Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I watch it much. You've been warned.
This idea just popped in my head after watching an AMV. Drabble fic. Also, I refuse to use honorifics or things like "Aniki" in this fic, and it's not because I don't know them. I've been studying Japanese on my own, but I think it seems a bit weird to speak Japanese in certain words, when the characters are supposed to be speaking Japanese the whole time. Would those words be, like, doubly Japanese? Anyway, I might start adding them in other stories or not; I really don't know yet.
Crayons
At five years old, Uchiha Sasuke wasn't really turning as many heads
as his older brother, Itachi, and, for that, he was glad. Girls were
icky, maybe even his mommy, and he really just wanted to color. The
problem was every girl, who was around his age or too much younger
than his brother, was sneaking peeks at him. Even still, this was
less trouble than his brother, the prodigy, got. Sasuke wanted to
grow up to be like Itachi in every way, except that. Girls could stay
on their side of the playground, thank you very much.
The teacher's voice rang through the playground, and all the children
under six, Sasuke included, ran inside excitedly. The Jr. Academy was
not nearly as rigorous as the regular one; the students got to work
on ninja skills during the day, and, after lunch and recess, they got
to go do things like math and art. Sasuke really liked art. He could
show his big brother all his drawings, and he'd get a smile or a pat
on the head. His mother and father rarely looked at his drawings,
only caring to glance at him when he did a jutsu, even then only
comparing him to his much older brother.
Shaking
his small head of these thoughts, Sasuke pulled out the math book
with his small hands, placing it on the desk and retrieving his
pencil. He flipped through the pages, only to find that he'd already
done the day's work.
He looked around as he
put it away, seeing lots of other dark haired children, light brown
and dark browns covering the tops of busy little children's heads,
the only blond being the weird Uzumaki boy. He didn't really know
anything about the boy, except that he walked funny some days. No, he
walked strange-ly. That's what Big Brother had said was the right way
to say it, when Sasuke had asked about Naruto. After that, he didn't
really say much, finally saying that he couldn't tell Sasuke because
the Hokage himself had said no. This only made Sasuke mad, and he had
wondered aloud what was so important about a blond, blue eyed kid.
Brother had given him a little smile, one of the ones just for
Sasuke, and said he might find out later if he was nice to him.
Well, this had to be the first time Itachi had been wrong. Sasuke had
tried to be nice to him only to have the boy run away. Sasuke had
tried reaching out with a piece of his lunch to share with the boy,
who never seemed to have one unless the Hokage came to the class. The
boy had looked at him wide eyed. Then, he'd run. Without telling
Sasuke anything.
He'd tried asking the boy if he'd wanted to play. Naruto'd looked
scared again, and, this time, he kicked Sasuke and called him a
'stupid pervert' before running away. What was he supposed to do? And
what the heck did 'pervert' mean?
Finally, he'd given up on the stupid little blond boy. Phooey on him,
he could find another friend. Maybe he played with his mommy and
daddy. Sasuke wished he could do that, but at least he had Big
Brother.
Sasuke smiled a bit, either not hearing or pretending to not hear the
sighs from the Jr. fangirls sitting around him as he did. He finally
knew what he would draw. He'd try one more time to make the little
blond boy his friend. Yeah, he'd given up, but he was taking that
back. Take backs work, right? Yeah. Besides, Big Brother never
would've given up. He pulled out the crayons, looking around for the
teacher before getting some paper too. The teacher had said that the
desks were too small, but they could fit everything Sasuke wanted in
them. Maybe the teacher wasn't doing it right.
Opening the box, he poured them carefully on the desk before setting
to work. First, he picked up a yellow crayon, making a circle at the
top of the page because Naruto fit outside. It... just worked. Sasuke
noticed how the yellow hair on Naruto's head, some of the only yellow
hair he'd ever seen, looked even brighter outside. He didn't,
however, notice the little brunette on his right smile as he colored
the circle carefully, his tongue poked out on the side.
Yamanaka Ino made sure she made a yellow mark on the top of her
paper to take home to her mama, since Mama also thought she'd be
perfect for the youngest Uchiha. Obviously, yellow was his favorite
color, since he picked it first and drew such a careful circle.
Sasuke was so cute and smart and strong and... Ino smiled dreamily,
unconsciously making her yellow circle bigger and bigger before going
back to her math, unable to spend any more time staring at Sasuke.
Meanwhile, Sasuke had finished his sun and propped his chin on his
hand. What next? He could draw Naruto, but he wasn't that good.
Suddenly, he got an idea. He knew there was an ice cream cart near
the school, and he could ask Naruto to go with him and Big Brother
after school! He could even use this picture to ask! With a bigger
smile than before, Sasuke picked up the pink crayon and started to
make a huge strawberry sundae. Big Brother liked strawberry ice
cream, just like Sasuke did. He could ask Naruto what kind he liked,
and they could go get it.
On his left, another brunette blushed at the look on her love's face.
Haruno Sakura had loved Sasuke for as long as she could remember, and
she could even remember as far as her third birthday. That was a long
time. And she'd never seen him smile like this. Looking down at the
crayon in his hand, she and Inner Sakura began to try to remember the
color pink. She'd told her parents that she was going to marry Sasuke
soon, and they'd agreed, but they'd asked that she waited. Her mother
had even tried to ask for permission from the Uchiha family, but the
elders had sarcastically
said that, when Sasuke expressed interest, they'd consider it. She
didn't know what 'sarcastically' meant, but she knew it made Mommy
mad. That made Sakura want Sasuke to like her even more, so they
could prove the Uchiha elders wrong together. A now pink Inner Sakura
cackled, thinking of the looks on their faces.
