Sandcastles Part 1

If someone told me I would fall in love at first sight I would have called them a fool. I mean, who in their right mind could ever…? Then I met him. Suddenly all the hard fast rules of my life seemed to have lost their meaning.

"What're ya' doing?"

The dark hair boy ignored the intruder, continuing to dig a ditch around his sand structure as he scooped another bucket of sand.

The curious one leaned closer; sunburned face bright red against his fair skin. His white-blonde hair lifted in a gentle breeze, revealing large, cerulean eyes.

"Wow! You're really good at this…this…" he scrunched up his face, scratching at the back of his head.

Finally, the dark haired boy peered at the curious blonde - eyebrow twitching.

The blonde turned redder still then laughed aloud: "I don't know what it's called, but you're great at it!" He stuck out a red hand, still grinning, so that each bright tooth was visible. His pudgy cheeks were marked with three brown slashes from nose to ear.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! Nice to meet you," he beamed, his chubby hand still extended while the other rested on the hip of his orange swimsuit.

The obsidian-eyed boy stood, eyebrow still twitching. 'What a total idiot, any fool could see I'm building a sandcastle.' He glared pointedly at a huge banner near the opening to the beach. It clearly announced the events going on that weekend. The area where the two boys now stood was designated for children ages twelve and under. His eyebrow twitched more pronouncedly as he glared at the other kids, assembling similar castles of their own.

'Whiskered moron,' he thought, climbing out of the eight-by-eight-foot ditch surrounding his miniature version of the Roman Colosseum- not so miniature compared to the other participants. The dark haired boy had worked on the project since sunrise. It was now time for the judges to rate the works.

Naruto blinked as the boy walked past without a word, he then peered at the humongous sand building, and the miniature horse drawn carriages. Completely fascinated, he leaned down, reaching for one of the wheeled vehicles, while calling to the black haired boy.

"Hey, can I help?"

The other boy stop dead in his tracks, turning slowly, his dark eyes widened at the site of pale butt crack rising above orange swimmers. Not just the sight of the blonde boys' bottom crease, but that the boy reached towards his carefully constructed work of art. It nearly caused him to wet his pants.

Screaming, "NARUTOOO!" He charged back to his precious structure.

Naruto stopped - glancing over his shoulder - wondering what the problem was. In his squat position, he shifted awkwardly when looking back and lost his footing.

The raven reached out to grab the sunburned blonde. Unfortunately, his lighter weight (combined with the soft surrounding sand) did little to help the situation. He toppled over with Naruto, smashing a large portion of the circular building.

"YOU IDIOT!" The dark hair boy fumed, "look what you've done!"

"I…I'm sorry, I'll help you fix it…" he stammered, trying to repair the broken construction.

"Get OUT!" The black haired boy shoved at the sun-scorched skin. He had made a perfect Colosseum, just like the pictures his brother had shown him. Now this dope had ruined it. He punched the blonde as hard as he could. Hearing the boy's yelp of pain as he crawled out of the ditch did little to cool the dark haired boy's temper.

Naruto got to his feet and dashed a short distance away before turning back to the fuming boy, who had streaks of tears on his pale face. "I really am sorry," Naruto offered once more before turning away and heading off the beach.

Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets as the three judges approached, he quickly wiped at his face so they wouldn't see his tears.

"And who do we have here?"

"This is Uchiha Sasuke; his brother just took the lead in the senior round."

"I see the family is full of talent!" A balding judge offered, patting Sasuke's head fondly.

Sasuke tried not to cringe; he hated when adults touched him. He stared deliberately at the ground to hide his eyes and the disappointment he felt at his failed creation.

"Oh this is fantastic detail!" A female judge said breathlessly. "What an outstandingly unique replica of a Roman Colosseum!"

"You're right; just look at the fallen horses and carriages!"

Sasuke's eyes shot to the two judges, his face blank, he could not believe they actually liked his broken castle. He opened his mouth to tell them how an idiot had ruined the perfect structure, when the third judge added his opinion.

"I saw you creating this Sasuke, and I wondered how you were going to complete it; you did a wonderful job. Your little friend gave you just the right weight to duplicate the perfect deformity. Well done."

Sasuke snapped his mouth shut, accepting the blue ribbon as reporters joined them to take pictures. After the photographers and his friends left him alone, he searched the beach for the blonde kid.

It was getting late and as the tide came in, destroying dozens of artistic castles, Sasuke knew he needed to head home or he would be in big trouble. He sat on the edge of the pier, watching the tide despondently.

Before searching for Naruto, he had written his address in the sand, asking the boy to look him up. However, it seemed unlikely the big-eyed blonde had seen his message.

He sighed heavily, gazing at his blue ribbon and running his short fingers along the ruffled edge. The color reminded him of Naruto's eyes; he smirked, 'moron.' With that fond thought in mind, he sauntered home, taking as long as possible to enjoy the sea air and his last summer near the beach.

[TBC]