A/N: I know it's been a while longer but here is an update nonetheless since I found some motivation.

Summary: It was Naruto's birthday and Sasuke has saved him from his childhood bullies & given Naruto his old jacket- symbolically forming a strong bond with Naruto. Itachi takes both boys to the park to celebrate Naruto's birthday and witnesses the start of his little brother's most important friendship.

*It is now three years later, Naruto and Sasuke are 11 while Itachi is 16.
Also, I had not mentioned this before but I am going according to U.S. school standards meaning characters will be attending 3 years of middle school and 4 years of high school.*

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto

THREE YEARS LATER:

Naruto and Sasuke had been joined at the hip for three years since Naruto's birthday. Wherever one was the other wasn't too far behind. Both boys, one dark and moody while the other bright and energetic seemed to have quite a strong connection. Ever since the initial incident, Sasuke had successfully fended off anyone who dared to mess with Naruto, claiming, "the dobe would be hopeless without me." Meanwhile, Naruto helped Sasuke in a totally different way. The manner in which Naruto lit up Sasuke's life and brought him joy was not lost on Itachi, a joy that neither ever thought possible after losing both parents.

Both were technically orphans, Naruto lived with his orphan home father, Iruka Umino, an elementary school teacher. While Sasuke and Itachi were under the care of their guardian, Kakashi Hatake, who took in the Uchihas having been previously a close family friend.

Itachi was now sixteen and although still young had finished high school and was well on his way, studying at the local college. Iruka and Kakashi had made sure the boys attended the same schools and so today would be their first days attending Konoha Junior High together.

The boys were currently having a sleepover thanks to Kakashi offering to take them both in the morning and much-needed assurance for Iruka. They had decided to go to bed and were sleeping side by side, nothing out of the ordinary for the pair of best friends.

"H-hey Sasuke?" called the small, half conscious voice in the dark.

"What are you stuttering for dobe?" came the quicker much more sober retort.

"Shut it, teme!"

"What is it? You don't need to pee again, do you? Because I'm not getting up again," the raven said recalling Naruto's earlier episode.

"No...Sasuke do you think I'll make more friends? You know 'cause we're starting a new school and all..."

Sasuke could hear the hope in Naruto's voice, "Why would you want more friends?" A pause, "You have me," Sasuke reluctantly added at the end.

Naruto didn't say anything for a few seconds and Sasuke, although he would never admit it, became quite nervous.

"You're right, poor teme would be lonely without me," Naruto finally boasted.

Sasuke offered a roll of his eyes but couldn't help the small smile that came over his perfectly, pale features. The boys silently agreed to head to sleep and closed their eyes.

Much later, neither aware of the other, the boys were caught deep in thought. Naruto nervously awaiting the day to come, knowing what Sasuke had tried to imply. He knew Sasuke was assuring him that he was his friend and as far as he was concerned, that was all that mattered. But Naruto was not as naive as he was often thought to be. Already people threw themselves at Sasuke, everyone wanting to be part of his life, and although all had failed but Naruto until then, that could change at any given moment. At least that is what Naruto, thought...constantly.

Meanwhile, Sasuke repeated their earlier conversation in his head. Over and over he considered Naruto's questions. Although he would never voice his thoughts aloud he was actually quite selfish when it came to Naruto. The dobe didn't need any more friends. Why was he thinking about other people when he had him right here, right now?

Eventually, the boys drifted off and finally fell asleep.

Naruto and Sasuke rushedly got ready for their first day. Shoving each other as they brushed their teeth, got dressed and ran downstairs to meet Kakashi waiting in the car. Because Kakashi had so conveniently slept in and forgotten to wake the boys Naruto and Sasuke had had to rush quite a bit.

"Kakashi you couldn't have set an alarm or something? The dobe was rushing so much he forgot to grab his bento box and now I have to share with him at lunch."

Kakashi conveniently ignored Sasuke's comment and wished them both a good first day at Konoha.

"Wow, it's a lot bigger than I thought Junior High would be..." Naruto said in almost a whisper.

Sasuke could practically see the nerves consuming the dobe, "It's not that big, come on we have the same Home Room."

