A/N: Just a short oneshot for you guys. Maybe this'll keep you occupied until three days pass and I upload another chapter for Aishiteru No Jutsu! It's hard not to just upload all the chapters for you guys right now… twitches Don't forget to review!

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Sasuke was feeling rather irked right now. Not because no one was there to play with him. But because of the fact that he felt someone was staring at him for the past minute or so.

The hair on his neck had long ago risen and his eyebrows have begun twitching. His feet swung above the water as he pretended not to notice, hoping that whoever the heck it was, that person would stop looking at him.

Finally, after another half a minute or so, Sasuke lost his patience and turned around with a blank face. His eyes met with blue ones. Naruto's face became disgusted as he whipped it to face forward again. He began to walk down the dusty path again, as if nothing had happened. Sasuke copied his childish gesture and continued staring out at the lake.

He couldn't help but to smile a bit as he watched the sun sink down between the trees slowly.

That stupid idiot...

It was always like that. Somewhere, hiding away, would be Naruto, silently watching Sasuke. He was always jealous of that boy. He was good at everything, wasn't he? He was of Uchiha blood, such a prestigious family. And who was he? Uzumaki Naruto.

It was a name that many people knew as well. But not because of an elite bloodline or because he was a genius. It was because he was a container for Kyuubi. The Nine-Tailed Fox Demon. And many adults took him as Kyuubi, not Uzumaki Naruto.

Sasuke had always been curious when he saw the adults of Konoha glare and point at the young, blonde boy. What is so unique about him, Sasuke would wonder to himself. Why was he hated by everyone?

Several times he tried asking Itachi but the older man would only smile at him and pat his head before hurriedly saying that he had to go somewhere. His mother would only crinkle her eyes in a half smile before turning away to do something else, leaving Sasuke in curious silence.

But the two of them never talked much. It was more of a stalker game. Sasuke always knew that Naruto was watching him, but when they met up face-to-face, both would become mute and angry at the other for no apparent reason. They were rivals with no purpose whatsoever.

It wasn't until they joined Academy before they actually talked to each other. It was then when they faintly began to acknowledge each other. It was then when the role of stalker and being stalked changed. Sasuke began watching Naruto instead.

Everyday, Sasuke would stand by the wall, watching all the others play and rest. Everyday, Naruto would sit dejectedly at his swing, his eyes hopeful as he waited for someone to invite him to play. He never, after the first time, tried to join a group's game. The first time he tried, the children grouped up on him and beat him up pretty badly.

Sasuke had watched them from afar, horrified that the others would do such a thing to poor Naruto. After all, what had he done? They left Naruto, laughing at the boy, after they were done. The blonde had curled up into a ball and began crying quietly, bruises and scratches all over his arms and face.

"… Are you okay?" Sasuke had asked timidly after the group had certainly left. He had silently walked over to the sobbing boy and asked him that gently.

Naruto had bolted up abruptly, wiped his eyes and nose hastily, glared at Sasuke with teary eyes, and ran away without another word. He left Sasuke standing there dumbfounded.

The next day Naruto came to the Academy, Sasuke was surprised to see that there was no sign of his injuries from the day before. He was perfectly fine. That was when he began to wonder even more about the strange blond boy.

---

"Mother?" Sasuke quietly tugged on his mother's apron that night.

"Yes, Sasuke?" she replied, pausing slightly from her dishwashing when she saw her younger son walk up to her.

"Why won't you tell me more about Uzumaki Naruto?"

"… Sasuke, there are some things that you shouldn't learn until you are older…" she gently said to him, trying to shoo him off by continuing to wash the dishes.

"Aniki knows, doesn't he? He's old enough to know, right?" Sasuke pouted a bit. His lip jutted out even more when his mother didn't reply. "I'm going to find out, Mother… One day, I will, won't I?"

But his mother did nothing more but to give him a slice of apple and push him slightly on the shoulder to get him out of the kitchen.

---

And so, Sasuke continued with his innocent life without knowing of the demon which shared Naruto's body.

Dismally, Sasuke watched as Naruto struggled in the Academy. He watched as he failed tests, fell asleep during class, did terribly during their training. He couldn't even throw a kunai correctly. He wanted to help him, but there was always something that held him back.

Whenever Naruto caught him looking, his gaze would immediately turn icy and he would walk away briskly. Sasuke was always puzzled and somewhat disappointed every time he did that. What he never did notice was Naruto's faint but present blush when he ran away from the Uchiha.

Finally, there was test for all of them. They had to hit at least seven out of ten targets with either shuriken, kunai, or both. Sasuke had passed with flying colors, as usual, but he watched nervously as Naruto stepped up. The other children giggled and pointed, whispering to each other. There were even a few who gambled on his failure or passing. Only Sasuke stood there with an impassionate face as Naruto missed the first target.

