Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters, except my OC. I don't even own the plot because I got the idea from an episode of Kids Next Door.
A/N: I know I should be focusing on finishing my other fics but this idea came to me today when I watched the episode of K.N.D. Operation Z.O.O. Besides, I always wanted to write a fic of when they were little kids. They were so cute!
So this takes place in their academy days, they're around 8 or 9, I couldn't really decide. But it's after the Uchiha massacre and Sasuke's fame is pretty cemented.
It has touches of NaruHina and SasuSaku, but it's mostly on the girl's part since one is oblivious and the other is coldhearted.
Summary: Adults just love children, but ninja children are just too unruly to be kept in homes. So what else can a kindhearted zookeeper do but offer them a place to stay?
The Children's Zoo
Chapter One
He was brooding again.
Sakura just loved watching Sasuke brood all throughout lunchtime. He was just too cool, she could barely stand it! Unfortunately, most of the other girls in her class loved watching Sasuke brood too. Scratch that, all of the girl's in her class did. She knew because they were all standing in a semi-circle around her, pushing each other to try to get a better look of the prodigy who preferred to glare at the distance than eat during lunch.
Well, all except one. One really weird one with even weirder taste.
Sakura rolled her eyes and let them wander away from her idol and towards a tiny girl with blue-black hair and pearly white eyes. She was standing behind a tree spying on a blond boy who ate his lunch alone.
'Oh, Hinata,' Sakura thought as she saw Hinata look at the boy then at the bento lunch box in her hands then back at the boy. It was obvious what she was trying to gather up courage to do: share her lunch with him. 'How childish.'
Then she snapped to attention. She stared at her bento box and then towards Sasuke. She smiled. Hinata was a genius! What better way to make herself stand out from his legion of fan girls than by walking right up to him and sharing her lunch? Not even Ino, the bravest person she knew, could bring herself to communicate directly with Sasuke. She would become imprinted in his mind and now that she thought about it sharing lunch was a rather intimate gesture.
She took careful steps out of the crowd so as not to draw attention to herself. She was halfway towards her goal when she heard the girls begin to complain. But as angry as they were, they still could not bring themselves to approach Sasuke in order to kick her butt. In that moment, they were all jealous of Sakura and her courage. Inner Sakura could feel her pride grow.
"Hi, Sasuke-kun!" She cheerfully greeted the minute she reached him so she couldn't chicken out.
He didn't stop staring into the distance. A knot took up residence in her stomach but she tried. "Nice weather we're having, huh?"
He made a grunting noise. It could have been an agreement or he could have been clearing his throat. She decided to remain positive and chose the former.
"I was wondering if you'd like to share lunch with me. You see, I noticed you didn't have one and my mom made me a lot so I couldn't possibly eat it all! I'd love it if you shared it with me." She said in a rush, and something amazing happened; he looked right at her!
It seemed as he was about to tell her something. Her knees went weak and her eyesight got blurry. She was sure this would be the greatest moment of her life, and then her world went black.
Hinata hated her weakness. Maybe her father was right, maybe she was worthless. What else could explain why she couldn't even walk up to Naruto and offer him some of her lunch? It would probably be a nice change from the chips he usually ate.
There was no reason to be afraid of him; he had never been anything but kind to everyone - when he wasn't pulling pranks on them. All she wanted to do was become his friend. The truth was that even though she desperately wanted nothing more than to be able to call him her friend, they had never said anything more than "Hi" to each other. Or at least he did.
The first time he had spoken directly to her it had been an early morning. It was so early she was the only one in the classroom, other than Iruka of course. Surprisingly, Naruto was the next person to walk in. Surprising, because he was usually the last one. He loudly greeted Iruka and had an argument about eating healthier.
For the first ever she saw him become deathly quiet and she was the cause. When he saw that he wasn't completely alone he stopped arguing about why kids should not be forced to eat broccoli and just stared blankly at her. Then his smile reappeared and he ran right up to her seat and introduced himself in his usual way: boldly declaring himself as the future Hokage.
