Beauty queen of only eighteen

She had some trouble with herself

Naruto became her first real friend.

When teased and bullied—

He was always there to help her

She always belonged to someone else

They were friends, the best of friends. She was the only girl who had the guts to disobey her parents and befriended the cursed child (some people thought she was demented).

But… he was the only child who stood by her when children teased and bullied her… about her extraordinary forehead.

She was five years old when I met her.

She's a troublemaker. She probably got it from spending time with the idiot.

I don't mind spending everyday

Out on your corner in the pouring rain

Look for the girl with the broken smile

Ask her if she wants to stay awhile

Secretly, I longed for companionship. I envied their laughter. Especially the laughter she shared with that blockhead.

She belonged to him.

First.

And she will be loved

And she will be loved

But she's mine now.

Mine.

I want to make you feel beautiful

He loved her, I know. Up until now. It was just a crush, he said but I know him better.

Maybe…he respected the friendship he had with her.

So he didn't dare…say what his true feelings were.

I always wonder… why Naruto liked her very much.

No.

Why love her? Friendship is divine.

I don't mind spending everyday

Out on your corner in the pouring rain, oh

Look for the girl with the broken smile

"Sasuke…kun…" she whispered.

When it rain, she'll ask me to be her umbrella.

And she will be loved

And she will be loved

"Why?"

When sad, she'll ask me to be her clown.

And she will be loved

And she will be loved

We spent time together. Intimate friendship, closer bonds and… the Rule had been set when we… crossed the boundary.

Almost cross the line that drew the line between lovers and friends.

Know all of the things that make you who you are

When saying goodbye…

She'll always come back.

I know that goodbye means nothing at all

Comes back and begs me to catch her every time she falls

Or when Ialmost crossed the line between love and friendship…

I want to make you feel beautiful

"SASUKE-KUN…!"

It was raining when I set up the rule and she agreed.

She's too dumb, too shallow to notice and understand why I drew that line.

Why I impose that Universal Rule.

"Where are we going?"

And she will be loved

"Remember the rule…"

"Sasuke-kun, why do we need a rule between us?"

"Because we're always in danger of falling in love,"

Frown. "With each other?"

"Yes."

"Sasuke-kun, let's eat ramen! I'm hungry. You're lucky because Naruto is gone already."

That rule…the Universal Rule is made to protect our sacred friendship.

Please don't try so hard to say goodbye

Just don't say goodbye.

Please don't try to hard to say goodbye

I made that rule.

Just don't say goodbye.


.

.

(this is)

The

Uchiha

Sweetheart

.

.


CHAPTER THREE! New WORD for today! TABOO! The Miss Hippo Girl.

Warrior is a child.

(visual) Sasuke, with his fists inside his shorts' pockets, walked down the road back home after eating ramen; Sakura behind him on her bicycle, whistling.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, can you still remember how we met?"

No response.

What a cocky mumbling little squirt.

He can still remember how they met. How could he forget? She punched him in the nose.

That hippo girl… punched him in the nose.

And he cried. Who would not? It was painful. She punched like a hippo. A hippo with an appetite of a hippo and how could he forget? She had the same forehead of a hippo… if that's what you call a forehead.

ZOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

It was a beautiful Sunday morning.

Five year old Sasuke stood, leaning against the tree trunk of a large and very old Cherry Blossom. It was a beautiful morning… the Cherry Blossoms bloomed prettily and so were the other flowers in the field. After all, it was spring.

Children his age were all happily playing around. Most of them were his classmates and schoolmates. Their shouts, catcalls and childish mannerisms showed they were all normal children with normal childhood and normal family background.

He snorted, I'm special. Even at his tender age, he already showed such arrogance.

Uchiha, so typical. Prestige came first then pedigree. I am… special. Got that? He half turned, his eyes sweeping across the field. His eyes went past the group of young boys and girls playing football. I should train! Itachi-niisan is so much cooler than these idiots! I will learn—

What he will learn was not disclose as an object as large as his arrogant head slammed—

BLAG!

THUMP!

SPLAT!

WHAM!

BAM!

All the sound in the world, there was.

It hurt.

The ball hit him squarely in the face.

The girls crowded around a bush of cosmos nearby shrieked in terror. "OH MY GAWD IT IS SASUKE-KUN! HE WAS HIT IN THE FACE! OH MY GAWD!" They shrieked, tears in their eyes.

The shrieks, the shouts and the screams— he barely heard them all. His face burned with shame and pain. He was all red. VERY RED.

One thing was clear on his mind: murder.