Back to Sasuke, who had finally finished his picture, and just in
time to talk to Naruto before he ran off to wherever he disappeared
to after class. He got up and walked over to the boy, who seemed to
be shoving his things in the ratty little bag he carried as fast as
his tanned little arms could. Naruto
must spend a whole lot of time outside,
Sasuke thought. His own arms were pretty light, mainly because he
spent most of his time inside with Itachi.
"Naruto." The boy looked up, his blue eyes curious until
they began to widen in what looked like fear.
Sasuke turned around to see Teacher standing behind him,
looking angry for some reason. "Sasuke, is Naruto bothering
you?"
"No..." Sasuke didn't understand why Teacher was so angry,
but he wanted to make sure that Naruto wouldn't get in trouble. "I
wanted to ask him if he wanted to get some ice cream. He was just
packing up his stuff." Sasuke didn't think Naruto would tell him
anything if he got him in trouble first.
Teacher seemed to fall a little, like a poked balloon. "Oh.
Well, go on, you two. The ice cream vendor doesn't wait all day."
Sasuke smiled at the teacher, and he watched as Naruto gave a shaky
one. That was another thing he'd have to ask the blond about. "Thank
you. Let's go, Naruto. I'll help." With that, he picked up the
math book that Naruto couldn't fit, and he walked out the door,
knowing Naruto was following by the red cloud that followed him.
Naruto was really quiet, which was kinda weird, but Sasuke didn't
want to make it awkward.
"Come on. We can get ice cream, then you can come to my house,
and I can show you my room. I have toys we could play with, if you
wanted." Trying to walk backwards to impress Naruto, Sasuke
tripped over a rock on the road, distracted by Naruto's quickly
widening eyes, almost like no one had ever invited him over before.
Luckily, his Big Brother had gotten out of training in time to meet
him at the gate and was able to catch him.
"Be careful, Sasuke. You'll hurt yourself that way."
Itachi's voice was calm, with a slight hint of concern and amusement,
both aimed at his younger brother. He looked down at the brunet in
his arms before looking further at the blond before him, who
surprised him by cowering a bit under the stare then straightening.
The little boy looked as though he was going to try to stare him
down, as though he'd done it before. Itachi shook his head mentally,
before setting his brother down.
"Thanks, 'tachi. Naruto, this is my big brother, Itachi. He's a
prodigy, and he's an ANBU, and he's really young to have gradu...
Sorry." Sasuke looked up at Itachi, whose hand was over his
mouth, managing to mumble the last word through his brother's
carefully gentle fingers. Itachi smiled a bit at his brother before
turning and beginning the walk home, his brother and friend waiting a
minute before they ran to follow, one after the other.
That night, Uzumaki Naruto had his first ice cream. Then, he had his
first playdate. Which turned into his first sleepover.
-The Next Day-
Sasuke and Naruto walked in the classroom early, excited and
ready for the ninja practice. Naruto had only told Sasuke a little
about his life, but that was only because Sasuke had been so
impressed that Naruto lived alone, Naruto had to tell him seventeen
times. He'd almost been tempted to take the older boy to his
apartment, but he'd stopped, remembering what was likely waiting for
him. After hanging out with Sasuke a little, he'd realized the boy
wasn't a pervert. He wasn't mean, and he wasn't going to hit Naruto
either. This all made Naruto happy, but nothing made him happier than
the fact that he'd made a friend. The Hokage had been saying a lot
that he'd make one soon, but he hadn't thought it would be this soon.
Sasuke sat at his table, motioning for Naruto to sit with him, but
Naruto shook his head, seeing Teacher and the girls, who sat near
Sasuke, frown. He smiled a little, realizing that not everything had
changed in one day, but he thought he might be wrong when Sasuke sat
next to him instead.
Everything was great until Ino and Sakura came in. Sakura's hair was
bubblegum pink, and Ino's was sunshine yellow. They walked in
proudly, as though they'd done something amazing, and they'd both sat
down in their normal chairs, waiting for Sasuke until they realized
he was already sitting somewhere else. Ino had been the first to
react, getting up and moving to sit on Sasuke's right, the only open
side. Sakura had responded in a huff, plopping down across from
him.
"Hi, Sasuke. How do you like my hair?"
"I'll answer that, stupid Ino. He doesn't. He likes mine
since Sasuke loves pink. Right, Sasuke?"
Sasuke's eyebrows were just starting to furrow in
confusion when Ino spoke up, "No, he doesn't! He loves bright,
pretty yellow, just like I do. That's why we should get married,
Sasuke. We'll paint everything yellow, and we'll have tons of strong,
smart, adorable babies!"
This was the
breaking point for one little naturally blond boy, who tried not to
put his head down on the table, choosing instead to hold his math
book in front of his face. Being as young as he was, he didn't seem
to realize that this did nothing for the laughter escaping his lips.
Sasuke's face slowly seemed to morph from confused frustration to
cautious amusement. If he didn't look at this like it was about him,
this was really funny. Sakura fumed, and Ino pouted. Sasuke wasn't
supposed to be laughing with the weirdo; he was supposed to be on her
side, against the oddly dyed hair of the other little girl.
Sasuke, calming down after a minute of enjoying laughing with his new
friend, turned to them with a little smile (which would soon grow and
mature to become his trademark smirk), "I don't like pink or
yellow." With a glance at his oblivious new friend, he
continued, "I like orange."