It literally took her an entire minute, sixty seconds of deathly silence, just to stutter out her name. When he noticed that she was not even looking him in the eye he told her she was weird and left her alone as the rest of the students poured in.
The second time he spoke to her, he was trying to get someone to join him in throwing water balloons from the roof of the academy during lunch. It was a two-man job, he said, and all she would have to do was keep watch to make sure they didn't get caught.
"I-I can't." She had managed to say as she stared at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world. He looked almost disappointed in her answer and left to find if anybody else would join him. Nobody did but he threw the water balloons anyway. He promptly got caught and had to clean all the bathrooms in the school, but he had done it.
The truth was that part of her, a really big part of her, wished that she had joined him. Not just because it was a chance to spend time with Naruto, but because it must have taken so much courage to do it. She wanted to have courage like him; she wanted his courage to rub off on her.
Yet here she was, hiding behind a tree when what she really wanted was to be sitting right beside him. Still, she enjoyed the moments when she could watch him like this. That's when she noticed the cherry blossom petals blowing on the wind. They were filling the space between her and Naruto and for a second she thought it looked just like a dream.
Then she remembered, 'There aren't any sakura trees around here!' She watched as the blond she was watching suddenly slumped over and she dropped her bento box as she ran towards him.
"N-Naruto-ku…" She couldn't speak and she met the ground.
Iruka knew something was wrong.
It was five minutes after lunch ended and no one was in his class! He knew that if he told anybody else they would just tell him to relax because kids tended to not want to go back to class, but he knew his students. He knew how each and every one of them worked. He knew when and in what order they all came back from lunch.
First was Shino. He was usually two minutes early and would just sit in his seat quietly, probably communicating with his bugs, until class started.
Next was Hinata, she was always perfectly punctual. Only a couple of seconds before lunch officially ended she would already be in her seat ready to learn the next lesson he had to teach.
Then Sasuke would come in. He was technically a couple of seconds late (that's how observant Iruka was) but since the minute had not changed nothing could be done to punish him. He would just sit in his seat and ignore everyone else's existence. All the other girls in his class would file in right after him and ignore that anyone but Sasuke existed.
Most of the boys would follow shortly after, most of them.
Two minutes after lunch ended, Shikamaru and Chouji would nonchalantly walk in; Chouji would still be munching on chips and Shikamaru would mumble about how being on time was too troublesome. Iruka was easy on them and never pointed out that they were tardy.
However, he couldn't ignore the lateness of Kiba and Naruto. They were always five minutes late (Naruto was a couple of seconds later than Kiba and his pup); Iruka knew that the only reason they were always late was because they were the biggest free spirits. They hated being contained and tried to stay outside of the classroom as long as they could.
But now no one was there, and it wasn't possible that they had all simultaneously developed a rebellious streak. He knew something was wrong and he couldn't just sit still any longer. He resolutely marched towards the yard of the school, most of the students ate there, and was shocked by what he saw… nothing!
There was absolutely no one there. His entire class was missing!
A/N: So there's the first chapter! I want to do this in three parts, the kidnapping, the kids waking up and the big reveal, and then the escape. Or, well, it might come out different.
I really hope I represented Hinata's feelings well. She's not quite in love with him yet, or even like like yet, but just admires him at the moment. He's exactly how she wishes to be which is why she wants to hang out with him. I like how her feelings for him were shown to evolve, not just "boom!" I'm in love with you. Which is why I really hope I did it well.
Sakura on the other hand has already decided she likes Sasuke, which is how Ino presented it to us in the anime.
The reason I had Sakura know Hinata, and her feelings, was because in the chunin exams she not only knew who she was but was able to tell Naruto that Hinata had always been watching him, which means that she knew about Hinata and her habits, at least. They're not really friends, but they acknowledge each other's existence at least.
Please review! Criticism is accepted as long as it's constructive and not just a mindless flame.
- Destiny's sweet melody
