"The wind, the wind
The wind blows higher
In comes Ino
From the skier,
Isn't she beautiful, isn't she sweet?
Tell me the boy that she will meet?
Uchiha Sasuke says he loves her-"
And cue the ridiculous giggling and shouts of "Hey! No way! Sasuke-Kun was meant to be for ME!" as the young kunoichi skipped about on the playground. This was so ridiculous; their loud singing was getting on his nerves.
"Uchiha Sasuke says he loves her
Uchiha Sasuke says he loves her
Is it true or is it false?"
Uchiha Sasuke had said absolutely no such thing to Ino and didn't plan on it anytime soon even though she probably wanted him to. How could he concentrate on his shuriken throwing technique when they were talking about how many babies they would have had? He didn't want any babies with her!
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Were the sounds resonating from the shuriken as they hit the tree trunk. Finally, that horrible, horrible poem had ended and a new girl had taken Ino's place. Meanwhile, the girl who had supposedly been the mother of three-hundred and six children with ninety-three being girls and the rest being boys had bounced over to him on her stick thin legs.
"Hey, hey! Sasuke-Kun! Play with us!" Ino grinned, flashing him a toothy smile and urging him to come and play in their girly games.
Sasuke didn't even bother responding as he pulled out his shuriken and began hurling them some more. To his annoyance, she didn't even look that impressed like she normally would. The blonde girl picked up a shuriken from the ground, one of the rare few that had missed and instead of giving it to him, she tilted her hand and hurled it straight to the tree, cleaving a leaf in half. His brow furrowed in annoyance.
That was a lucky shot.
"Come on, play with us!" Ino continued badgering him.
She did this everyday. Every lunchtime, she would come over and ask him to play with the rest of the children. He refused every lunchtime, he would think that one of the girls tied with him in ninjutsu would get what his answer would be.
"Why should I?" Sasuke finally gave up trying to throw shuriken at the abused tree and turned an annoyed gaze to the short-haired blonde.
"Because playtime is for playing. You shouldn't train all the time. Otherwise you'll become dull, ne?"
…
That was the reason?
"Hn."
Naturally, he went back to throwing shuriken until Ino was called over by some shrill voices. He really hated girls. Especially Ino. It was perhaps because she was the one who was immune to his death glares and would approach him even when he was giving them looks of 'Don't-Approach-Me'. Other girls would become emboldened by Ino's example and then come and talk to him too!
Today, the nuisance was Sakura and she was asking him to play with her.
"Ne… a-hm… why don't you like Ino-Chan?" She asked him hesitantly, green eyes gazing over at him with admiration.
Sasuke could have replied with a number of different things. She was annoying. She didn't mind her own business. She had a good shuriken throwing technique. She was loud. She was the only human being that talked to him like he was still just an eight year old boy.
…
"She's got short hair," came his annoyed response. He tucked his hands into his pockets and threw Sakura his most surliest expression, telling her that she should clearly get lost right now.
Sakura looked like something had just struck her, as if she had found the meaning for life or something and she bounced up, red ribbon quivering on the top of her head as she rushed off wailing: "Ino-Chaaaan! Ino-Chaan! Guess what!"
Sasuke wasn't aware that he had just doomed all the hairdressers in Konoha.
—-
"The wind…
The wind…"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, unsheathing Kusanagi as he picked up on that nostalgic tune whilst training on the outskirts of Otogakure. Even though he was surrounded by fallen shinobi, the coppery scent of their blood was diluted just momentarily by the fragrance of flowers and shampoo.
He couldn't believe that the only remnant of his old life would be the playground songs he had despised so much.
But they lacked something. Something like laughter and warmth.
"Ahaha! Sasuke-Kun!" Without any warning, she had flung her arms around him, as if she belonged there, her flowery scent and warmth clinging to his nostrils.
He brandished his blade in a high arc, sharingan eyes spinning as he pushed those memories away. He didn't need flowers and warmth, he needed fire and blood.
Itachi's blood.
"This is ridiculous. I need stronger fighters," he demanded coldly.