A/N: I know what you're thinking. I should be writing the next chapter to "Fast Car" (which I kind of am. Hehe). I've come to a decision that I needed to release a bit more stuff if I want FC to be more visible in the fanbase (I've been suggested in a review from FC that I could release short oneshots. Hi reviewer Sora! Thanks for responding to my call for advise!). And what better way to do that than to semi-start my year-long idea for a story! I've mentioned this in my profile. This is the accompaniment ficlet to a story I've been cooking up. This will be paired with a second ficlet with a different perspective and setting (but that'll come at a later date). Both ficlets (despite being... well... ficlets) will have an ultimate end and will lead to the main story.

Naruto will be female in this story. This decision will be explained in due time. It's just more dramatic this way. I love yaoi, that's a given, but in my opinion, Sasuke and Naruto's relationship is more than just yaoi to me now. It's the idea of them (homosexual or not) together that makes it all worthwhile. So please bear with me on this one.

EDIT: I made a boo-boo with the ages and miscalculated. I changed the kids' ages, guys. Sorry about that!

Rating will change in the future. :)

DISCLAIMER: Proper citations should be noted. The materials used for the making of this story are credited to their respective owners. Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto. This disclaimer applies to every chapter hereafter.

BEFORE THE WORST

Juice Box

The blond new kid was someone all the other kids avoided.

At an early age, children tended to be swayed by the littlest details. It was a well-known fact that children believed anything and everything. Tell them something and they'll believe you, no questions asked. Tell them otherwise, and they'll still believe you. So when these children overheard from their mommies and daddies that the new blond kid didn't have a mommy and daddy, they became curious. It was then revealed to these children that the new child's parents were both in heaven as a result of a bad man trying to mug the family. Rumours from these children's parents began to spread (because people didn't know how to mind their own God damn business) that the new kid was illegitimate, was physically abused, was emotionally demented, and so on. But all these words were far too big for children who were, at the very least, at the age of three to understand. Although one rumor did happen to stick to these innocent minds; the new kid was bad luck that's why the kid's mommy and daddy were in heaven.

Bad Luck.

Those two words, children understood completely.

It was because of those two words, that one would find the blond child sitting alone on a tree swing while all the other kids played with each other. Pre-school classes had just ended and everyone was out having fun.

Uchiha Sasuke sat playing on the sandbox with other two children from his class. He sipped on his juice box while he created castles and mountains and seas with the sand under his little body. He took his time shaping his little world because mommy had told him that morning that she would be late to pick him up from school. Daddy was also busy with work so he couldn't pick him up either. It was fine. Sasuke just had to be patient.

The shrill screams from the other children caused a pout to form on his adorably chubby cheeks. Why did the other kids have to be so noisy? Why couldn't they just sit still and silently play like what he was doing? Hmph.

The little Uchiha looked up to glare at the other children. If they didn't stop screaming soon, he would really get mad. As Sasuke lifted his head, he caught sight of the new kid sitting on the lone tree swing from way over the other side of the play ground. The kid wasn't really that hard to miss what with him having that bright spiky yellow hair. The new boy looked like the sun, Sasuke decided; but why did he look so sad? Ever since the new kid showed up, he would always sit there and stare unhappily at the other kids. Truthfully, anyone at this tender age wouldn't have any concepts of hate and ostracization. It was always a matter of why all the other kids didn't want to play with the new kid. Apparently, Sasuke hadn't heard. The new kid was bad luck.

Forgetting the reason why he had stopped playing for a brief moment, Sasuke returned his attention to his sand sculptures. It would seem that blond kid had taken away Sasuke's previous irritation at the other noisy children.

One by one, each child was taken away by either a mommy or a daddy; other kids were taken by both. Before long, Sasuke and the blond kid were left on the playground (and, of course, their teacher who was required to stay until after the last child had left). Sasuke looked up once more and saw that the kid was still there, sitting alone on the tree swing. Hn.

Sasuke stood up from the sand box and wiped the sand off his uniform shorts. He quickly treaded to his Pokemon backpack and placed the bag around his small back. After doing so, he silently approached the blond boy.

Once the blond child had noticed the raven-haired boy walking to him, he stared fearfully at the intruder. Would this ine be mean to him too? The blond flinched.

"Hey, why are you always alone?" Sasuke asked, causing another flinch to erupt from the blond boy.

The new kid lowered his head, and answered with a slight stutter. "T-t-they say I'm bad luck."

"You don't have any friends?" Sasuke furrowed his brows while he inquired the other. It was strange for someone not to have any friends. He himself had friends.

The smaller child quickly shook his head, lightly shaking his blond tufts of hair. "The other kids don't like me."

"Hn. The other kids are stupid." Sasuke straightened his back and looked off to the side. He tried to imitate the cool nonchalance of his older brother. His big brother, Itachi, in Sasuke's little eyes, was the coolest person in the world.

"You said a bad word!" The blond kid gasped. Sasuke could only pout at the reaction. The Uchiha child was expecting the new kid to awe at his attempt at coolness. That's what everyone (mostly, the girls) did.

"Hn. I can say a bad word if I want to." Move over, people. We had a badass over here.

"I'm telling!" The blond shouted. Saying 'stupid' was unforgivable! He had to tell their teacher that this black-haired kid had said a very bad word. "Mr. Sarutob—mmph!"

"No!" Sasuke quickly covered the blonds' little mouth. "Don't tell on me! I'll give you my juice box if you don't tell on me."

The new kid simply blinked his large blue eyes and nodded.

"You won't tell on me?"

Another quick nod of his blond head.

"Okay. I'm letting go now. Promise you won't shout for Mr. Sarutobi after I let go?"

Nod. Nod. Nod.

"Good." And Sasuke let go.

"Give me my juice box!" The other immediately demanded.

Sasuke groaned and put down his backpack to retrieve the promised juice box. Hmm. He had two juice boxes; one of apple, the other of cherry. He didn't like cherry-flavored juice... It was decided. The new kid would get the cherry juice.

"Here you go, new kid."

"Ew. Cherry?" The blond pouted, letting his eyes water ever-so-slightly. Sasuke could feel his little heart breaking at the expression.

"Fine. You can have my apple juice." Sasuke took back the cherry juice box and gave the apple one instead.

"Thank you!" The blond beamed. Sasuke blushed at the sight. The little Uchiha decided that he rather liked the new kid when he smiled. Plus, he wasn't as loud or as annoying as the other kids (oh, the dramatic irony!).

"My name is Sasuke. What's yours?"

After a quick sip of his juice, the new kid answered back. "My name's Naruto."

That was the beginning of a new, long-lasting friendship. Ever since that fateful day, both children were never separated from each other. This was what everyone thought, and this was what Sasuke and Naruto believed.

And for years, that belief, they thought, would be enough.