"Sasuke come over here," the blonde-haired boy's voice was soft with a tinge of excitement. Sasuke looked up from the sand castle he just made and brushed the sand from his hands on his trousers. He walked with quick steps toward his blonde friend who was standing in front of the tall grass that grew some meters away from the beach and crouched down on his knees beside his friend.
"What is it Naruto?" asked the black-haired boy, looking with his black eyes on Naruto. They were so different in both appearance and personality, just like the sun and the moon, but despite their differences they belonged together. They had been friends since they were babies. Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha were good friends with Minato and Kushina Uzumaki, thus their sons had become the best of friends as soon as they could speak.
"Look," Naruto's voice was quieter when he pointed to an immersion in the green grass a few feet away from them. Sasuke squinted at the place where Naruto's finger pointed and saw something move uneasily in the grass. Fear hit a somersault in his chest, he pulled a half step backwards but a warm hand on his back stopped him from going away.
"Where are you going?" Naruto's voice was not mocking or teasing. He was used to Sasuke being extra cautious about new things. "There is nothing dangerous Sas, are you not seeing what it is?"
Sasuke squinted again towards, whatever it was, moving in the grass, and now he saw was it was: there were two fox pups closely bunched together, they were squealing miserably over and over again. The one that was a little smaller than the other had black-gray fur and the other had red fur. Both of their ears had black tips and the ends of their tails were tinted with white colored fur.
"I think they are abandoned, their mother must have died," said Naruto sadly. Sasuke could glimpse the tears in his eyes.
"We cannot take them home then?" Sasuke whispered tensely while he watched the pups. The red fox suddenly pricked his ears and looked curiously up at Sasuke. It barked and woke the gray-black from its anxiety; it also looked curiously at the two boys.
"You know what mom thinks about animals. She doesn't want me to take home more animals than we already have. Moreover, dad will go crazy," replied Naruto while looking a bit ashamed and his gaze was looking sadly at the two little animal cubs. "But if we leave them here without their mom, they will die," he added sadly.
"Maybe I can take them home, Itachi usually don't care so much about what I take home. We may well try anyway?" suggested Sasuke hopefully. Naruto face turned into a smile. "Come on then!" he said cheerfully, and with a firm grip he grabbed Sasuke's hand.
Sasuke blushed slightly when he felt Naruto's warm hand around his, it happened quite often that Naruto held his hand but he never got used to it. Whenever they held hands, it always felt like the first time they did it for Sasuke. His heart always skipped a beat whenever he and Naruto were close to each other.
They walked with cautious steps toward the cubs and tried not to seem threatening. The fox cubs kept looking curiously at them without the slightest sign of being afraid. Naruto slowly leaned down next to the red fox and let it sniff his hand; Sasuke did the same with the black one. When the cubs seemed to have gotten used to some of the boys' presence and scents' they let themselves be lifted by them. Naruto hugged happily but cautiously the red fox and the fox licked his face in return. Sasuke was still squatting beside the black fox and patted it gently over the head and down the back.
"What should we name them?" he asked quietly as he stroked the soft speckled gray coat. Naruto carefully dropped the now eager fox on the ground and squatted down next to Sasuke.
"I'm going to name my fox Kurama after a legend dad used to tell me when I was smaller. The legend is about a man who had a tailed demon fox demon sealed within him and the fox demon's name was Kurama," Naruto smiled as he looked at Kurama who ran around in a circle, chasing its tail. Sasuke watched fascinated at Kurama, shifted his gaze towards his speckled gray fox that still lay still on the ground next to his feet.
"That's a cute name!" Sasuke replied, "I don't know what I should call him, maybe Taka or Hebi," mumbled Sasuke, Naruto noticed that he had gone into itself, sometimes it happened that Sasuke got very distracted and absent-minded, which could make him sit still for hours without doing anything more than staring into nothing. Naruto didn't like it when Sasuke was like that, so he started to laugh to lighten the mood.