Everyone laughed so loudly that no one could hear Sasuke suck in his breath sharply. He saw Naruto's face turn red and his eyebrows furrow in concentration. He threw a kunai again. Sasuke smiled lightly when he saw that it hit the target. Barely, but it still counted.

A few moans erupted from the class every time Naruto hit a target. The aforementioned group was watching tensely as Naruto held his last kunai. If he hit this last target, a lot of kids would lose their snack when break time rolled around.

The young boy looked at Naruto as his shoulders heaved in nervousness and concentration. He knew that he was going to get beat up either way. If he hit the target, angry kids would beat him up for making them lose their gamble. But if he missed it, then the kids would beat him up just for fun. It was a lose-lose situation for him. And Sasuke knew that as well.

Thunk.

Iruka beamed at his pupil, but the entire class moaned as the kunai hit the center of the target. Sasuke silently celebrated with Naruto, who was jumping up and down excitedly. It was the first test that he passed in a long time.

---

"Stop…" a soft voice made the small group of kids halt before the shivering blonde boy. Sasuke was standing in front of Naruto with his arms stretched out wide.

"G-get out of our way, Uchiha. Or… we'll hurt you!" the leader threatened.

"You wouldn't dare." Sasuke's statement was steady and calm. His head was tilted up a bit so that he was peering down at them with a slight smirk. Overall, he thought his bluff was pretty nice. It worked because the entire group started to run off when they saw his display.

The dark haired boy dropped his arms to the side after they all ran away. He turned around and crouched down in front of Naruto. The blonde boy still hadn't realized what happened. He cracked open an eye.

Sasuke could see the fear in his blue, open eye. His pupil was dilated in fear for a few seconds before it grew bigger again and he fell back onto his behind.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke repeated, a smile on his face.

"I'm… I'm fine… I don't need your help…" Naruto said quietly, scrambling off again.

"W-wait! Naru… to…" his small hand was opened hopelessly as he tried to grasp Naruto's orange shirt. His smile turned into a frown.

---

Dishes clinked with each other as Sasuke helped his mother wash the dishes.

"Mother, Mother!" he kept chanting excitedly the second his hands were wet with soapy water.

His mother giggled slightly and looked down at her son. "What is it, Sasuke-kun? Why are you so happy today? You've been grinning since you came back. Did you get a good grade on a test again?"

Sasuke shook his head and grinned. "Guess what, guess what?"

"Hmm?" Mikoto scrubbed the bowl she was holding onto.

"Naruto passed the accuracy test today! He really passed! He hit seven out of ten targets, Mother! Isn't that great?" he beamed at his mom and continued to ramble on about how wonderful it was that Naruto finally passed a test. He was careful to avoid what happened after school.

Kind eyes smiled at him silently as she listened to him talk about Naruto as proudly as if it was he, not Naruto, who had done such a great achievement. It was nice that Sasuke was finally making some friends.

"Yes, that's fantastic, Sasuke," Mikoto replied while Sasuke was taking a breath. His eyes sparkled as he rinsed his hands. "Thanks for helping me!" she called after him as he darted out of the kitchen to who knows where.

"Aniki! Aniki! You wanna hear something?"

---

The stench of blood and fear still hung to him a week after that incident. His eyes were blank and empty from that moment on. He wouldn't respond to anything. He didn't talk, nor did he seem to listen. But it was a relief to the medical nins when he would weakly swallow whatever was put into his mouth.

"Uh… Sasuke?" Naruto's head poked into the room. It held such a clean, untainted smell that it made Naruto's nose wrinkle slightly. He had heard so many things during his time at school. The entire Uchiha clan was killed except for him, he heard.

Sasuke didn't respond to his name being called. He just sat there, looking dead. His eyes were dry and glazed over since he hadn't blinked for the past minute or so. He didn't react when he felt the side of the bed sink down as Naruto started climbing it. He had snuck in when the nurses weren't looking.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's face was two inches away from Sasuke's pale one. The blonde boy backed away a little bit when he felt that Sasuke was focusing his eyes on him. Dark black eyes stared back into his own blue ones for approximately three seconds before they glazed over again.

"Hey… Are you alright?" Naruto took him by the shoulder and shook him a bit. No response. Sasuke didn't even respond to him when Naruto accidentally placed his knee onto his leg and pressed down on it.

"Whoa! Sorry about… that?" he blinked twice quickly and frowned deeply. His hand darted out and pinched Sasuke on the cheek hard. He didn't even emit a squeak or protest. Naruto's fingers fell and he stared at the red skin on Sasuke's cheek.

He was severely traumatized. Even Naruto realized that.

A nurse looked into the room and saw Naruto crushing Sasuke with his legs. Her eyes widened. "Hey… Hey, you! You aren't supposed to be in here!"

"No-no! Wait, I'm just visiting him! Stop pulling me… Uwaaaah!" Naruto's voice faded as he was dragged out of the room.