Naruto visibly gulped and made his way trailing behind Sasuke while taking in the three-story building with posters advertising different clubs posted on almost every wall, window, and door of the school.

Right, when he was about to ask Sasuke if they could possibly join one together they reached their homeroom and sat down amongst the other students who already seemed to have gotten to know each other pretty well. They probably already knew each other, thought Naruto.

The day went along pretty uneventfully and luckily the boys had four out of six classes together. When lunch came around Sasuke had to try and find Naruto because they didn't have the same class previously and therefore Naruto was probably trying to find him as well to share his bento box. When he heard a familiar loud obnoxious laugh he turned to see Naruto surprisingly sitting with a kid he hadn't seen before. As Sasuke walks up to Naruto he hears what was he was laughing about.

"So I tried crawling into Homeroom so I wouldn't be marked late but he saw me! And get this, he had seen me since I opened the door and tried to crawl under all the desks but he pretended not to see me only to say, Well, well good morning to you and thank you for cleaning my floor with your uniform I hope you'll do the same tomorrow morning."

Naruto was practically bawling his eyes out while laughing at the raggedy brown haired boy's story by the end of his explanation for being marked late. For some reason, Sasuke didn't feel comfortable walking up to them anymore.

Just as he was about to make his way out of their sight Naruto calls out to him, "Oh! Hey, Sasuke come 'ere!"

"Oh, hey," Sasuke says trying to act as if he hadn't noticed them sitting there.

"Hey, this is Inuzuka Kiba, he is really funny! We have Art together."

Sasuke mumbles a greeting and introduces himself as he awkwardly sits next to Naruto. As lunch went on Naruto spent a lot of the time talking to Kiba and much to Sasuke's disappointment two more of Kiba's friends joined their table. How could Naruto have made a friend so quickly? Why did he have to be so friendly? Couldn't he see Sasuke was uncomfortable?

Unfortunately, Naruto didn't notice and the rest of the day went on with Sasuke feeling pretty grumpy.

The rest of the week went on the same way; Naruto making friends while Sasuke sat next to him diverting away any attempt at conversation any of the others tried to make with him. On Friday Naruto decided he would try to ask Sasuke what his deal was.

"Why are you acting like such a teme when my friends try talking to you?"

Sasuke scowled, "leave me alone dobe I don't know what you mean..."

"What I mean is people are trying to be friendly and you're making yourself look bad, and I don't want them not to like us Sasuke!"

Sasuke couldn't believe how desperate Naruto was sounding, "Naruto do you hear yourself? You sound totally needy. I don't care if they like me. You like me, and you're my only and best friend. Aren't I yours..." the last sentence was more of a whisper than anything but Naruto caught it.

"Of course you are, I just...I know you are going to eventually make friends Sasuke. And you know, Iruka told me it would be good for the both of us to make more friends. I want more friends! It will be more fun and it's not like I'll stop being your friend, you know that right?"

Sasuke had his doubts and he definitely felt insecure but he could feel how much Naruto wanted to be friends with those other kids so he let it go. He would just have to make sure Naruto didn't forget who the dobe befriended first!

That first argument was among the many they had that first year of Junior High but it wasn't the worst, not even close.

Around the time of Naruto's birthday, Naruto approached Sasuke after school seeming really excited.

"Sasuke! Sasuke!" The dobe crashed right into him in a bear hug.

Sasuke pretended to dislike the physical contact, "What the heck dobe?"

"Guess what! I mentioned my birthday was this weekend to Kiba and everyone else at lunch and they invited me to go see a movie and even have ice cream afterward. Isn't that great!?"

Sasuke's face quickly fell into a frown, "But...we always go to the park on your birthday...and have ice cream there."

Naruto placed a hand on his neck, a nervous habit of his, "well yeah, but I mean they invited me ya know, and well I said yes because no one has ever invited me somewhere on my birthday...we will still have ice cream. Sasuke it'll be fun and-"

Sasuke decided he had had enough and cut him off, "That's not the point!"

Naruto's eyes widened, surprised at Sasuke's unexpected outburst. He didn't know what to do. Why was Sasuke mad at him? This was a good thing! Why can't he be happy for him and his friends? Why didn't he get that he wanted to spend his birthday with his friends?