"Are you going to name a fox hawk or snake?" he blurt out and started rolling around on the ground, laughing. Sasuke pulled out of his hypnosis and gave Naruto a horrified look before he started laughing himself. The children laughed to tears while the fox cubs happily played around them in the evening sun.
"I will name my fox Taka, I have decided it now!" said Sasuke proudly when he, Naruto and Itachi sat at the table and ate supper. Itachi had not had any objections to the cubs staying at their house. He had been very glad that the boys had saved the animals and he had already been and bought baskets and toys for them. Right now, the foxes slept together in the same basket with their bodies close to each other.
"Okay," said Naruto choked with laughter tickling in his throat. He had been tanned during the day, his brown skin almost shone in contrast to the Uchiha brothers pale skin.
"What's so funny Naruto?" Sasuke hissed irritably with a fork in his hand. Naruto pressed his hand to his mouth and looked away from Sasuke to prevent the laughter from coming out. Itachi raised an eyebrow at the boys while he chewed slowly on a piece of meat.
"It-it's just that..." Naruto burst out laughing and did not stop until he went down to the floor with a thud and a cold pressure against his throat. Sasuke's black eyes shone with anger where he was bent over Naruto with one hand pressed against Naruto's chest to keep him down and the other hand in a tight grip around the fork, pressing it against Naruto's throat.
"Sas ... Sasuke w-what are you doing?" asked Naruto frightened, he felt a few drops of blood suddenly bubbling up out of his throat where Sasuke pressed the fork. Tears welled up in his eyes as he helplessly tried to push Sasuke away but the movement just made Sasuke pushing the fork harder into the flesh. It was getting harder to breathe, panic took hold of Naruto and he shouted as loud as he could for help. It only took a few seconds before Itachi was there and lifted a wildly kicking and screaming Sasuke. Naruto suddenly rose up from the floor, coughing and sniffling as he desperately looked for something to stop the bleeding with. He was getting dizzy with all the different emotions that stormed inside him, his eyes became blurred and he thudded down on the floor with tears streaming down his cheeks. Through his dizziness, Naruto heard Sasuke being severely lectured by Itachi. The older brother Uchiha was walking with angry steps back to the kitchen and helped Naruto up from the floor and helped him to a chair. Naruto shakily sat down on the chair while Itachi called Naruto's parents by phone, when he was done; he squatted in front of Naruto and gently pressed a bandage against the wound on Naruto's throat.
"You'll be fine, they are fortunately no deep wounds, but you should let Kushina-san look at it and make a judgment. Your parents, by the way, are on their way here," muttered Itachi while he gently dabbed the wound with a wet cloth. Naruto sobbed, he looked devastated at Itachi.
"Why did he do that? What have I done? I didn't mean to laugh!" he sniveled indignantly.
Itachi smiled sadly at Naruto, "Sasuke is a little sensitive when it comes to things that have to do with him. He can simply not tolerate people to make fun of him, even though you and I both know that you absolutely did not mean so with your laughing. He will easily pick up things, both good and bad things and he takes them very personally," explained Itachi calmly. Naruto clenched his jaw and nodded slowly. He knew that Sasuke was like that sometimes, but Naruto still couldn't understand why Sasuke had become so angry that he even hurt him.
Minato and Kushina came running into the house; Kushina threw her arms tightly around Naruto and lifted him up in his arms while Minato spoke shortly with Itachi about what happened. Naruto stopped crying when he felt his mother's warmth and told her about the cubs they had found and that they would stay at Itachi and Sasuke's house. Kushina seemed happy about it all, but she still had something gloomy in her eyes. She handed over Naruto to Minato who teasingly tickled his son on the stomach before he kissed him on the forehead, Kushina walked firmly up to Itachi and they walked a few steps away from Minato and Naruto. Minato walked out on the stairs and into the car, before the door had closed, Naruto shouted a "goodbye" to Sasuke and Kurama but he got no response back from Sasuke. Kurama pricked up his ears and whimpered quietly before he turned and went to sleep close to his brother.