MURDER.

His mind screamed murder (young as he was).

I'm gonna rip your spine out, super moron.

Sasuke sat up. Children stood in silence nearby, watching him apprehensively. Some were scared, some girls crying, some stifled their grin, some doing hula dance inside their tiny worlds and some murmured silently 'served him right'.

"Sasuke-kun! Are you alright?" a blonde-haired pretty girl asked, worry all over her face.

The soccer ball lay three meters away. Sasuke glared at it. And when he lifted his gaze, the children backed away in fear as they saw his expression.

I'm gonna rip your spine out, super moron.

Whoever he or she was, that moron better scram.

"Oh my god! Tell her to leave!" Girls and boys whispered to each other frantically.

"He'll rip her spine out! I can hear his thoughts!

"Amazing! That's awesome! You're telepathic or something?'

"Shut UP!"

"Come on, warn her! Warn her!"

"Let's stand closer together so he won't see her!"

"Tell her ALREADY!"

"If you really like her, warn her now! Oh god, oh god…I see thunderclouds hanging in Sasuke-kun's head!"

"Thunderclouds? Where? Where?"

"Amazing! You can see thunderclouds in a bright morning like this!"

"IDIOT!"

"No! I see steam coming out form his ears!"

"Amazing! Steams are invisible aren't they? COOL! You can see invisible things!"

"IDIOOOOOOOOOOOT…!"

"His ears are all red!"

"He's really furious!"

"AMAZING! IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!"

A strange silence.

"SUPER DUPER IDIOOOOOT!"

BAM!

Behind the crowd that surrounded Sasuke, a five year old blonde-haired, crystal blue-eyed boy tried to pull a pink-haired green-eyed girl toward the exit of the field.

"Come on! Sakura-chan, he'll rip your spine out! I swear! I can hear his thoughts!"

"Wow! You can hear thoughts? Coolness!"

"Grrr… Sakura-chan, this is not a perfect time to joke around! Come on!"

"But my ball…" she whined.

"Forget it! Come on!" he tugged her. But the girl won't budge.

"Naruto, you told me you like me that you really REALLY like me so you should get that ball for me as a sign that you really really like me come on don't be such a lazy!"

The boy widened his eyes. "Sakura-chan…you hit him!"

"Him who?"

"UCHIHA Sasuke!"

"Sasuke… the boy with chicken hair or something that it looks like some birds are laying eggs on them?"

"HAI! He's a bad-tempered boy and the last thing we must do is to irritate him!"

"But my ball! I'm gonna get it! Wait for me here, okay?" the girl smiled at him and began skipping towards the Cherry Blossoms where everyone else gathered.

"SAKURA-CHAAAAAAAAAAN…!" Naruto fainted in anxiety.

Back to the crowd whispering to each other:

"His face is all…red! Call the fire station!"

"Why would we call a fire station!"

"He's on fire!"

"Gosh, you're a super duper idiot!"

BAM!

"Anyway, Ino-chan, Ino-chan, calm him down."

"I can't! He's…scary…"

"Yeah… very very very very very scary…can you see the thunderclouds hanging around his head?"

"Amazing! How can you see thunderclouds, Sayo-chan?"

"IDIOT!"

"Sasuke…kun?" Ino-chan called uncertainly.

"Get away from me." Came his super duper cold voice. He stood up and picked up the soccer ball. His hands were trembling.

"Oh goooooooooooooooooooooood, this is so BAD!"

"Let's get out of here!"

"As long as he doesn't find out who kicked that ball, everything will be alright."

"Hai, I guess she's— AHHHHHHHHHHH…!"

"What? What?"

"You saw a ghost or something?"

"AMAZING! You're a psychic!"

"IDIOT!"

"But—"

"BANZAI!"

Time froze.

"Hey! Thank you because that's my ball that I kicked pretty hard, didn't I? I must have had hit you in the face because your face is all red was it BAD? SOOOO sorry it was an accident and accident happens everyday just like what happened today but it does not hurt that bad right? Well, can I have it back?"

Everyone sweat dropped and trembled like jellybeans. Good ol' little Sakura-chan… she won't recognize shame, anger, pain and catcalls even if it runs her down. Her smile was still bright and she seemed to be really very oblivious (silly, silly girl…) to the fact that the prodigy Uchiha had burst into flames.

"How dare you." The boy whispered in a trembling voice.

"Eh? I beg your pardon?"

The children were all…

stupefied.

RUN SAKURA-CHAN RUN!

"How dare you."

"How dare I what?"

