Sasuke looked so pathetic and sad standing in front of the lake.

This was the first thought which run through Naruto's mind as she stared at her sullen-looking classmate, who just sat on the docks and stared out at the clear lake water. Ever since the deaths of the Uchiha Clan, her classmate has spent most of his evenings sitting on the docks and staring out at the pond as if waiting for some kind of answer to his problems to appear. Naruto had no doubt her classmate could stare at the pond for hours, just waiting and hoping for his problems to disappear.

He was in a stage of denial or so Iruka-sensei informed them a day before Sasuke came back to school. Naruto didn't know what denial meant, but she could guess it means he still wanted his family to be there with him. She could understand his feelings. Even though Naruto never met her family, she still longed to have meals with them and to complain about the unfairness of her teachers to them. She wanted to have them scold her whenever she pranked them, but like every orphan, Naruto came to the acceptance this wasn't ever going to happen to her.

In some sick, twisted way, Naruto was glad Sasuke lost his family because it meant she wasn't the only one in their class who didn't have any parents.

Naruto frowned when she saw the way the older boy had his back hunched and the way he kept clenching his hands into a fist as if he just waiting to give someone a good punch on the face. She twisted her body to walk away, but stopped mid step and looked back at her classmate. She felt her breath hitched when he fixed his black-eyes on her.

Her breath didn't hitch because he was looking at her. No, the reason why Naruto felt all the air leaving her lungs when Sasuke stared at her was because just how lifeless and lonely his eyes were. Until the death of his family, her classmate had a certain sparkle in his eyes that just annoyed the hell out of her. Her classmate's eyes used to shine and show even Naruto's own reflection, but now staring at him, Naruto could not even find herself in his eyes.

He wasn't even living life.

Naruto still stared at him even after Sasuke turned his head away from her. Looking closely, the blond-haired girl noticed just how much pain her classmate was in. All this time, she had been glad Sasuke lost his family because she thought she had someone to share the pain with. Maybe she really didn't have anyone to share the pain with. Her classmate had lost the people he knew and witnessed their deaths. Naruto clenched her hands into a fist as she remembered that most of her classmates' friends were from the same clan as him.

She should leave him alone, but Naruto couldn't find it in herself to leave from her spot. All she could do was stand there and watch as her classmate stare at the water. This wasn't right, Naruto thought, clenching her hands into a fist. He shouldn't just wallop in his sadness. It was fine for him to be sad. No one would blame him for being sad, but if he kept going like this then he would be just like a puppet, just doing as he was told.

This wasn't the way someone should live their life. He should be taking the comfort of the villagers, who were very willing to take care of the Last Uchiha. She licked her dried lips and twisted her body to walk away from the raven-haired boy. He had people who wanted to be there for him. She didn't have anyone who was willing to do anything for her. It was better for her to let him wallow in his misery. What was the point of her comforting someone who she didn't understand their pain?

Didn't you want someone to talk to you whenever you were feeling sad and lonely? A small voice in her mind whispered. Naruto nodded and glanced at Sasuke, who was still staring out at the lake. Maybe, she should talk to him and listen to his story. It was the least she could do and give her own advice from one orphan to another. Besides, didn't her classmate need a friend during his time of pain? If she was him, she would be leaning for any kind of support.

Naruto took a deep breath and twisted her body to face the direction of the lake. She was doing this because she knew being alone wasn't what her classmate needed. She was doing this because she knew he needed someone to talk to or at least needed a friend. The moment he thought she was here because she was like the other girls in their class was the moment she would leave him alone. If he acted like an ass then she was going to ignore it even if it was tempting to hit him for any insult given to her.

She took a seat beside Sasuke and stared out at the lake, where she could see her reflection staring right back at her.

"I don't know what the hell you're going through, but you should know you aren't the only one in this village who lost their family," Naruto said, drawing the black-haired boy's attention to her. She smiled brightly and stared up at the sky. "You're just one of the many orphans that this village has but unlike me and the others, you have the love and adoration of the villagers. They are willing to take care of you and do as you ask. Heck, even though you're acting like an ass, you're still the most popular kid in the whole Academy."

"Shut up, dobe."

"Make me," Naruto stuck out her tongue and looked up at the sky. "But they don't understand your pain. None of us do and to say we understand your loss isn't true. I don't understand what it is like to lose a family, but I do know it is painful to come back to an empty house."

"What do you know? You have never had a family before."

The blond-haired girl scowled at the reminder. "And what do you know of my pain, bastard? You had the chance to get to know your parents. You knew your parents loved you, and you were able to get hugs from them. I never had the chance to have that experience. Do you see me wallowing in misery? Look, I'm not telling you that you shouldn't mourn for your family or even be sad about it, but you shouldn't push people out of your life."