Sasuke tripped slowly down the stairs from the upper floor. One, two, three, four… He always counted the steps regardless of the stairs he went up or down. He sat down on the last step when he discovered that Itachi was talking to Naruto's mother. He listened intently to their conversation;
"I'm sorry Itachi, but this is the last time Naruto will come over. I simply cannot allow Naruto to be with Sasuke more, Sasuke is just too violent for them to work together as friends. He has hurt Naruto several times and I simply cannot accept it more!" Kushina hissed firmly while her eyes stared angrily at Itachi.
"I'm sorry Kushina-san, I really did not mean this would happen. I try to keep an eye on them but today I was in the laundry room when this happened. I'll certainly try to keep an eye on Sasuke next time they play," Itachi replied earnestly, his cheeks were red with embarrassment for his younger brother.
"Sorry Itachi but I cannot allow this to continue. They must stop playing at home and just meet in kindergarten. I do not want to risk Naruto exposed to anything like that again and you must understand this! Goodbye Itachi, I'm sorry you cannot keep Sasuke strained in the same way that Fugaku could", with that, she turned abruptly and walked with quick steps out of the house with her red hair swaying behind her.
Itachi remained at the same spot and felt both insulted and taken aback about what Kushina had told him. He felt Sasuke's presence and was just about to go to him when he heard Sasuke scream in despair and with a bang and a click in one of the doors revealed that Sasuke had locked himself in his room. Itachi rubbed his temples, a sudden headache pounding in his head and he didn't know what he would do to resolve the situation. He sighed heavily and decided to feed the fox cubs with some raw meat he bought for them. He would let Sasuke be until bedtime.
"Why can't I play with Sasuke anymore?" Naruto asked sadly when Kushina and Minato had put him to bed. He hugged his own made-plush fox with long, orange-brown ears and nine tails. Naruto had a talent for sewing, even for his young age. He had sewn a plush raven for Sasuke last Christmas and he was intensely proud for it. Sasuke had it sleeping beside him in his bed. Minato sank down on the bed beside his son and stroked his blonde hair tenderly.
"You will get to play with Sasuke in kindergarten but not at each other's houses. Mom has decided it, and I agree with her. Sasuke's a little dangerous sometimes," Minato murmured as his fingers gently pulled through Naruto's hair.
"Sasuke is not a bit dangerous! He meant no harm, Itachi told me that Sasuke is a bit sensitive to certain things so he meant no harm by what he did! I want to play with him, please daddy, I promise he will be nice when we play again! And I have to take care of Kurama, I can't abandon him the same day I found him. Please, Daddy, please!" Naruto asked despairingly and looked at Minato with large, blue, pleading eyes. Minato watched his son for a moment, shook his head with a resolute expression.
"No Naruto, your mother has decided and then it is so. We only want what's best for you, we neither want this-" he touched Naruto's bandage neck gently, "Or this-", Minato stroked Naruto's cheeks where he had three black whisker-like scars on each cheek that he had received another time when Sasuke had become angry with something and slashed Naruto on the cheeks with a sharp kunai. Itachi had been pleading for hours in front of Minato and Kushina that he would get Sasuke to behave better, which had worked a while until Sasuke had done something bad again. The black scars were an ugly reminder of what happened. "Happen again. We just want you well Naruto and you must understand this. We love you and we are sure that you will find many friends in kindergarten, how about Neji or Kiba? They seem to be fine boys who seem to think you're very interesting!" he said cheerfully.
Naruto snorted angrily and slapped his father's hand away from his face.
"None of them are like Sasuke! No one will ever be as Sasuke. Sasuke is my best friend and I'm going to continue playing with him no matter what you say!" he growled stubbornly and turned his back to Minato. Minato shook his head tiredly and decided that there was nothing more to discuss. He kissed Naruto good night, turned off the light and then went to the living room and sat next to Kushina in front of the TV.
"He's stubborn as a donkey but it will probably be fine as soon as he finds someone else in kindergarten to play with. He has only been there a week, after all," said Minato and put his arm around Kushina's shoulders. She nodded, smiling, and kissed him on the cheek.
"It always works," she smiled happily.
A slow start, but I hope you enjoyed it. More will come soon!