Sasuke raised his eyes to her. What he saw was a pair of green-silvery eyes and a mop of pink hair.

Cute?

Whatever.

She was thin with a dirty face and enormous eyes. They looked flying saucers.

But of course, he was not a prodigy for nothing. He did not miss the tiny but extraordinary fact about her.

He did not mean it as an insult. It was just… too extraordinary… to miss.

"You have a wide forehead."

Time froze.

Thunder roared.

ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

Thunderclouds appeared.

The sky darkened.

Lightning struck.

ZTTTTTTTTTTZZZTTTTT!

"OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD… IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!" The children shrieked in unison, their jaws hanging open, their eyes bulging out that their eyeballs almost roll out of their sockets. They trembled and stared at him as if he's some green yellow Martian from outer space.

"OH MY GAWD LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!" Naruto screamed.

Sasuke frowned. What's wrong with everyone?

He looked back at the pink-haired girl in front of him. His brow shot up at what he saw. The girl was enveloped in a black cloud, her head drooped and… one by one … by one … no— all veins popped out at once. Almost ten veins, Sasuke counted.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" the little girl screamed and punched him in the nose. He felt his nose cartilages bled and cry. He landed a few meters away, a trail of blood following him.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…!" girls screamed.

"TABOO! TABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!" boys roared like monkeys.

"Amazing! Sakura-chan is like a rhinoceros!"

BLAG!

"IDIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT…!"

"Does Sasuke-kun know that the word 'wide-forehead' is a taboo here?"

BLAG!

Wince. "Obviously not,"

"It's 'you-know-what' you moron! Say 'you-know-what' not the taboo word! You wanna see God so early?"

"TABOOOOOOOOOO…!" the boys roared like monkeys.

"Feel the wrath of the rampaging rhinoceros!"

"AMAZING!"

BLAG!

"Oh gawd have mercy on us…"

"YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT!"

"SAKURA-CHAN, STOOOOOOOP…!"

"Oh no it's starting again!"

"I remember when we're four years old. Tomaru-chan told Sakura-chan has 'you-know-what'!"

"Hai! She punched him in the mouth so hard that Tomaru-chan lost all his teeth!"

"Only Ino-chan can call her you-know-what!"

"Hai. It's because it was Ino-chan who taught her to stand up and fight when people make fun of her you-know-what!"

"INO-CHAN, STOP HER!"

"I can't! She's very very very very very pissed."

"RUN FOR YOU LIVES! RUN! RUN! RUN!"

In seconds, the field of flowers and Cheery Blossoms were deserted. Save for rampaging Sakura (who kept shouting, shrieking, yelling, crying) and the facedown Sasuke.

All ten veins were still twitching.

"Huh-huh-huh-

all gone-

huh-

where-

huh-

are-they-

huh-huh…"

The little girl looked up. Why is it so dark all of a sudden?

She flopped down to the grass, panting, her legs in M-position. Instantly, the time unfroze, thunder stopped roaring, thunderclouds disappeared, the sky lightened up and lightning stopped.

A beautiful Sunday morning. Again.

Her veins stopped twitching and the dark aura vanished.

Sakura-chan grinned widely. Teeth, gums. Shining, shimmering, splendid. "What a beautiful Sunday morning it is!"

Really?

"Sasuke…kun…?"

The boy didn't move. Did I kill him?

"Sasuke-kun!"

He did not move.

"SAS-UKE-KUN!" She yelled in his ear. The boy sprang into life. Sakura-chan studied him.

"Sasuke-kun…?"

The boy was holding up his hand over his bleeding nose. His eyes began to water…

She felt her heart cracked.

Those eyes… how she loved those eyes. She was falling in love with those eyes. The kind of love that was sweet, cute, delicate, soft. Not the romantic love. But it was so delicate…

"Sorry." She whispered.

And she cried with him.

ZOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

And that's how they met.

And ever since, the word 'wide forehead' became a taboo. And if you are a person with great guts and wanted to enter heaven right away…

Just yell.

"WIDE FOREHEAD GIRL…!"

In her ear.

And you'll see Saint Peter with his GIANT golden key and his dear ol' rooster crowing beside him.

"Name?"

Response.

"Sins?"

The list went on and on…

"How did you die?"

"SHE PUNCHED ME IN THE NOSE!"

That hippo girl.

ZOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Sakura laughed. "I did punch you real hard, eh?"

"Whatever."

She grinned.

Kakashi-sensei, better teach me something useful!

When Sasuke looked back, he saw a strange aura coming from the girl. He raised his brows.

She looked stupid when she does that.