---

How long has it been since that day? Weeks? Months? Years? How many years? Ah, but they were all grown up now… Team Seven, they were, but they still were childish, weren't they?

Sasuke's eyes narrowed when he spotted Naruto hunched over at the roots of a tree, his finger tracing a pattern in the dirt. What were they now? Twelve, thirteen? Sasuke shuffled over to the boy and deliberately made his shadow drape over him.

Naruto glared up at the familiar shadow. "What do you want?" he growled, his lips pulled back to give what he supposed was a 'ferocious snarl'.

"Tch. I was going to ask you the same thing, dobe…" Sasuke was looking down at him, his hands stuffed in his pockets, as usual.

"Don't call me…" Naruto sighed and stood up, brushing his hands together. "Why the heck do you want to know anyway?"

"You were messing up my perfectly good view of the forest," Sasuke stated as if it was a well known fact or something.

The blonde raised an eyebrow at him and adjusted his forehead protector slightly. "It's none of your business…"

The Uchiha clenched his teeth as Naruto walked away from him for the millionth time without explaining himself.

---

Dark eyes glanced around Konoha. Sasuke was out for a midnight walk. Who in their right mind would go out for a midnight walk? Ah, well, Sasuke never was normal after he was traumatized by the slaughtering of his family anyway…

All was quiet and dull as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Suddenly, a patch of yellow caught his eye. He darted down into the courtyard of the Academy. He hadn't been in that place for a while now.

Sasuke pressed his lips together in annoyance when he saw who was sitting on that stupid swing. Naruto again… This time, he knew what was wrong with Naruto. Earlier that afternoon, Sakura really chewed him out when he asked her out on a date for the twenty seventh time in the hour.

Still, Sasuke sauntered up to the boy and startled him enough to fall off the swing when he said, "What's wrong, dobe?"

"Geez!" Naruto picked himself up and frowned deeply at the other boy. His face was red from anger and embarrassment. "You don't even walk with sound!"

"You'll get killed if you're so lax all the time," Sasuke reprimanded him as if Naruto hadn't said anything at all.

"I'm not--!" he was cut off when Sasuke repeated his question.

"What's wrong?"

The blonde boy grimaced and sat back down on the swing. "Stop rubbing it in my face. You already know what's wrong…"

The Uchiha was silent for a few moments. "Find someone else."

"What?" Blue eyes looked up confused.

Sasuke sighed. He hated elaborating his sentences. "Find someone else to chase after. Obviously, Sakura doesn't like you. So find someone else."

"Hmph. Easy for you to say…" Naruto pressed his forehead against the old, worn out rope that held the plank of wood to the tree.

"It isn't hard," the dark haired boy replied calmly.

"Oh, you say that!" Anger bubbled in his voice. "You're the one with a hoard of girls chasing after you! What about me? They don't even know my name! Even if they do, they know me as "that idiot who keeps making Sasuke-kun mad"! Well, freaking congratulations Mr. Popular!" Naruto huffed and jumped off the swing, glaring defiantly into Sasuke's pale face. "You don't even bat an eyelash at them, stupid idiot! Stop acting as if you're all high and mighty and go after one of them yourself!"

Sasuke looked back at him emotionlessly. Why hadn't he become interested in the girls anyway? Well, actually, it's not like any sane guy would actually like one of those weird girls anyway. No, they were stalkers. Theystalked him everywhere. They were weird. No one could like someone like them. Except for Naruto.

"It's not like I have a line of girls waiting to confess to me or something…" he said quietly, his anger spent.

"Hn. You wouldn't even realize if someone was confessing to you if someone jumped out of nowhere and began screaming at you right this second…" Sasuke looked at him, slight laughter twinkling in his eyes.

"Who would…" Naruto began to walk away quietly.

"I would."

The blonde immediately stopped walking. He turned around. "What?"

"If you were a girl, or if was a girl, I would. I would confess to you," the Uchiha's gaze didn't waver at all.

"What kind of sick joke is that?" Naruto's rage returned and he ran away from him.

---

"Sasuke-kun… We have to go now…" Orochimaru hissed out lightly, standing right next to the emotionless boy.

Sasuke didn't reply.

Naruto looked at him with pleading eyes. How could he stand there and not even react? They haven't seen each other for two and a half years, and Sasuke doesn't even care.

"Don't go! Don't go…"

That's what he had implored of Sasuke when they fought that day. But he did leave. And now, two and a half years later, he still wouldn't listen to him.

"Please don't go…" those blue, scared eyes requested.

Sasuke turned around and vanished with Orochimaru and Kabuto.

It was his turn to walk away and make Naruto watch his retreating back. No, he wouldn't look after Naruto helplessly anymore. It was his turn. His turn to make him hurt and wish. To beg and plead. To want and hope. It was his turn.

"Uwaaaah! Uwaaaah! Sasuke… Sasuke!"

Finally. It was Sasuke's turn to make Naruto's heart shatter and break.