Warnings: Little kids!! Yay!! And OOC. But if you've read any of my other fics, you'd know I'm a HUGE fan of OOC. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story except the fact that it is under my name! The idea came from a mini-performance some people in my school put on called "The Audition" and obviously I don't own Naruto.

A/N: Please don't send me a message if you've already written something that resembles this story because I haven't read anything like it and am completely unaware of any other stories with this plot. But other than that please do review!! But no flames or stuff like that...

Kiss of Kickball Death

Ah! The beautiful Village Hidden in the Leaves. What a wondrous and calming sight.

...Well in some places anyway. I mean like in the Hokage's office where said Lord Hokage was sleeping with his eyes open pretending to listen to some of his accomplices whining about the unfairness of prices at some strip club that the old man had never and would never go to.

Yeah...calm...

But anyway, there are places like the Ninja Academy where things are very far from wondrous and calm and closer to chaotic and loud. And here is where we join the oh-so-lovable Naruto Uzumaki and his classmates.

"Sasuke."

Okay, he could understand why they picked Sasuke. After all he was the best kickball player in the village.

"No I wanted Sasuke!!"

Well, there are some kids who are just as good as Sasuke! Thought Naruto. Like me!

"Tough luck, Forehead!"

"No fair, Pig!"

Haha, serves that teme right! Having all those nasty girls fight over him with their kooties. He's always trying to show everyone up.

"Uchiha isn't even playing! Would you please get on with it?" A little boy called Neiji all but screamed at the two girls who almost immediately went into a state of deepest depression.

"Oh. Well, I guess I pick Neiji then."

Understandable, again Naruto figured that it was obvious they'd pick the best players first.

"Lee."

Not that he was a bad player or anything.

"Gaara."

There were just some kids that were better than him.

"Shikamaru."

But Shikamaru wasn't one of them.

It was then Naruto realized the most unfair and ridiculous thing that any seven year-old could realize.

"Hinata."

They were purposely avoiding picking him! Every other kid was picked before him! But Hinata was the last person who was playing besides the blonde, so he'd have to be on Sakura's team.

But instead of acknowledging his existence or even throwing a "Hey, come on Naruto!" over their shoulders, they all just ditched him. Walked away without any indication of knowing he was there at all.

"Hey! What about me?" There, now they know I'm here. They have got to let me play now!

All the kids except Sakura continued with their trek to the kickball field. She had been secretly voted on to tell Naruto why he couldn't play with them.

But, being the kind soul that she is, Sakura couldn't bring herself to tell Naruto that the only reason they hate him is because their parents hate him. So instead, she did what every girl has a perfect right to do when rejecting a guy no matter what the situation..

She lied her ass off.

"Oh...um...well... you see Naruto..." She glanced back at Ino-pig for support, but all she got was a sign to hurry it up. Sakura licked her dry lips and thought really hard for a second or two then, being such a quick thinker, her face lit up with a lie. "We already have seven players! And we want to keep it an even number."

...Well I never said it was perfect.

"Oh, okay. Can I play tomorrow?" The blue eyes looked so hopeful that Sakura hated to shoot him down...but her mom told her not to play with this boy, so she had to.

"No, if no one's sick we have the same players and when someone is sick Choji plays. Sorry." And she ran off.

Just like that.

Leaving Naruto alone.

Again.

Maybe I'm just weird. I guess I understand. No one wants to be friends with a weirdo.

And with that thought playing in his mind, Naruto went over and sat on a lone swing, way away from all the other children.

At least the one's that he could see.

The next day, no one was sick. Naruto once again sat on his swing, waiting for the perfect moment to come so he could prove to everyone that he wasn't a weirdo.

Unfortunately for the blonde, that moment was not going to come today. Naruto had been so focused on everyone else and the suspense of finding that moment that when someone jumped down in front of him, it scared him so bad that he fell right off the swing and flat on his back.

Having the wind knocked out of you is already bad enough, but when it's a surprise wind-knocking attack it's ten times worse. So, being in so much pain, Naruto closed his eyes and didn't open them until he could breathe properly.

That's when he noticed that someone was sitting on him.

"I don't see how anyone is going to let you graduate the Academy if you can't even defend yourself. I could have killed you!"

"Yeah, no kidding! What do you want, Sasuke?" The boy in question totally disregarded the kid underneath him and the fact that he had spoken.

