AN: Wow. I didn't expect to write this... I was pretty much just like, "Haha! I'm going to write about Sasuke being silly!" and this happened... I'm pretty amazed with myself. I didn't know I could do anything like this. In the course of writing this first chapter, I came up with a few more ideas, so I'm definitely continuing this! Please feel free to comment (cough that's VERY strongly encouraged! grin), criticize, correct, flame, etc, but please take into account that this is supposed to be silly and mildly OOC. Also, because I was REALLY confused when I first started reading Naruto fanfiction: shinobi- ninja, -kun- um... I don't really know why Sakura calls Sasuke that, but it's mainly used by guys when referring to each other, ohayou- good morning, -san- basic respectful honorific, konnichiwa- hello (or good afternoon), teme- bastard, yatta!- alright, sensei- teacher, Kagemane no Jutsu- Shadow Bind Technique, nin- shortened form of ninja, and I think I used kunoichi- female ninja in there SOMEWHERE. Anyway, please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

What's Up With Sasuke?

CHAPTER ONE

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One day, Sasuke woke up from a deep sleep and made a decision.

"Today," he thought, looking passionately into the distance (ie: the map on his wall, heavily decorated with Uchiha fan stickers), "today I will MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN SOMEONE'S LIFE!" The lone Uchiha yelled the last part as his emotions got the best of him. Animatedly, Sasuke jumped out of his Uchiha fan spotted bed, changed into his shinobi clothes sporting the Uchiha fan, gathered his specially made Uchiha supplies, and headed out the door, only stopping to high five a framed Uchiha fan hanging on the wall.

Sasuke hummed idly as he headed towards Team Seven's usual training spot. As he got closer and closer to the bridge where they were to meet, he started to softly mumble some words. They weren't very distinct, but if someone were to magically be hovering over Sasuke's shoulder, they would have heard something along the lines of, "Uchihas are the best; they rule the school! Lalala doo dee da dee doo da Uchiha, yeah!" Clearly, for the first time since his family had been massacred, Sasuke had woken up in a good mood.

This was immediately apparent to Naruto as Sasuke came within sight of the Meeting Bridge. Naruto noted that Sasuke was smiling and seemed to be marveling at the environment as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world. His (Naruto's) mouth gaped wide open, ready to yell something about Sasuke going insane (maybe), but was interrupted by Sakura.

"Naruto," she asked as if she really didn't want to be asking him, "when do you think Sasuke-kun will get here?" She smiled dreamily when she mentioned Sasuke's name, as if that was all it took for her to be happy forever. Naruto, however, merely stared at Sakura as if she graduated the Academy with the lowest grades in class.

"Sakura…" he said glancing around as if the answer was TOTALLY obvious, "Sasuke's right over there…" Naruto then proceeded to point at the approaching Uchiha, but he needn't have done so, as it was then that Sasuke called attention to himself.

"Ohayou, Naruto-kun, Sakura-san!" he yelled, happy to be alive, and strongly reminding his teammates of one Rock Lee. He waved at them, even though it was REALLY obvious that they had seen him already.

"Konnichiwa, Sasuke-teme…" Naruto acknowledged the Uchiha dispassionately, somewhat angry for some reason that he (Sasuke) had greeted him (Naruto) so cheerfully that morning. Naruto was somewhat surprised when Sakura didn't berate him for calling Sasuke names, even though the black-haired boy had done nothing to warrant it yet that day. Naruto glanced at the girl and was mildly amused to see a shocked and betrayed expression on her face. Naruto idly pondered if the reason she'd had to ask him about their teammate was because she hadn't recognized his Happy Face.

"Sasuke-kun…" the girl wailed, bordering on tears, "what's happened to you!" At said Sasuke's elaborate, questioning glance, the kunoichi continued, "Why aren't you all cold and… and angsty today, Sasuke-kun? You're like a completely different person!" Sasuke adopted a very thoughtful look before he deigned to reply.

"Well… you see Sakura-san," he began, "today… well, I guess you could say that today I woke up on the right side of the bed!" Sasuke smiled and nodded to congratulate himself on an explanation well explained. He had a small feeling of foreboding, but it faded when Naruto exploded with a question.

"Teme!" the wild blonde yelled, inwardly fearful that his teammate was turning into Maito Gai, "Why are you so cheerful? That's really out of character for you!" Sasuke sighed as he looked at Naruto's Demanding Face 1 (Demanding Face 2 was when he wanted you to take him out for ramen).

"Naruto…" Sasuke sighed again, as if the blonde was a very young child, "when I woke up today, I had an epiphany—" (Sasuke REALLY didn't know how to talk to children) "—and decided that my new mission in life was to make a difference." The Uchiha smiled matter-of-factly, clearly expecting no further questions from the only people in the world he could call "friends".

