Info: Well, another NaruSasu story from me. When and how it takes place you'll find out by reading, all you need to know is that it's an AU, our world, modern. And yah I'm sorry... I might or might not finish this ^^' Just a heads up. But if you wanna, since I'm leaving this first chapter rather open, you're welcome to write a sequel yourself if you want. Just credit me and let me know, I'd love to read it.

Pairing: Naruto/Sasuke (might be other side pairings later on)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor any of the characters, I'm only borrowing them for my amusement. No profit is being made from this.

Chapter one - "Every story starts somewhere"

Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki had always had an interesting relationship, starting in childhood. Their mothers had always been the best of friends and when they became pregnant in the same year they decided that their unborn children would be the best of friends as well. And it started of well. Sasuke being a few month older took the self-appointed task of playing big brother towards the younger. Taking his own older brother as example to lead by and for the first few years of their lives it seemed like their mothers plan was working. Naruto, having no siblings of his own gladly started looking up to his pretend older brother and they did everything together. Sometime Sasuke's older brother Itachi joined as well and both children loved him.

But it was in their 4th year that Sasuke started noticing something he did not like. He was too young at the time to understand his emotions of the situation or find a word for it, but he later came to recognize it as jealousy. One summer the Uzumaki's went away on a long holiday trip, leaving their son in the care of the Uchiha's, knowing that Naruto would be well taken care of. Naruto had only previously stayed a few nights at the Uchiha's but now he temporarily lived there, and as such he spent a lot of time with the Uchiha children, both Sasuke and Itachi. Now, Sasuke did not mind spending a lot of time with Naruto, not at all, but it was when Naruto started spending a lot of time with Itachi that that feeling in his chest started appearing. He couldn't explain it, all he knew was that he didn't like it. Itachi was his older brother, not Naruto's. And so, Sasuke started getting very possessive of his older brother, trying to keep him to himself and stared showing off with things he knew Naruto could not do, so that Itachi would take an interest in him instead of Naruto. However, Itachi was a far too gentle child to let Naruto be left out, and thus always tried to include them both in whatever game they were playing, and when Sasuke showed off and Naruto couldn't do the same, Itachi would comfort Naruto by saying he was good enough as he was.

All of this however led to Sasuke slowly pushing Naruto away, and by the time the Uzumaki's retuned Sasuke would hardly speak to the other boy. Naruto never really understood why but he later always found himself wanting to prove himself to Sasuke and be good enough to catch up to him. Despite what Itachi had said.

Thing slowly started returning to normal after that though and the two boys began spending time together again, but Sasuke never let Itachi join, and the rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke had begun.

It didn't kick of in earnest until they started school however, when it became clear to everyone how smart Sasuke was. He aced all his test in every subject, when Naruto simply couldn't get it into his head, there was too much to learn and not enough time.

They had about this time also started to notice girls. Not in a sexual way of course, they were still too young for that, but they did notice them and how they had noticed the boys in return. Or should I say, how they had noticed Sasuke. Naruto had this one particular girl he really liked, she was by far the most beautiful girl in the whole school and he began right away trying to get her attention. But alas, all her attention was on Sasuke. Naruto didn't know which pissed him off more, that the girl he liked, liked someone else, or that that someone else didn't even seem to notice her.

Every time Sasuke did something to impress, which seemed to happen more often than not, the girls swooned over him. And Sasuke practically beamed, but only when no one saw him. He didn't let the people at school see how happy he was about the attention, but every day when he waked home and he thought no one saw, he smiled. You see, Sasuke was good at most everything he put his mind too and while he was at the top of his class, he still never really seemed to match up to his bigger brother. His parents praised Itachi like he was the promised child sent from above, and even though Sasuke was quite the prodigy himself, it did not seem so in comparison to his dear older brother. Said older brother never let him feel less however and always praised Sasuke's actions and attempts with a genuine smile and encouragement. It was for Itachi Sasuke was smiling, but it was for his parents to notice his efforts, he kept trying.

And it was that trying, and with it, the arrogant attitude he developed that always drove Naruto up the wall. Sasuke both hated and loved that Naruto would always challenge him, because it meant that for a brief moment he was the best at everything. Not that he would admit that of course.

Naruto though, as the years went on, started getting more and more frustrated with Sasuke. He started challenging him in everything. Sasuke beat him at a test? Naruto took his school work twice as serious and worked twice as hard. Sasuke wiped the floor with him in gym class? Naruto would work out until he dropped. Sasuke got all the attention? Naruto would make sure everyone knew his name. Even if the reason why was less noble than Sasuke's, and Naruto soon became known as the school prankster. Once he even painted the entire school pink during spring break. And ended up getting suspended for a month, and grounded for two when his parents found out.

And this were their lives, threw ground school, middle school and finally high school. At this point Naruto had actually started proving himself and being known for more then his pranking. Thanks in no small part to his private tutor Jiraiya, who had taken Naruto out of school for a semester for some private tutoring. When he came back everyone could see the difference. No tutoring in the world could change Naruto's mischievous nature entirely, but everyone could see he'd gotten more serious, or was well on the way there at least. He started getting in less fights and even seemed to have a decent plan for his future. This was also the year Naruto had the guts to confess his love to his childhood crush, who... turned him down, quite harshly. Oddly though the two ended up becoming quite good friends and stayed friends throughout the rest of their lives. But that's a story for later.

Sasuke by this point had become more arrogant than ever and had begun picking fights with other students in anyway he could, in a way to prove himself the best. This is not something he would have admitted to but some part of him missed Naruto challenging him and in the void of that he sought out the only validation he could find. His relationship with his brother had worsen in the last year as well and that might have had something to do with his dark welcome towards his old childhood friend when he returned to school.

The two boys had a falling out... To put it simply. To not put it simply, they spent weeks getting into almost fights, ending up in one that somehow managed to flood the school and burn down a third of it at the same time. This was right before then summer break and they were both suspended until the break and then forced to repeat their last year. During which year they did not speak at all.

And so, one would think their mother's plan to bring their sons together had failed, but there was another chapter in their lives that changed everything...

A few years later, they started college.