"Seriously, do you really expect an enemy to just wait for you to catch your breath? Well they're not gonna!"

"Shut up stupid!" Now, Naruto started to thrash underneath his captor, who let him sit up, but did not get off of him.

"So why are you over here by yourself? And what are you looking at?" By this time, Naruto had already decided that Sasuke had quite a few flaws. One, being that he asked to many questions.

Another being that he was too curious, which to anyone else but Naruto would seem the same as flaw number one but is worded completely differently so obviously it's different.

And the third one being that he was sitting on top of him and getting very heavy. But of course he'd already shown weakness once today and according to Iruka-sensei Ninja never show weakness so he didn't bring that last flaw to anyone's attention.

"You talk to much." There, the perfect cover-up.

"And you didn't answer my questions, so I'm just going to talk m-" Naruto cut him off with a hand over the other boys mouth.

"Fine! I'll answer you! Jeez."

Naruto sighed and moved his hand, expecting the Uchiha to get off of him. But he didn't. Even after Naruto's obvious head movements and such implying that the boy should get up.

Whatever.

"I'm over here by myself because no one wants to play with me."

"That's funny!"

How is the fact that I'm a weirdo funny?

"It is not!"

"Is to!"

"Is not!"

"Is to because I'm only over here because everyone wants to play with me so we're like opposites! So it's funny!"

"Who told you that opposites are funny?"

"No one told me that. I just think that way."

"Well you think weird."

"Coming from you, stupid?"

"Yeah!" Five. Four. Three. Two. One. "And I'm not stupid!"

"Then how come you fell for it when Sakura told you that seven was and even number?"

"I did n-"

Oh wait. Naruto went back to yesterday's events and realized that he had actually fallen for that.

"See? And how come you believed her?"

"Because I'm stupid."

"You are not."

"But you just said I was!"

"I lied."

"Lying isn't good! Iruka-sensei told me that."

"He told everyone that."

"What are we even talking about?"

"Nothing. I'm going to talk and you are going to listen, okay? Good."

With that said, Naruto once again found himself flat on his back, underneath Sasuke.

"Now, listen up because I'm only going to say this once. Don't. Bother."

The smaller boy's brow bunched up when Sasuke said that. What the heck did that mean?

Obviously, being a child of seven with a very low tolerance for unanswered questions, Naruto voiced his curiosity.

"It means forget the idiots who don't like you and focus on something else."

"But they never said they didn't like me! They said that they had enough players already!!"

"Naruto! Don't be so gullible. Obviously they were lying because they didn't have enough players. They treated you like the Kiss of Kickball Death or something!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too and you know it!"

"Fine! So they did! What do you care?" Sasuke rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Just remember what I told you, dobe." And he stuck out his hand to the other kid.

"Don't call me that!" But Naruto took the hand and brushed off his butt. "But I'll prove it to you! They like me! They just didn't need me yesterday or today. I'll prove it."

"Yeah, you do that." And Sasuke jumped back into the tree where he always sat.

Scared that Sasuke would ambush him again, Naruto walked over to a different area to play today. Something about the conversation, however chopped up it was, really bothered him and he'd rather just forget about it.

"I don't even like Sasuke anyway. Why would I listen to him?" The blonde muttered.

So for weeks, Naruto waited. And waited. And waited.

Until finally, his chance came. Rock Lee had kicked the red sphere-shaped rubber all the way over to the Academy door and they were having a fight as to who should go get it.

"I can get it!"

Naruto quickly ran over to the ball before anyone could object and picked it up. Instead of throwing it back to the seven other kids, he walked it over.

"Thanks." Sakura muttered, taking the ball.

"No problem! But since I got the ball for you do you think I could play today? Please?"

Sakura couldn't mutter an answer though, because just then a terrible scoff was heard.

"I thought you said you told him, Forehead." Not liking the look of shame written on some of the faces that refused to glance his way, Naruto spoke up.

"Told me what?"

Ino rolled her eyes.

"That we don't want to play with you. Duh."

"B-but, why?" Bushy-brow's a bigger weirdo than I am! How come you play with him?

"Because none of our mommy's or daddy's like you so we don't either! They told us not to."

Ino glared at him as though he were some kind of vermin. So did Neiji and Gaara. Hinata was blushing and kicking dirt around with her feet, Lee was looking anywhere but Naruto and Sakura was staring at the ball in her hands. It seemed everyone was waiting for something, and Naruto knew exactly what it was.