"Just leave me alone dobe."

"Nope," Sasuke blinked his eyes and Naruto smiled. "Why should I leave you alone when I know you're miserable? Do you think I'm going to sit here and follow your orders? Well if that is what you think of me then bastard, you don't even know me. I ain't going to sit here and do what you want. I'm not going to let you become some sad little boy. I'm not going to let you be friendless and even if you act like an asshole, it won't stop me."

Sasuke just stared at her and snorted, but Naruto could see a small hint of a smile creeping up on his face. They weren't friends, Naruto thought as she stared out at the lake, but if she continued to pester him and talk to him, then maybe just maybe they could become the best of friends.

Three weeks later.

"Do you wanna play tag, Sasuke?"

Sasuke stared up at the smiling blond-haired girl, scowled and returned to staring out at the lake. The blond-haired girl kept coming to his spot and kept asking to play games with him. If he didn't know Naruto was a girl who was focused on her career and could be stubborn when her mind was set on something, he would have thought the girl was his fangirl. Why else would the girl put so much effort to become his friend? He didn't want friends. He didn't need them.

"Hn."

"You know the more time I spend with you, the more I start to understand the Uchiha's secret language," Naruto declared, grinning at him. "Fine if you don't want to play tag, then what about ninja?"

"No."

"What about…"

"I don't want to play any games," Sasuke snapped. The blond-haired girl frowned, but nodded her head nonetheless at his words. Maybe she was finally going to leave him alone, he thought to himself, clenching his hands into a fist. He didn't want someone like her hanging around him. He didn't want any friendships. He needed to get stronger and being around the dead last of his class wasn't going to help him get stronger. She wouldn't be able to help him get his revenge.

"You know I sometimes wonder if I got my hair colour from my mother or father," Naruto said, drawing his attention back to her. The blond-haired girl didn't have her usual big smile on her face instead to Sasuke's discomfort, his classmate had a small sad smile on her face. "I sometimes wonder if my parents were ninjas or if they had been civilians, who had been unlucky to have been killed by the Kyuubi. I also wonder if my eye colour came from my mother or father. You know I would spend days in the orphanage, just trying to make up how I wanted my parents to look. I spent hours just drawing them on paper and then I'll break down because I realize there is no point of me drawing about people I didn't really know."

"Why the hell are you telling me this?"

"Cuz I feel like we should bond and if you're not willing to tell me anything about you then it is fine with me but I'm going to tell you everything that made me sad," he blinked his eyes at her. The blond-haired girl grinned and pumped her fist up in the air. "I finally got a reaction from you which isn't a scowl! I will remember this day for the rest of my life! Now where was I? Oh yeah, I will sometimes try to imagine what my parents would be like if they were alive. I wonder if they will scold me for my bad grades or if they would hug me and tell me everything will be alright. I sometimes wonder what it will be like to have a mother hug me."

"It's warm," Sasuke answered and he closed his eyes as he remembered the last hug his mother gave him. "It is so warm that you feel like you can let out of all your feelings to them. You can forget everything when she hugs you so tightly."

"You are so lucky you know what a mother's hug is like."

He blinked his eyes and stared at the blond-haired girl, who just gave him a smile. Sometimes, Sasuke forgot his classmate never had parents. For as long as he could remember, his classmate would smile and act as if nothing could bring her down. It was the one thing he used to admire about the girl, though he would rather be killed by Itachi then admit it to her.

"If you look at me with pity Sasuke, I'm going to punch you so hard that you will sleep for a whole week," she said, staring up at the sky. "What was your Mum like? I have only ever seen her whenever I was going to the playground. She looked like she was a kind lady. Now that I think about it, she was the only person who ever smiled at me."

"That's my best-friend's daughter, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke could distantly remember his mother saying this to him as she pointed to Naruto, who had been too busy staring at the other kids. He could remember seeing the sadness in his mother's eyes as she stared at the blond-haired girl, who stared at them before dismissing them. He remembered his mother smiling at the girl when she stared at them. He also remembered his mother's request:

"It would make me so happy if you become friends with her, Sasuke-kun. Naru-chan doesn't have anyone who she could rely on and will need someone to lean on when things become hard for her. It will make me happy if you try to be there for her."

The next day, his whole family was murdered and Sasuke forgot all about his mother's request. Would his mother understand why he didn't want to get close to Naruto? Would she forgive him if he just ignored Naruto and continue on his path? The memory of his mother's hopeful eyes flashed through his mind and Sasuke knew that no matter how much pain he was in, he couldn't disregard his dead mother's request.

"What game do you want to play?" He finally asked.

The blond-haired girl grinned. "Ninja! I never played it before, but it looks so fun!"

That was the start of Sasuke's friendship with Naruto.

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think.