"I thought your idea of "making a difference" was to kill Itachi…" Naruto muttered before Sakura practically tackled him (but not really. It was more of an attempted surreptitious shove) and whispered fiercely that they shouldn't mention Itachi, seeing as Sasuke was in a rather odd mood that day and his reaction could not be predicted. Of course she didn't SAY it like that, but that's what Naruto would have repeated if he wasn't worried about keeping his dead-last façade in place… because EVERYONE knows Naruto is secretly a genius (but not as smart as Shikamaru).

Sasuke appeared to have heard nothing of their exchange, however, for he simply smiled benignly through the whole thing. It was exactly that that worried Naruto the most, not that he would admit to ANYONE that he was concerned about Sasuke, of all people. Naruto bit his lip at the thought of Sasuke being under some sort of mind jutsu (by Ino? …Nah!), trying not to burst out laughing at what Sasuke would do when it was taken off… if it was taken off… Naruto was saved from further heavy thought by the arrival of one VERY late Hatake Kakashi.

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted them casually, his single visible eye performing a lazy scan of his three pupils. He was surprised at Naruto's serious countenance, Sakura's worried one, and Sasuke's large grin and salute, though, because he's Kakashi, his only reaction was a miniscule twitching of the right side of his face. He shifted slightly, unused to not having to come up with an on-the-spot excuse for being late.

There was a moment of awkward silence when none of the four shinobi said anything. Naruto even glanced cautiously behind him for any stray tumbleweeds. Sakura fiddled with the hem of her skirt before staring adamantly at the forest directly to the left of Kakashi. Sasuke grinned widely, his eyes shut in happiness, seemingly completely oblivious. Kakashi… remained silent for a moment before he decided he should probably break the news.

"We have a mission today," he stated bluntly, inwardly hoping his team would DO something. Naruto seemed to have recovered himself, because at the mention of a mission he smiled brightly and punched the air.

"Yatta! What is it Kakashi-sensei! What is it, what is it!" the boy exclaimed, blues eyes twinkling uncontrollably. Even Sakura tore her gaze away from the forest to look at the orange-clad wonder. Then, she too looked inquiringly towards Kakashi.

Kakashi waited a moment more for Sasuke to react, but the Uchiha still hadn't moved. It was as if he had been frozen in time or something. With his superb ninja skills, Kakashi peeked behind him to check for any stray Naras in the area that could have potentially trapped Sasuke in their Kagemane no Jutsu. However there were none and when he glanced back, Sasuke was staring at him intently.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," the black haired boy said curiously, "do tell what today's mission entails." Naruto's disgusted look at Sasuke's syntax went unnoticed and Sasuke continued. "Is it a team building exercise? I'd very much like to work on teamwork today!" He flashed Sakura and Naruto a quick smile and his arm twitched, as if he was going to give them a thumbs-up, but decided against it at the last moment. Unbeknownst to the Uchiha, Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi had all simultaneously thanked the gods Sasuke wasn't so far gone that he was behaving like…

"No," Kakashi's voice broke through their thoughts (even his own). "Today…" the Copy nin inwardly cringed at what he was about to say, "…we're doing a two-team mission… with Gai and his students." The effect was immediate.

Sasuke looked contemplative. Who knew what bizarre thoughts were coasting through his mind? Sakura went pale, fearing the very idea of coupling this strange, new Sasuke with Lee. 'At least I can hang out with Naruto, Neji-san, and Tenten-san,' she thought, but was then immediately horrified that Naruto and Neji had, in the course of the morning, become more appealing to her than Sasuke. Naruto was the most vocal of the three (even though it wasn't that hard, as neither Sasuke nor Sakura had said anything).

"Why do we have to do a mission with those guys," he demanded angrily, glaring at his sensei. He wouldn't mind normally, but with Sasuke in such an odd… mood… he was reluctant to interact with anyone outside of his own team. He huffed as he waited impatiently for Kakashi's response.

"Because Hokage-sama assigned it," was his sensei's aloof reply. Kakashi knew Naruto couldn't come up with anything to counter that, and he was right.

"Touché…" was all Naruto grumbled, his fists clenched at his sides.

"Well, let's get going then," Kakashi finished. He started towards the Hokage Tower, his team trailing behind. He momentarily wondered where Naruto had learned French, but dismissed it immediately as unimportant.

For a moment, Team Seven strolled together in sync. The same thought was on all their minds…

'Now… to the mission!'

TBC...!

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AN: OMGs!13elevensix! Neji's coming in next chapter, hurray! Until then, let's see who can come up with the most ways Sasuke was OOC in this chapter! The winner gets... the satisfaction that they know a lot about Sasuke! In fact, Sasuke here has agreed to be the new Best Friend Forever of whoever wins!

Sasuke: Hey, I never-

QV: your opinion doesn't count here, Sasuke!

Thank you so much for reading!