"Oh. Okay." He was trying really hard not to cry in front of these people. If they didn't like him then he didn't need to share anything with them. Especially his feelings. "I'll just leave you then."

And then he ran away. All the way across the yard to his swing, not bothering to stare after the others as he had done before. He didn't feel like it now.

This time it didn't scare him as much when someone jumped down in front of him.

"Did you prove it?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shook his head and shut his eyes tight, though it didn't do much good. The Uchiha still caught sight of a tear.

Normally he'd have cracked an insult about the stupidness of tears and their weakness, but instead he walked to one side of the crier and put an arm around him awkwardly. He was new to the whole comforting scene and didn't really know how it worked.

But whatever he did helped Naruto because after only a couple minutes, the crying stopped and the seated kid gazed up at his friend.

"You were right, Sasuke. I just shouldn't bother."

Over the years, Naruto used Sasuke's advice as a way of life. Even though he seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve, he really didn't let the taunts and threats get to him. He just didn't bother with negative feelings.

Now, he was a ninja! He was fighting the bad guys and kicking their butts! He was living life in the fast lane! He was invincible! He was-he was-

Babysitting.

"Oh come on Kakashi-sensei! Why do we have to watch these brats?"

"It's not so bad, Naruto. Think of it, as each little kid is an evil spy or something creative. I don't know. But I have to go speak to Iruka-sensei and we may be a while so deal."

With that he left Team 7 to the evils of the playground they'd all attempted to forget.

Well, Sasuke and Naruto didn't like it much. But Sakura fit right in with all the children. They loved her hair.

"Screw this." The blonde huffed and waltzed over to the familiar swing. He plopped down and started to rock back and forth, remembering all sorts of events from his days in the Academy.

It really seemed like this place had a weird affect on him because, just like all those years ago, no one noticed him over there in his own little world.

Except for one person that is.

Anyways, because he was in such a trance, Naruto was completely taken off guard when someone jumped down in front of him. He fell off the swing and flat onto his back.

Now, Naruto had heard somewhere before that when you get the wind knocked out of you it sucks. But a surprise wind-knocking attack was ten times as bad.

However, once he got the feeling back in his chest, the ninja realized that someone was sitting on him.

He looked up and saw none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

"This position is way to familiar."

"How did you graduate? I could have killed you already."

"Shut up. And don't start that conversation again, please."

Sasuke sighed and started at Naruto. Why would he come back to the place that was obviously very painful for him?

"Are you going to talk, teme? Because last time you were sitting on me I couldn't get you to shut up."

Just to bug Naruto, the brunette shrugged and flattened himself out on top of his friend. And elbow above each of Naruto's shoulders and his head in his hands.

"Oh come on! You're not little anymore. You're heavy!"

"Are you implying that I'm fat?"

"Yes. Get off."

Instead of listening, Sasuke tutted and slapped Naruto's head softly.

"Fine! What do you want me to do? I just want to be left alone!"

"That's funny." How is my depression funny? Wondered Naruto.

"It is not."

"Is too!"

"Is not."

"Is too because I want to be with you so we're like opposites and that's funny."

A retort was about to be thrown, but instead Naruto took a minute to think over what Sasuke just said.

"We are opposites, aren't we?"

"Completely."

The blue-eyed boy grinned at Sasuke and chuckled lightly.

"That's good, because I don't think I'd be able to handle being anything like you."

The Uchiha glared and turned his head to the side, refusing to actually look at Naruto, who was terrified that he'd offended his friend in any way.

"Wait! I'm sorry!"

"Hmph!"

"No really! I am! I can prove it!"

"Yeah, look how wonderfully that turned out last time."

Naruto glared at Sasuke once more and stuck out his tongue.

"But I was only seven! I could really prove it now!" He still wasn't getting a response. "Sas-mmph!!"

As many could guess, Sasuke found the perfect way for Naruto to prove he was sorry.

The kids on the playground got a health lesson from Sakura once they all saw what was going on.

And Kakashi-sensei was laughing his ass off as Iruka-sensei pulled out the money he'd just lost with a really sour look on his face. They'd been watching from the windows and taking bets on who would make the first move.

But Naruto was happy and at the one place that had always represented every horrible thing done to him.

Ironic, they were opposites.

That's funny.