"We always go to the park and have ice cream there, together. Itachi takes a day off to take us and everyone was gonna-" Sasuke suddenly catches himself before spilling the beans. He forgot he had asked Itachi to have Iruka and Kakashi already at the park sort of as a surprise for Naruto. Of course, he didn't know that though.

At that moment Itachi walked in on them having heard Sasuke's angry yelling, "What's going on in here?"

Sasuke blushed looking away while Naruto spoke up, "Sasuke is acting like a total teme just because I told him my friends invited me out this weekend. Itachi tell him how silly he is being!"

Itachi glanced at Sasuke and saw he was pretty emotionally unstable for someone who usually didn't show that much emotion at all unless it involved a certain blond.

"Naruto why don't you let me talk with Sasuke for a bit?"

Naruto gave him a weird look, "yeah, sure", he mumbles. "I didn't mean to make him mad."

Once Naruto left downstairs Itachi sat down with Sasuke. He noticed his brother was pretty embarrassed knowing he probably didn;t mean to go off on Naruto.

"Is this about what you were planning for Naruto's birthday?"

"He wants to go to see a movie with his friends Itachi. He wants to have ice cream, not at the park, but with his friends."

Itachi could clearly see the location wasn't what was bugging his foolish little brother. It was the fact Sasuke assumed Naruto wanted to spend the day with his new friends rather than with him.

"Sasuke you know Naruto isn't choosing his new friends over you. He just wants to spend the day with both of you and you should be happy Naruto is happy isn't he?"

Sasuke pouts, something he would only do with Itachi. "But he is picking them Itachi, he has been picking them all year! I'm trying to be friendly and I'm trying to not be selfish but he doesn't get it. He's been hanging out with them a lot. Why does he do that when he has me? He said no one has ever invited him out somewhere on his birthday. What did he think going to the park with us was if not an invitation?"

Itachi knows Sasuke is pretty selfish when it comes to Naruto and unlike the social butterfly Naruto is, Sasuke doesn't see the point in having more than one friend: Naruto.

"Sasuke," he pauses thinking of a way to get him to understand Naruto a little more, "you know Naruto better than anyone. You know he didn't have a lot of people when he was little, and you know he is friendly with everyone he meets. Naruto lives off of other people, he likes making bonds and he doesn't choose one over another. You should know he is better than that, you are his best friend and the others are his friends as well. All he wants is to share the day with all of you. Canceling the park this one time won't be a big deal. Don't be angry with him on his birthday let him be happy and be happy for him too, okay?"

Sasuke nods as he comes to see what Itachi means. Naruto is a good person he wouldn't pick someone else over him. Itachi, per usual, is right. He should try to be happy for Naruto.

"Yeah,...you're right big brother."

Itachi chuckles, "Of course I am foolish ototuo."

The day of Naruto's birthday, that Saturday, Naruto was happy to hear that Sasuke would join them for ice cream after the movie. Sasuke didn't go along for the movie because he really wasn't all that interested in spending time with Naruto's friends but he would at least put up with them for Naruto over some ice cream.

Itachi was dropping Sasuke off at the ice cream parlor when they heard laughing from the partially opened car window. It was Naruto and Kiba along with Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, and Choji.

"That movie was awesome! Hey, guys, I'm going to see if I can get us a booth wait out here if ya like, it looks pretty crowded I'll be right back!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Wasn't Naruto's friend supposed to meet us?" one asked out of the blue.

"Sasuke was going to meet us here but I'm kinda happy he hasn't ya know he's kind of a downer. Naruto gets upset when he doesn't look like he is having fun."

"Yeah, he's kind of a drag," finished another.

Itachi looks back at Sasuke looking down at his lap in the back seat. Talk about bad timing, "Sasuke-"

"Can we go home." Itachi knew it wasn't really a question.

"Sasuke," he tries again.

"Please Itachi," catching the one stray tear drip down his ototou's face breaks Itachi's heart and has him pull out of the parlor without another word.

That was the first time Sasuke ever felt he maybe didn't really belong with Naruto. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be the last.

Reviews & Comments are greatly appreciated no matter how long/short or insignificant you may think your thoughts are :)