident fanclub of yours, I'm quite surprised he hasn't off-ed one of them yet. Or two. Or twenty." He chuckled and ruffled her hair. He heard an indignant 'hey!' before he stepped out of the house.

Sakura was right though; he is due to be at the Hokage tower ages ago. But he just had to wait for those two idiots to finally get up.

"'Chi-nii made breakfast." Sakura said when she saw Sasuke sit down next to her on the counter. He came down the moment Itachi left the house but woke up when he felt Sakura untangle herself from him. He spared her a glance and began eating from her plate.

Both of them sat in comfortable silence. Sasuke, now dressed with a black shirt and the Uchiha insignia proudly at the back, devoured the food made by his brother. Sakura, on the other hand, sat next to him as she sipped her orange juice. In the middle of the night, she woke up and shifted through Sasuke's closet, took out a shirt and changed.

She was wearing his old dark blue shirt with a high collar that stopped high on her thigh and black spandex shorts peeked out from underneath. The shirt was still rather big on her, the neckline going off of one shoulder and the sleeves reaching just a little above her elbow.

Sasuke decided, as he bit into the slightly burnt bacon, that the white and red uchiwa fan that innocently sat on her back suit her perfectly.

Owari


Unfortunately, I have no beta so if the story sucked, frogive me. I'm sure there's a lot of wrong grammar and misspelled words there. But please feel free to tell me what's wrong and what's right in the story.

-K.A.